Overview:When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High's resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:
1. Avoid her at school.
2. Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
3. Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben.
Because with his integrity and values and golden boy looks, Ben can never find out about what she’s been doing behind closed doors with Tyler. Or that her mom’s too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills. Or that Lexi’s dad hasn’t been a part of her life for the last thirteen years. But with Tyler suddenly breaking the rules, Ben asking her out, and her dad back in the picture, how long will she be able to go on faking perfect?
Review: Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange of an honest review. Faking Perfect will be out on June 30th, 2015.
I really wanted to like this book and the blurb and opening chapter made me think I would. The following chapters, however, not so much. There was nothing wrong with the prose, or writing. The romance wasn't too heavy that it overshadowed the whole book and the pacing was fine. Rather the problems stemmed from lack of characterization. Yes, we feel sorry for Lexi but at the same time her character lacked depth. So though I may have felt sorry for her, I didn't really care about her.
Then the love interests. Ben, the perfect guy? Umm no, more like the shallow guy. I still don't know why Lexi has a thing for him. And then Tyler. I really wanted to root for this guy. But how can I when I hardly know him? His character wasn't fleshed out enough. Lack of characterization was what made my rating so low. Perhaps that's a bit harsh, but it makes it difficult to follow characters through a whole story when you don't really know them or like them. Because of that, the book was really hard to get through.
It definitely sounds like a good book from the description. Characterization is soo important though. And hard to nail, apparently. I think we know our characters so well sometimes that we just kind of assume they're coming across the way they should. It's hard to seem them objectively.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think you hit it right on the nail. The blurb was so good, which sorely left me disappointed when the characters didn't come through.
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