Review: Enjoyable Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
Secrets, Lies, and the Pangs of First Love are the basis for this magnetic story - one that continues to pull the reader in until the very last word.  Aubree Walker, seeming orphan living with her Aunt Lottie in Suttontowne, LA avoids all personal relationships in hopes of running from her imperfect past by becoming the perfect person.  Booker Outlaw is just the opposite, he is a rebel without a cause, also running from a past where nothing but heartache, let-downs and lies are all he knows.  Together these two went through something no one should ever have to and together they hold a secret that could be the undoing of the entire town. When Aubree is called home by the Sheriff because of what seems like a somewhat "innocent" accident the situation eventually turns out to be so much more - and the secret that Aubree and Booker carry with them might just solve the who done it of Aunt Lottie's accident.  Can Aubree face her past? Can Booker overcome his past and not become the one thing he so longs not to become? Can forgiveness help this young couple as they face the pangs of First Love?These questions get answered along with so much more, while weaving a web that overlays our characters, pulling all of the answers out of the woodwork.  The reader is pulled into the action right from the beginning, however we are left wondering what is the secret the author hints at throughout the book. That being my one major frustration with this novel, Aubree kept bringing up the "incident on Old Magnolia Road" yet the reader is never enlightened to what happened on that night a year ago that almost thrust Aubree out of her hometown.  I kept finding myself wishing the book would finally get to the point, thankfully the answer is finally revealed later in the novel.  I get that it was a love story, telling the story of Aubree and Booker and how they come together - using the typical romantic story formula, girl reunites with boy who was crush of the past, situation the two need to overcome is ignored, they get hot and heavy, have sex, and BAM the situation to be ignored comes to the surface, boy and girl go their separate ways, they are once again thrust together, and well what do you know? They forgive and move on and are now in love and happy - it's not reality- but yet it's why we read romance novels to escape our reality isn't it?A Perfect Mess is one that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a love story with what I call "meat" to it, one that allows the reader to latch onto something other than the typical harlequin romance.  So much so that I am anxious for Zoe Dawson's next book in the series.