Review: Introducing the sweetest book boyfriend
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
It has been six months since I read Present Perfect and I still think about that story at least once a week. I love how a book can affect you so much that it just stays with you and thus is the talent of Alison Bailey. She is able to express so much emotion in her writing that you can't help but feel everything the characters are feeling and get completely pulled into their story.Past Imperfect tells the story of Brad and Mabry. The chapters alternate from now to then and we get both of their POV's. We met Brad in book one so all I knew about him is that he was a bit of a man whore and was a bit of bastard too. However, there is more to Brad than meets the eye and 20% into this story I fell for him and wanted to marry him and have his babies :)Brad hasn't had the happiest home life, his parents are in an unhappy marriage, and as a young boy Brad over hears a conversation between his parents that resonates with him for the rest of his life."I racked my brain trying to figure out what I had done to cause my parents to hate me so much. I kept coming back to the same conclusion. I was born." - BradAfter his parents separate, Brad ends up living with his mother and his brother goes with his father. When he enters his teenage years he has a lot of girls interested in him and he takes full advantage of that. This behaviour also follows him to college until one particular girl leaves a lasting impression on him that completely changes his life.Mabry grew up as an only child with both of her parents and she was a happy child. When she was a young teen her mother died in a traumatic, heartbreaking way and there are things Mabry had to go through the are embedded in her memory and still affect her daily. She has learnt to deal with the memories of her past in her own way and that is not necessarily a good thing.So Brad and Mabry's path's cross when she is employed at Brad's fathers law firm. There is complete instant attraction between the two of them and it isn't long until they begin 'dating' but with rules put in place by Mabry. She isn't into relationships and will do anything to protect herself from feeling something for someone, especially a guy. She didn't expect to meet a man like Brad Johnson and let me tell you he is freaking adorably cute. He has changed his whole life in the last few years and absolutely knows how to make a girl feel treasured.Brad really wants Mabry to open up to him and let him in, he is madly in love with her and she is it for him, forever. Mabry has so much she hides, not just from Brad but from everyone. Her way of coping with her past and stress is to deal with it herself. It was so sad to read some of her POV's, I was just wishing she would confide in Brad, he would have done anything for her.Then in a bizarre twist of fate their past and future collide, leaving Mabry wondering how well she really knows Brad after all. Their future together is now on shaky ground and some heart breaking decisions are made that completely shatters them both."Mabry, there's nothing in this universe that could happen to keep me from you. I don't know how not to love you." - BradAt this point I think I have cried 4-5 times already and then the story finishes and I was feeling very bereft until I turned the page and found the Epilogue and WOW, what an epilogue - the best epilogue I have read. I mean really, it was a 50 year epilogue and I could not stop crying throughout every page and then when it was done I cried some more. Not tears of anguish however, they were tears of elation. I went through so many emotions reading this book and at the end I was feeling a bit fragile but happy as well. Books like this are why I love reading :)WAMFUReviewer @Reality Bites! Let's Get Lost!