Review: a novel that packs an emotional punch and will resonate with you for a long time
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2013
****I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.****Flawless is a perfect title for this book! There isn't an exact plot per say, but it's a captivating story about love, loss, making amends, and finding oneself. I immediately loved Lia - she's snarky, witty, intelligent, and beautiful. She has her flaws, that's for sure, but that made her more real to me. Some things she did frustrated me, but no one makes decisions without emotion behind them - emotion that sometimes clouds your judgement.I felt like I was hanging out with Lia and her high school friends, too. It was painful to see them drift apart after high school because while my group of high school friends all still talk on Facebook, they've all moved away to different states. But this story begins in 1995, when there was no such thing as Facebook, and barely anyone had the Internet in their home.The situation with Chad was confusing to me. I don't think Lia gave him a chance because she had strong feelings for Wilson that she was in denial about. Wilson became bitter towards her, and it came out of nowhere as though he had been holding it in for the past two years of their friendship. It wasn't fair to her. Each one of her friends with the exception of Maddie took turns berating Lia, and I didn't understand why. Why all of a sudden beat up on her when they seemed to be content before they graduated? They knew Lia didn't care about her Queen Bitch reputation and didn't want all the attention she received.Flawless jumps ahead in time throughout the book - not so much that it's confusing; the story flows along seamlessly, and in this way, you get to see Lia's growth as a character and the things she discovers about herself. We follow her from high school to college to her career. I didn't understand at first the black pit she describes she feels in her chest at times unless she was talking about severe depression? She struggled with her apathy, even when it came to her friends. I knew there had to be deep issues causing it, and as the story went on, I began theorizing as to what was going on.Flawless is a deeply emotional novel that packs and punch and will resonate with you for a long time. There are fun moments, and then there are sad moments just like in real life. I felt the emotions of Lia as though I was right beside her. The dialogue is absolutely fantastic - this is a well written book that I can't recommend enough!