Review: Well written with one hell of a twist ending
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this story for an honest review for Amber's Reading Room.Bobby is the star, the apple of his parent’s eye and a local hockey legend. Everything is Bobby’s for the taking, everything except for the girl he loves, the girl who happens to love his little brother.“He was hot; there was no denying that, but when he touched me I didn’t feel a spark. I only felt the tenderness of a friendship that began as children.”Adam is the black sheep, the family disappointment and the easily dismissed one. Struggling to thrive in the shadow of his older brother, Adam takes solace in his music and easy women. These woman are completely different than the only one he wants and the one he knows he doesn’t deserve.“He was good at making me feel like I was the only girl in the world. This was the reason I was trapped in a never ending cycle of meaningless relationships. I didn’t really want a relationship if it wasn’t with Adam…”River is the prize, the childhood friend who grew into a woman they adore. The only problem is… she doesn’t want to be a prize. Bobby and Adam are the only people that have ever made River feel loved and appreciated. One is her best friend and the other is her heart. The loss of one would break her and the loss of the other would simply end her. Can River find happiness with either brother without destroying everyone involved?“You’re the first girl I fantasized about, the first girl that made every part of me feel like it was on fire… and every time I see you I still feel it. It’s like you’re the only thing I ever really needed.”I struggled after finishing Flawed Perfection with how I could possibly review the book without giving away any major spoilers. I don’t want to ruin this for anyone so I will just say that author Cassandra Giovanni is an excellent writer who created a fairly addictive story that in turns managed to make me frustrated, happy, angry, sad and shocked. Bobby, Adam, and River are described with such detail and affection that I felt I knew them on a personal level. I wanted to smack them when they did something stupid and hug them when they needed comfort.If you are not a fan of cliffhangers, please consider yourself warned, the ending of Flawed Perfection caught me completely off-guard. There are cliffhangers and then there are endings that essentially take a live grenade, pull the pin, and toss it -- just obliterating everything you knew from the chapters preceding it. Flawed Perfection definitely ends with an explosion. After finishing this story I just sat there in a bit of a daze because I have no clue where Giovanni is going to take the story next. Again no spoilers, but what starts as an angsty love triangle between a lovable heroine and two polar opposite brothers morphs into a completely different animal. Have tissues at the ready and prep for a little boot stomp to the heart.“So we crumbled. A broken family even further broken by the lack of the one thing that held it together.”Flawed Perfection is book one in the Beautifully Flawed series and will be followed by Pieces of Perfection in Spring 2014. Hopefully my heart will have healed up by then because I’m definitely going to have read it and see what comes next (fingers crossed for a HEA or just some happy).Fans of love triangles, tears, and major plot twists – Flawed Perfection is the read for you.Happy reading.