Review: To say that I am impressed by Cassandra Giovanni would be the understatement of the century!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 31, 2014
I was completely blown away by the aching depth of emotion and the high soaring spirit of hope that permeated the very core of this brilliant story. The intensity slammed into me like a brick wall, but I was held up by the tender arms of a fragile yet resilient love that refused to die. It was this love that we watch with wonder and appreciation as it transforms the stunning characters that you meet along this harsh yet beautiful journey. This story will crawl under your skin and seep into your heart until it becomes a part of you. You will not want to let go.River Ahlers finds success and fulfillment in every part of her life except one. She is unable to have the love that she has so deeply longed for throughout her life. She stumbles from one meaningless relationship to another trying to drown her sorrows and find a way to keep going. She has loved her best friend Adam for as long as she can remember, but she knows that he doesn’t love her in the same way. Adam has always been seen as the black sheep of the family. He doesn’t measure up to the success of his bother Bobby. Bobby holds the love and adoration of his parents while Adam only receives their disdain and disappointment. If his own family can’t love him, he doesn’t expect anyone else to love him let alone the one girl he has secretly loved this entire life. He isn’t good enough for her, but that doesn’t stop him from loving her from afar.River captivated me by her strength of spirit and her unwavering hope that Adam might come to love her as much as she loves him. The small embers of hope that she sees from him in recent years fuel her determination to not give up on him. Above all, she wants nothing more than to run into his arms and show him how much she has longed for him to know the unspoken passion that lives inside her. The recent change in Adam’s behavior towards her has her flirting with him more and more to see if he will let his guard down enough to show his feelings for her. No matter what, she is first his friend, his biggest cheerleader, and his confidant, and she will never do anything to destroy their friendship.  Day after day, her resolve beings to weaken, and she finds that she is barely keeping herself from exploding as she tries to find contentment with just loving her friend.The dynamic between Adam and Bobby is completely fascinating to me. Since I have no siblings, I was intrigued at how they danced around the sore spot that is River. They both want her, and yet they both know that they would rather cut off their own hand than to stab the other in the back. Their restrain is phenomenal, and the level of lies and deception heightens as the stakes keeping rising. River does not want to come between the brothers, but she can’t change how she feels about Adam even to save Bobby from the pain of that knowledge. Adam knows what it feels like to be continually hurt by family, and he refuses to put Bobby through the pain of proclaiming his love for River. He will not consciously betray Bobby, but sometimes life has a way of taking the reins when we refuse to move forward.To say that I am impressed by Cassandra Giovanni would be the understatement of the century! She is a hidden treasure that the world is finally able to behold and cherish. I was speechless after reading this stunning work of art, and I still am. My heart has been stolen by the outstanding and extraordinary characters that live within the pages of this book. If you want a story that will take you out of your comfort zone, make your heart ache, and force you to feel, then you have found exactly what you need in Giovanni’s Flawed Perfection. River and Adam have stolen my heart, and I can’t wait to find out how their story continues!