Claire's Reviews > Once Perfect

2.5 - "I'm good with my hands." Stars.

Once Perfect is the type of book that due to its subject matter/storyline, as a reader I feel a little guilty for not really liking it. This may just be me not gelling with the author’s writing style, as it wasn’t all bad, and I will try to pinpoint my reasons for why it didn’t really work for me.

It started out pretty good, I liked Evie initially and Mateo was pretty swoonworthy with his protectiveness of her, but as the book progressed the chemistry I think I was meant to be feeling between them just didn’t really materialize. I found their conversations and a lot of their interaction at points bordering on what felt like a parent (Evie) talking down to a teenager (Mateo).

”Sweetie, leave her alone. He’s being nice to her.”

The whole use of the word ’Sweetie’ got a little cringe-worthy at times too, bearing in mind we are talking about a 23 year old guy and a 21 year old girl, this isn’t a word I would equate to being used in this age group so much, and the whole writing style for me felt like and older person writing how they thought twenty-somethings would interact, and the language just didn’t feel loose enough.

I think there is a fine line when you are holding a reader in suspense with regards to major plot developments, but we were well into the second half of the book before anything of interest really happened. Yes there are a few hints and flashbacks here and there as to what happened in Evie’s past, as well as Mateo’s familial issues and I kind of worked out where it was going to go before it was officially confirmed, but for me it just took too long to really get started.



”You callin’ me a distraction.”

The second thing that really bugged me about Once Perfect was the whole cliché rich girl, down on her luck - poor Latino boy from the wrong side of the tracks vibe. This trope usually works for me but what with the fact Evie came over pretty condescending towards Mateo (and his family) a lot of the time, and Mateo’s stereotypical dead-beat, down on their luck family, I just found it all really cheesy. And I am sorry, but I just can’t get onboard with any guy from whatever walk of life saying that ”It’s not something we do” when asked why he hasn’t gone to the police or the authorities in an attempt to stop his druggie douche-bag father from beating seven kinds of shit out of his sisters, mother and himself on a regular basis. I know this is fiction but this sort of behavior and acceptance about something that is wholly unacceptable just makes me angry.

I think this book shows promise, but coupled with the above points and possibly the most clinical and unsexy blow/hand-job I have ever read, it all just fell extremely flat for me.

ARC provided via Netgalley, I am sorry I cannot give a more positive review on this occasion.