Pam's Reviews > Once Perfect

3.5 stars

"Just breathe for me."

Abandoned and shunned, Evelyn finds herself alone with nothing left. She used to have it all until her father took his own life. While trying to stay on track on becoming a Nurse, she goes to school during the day while working at a Club Excess at night. Club Excess is where the rich kids go to live it up, drinking and getting their hands on anything they can get to go higher than high. What keeps her safe are the bodyguards of Excess, and the man who leads them all Mateo. She knows her fear of him is unjustified since he's shown her nothing but kindness, but she can't help but fear how capable he is of violence when witnessing it night after night dealing with the drug dealers and the drunks.

Maybe I still remained that princess after all, despite my confiscated tiara.

When your days and nights are filled with panic attacks, it's hard to fit in when all you want to do is hide. Making friends is hard for her especially with how quickly everyone turned their back on them...but little by little the staff at Excess prove her wrong. Evie has never been a sexual person, she actually hates sex but something about Mateo and his raw intensity that just turns her on. The one man she fears is the one man she wants, and when he finally makes a move she can't help but fall for the man who treats her with tender gloves.

Mateo didn't create the nightmares. He hadn't hurt me like those cruel hands in my dreams. And he never would.

It's clear to Mateo that they need to take it slow, Evie has some serious demons she is battling and doesn't know if she even knows who she is fighting. Keeping her safe and protected is his main focus, willing to wait it out. Evie is different, and he wants her for more than just one night, he's in it for the long haul. But what happens when she finally confronts her demons, and when his own monster comes back...can they fight it all together ???

"You broke like a piece of glass, right in front of me." He swallowed hard. "And it fucking ripped me apart. I couldn't help you, even though I'd promised to keep you safe."

Once Perfect is about a very broken girl and the man who has the patience to put her back together. This book had me wondering what happened to Evie, I had some guesses but in the end I was wrong. She wasn't a fighter, she was a survivor, one who had to much bad in her life and blocked it all away. Mateo, is just what a real man should be, passionate, tender, patient and affectionate. They way he took care of the women in his life made him completely swoon worthy. Underneath the rage and the muscles, he was a big softie at heart. I just have to say and I mean no disrespect to the family culture displayed in the book, but that is all kinds fucked up, my jaw was left hanging, wanting to bang someone upside their head for how they were forced to live. It was a great sad-heartwarming read.

ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review .

***Quotes above are taken from the ARC version of the book and may differ upon publication.