Review : Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Faking Perfect
Author : Rebecca Phillips
Publication Date :  June 30th 2015
Publisher : Kensington
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble
 

“Edgy and honest, Faking Perfect is the real thing.” –Huntley Fitzpatrick

When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High's resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:

1. Avoid her at school.
2. Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
3. Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben.

Because with his integrity and values and golden boy looks, Ben can never find out about what she’s been doing behind closed doors with Tyler. Or that her mom’s too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills. Or that Lexi’s dad hasn’t been a part of her life for the last thirteen years. But with Tyler suddenly breaking the rules, Ben asking her out, and her dad back in the picture, how long will she be able to go on faking perfect?

Personal Thoughts

Faking Perfect took me by complete surprise. I was expecting it to be a more romance-driven story, but it turned out to be an emotional, character-driven book instead, especially when it came to the main character's growth throughout. 

Lexi, our protagonist, seemed to have the perfect life from the outside. Armed with her popularity and her group of friends, she pretended to lead this school life completely different from her home life. Lexi wasn't the easiest character to enjoy. I struggled with her battles with maintaining her secret home life and while I got why she was trying to hide it from her friends at school, I was also a little baffled by her decisions. That being said, Lexi grew on me towards the end of the book with her character growth. I sympathized with her for her home situation. She had a horrible mother who constantly lied to her and didn't seem to care for her daughter, continuously putting her in the face of danger through her sleazy boyfriends. Unsurprisingly, I hated Lexi's mom and wanted someone to shield Lexi from the ugliness surrounding her. No one ever deserves to be treated the way Lexi's mom treated her. Thankfully, Lexi found out more about her father at the beginning of the book and she also had an incredibly support in the form of her best friend and neighbor and his mom, who sided by her and helped make sure that she wasn't hurting too much. I really liked the storyline of Lexi's newly blooming relationship with her dad. She had been denied his affections all her life because of her mother's lies, so they had a lot of catching up to do. They slowly got to know each other over emails and it was endearing to watch their relationship grow, despite Lexi being hesitant. By the end, while they weren't the perfect father-daughter duo, their fragile relationship had made progress. Through her growing relationship with her dad, Lexi grew as an individual as well, finding her courage and learning to stand up for herself and being honest.

The secret relationship mentioned with the school's bad boy left a lot to be desired, however. I was hoping for more palpable chemistry between Lexi and Tyler, but we never truly got to see their dynamics in depth, mostly because Faking Perfect did not focus on the romance, which was midly disappointing. Part of my reason for not fully being involved in the romance was also my inability to connect with Tyler as a character. We barely learn anything about Tyler's character aside from his bad boy attitude and that made me sad because he had the potential to be an amazing character from the glimpses that we did get of him in the book. I also didn't appreciate the storyline involving Lexi's crush, Ben. I thought it wound up being trite and I didn't particularly care for it. I do have to clarify that the book didn't have a true  triangle and that there was no cheating going on, thankfully. The romantic relationship wasn't my favorite, but I did really like the friendship that Lexi had with Nolan, despite it being very frayed. Nolan's support and loyalty towards Lexi even though she basically hid him from the rest of her friends, was admirable and I loved him for it. While it does seem like a lot about Faking Perfect didn't work for me, I actually found myself enjoying the book because of Rebecca Phillips' writing which turned out to be very readable.

Faking Perfect won't be the book for everyone, but it's a book that's worth giving a shot to because it teaches a valuable life lesson: have courage and be honest to yourself and to others. I'm looking forward to reading more by Rebecca Phillips.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 4/5



Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the e-ARC of Faking Perfect.


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