Review – The Perfects by Rachel Van Dyken

The Perfects
(Standalone)

Publication Date: October 11, 2022

Genre/Tropes: New Adult/Forbidden Romance

Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Review Rating: 4 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:
Not exactly The Perfects, but more of a hotmess that somehow worked with all of its imperfections.

Mary-Belle is a foster kid who has been placed in home after home after home, until landing in her final home with the McCree’s. A perfect family, at least to any outside looker, but the inside is an emotional mess of hurt, pain and imperfections.

Mary-Belle or MB and Ambrose, her new foster brother, hit it off immediately and have that insta-love connection. Unfortunately, because his world is truly not perfect like everyone believes, their world crumbles pretty fast and the story turns to one of regrets and isolation. While I wouldn’t call it bullying, Ambrose ignores MB and she does the same to him, but they are still very much aware of the other’s orbit. This is the time that Ambrose’s ex-best friend makes an appearance and upsets that quiet standoff.

It was heavy on teenage angst, with tension that ran between Ambrose, MB and his former best friend named Quinn. My heart actually ached for him quite a bit, but I’ll leave that opinion up to you for further judgement.

While this wasn’t a top read for me, it also wasn’t bad, it was just a hotmess when it came to how Ambrose and MB circled back to each other to achieve their HEA.

Synopsis:

Everything was perfect.
Until it wasn’t.

Until my family took on a foster girl and placed her across the hall from me. A charity case to look good and a person who should have never existed in my world.
I kissed her to get her to stop talking, and then I kissed her again because I liked the taste of her words—I liked her.
It was our secret until we got caught—that night changed everything.

We became strangers living in the same house, seeing the same ghosts of our past mistakes, but I can’t stop thinking about us, about those forbidden moments.
I pretend to hate her, I tell her I’ll never forgive her, and then Quinn, my ex-best friend, steps into the picture. I can’t tell if he actually likes her or if he has a death wish and just likes pissing me off, but what do I say? Stay away from my step-sister?
She’s mine?
I’ve already had her?
Saying that to him would expose what we were and ruin everything.
We’re all three of us living multiple lies, and eventually, I know our ivory tower of perfection is going to come crashing down.

He knows my secrets.
I know his.
And now she knows both.

She wants.
He wants.
But I always—always get what I want.

And what I want is the girl, no matter what it may cost me.

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Sneak Peak – Scrooging Christmas by Sarah Ready

When Miss Christmas meets Mr. Scrooge, sparks fly.

Scrooging Christmas, a delightfully quirky opposites attract holiday romance from author Sarah Ready is coming October 18th, and we have a flirty sneak peek!

“What’s your name?” I ask, and when I do the woman looks at me with wide eyes, as if she’d forgotten I was here.

“I thought you knew.”

“Marley?” I ask, thinking of her obsession with Scrooge.

“No.”

She gives a short huff of laughter and walks back to where I’m standing. She reaches down to pull off her fur-lined boots, dropping them beneath the bench.

“Not Marley,” I say.

I stretch my hands, moving my fingers, letting the painful pricks of circulation come back.

“But I bet it’s something Christmas related. All you nutters who love Christmas always have those kind of names. How about…Holly?”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Do you want me to tell you my name?”

“No, I’m going to guess it,” I stare at her, take in her bright eyes, her curves, how she seems to fit perfectly in this homey rustic cabin. “Noelle.”

She shakes her head.

“Mary?”

No.

“Ivy?”

Nope.

“Fruitcake?”

She snorts.

“Carol? Chris? Star? Rudolph?”

With each guess she shakes her head, and when I say Rudolph she actually lets out a strangled laugh.

“No. Wow. My parents wouldn’t saddle me with the name Rudolph. They actually like me.”

I look across the living room at the pictures on the mantle. There’s a family photo from decades ago, a dad in a baggy sweater and wire-framed glasses, a mom in a denim dress, and a little girl hugging her younger brother while they all beam at the camera. They’re all standing in front of a scraggly Christmas tree wrapped in paper chains.

“Hmm. I wonder what your mom and dad would think of your descent into crime.” I frown at the picture of the happy family, then say in a mournful tone, “She was such a sweet little girl, kept to herself, nice to the neighbors, no one would’ve guessed what a devious heart lay beneath that Christmas façade.”

She wags her finger at me. “Okay. Yes. Some might say this is wrong.”

I give her a disbelieving look.

She grumbles, “But others might say that this is fate. Destiny. Christmas providence.”

I shake my head. “No one would say that.”

“Some might.”

“No they wouldn’t.”

“Maybe two or three.”

I shake my head. “No.”

She sighs. “Fine. They wouldn’t…or they might. My name is Natalie. Nice to meet you.” She holds out her hand.

I let out a laugh. “Natalie. Which means Christmas. I forgot that one.”

What would you do with a scroge?

Professional holiday decorator Natalie Fiorre loves tinsel, gingerbread, and the magic of Christmas. She believes there isn’t anything in the world that a dash of Christmas Spirit can’t fix—until she meets Gabe.

Perpetual Scrooge Gabe Cavanaugh loathes candy canes, jingle bells, and all things merry and bright. He believes Christmas is the worst time of year.

So when Miss Christmas and Mr. Scrooge meet, sparks fly.

When Gabe threatens to evict Natalie and her neighbors on Christmas she does what any right-minded Christmas-lover would do…

Natalie has two days to stop the evictions and help Gabe discover the magic of Christmas, but a lot can go wrong in two days, and in Romeo, the soul mate capital, there’s another kind of magic in the air.

A delightfully cheeky rom-com romp through the holidays, Scrooging Christmas is Book Seven in the Soul Mates in Romeo Romance Series by Sarah Ready.

Preorder this holiday romp for only 99 pennies!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KGCSCx
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About Sarah Ready

Author Sarah Ready writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her books have been described as “euphoric”, “heartwarming” and “laugh out loud”. Her debut novel The Fall in Love Checklist was hailed as “the unicorn read of 2020”. She loves to write fast-paced, emotionally compelling romances about quirky, smart women and the men who love them.

Before writing romance full-time Sarah had lots of fun teaching at an Ivy League. Then she realized she could have even more fun writing romance. Her favorite things after writing are adventuring and travel. You’ll frequently find her using her degree at a dino dig site, crawling into a cave, snorkeling, or on horseback riding through the jungle – all fodder for her next book. She’s lived in Scotland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and NYC. She currently lives in the Caribbean with her water-obsessed pup and her awesome family.

You can visit her online at http://www.sarahready.com

Connect with Sarah

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