Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Perfect You

Author: Elizabeth Scott

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Date Published: March 25, 2008

Genre: YA fiction, romance, contemporary, realistic fiction

Pages: 304 (paperback)

Age Range: 14+ (mention of sex, and a lot, of kissing...like a lot)





Summary

Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible.

And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest.

Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen—but only if she lets them....

 Review

This was my second contemporary--my first being To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Since this was my second contemporary, I had pretty high expectations, especially since Jenny Han's books are utter perfection. But this book really let me down. The premise was actually pretty funny--I mean, it's ironic that vitamins would ruin this girl's life--but it was executed poorly.

First, reading from Kate's point-of-view got really annoying, really quickly. Half the book was her whining, a quarter of it was being confused about Will, and the other quarter was her just sneaking around to make out with Will behind the mall. I would've liked reading from Will's point-of-view much more.

Kate was whiny, like I mentioned before, but she also seemed to have zero substance--she was like a skeleton--she was there, but just barely. She didn't even know if she liked Will but she kept sneaking around to make out with him, she was so STUPID when Will kept asking her out and she'd turn him down, and she was just so shallow. Even the bit about Anna, which I had hoped would more meat onto her bones, did absolutely zilch. I liked Will, he was sarcastic and pretty funny. I would've rather read from his point-of-view since it would be considerably less boring.

The whole bit about Kate's grandmother was far too dragged out. It didn't serve to any purpose and it was just like the author put her in there to "add another level to the story." It was unnecessary and very underdeveloped.

Similarly, the whole problem with Anna was stupid. It was far too drawn out and overly dramatic. Especially since things like that aren't quite like that in real life. 

Overall, the book needed help. Like, some book rehab or something. The only things I liked were Will and Todd, and they didn't even show up much except to make out and antagonize Kate. I think I'm going to stick with Jenny Han, and try some Miranda Kenneally. Let's hope that some other contemporaries end out better than this one did.