Halfway Perfect

by Julie Cross and Mark Perini

[Leah]

When I downloaded my copy of Halfway Perfect, I was dead excited to get stuck in. Novels set behind the scenes on films or TV shows are some of my favourite books and I loved the fact that Halfway Perfect would dive into another behind the scenes look at something you don’t always get to see – the modelling world. The modelling world is something I know nothing about, and that I honestly have very little interest in, if only because it’s all the same – half naked girls and guys. But I do like to know what goes on behind the scenes because that’s ALWAYS fascinating, and it helped very, very much that Mark Perini has been part of that world.

If what we learn in Halfway Perfect is anything to go by, the modelling world is gross. Honestly gross. Asking an 18-year-old to fake-date a 14-year-old is sooooo wrong. Even worse, is a 15-year-old dating her 24-year-old agent. That’s statutory rape, if I’ve been watching Criminal Minds correctly. Yes, I know that Eve says it was consensual, but at 15 and with the family life Eve had, can you really call it consensual? I called it icky and wrong. And for me, that was the hardest part of the novel for me to swallow. To see Wes worming his way back in with Eve and getting away with what he did, made me want to vomit.

Apart from that, I actually really enjoyed Halfway Perfect. The chemistry Alex and Eve have is immediately clear from the first time they meet, and it was so nice to see them bantering back and forth, and it was so nice to not have them fall in love instantly. Not that that would ever have been possible, because Eve had some barriers and a half for Alex to have to get past (and rightly so!!!!). They very much had a mutual admiration for each other which was so nice, and while the circumstances for their relationship were bizarre and I didn’t like that Alex was “involved” with Elana, and so his thing with Eve had to be secret, there was also something nice that they could enjoy it just the two of them without the press getting wind, ya know?

Halfway Perfect was such an open, honest read. A bit too honest, perhaps, because as I said, if even half of what goes on in Halfway Perfect is true, then there’s something seriously wrong with the modelling biz, but it was nice to get that insight, and it kept me glued to the pages from start to finish. Alex and Eve were two of the nicest characters I’ve ever met, separately and together, which was nice. I really enjoyed the book, it was compelling from beginning to end and while parts of it made me gasp and shake my head in disbelief, this was a super enjoyable read and I’m intrigued what the pairing of Julie and Mark come up with next!