Perfect Girl (Not Quite Perfect, #1)

by Michele Gorman

[Leah]

Michele Gorman has quickly become one of those Chick Lit authors whose books I really look forward to. I enjoy everything she writes, and was quite excited to receive her new book Perfect Girl to review. Perfect Girl is actually a prequel to her Christmas novella Christmas Carol (which I read last year) and I would definitely recommend you read this one first, because of obvious spoilers in the novella. But, thankfully, I didn't know Perfect Girl was a prequel until afterwards so I was blissfully ignorant (and I still kind of am because I am just not sure what happened at the end of Christmas Carol...). Be warned, mind, Perfect Girl is one of those novels that makes you want to tear your hair out in frustration.

There were many, many times whilst reading Perfect Girl where I wanted to deck one (or three) of the characters. Because, you see, Carol's family and friends all take advantage of her. Not only does she have a job where she's treated poorly, and works 15 hour days, but on top of that she has to plan her sister's wedding and take random trips to visit country estates in the countrysides; she has to go on dates for her best friend Harriet because Harriet is utterly useless at dating and couldn't pick a good guy if he smacked her in the face; and she has to pick her mum's holiday cottage because she's a "researcher" and her mum is useless with computers. And the cherry on the cake, Carol's boyfriend is a douche who can't even remember his own anniversary. It's enough to make any girl crazy, but I was SO desperate for Carol to just tell them all where to get off. I've never had such a visceral reaction to a novel before, but it made me literally shake with anger.

Gorman really did a stellar job of ramping up pressure on Carol. She faces it everywhere in her life. There's literally not one part of Carol's life where someone doesn't want something from her and I could feel the pressure rising and feel her about to blow (mostly because I was about to, to) and it takes quite an author to get that tension flowing. I really appreciated the fact that Carol was incapable of saying no, and it just made me so angry and sad that her family would take advantage like that, without realising their actions. When it all blew up, I was ready and waiting for it with relish. I loved seeing Carol stick up for herself, and put people in their place, and not take no crap! That's what she should have done all along, and I respected and admired her for sticking up for herself. It was a moment that had me clenching my fist in appreciation.

Probably my only issue with the novel was the fact Gorman didn't go there with Zack and Carol. I loved Zack from the first scene he was in, and I just would have liked the story to have gone there, properly. Because Zack was probably the only person who wasn't demanding stuff from Carol. Apart from that I loved the novel. It made me so mad, but I really appreciated feeling something so visceral whilst reading, it's rare that that happens and Gorman pulled it off with aplomb. I loved that Carol had a job as an analyst in a bank, I've never read about that job before, and it was super interesting and nice to see that you can be a Chick Lit heroine and have a kickass job at the same time. And I liked that despite the rampant sexism in her workplace, that no woman should put up with, Carol did because she loved her job and she didn't let the bullies push her out of doing a job she loved. She's a real heroine for the ages and I loved her story. The cover for this novel is so apt, showing a girl on a tightrope juggling balls and I will warn you once more: This book will make you mad, but Carol is more than worth getting mad for!This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read