Perfect (Flawed, #2)

by Cecelia Ahern

[Leah]

You guys, I may have been a bit sceptical when it was announced Cecelia Ahern was the latest author to turn her hand to YA fiction, but man, has she ever nailed it. Flawed was absolutely fantastic and its sequel, Perfect, was even better! It kinda built on everything from Flawed and just made it that much better. I’ve never read a duology before with so much pace, but Perfect goes by so fast you feel like you should have whiplash from everything that’s happening, I actually lapped it up because I like books that go at quite a clip, it keeps the suspense up and it keeps me reading (I am currently writing this review at 12.30am, which should tell you how addictive this book is since my bedtime is regularly 10pm).

What I liked most about Perfect is that it stands alone quite well. Yes, reading Flawed will heighten your experience, but Cecelia is incredibly thorough with her recap, so you basically get caught up pretty easily. I appreciate that, because a lot of authors rely on you remembering what happened a year ago, which if they know anything about readers (or me, in particular) I forget things the SECOND I finish reading, all the time. I regularly start writing my review and have to go look up who the characters were again. Being back with Celestine was incredible - to think we first met her as this naive girl who thought her life was perfect (HAHAHAHAHA) and that her life was untouchable, to what she becomes in Perfect is mind-blowing but also incredible because her own personal growth was a pleasure to watch. You can literally see her growing into herself as the pages of Flawed and Perfect pass.

Perfect has so much right with it. There are tons of fist-bump moments, where I wanted to leap up from the sofa and scream with joy and excitement and frustration, too. It was like being on a roller-coaster, with ups and downs and plot twists galore, but it’s the kind of read that’s wholly satisfying by the end. You feel like you’ve gotten somewhere when you close the book, that all the anguish and torture of 800 pages was worth it. I love books about girl who become heroes. Katniss Everdeen in particular, who has  been a model of sorts for all these other girls who come and be heroes, and it’s so empowering that they don’t need a man to be saved. (I like when men save the day, sometimes, but I LOVE girls who can kick ass by themselves.)

I really, really loved this duology. I haven’t said a lot about Perfect because I don’t want to give too much away, but it was a brilliant sequel, and I liked that the romance wasn’t this massive thing. It would have been so easy for Celestine to be swayed by love, but it’s almost like a footnote, like it isn’t really that important, that the book still would have happened without it. Cecelia Ahern has done a superb job with her first foray in YA fiction, and man, I hope she keeps writing YA because she’s such a compelling writer. I felt like I really knew Celestine, I could cheer her victories and cry when things went wrong and I just can’t explain how all encompassing this duology was, I read it back to back over three days and it just blew my mind, both books are absolutely brilliant and they go together so freaking well. BRAVO CECELIA.