REVIEW: PRESENT PERFECT BY ALISON G. BAILEY

Synopsis

I’ve been unsure about many things in my life except for one thing, that I have always loved him. Every single minute of every single day that I have been on this earth, my heart has belonged to him. It has never been a question, never a doubt. The love had taken on many different forms over the years, but it had always been a constant.

Everyone has their definition of love. There have been countless songs sung about it. A gazillion books, articles, and poems written about it. There are experts on love who will tell you how to get it, keep it, and get over it.

We’re led to believe love is complicated. It’s not the love that’s complicated. It’s all the crap that we attach to it and put in front of it that makes it difficult. If you’re smart, you’ll realize this before it’s too late and simplify.

 Amanda Kelly spent her entire life trying to control every aspect of it, while striving for perfection. Her obsession with being perfect, along with her feelings of worthlessness, consumed her. The one thing she thought was perfect in her life was the bond she shared with her best friend, Noah.
Everything was going according to her life plan until she woke up one day and realized she had fallen in love with him. The one thing she couldn’t control was the effect he had on her. Noah had the power to give her one hundred lifetimes of happiness, which also gave him the power to completely devastate her. He was the one thing in her life that was perfect, but she couldn't allow herself to have him. Her life begins to unravel. Events take over and force her to let go of her dreams and desires. She needs to realize that a person cannot control the events in their life, only their reaction to them...but will it be too late for her to save her relationship with her best friend? Present Perfect is a story of how past events have present consequences and how perfect your present could be if you stopped fighting and just allowed it to happen.


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Erin's Review

First things first, get tissues. Lots and lots of tissues. You WILL ugly cry and if you don't, you don't have a heart. The story starts out sweet enough, childhood best friend, trying to see if they want to evolve their relationship, boy says yes, girl says no. Then it seems to take a bit a twist. Amanda and Noah are frustratingly perfect for each other. Amanda, at times, had me so mad at her for not seeing what was in front of her face. She tried to keep it simple, oh did she ever try, but as with everything, life got in the way.  She began to do things not in her nature and did everything she could to just keep things the same. They never would remain the same again.  Noah loves Amanda but he can't make her choose him. She will always be his first love, always. They are best friends, after all. Then life gets in the way. 
 The second half of the book threw me for a loop. It quickly went from this sweet love story to life, where everything isn't always roses and perfect. Adjustments have to be made, goals have to be re-evaluated and you have to take a serious look at who you want in your life, who's going to be there through it all, and who's worth saying goodbye too.
 This is where the ugly cries came in. And once they started, they wouldn't stop. This story is sweet, heartbreaking and raw. Amanda and Noah are characters that will forever live in my hear for a number of reasons. Even the jerk Brad, who I wanted to throat punch, wormed his way in there. And words can't express how much I loved Dalton. Everyone deserves a Dalton in their life, someone with a zest for living and who is wise beyond their years, someone who won't sugar coat anything but won't crush us either. 
 This story reminds us all that even though we may not feel perfect, like we don't measure up, we are perfect to someone. It also is a reminder to stop over analyzing everything and just feel, just be. Stop thinking of the what ifs and jump with both feet, especially to that which is right in front of us. 
 What I thought was a sweet YA story made one hell of an impression on me and ended up being a life mantra  "Always remember present perfect, grasshopper"