Fantasy&Education

 Blog Tour: Review: Flawed Perfection (Beautifully Flawed#1 ) 

                                                by Cassandra Giovanni



Blurb:

Bobby Beckerson was the American All-Star hockey player--he was the spitting image of perfection to his family. Goofy, sweet and undeniably gorgeous, he had everything but the one girl he wanted: River Ahlers.


River Ahlers is successful in everything but love. She's been in love with Adam Beckerson since they were kids. Worst of all she's stuck right in the middle of the brother's dueling over everything and anything, and she doesn't even know she's the ultimate prize.

Adam Beckerson was a boy with a guitar, a smile that sunk girl's hearts and a stone wall around his own. He was anything but perfect, and no matter how hard he tried he was nothing compared to Bobby. Sweet, damaged, with boyish good-looks, nobody thought Adam loved anyone but himself. Bobby loved River, River loved Adam and Adam only loved himself--or so everyone thought. Then one night everything changes, and as it threatens to destroy everyone involved a tragedy strikes that will break them all...

GENRE: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Review:

I will admit that I wasn't completely happy with the story's ending, but suffice to say is that I'm soooo going to read the next book, but my only hope it's that that novel it' not going to be about another love triangle like this one...

In the start of the novel, we have River who is head over heels in love with Adam, a very talented guitarist very talented, but who is deeply destroyed by his mother's hatred for him and her love for his brother, and that difference between the brother has affected his view on relationship, without so many complicated word, he thinks he's f***** up and doesn't deserve the love of a good woman,scratch that... the love of River. He's so deeply invested in his problems that he doesn't see the way how all of this affects her. Seriously speaking, this girl has waited for him to come around for about ten years, since they were children, that's practically a lifetime of misery that she had to live.

In the meantime, Bobby Beckerson has been in love with her and waiting for her to realize that her love for his brother is wasted because Adam doesn't love anyone but himself...





But we already know that, what you don't know is that the books characters don't mope around and  cry over their tragedy, well they do that too... but no, for example, River has a job to  at a marketing firm, and because their photograph has been lacking lately and he was supposed to show some pictures  for this company's ad, but he doesn't and this is how all of that work comes crashing on River's head until she fiinds the best solution with Adam's help. That's another reason that shows how close those two really are- no secrets (with the exception of their sentiments), and they are always finding each other, even their tattoos matching shows how empathic  their relationship is... with Bobby, River always will have a sense of security, the protection of her feelings, the perfect family, but with Adam, she feels the trembling at his touch, blood pumping through her veins,she just feels and nothing else matters in this world...

But also another feeling, one that is ugly: jealousy, because Adam is a not the one who can be with just one woman, practically, the man changes them like... socks, without a problem, but, neither them are innocent in this situation, because he finds just the wrong woman to date, if we count Monica who sleeps with... River's boyfriend, Andy. Wait! Wait! At their first meeting- it was a party and the drink was for free, well... you can imagine the rest of this story...

After Monica, Adam knows that this is what he was waiting for and makes his moves, and their story's beginning...

The story is told from River's point of view, and she really has a way with words, but I'm not going to lie and say that all was rainbows and sunshine, because it pissed me how all of them (and I'm talking about the females characters) seemed to be against River, without a logic reason... I don't know it seemed a little fake and not realistic enough.

Characters:

River- the author portrays her to be a strong woman, but sometimes she seemed needy, especially because she and Adam weren't dating but still she seemed like a girlfriend betrayed by her loved one, and whats more creepy is that EVERYONE  seemed to think this...

In other moments she seemed jealous on Bobby's girlfriend, Tara, who is also River's best friend before Tara started dating Bobby, but after their friendship changes, because of River but also Tara's fault.

Adam- he was a troubled man, but after they are together he starts to change and becomes reliable and a good boyfriend. Even though, Bobby tries to destroy his relationship, he forgives him and is trying to repair his problems with his brothers, until tragedy strucks...

Bobby... Bobby... I'm so conflicted about him, because I understand why he was an asshole with his brother and River, but he was there for both of them when they needed him, he was their best friend and was there for most of their lives, but he messed all of their trust when he become a pain in the a** for them and he stayed that way for more than half of this novel. but in the end, nothing matters anymore....

Final Verdict- I liked this book, it was a story about friendship and a triangle that messes with your mind, but also a story about growing up and fall in love with your best friend, who doesn't or wants to notice your love. I will however say that I have some caveats. I found that I skimmed some and found myself strangely apathetic to some scenes. But that's all me. I can in no way say another reader will feel the same.

My Rating: 4/5  

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Kobo ~ Google Play~ Signed Paperbacks


Except:



I nodded my head and watched as Adam’s hand lingered on the neck of the Ibanez™ before he picked it back up and slipped the strap over his shoulder.
I sat on the edge of the bed as he began to play without an amplifier.
The noise was tinny without the electric part hooked up but that didn’t matter.  Adam’s fingers moved effortlessly from fret to fret as he strummed the guitar. His head nodded ever so slightly to the beat and his bare foot tapped the floor as he closed his eyes and a smile formed on his lips.
I stood and placed my hands around his neck, yet he continued to play, nod his head and tap his foot with eyes closed. The only change was on his lips as they crept into the seductive grin.
I leaned into him, letting my hands comb through the hair on the back of his head as my breath washed over his lips.
Still nothing. The guitar continued to hum with his talent.
I let my lips hover over his, then let them wander over the soft skin of his neck and up the stubble of his chin. The beat remained smooth, undisturbed as the strings squealed and he deepened the riff.
I paused as my lips reached his again, lingering at the corner of his mouth where the cold metal of his lip ring teased me just as much as his fingers on the guitar.
I let my mouth run over the metal until it caught in my teeth and I sucked it in.
Finally, his body reacted tensing as he groaned—but his playing didn’t cease, didn’t change. He still resisted, hand strumming a tease over the strings next to the skin of my belly.
His mouth responded to mine as I let the ring and his lip slowly slip away from me. That was it— the guitar spun to his back and he yanked my hips to his own.
“I need you to play me like that guitar,” I gasped as his hand tilted my head and his tongue ran over my trembling neck.
His other hand drifted down my torso.
“Good, because I wasn’t done with my song,” he growled into my ear.




About the Author:




Cassandra doesn't remember a time when she wasn't writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel.

Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character's stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening.

In 2012 she became a published Young Adult author, releasing In Between Seasons (The Fall, #1) and the Amazon bestselling thriller, Walking in the Shadows.

In 2013 she branched out by using her artistic illustrating talents to publish her first Children's novel, The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy: Tales of Friendship (Skippy Tales, #1). Cassandra released her first New Adult novel, Love Exactly, which became an Amazon Bestseller overnight in June of 2013.

She's currently working on her new New Adult Contemporary Romance, Beautifully Flawed. The first novel in the series, Flawed Perfection is scheduled to be published on March 7, 2014. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is the owner of Gio Design Studios Photography and Gio Design Studios Publication Marketing . She is currently studying to receive a degree in Marketing. Cassandra is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with the other loves of her life their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.