Better Than Perfect By Melissa Kantor

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

Better Than Perfect By Melissa Kantorby Melissa Kantor
Published by Harper Collins on February 17, 2015
Genres: Young Adult
Goodreads
three-half-stars

Juliet Newman has it all. A picture-perfect family; a handsome, loving boyfriend; and a foolproof life plan: ace her SATs, get accepted into Harvard early decision, and live happily ever after. But when her dad moves out and her mom loses it, Juliet begins questioning the rules she’s always lived by. And to make everything even more complicated there’s Declan, the gorgeous boy who makes her feel alive and spontaneous—and who’s totally off-limits. Torn between the life she always thought she wanted and one she never knew was possible, Juliet begins to wonder: What if perfect isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

 

 

 

Better Than Perfect ended up being a much more interesting story than I thought it would be.  Juliet is your typical over achiever.  Good grades, sweet boyfriend, a highly scheduled day, high SAT scores…I could go on and on.  The catalyst of her new and painful chapter is her mother’s breakdown and admittance into a mental health facility.  While trying to keep everything in her life going, she starts to see that the world doesn’t end when things don’t go as planned.  This whole book is her gradual realization of this fact and through her parents divorce, her mother’s recovery, and her attraction to someone who isn’t her boyfriend, she makes a painful journey towards the understanding that it’s not always easy to make the right decision for yourself.  I really liked Juliet.  She was flawed and complicated.  I thought her reaction to her mother’s actions and her conflicted feelings about her family were very real and relatable.

The story did become a bit repetitive in the middle section.  There was a chunk of pages when it didn’t seem to be moving forward, but it did eventually find its course again.  I also wasn’t a fan of the way the character of Juliet’s boyfriend, who started out as a part of her perfectly planned life, was turned into “the bad guy”.  It seemed like a cop out, quite frankly.  Instead of really digging into Juliet’s character as it related to her boyfriend and how their shared goals might be diverging, the author simply made him unlikable all of a sudden.  However, despite that, I did like the story.  It dealt with a lot of heavy issues, and it was good to see a story about someone who was dealing with a mentally ill parent as well as dealing with the stigma of having a family member with a mental illness.  I appreciated the way her mother’s recovery seemed to open Juliet up to the possibility that her life didn’t have to be planned down to every last detail.  The ending was absolutely fantastic.  It really gave the choice to Juliet, and it brought a very big smile to my face.

 

three-half-stars

About Melissa Kantor

Melissa Kantor is the author of Confessions of a Not It Girl, an ALA Booklist Best Romance Novel for Youth in 2004; If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince?, a YALSA Teens Top Ten Pick in 2006; The Breakup Bible, an ALA Best Books for Young Adults nominee in 2007; and Girlfriend Material. She is a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, where she lives with her family.

Kate


3 responses to “Better Than Perfect By Melissa Kantor

  1. I’m on the fence about this one. Love the idea of the issues and the idea of a character who’s such a perfectionist, because I think that’s an issue for many teenage girls. But what I’ve heard about the romance has put me off.
    Glad you ended up liking it overall — maybe I’ll request it at the library and give it a try!
    Jen @ YA Romantics

  2. Ugh, I hate when authors make a love interest unlikable – such a cop out! But I absolutely LOVED Melissa Kantor’s Maybe One Day and want to give this one a shot. It sounds like this one has a great message and I’m glad to hear the ending was fantastic!

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