Book Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

Title: All Your Perfects
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication: July 17th 2018
Pages: 384
Synopsis:

Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.

All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?

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MY RATING: 3/5

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Colleen Hoover’s writing, and her books. Majority of them end up to be my book of choice for a lazy afternoon because I know that if I read one page of her writing, I would want to binge the whole thing in one entire sitting. That’s the magic of Colleen. Ask her super loyal fan group on Instagram or Facebook and you’ll see the love they have for this writer. A fair warning for everyone reading my review is that while I’m not an obsessive fan of Colleen’s, I’m still a fan of her writing and All Your Perfects is one of my most anticipated July releases. The synopsis of the book didn’t tell much for readers and I find that thrilling because what was in store?

A little vague synopsis of this book is that it’s a story about a marriage that is breaking down. Quinn and Graham met under ridiculous circumstances that led them to be fascinated with each other. After months apart, they meet again and sparks fly. Told from two different and alternating points in their relationship, readers will experience the rawness of a relationship on the brink of collapsing. Quinn and Graham both want a child. They have tried almost every possible way under the sun to achieve this feat and it’s becoming more and more impossible as day goes on. Quinn begins self-loathing, feelings of grief, and disappointment. While Graham feels that the woman she loves is no longer the same person. She’s cold, unattached, and a shell of herself. Will they be able to survive the greatest of storms or will they end up destroying each other?

After reading a little bit of the synopsis that I have given you, you can probably understand the mood of this book. It’s not dark and sexy like Ugly Love or fun and quirky like Without Merit. It’s raw, gritty, and very depressing to read. It’s what someone who goes through multiple tries of trying to get pregnant and failing or someone who goes through miscarriages may feel. It’s realistic in this way and will do a fantastic job at connecting with readers who are in the same position as Quinn. Unfortunately, I am not Quinn. I do not feel sympathetic to her when she lets this issue drive her self-destruction. I can argue that her selfish behavior is the reason she drives Graham away multiple of times. Her anger towards Graham feels wrongly placed and unjustified and it leaves me furious at moments when I see Graham feeling distraught or sadness and guilt but Quinn feels almighty and righteous. I feel sadness for her need to be a mother but the whole entirety of the book is focused on this one issue, leaving the book to drag on longer than it had to.

Overall, character motivation and values killed the vibe for me. However, I wanted to point out that the reason why I continued reading was because of the alternating timelines. ‘Then’ was fantastic to read in the beginning. It was fluffy and sweet and adorable to see how these two lovebirds got together. But then something happened. A twist. And I became more focused on ‘Now’ rather then ‘Then’. It also caused me to feel unsettled a lot of the times because ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ were complete polar opposites of each other and were on opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of emotions. It was like being tugged in a game of tug-of-war– from super happy to super sad by less than 20 pages which can be troublesome for a lot of readers including myself. Furthermore, after the ‘twist’, I gave up on ‘Then’. There was no point to it. It destroyed my love for their young love and it made me want / crave their drama.

MY RECOMMENDATION

Colleen Hoover is a fantastic author who never repeats the same idea. Her Without Merit received a lot of criticism because of how different it was her past novels and how it’s not something loyal readers expected. However, I enjoyed Without Merit. It was a fun read that still held the substance. I’m sure many will adore this read and I know a lot already do. However, I flipped and I’m on the other side. While this book was enjoyable and easy to breeze through, it was not my favourite.

I still suggest to read this one for yourself and make your own decision. I would love to discuss with you guys!