• Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Books
    • Monthly Wrap Up
    • Giveaways
    • Book Hauls
    • Events
  • Discussions
  • New Releases
  • Features
    • Top Ten Tuesday
    • Romance Thursdays
    • Movie Reviews
    • TV Series Reviews
    • Waiting on Wednesday
  • #LoveOzYA
    • OZYA Interviews
    • OZYA Reviews
  • About
  • Contact
Angel ReadsAngel Reads
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Books
    • Monthly Wrap Up
    • Giveaways
    • Book Hauls
    • Events
  • Discussions
  • New Releases
  • Features
    • Top Ten Tuesday
    • Romance Thursdays
    • Movie Reviews
    • TV Series Reviews
    • Waiting on Wednesday
  • #LoveOzYA
    • OZYA Interviews
    • OZYA Reviews
  • About
  • Contact

Book Review: Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Home Book ReviewsBook Review: Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Book Review: Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

June 25, 2015 Posted by angelreads Book Reviews 4 Comments

22859815 Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

Pages: 272
Publish date: June 30th
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1617738808
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High’s resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:

1. Avoid her at school.
2. Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
3. Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben.

Because with his integrity and values and golden boy looks, Ben can never find out about what she’s been doing behind closed doors with Tyler. Or that her mom’s too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills. Or that Lexi’s dad hasn’t been a part of her life for the last thirteen years. But with Tyler suddenly breaking the rules, Ben asking her out, and her dad back in the picture, how long will she be able to go on faking perfect?

Faking Perfect:

I received an e-arc of Faking Perfect from Kensington Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

I always love to read about a bad boy. I don’t know what it is, but they always seem to make things interesting. Faking Perfect really intrigued me from the synopsis, it sounded interesting and like there was going to be drama, drama, drama and for that part it did not disappoint me, however I did feel that some of the characters lacked substance and the writing style wasn’t my favourite.

Lexi Shaw is the main protagonist in Faking Perfect and she isn’t the ‘good girl.’ So if you were looking for a good girl/bad boy relationship then it’s not in this book. Lexi annoyed me thought-out most of the book. She wants to be this perfect girl that everyone loves, including Ben but still has her late night extravaganzas with Tyler Flynn, but then keeps on going about how she has to be perfect without really changing everything.

Lexi felt like a hypocrite to me most of the book and it ticked the wrong boxes for me. I wanted to like her so much and when she was with Tyler, most of the time I did really enjoy her. But when she tried to be perfect she was fake.

Tyler – I loved him. He is your typical bad boy: sells weed at parties, drinks and driving around like a hoon. But as the novel goes on we see that his character develop, and he starts to try and be a better person. He follows Lexi’s rules and even though he has all these feelings inside of him he doesn’t let them all out because he knows he will hurt Lexi.

But we don’t see that from Lexi, she didn’t change her thoughts all too much from the start of the novel till the end and I love seeing people grow. Her obsession with Ben, gosh it frustrated me so much. She wants to be his girlfriend, he is treated like this perfect student and person and yet he has girlfriends after girlfriends. Her friends as well. She tries to act perfect in front of them and when she doesn’t do something that they were approve of, they stop being her friend.

Let’s not even go into the family problems, her mother is drunk with boyfriends coming in and out of the house, she can’t pay the bills and really doesn’t care about her daughter. Then the father situation, actually I quite liked her father, but it all worked to fast. One minute Lexi was angry and then she was all smiles.
Overall I don’t know really how I feel about Faking Perfect. I liked most of it, but then there was things that really put me off. If you like a quick contemporary read, then Faking Perfect is perfect for you.

Rating

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

4 Comments
Share

4 Comments

Leave your reply.
  • Aentee @ Read at Midnight
    · Reply

    June 25, 2015 at 12:12 PM

    Great review, no one can resist a bad boy haha.

    I also love your blog design! Nice colours and art 🙂

    Loading...
    • angelreads
      · Reply

      Author
      August 5, 2015 at 5:19 PM

      thank you. haha yes no one can resist a bad boy.
      Thank you

      Loading...
  • Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity
    · Reply

    June 30, 2015 at 12:21 PM

    Hmm. I don’t think this one would be for me. I hate the whole “perfect” thing just annoys me to no end, because there really is no such thing.

    The storyline also sounds really similar to a book I read earlier this year, where the girl wanted to date the preppy posh boy, but actually had genuine feelings for the “bad boy”. I think that storyline may have been exhausted.

    It’s a shame that there wasn’t much character growth for Lexi.

    I hope you enjoy your next bad boy book more than this one, Angel!

    Loading...
    • angelreads
      · Reply

      Author
      August 5, 2015 at 5:22 PM

      yes and I think that is what this book is about – she couldn’t be perfect because there is no such thing as perfect.
      Yes, I find this storyline a lot but sometimes it’s nice to read

      Loading...

Leave a Reply

Your email is safe with us.
Cancel Reply

Recent Posts

  • Books Covers With Typography That I Love | TTT
  • New To Me Authors I Loved in 2025
  • My Favourite Reads of 2025
  • Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026
  • Slow but an Okay August | Monthly Wrap Up

Subscribe to Angel Reads

Enter your email address to subscribe to Angel Reads and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Bookstagram

angelreads

book blogger 💻| romance books 💜| bookseller 📖
💌 angel@angelreads.com
📚15/150

I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I have a love-hate relationship with this series. But I ended up really enjoying this one. It’s best friends to fake dating to-lovers. It’s always been you, bad-boy/good-girl, and I loved that. While Save Your Breath has quite a few tropes, it really leads itself to it, and it works. 

Aleks and Mia have known each other for years now. Since they were teenagers, that angst has been building up this whole time. And you can tell right from the get-go, it’s fantastic. I even wanted more of it, because I love pain. When Aleks went to live with Mia’s family as a teenager, sparks flew, but for many reasons, they both put their feelings aside. And well, now they are not only going to be fake-dating, but they might as well be engaged, too. 

I really enjoyed seeing how both Aleks and Mia both tried to hide how they were feeling throughout the whole ‘fake-dating’ situation, but anyone could see it. They know each other as no one else does. Aleks has a lot going on, and while I do think this was brushed over a little too much, Mia is his centre. Mia is a massive music star and is a female in the industry, so yeah, people don’t respect her. Obvsiouly because why couldn’t a female star be badass and write about the things that she has gone through? Aleks and Mia get each other, and that is very clear from the start; they are both just trying to squash everything. We get to see them slowly start to show how they feel, and well, one night it all explodes. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot; it’s not my favourite of the series, but I had a great time reading it. I liked Aleks and Mia a lot as characeters and while I think the mental health aspect could have been explored a whole lot more, I can see why it wasn’t. The romance was slow and spicy, the angst was great, and the payoff for these two was what they needed. 

Tropes
🏒Sports/Hockey Romance
🎤Fake Dating/Engagement
🏒Childhood Friends to Lovers
🎤Forced Proximity
🏒Athlete x Pop Star 
🎤Angsty Slow Burn 

Content Warnings
Mental Health Struggles 
Suicide Intention 
Family Deaths 
Alcohol Consumption
Violence on Ice

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #bookreview
Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I onl Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I only ended up reading 3 books in. 3 pretty fun books but one of my slowest readings months in a while. 

And I’m going to be honest here it’s because I’ve been constantly reading Heated Rivalry fanfics. 🤷‍♀️ I’m having the best time though. 

How was your reading in February? Any 5  star reads? 

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #februarywrapup
January was a really solid reading month. I read s January was a really solid reading month. I read some books that had been on my tbr for some time, reread a few things that peaked my interest. I also started a few new series. And just had a good time!

I just had a really good start to the year. While February is a little slow so far I’m looking forward to what I can pick up.

What did you read in January? Any 5-star reads? Let’s chat! 

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #januarywrapup
Can you believe that it’s already February? I know Can you believe that it’s already February? I know I can’t. But that means it’s a new month with more releases coming out! And that makes me excited. Some fantastic titles releasing this month and I cannot wait to read them. 📚

A couple of these are on my TBR already and some have just caught my eye and that makes me super excited to pick them up. 🖤

What are you looking forward to reading this month? Let’s chat! ✨

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #Februaryreleases2026
Follow on Instagram

GoodReads

2026 Reading Challenge

2026 Reading Challenge
Angel - Angel Reads has read 0 books toward her goal of 150 books.
hide
0 of 150 (0%)
view books

Contact Us

Send us an email and I'll get back to you, asap.

Send Message

© 2013 - 2026 · Angel Reads · Disclaimer

Prev Next
%d