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Book Review: Perfect by Cecelia Ahern

Mar 19, 2017

Perfect (Flawed #2) by Cecelia Ahern

Pages: 352
Publish date: April 4th, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
ISBN: 1250074126
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine’s life has completely fractured–all her freedoms gone.

Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with Carrick–the only person she can trust.

But Celestine has a secret–one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing.

Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself or to risk her life to save all Flawed people.

And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed?

Perfect:

This review will have spoilers from book 1 – Flawed.

I receded an earc of Perfect by Cecelia Ahern from Feiwel & Friends via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about a book.

Last year I read book one in this duology and was intrigued. Flawed introduced us into a world that is quite different from ours. Where if you go against their laws you are marked as flawed. And it’s not the usual laws that they have to abide. When protagonist Celestine North helps a flawed she is damned – and marked with not 1, not 2, not even 4 flawed marks, but 6. The most anyone has had. The ending of Flawed saw Celestine on the run and wanting to break this system.

I was really looking forward to reading what was going to happen next. What was Celestine going to find out? Will the system break? However, I was slightly disappointed with the outcome. When I finished reading Perfect, I was left hanging.

Perfect starts off not long after Flawed. Celestine is hiding out at her grandfather’s farm, trying not to be caught and blending in. The connection that I had with Celestine was lost in this book. I don’t know what it was, but I felt that she was different. I loved her honesty, her weakness, her rawness and I felt that she lost that in Perfect.

The romance. I first I loved it. I really did. And then I figure out, the book wasn’t set over a large amount of time and my love for it did lessen. They just saw each other and wanted other. Although I did see a connection between the two, I felt like they didn’t actually know each other. However, I still enjoyed it somewhat and if the books were spaced out over a bigger period of time, it would have totally worked for me.

Family, was a big theme in Perfect and I loved it. There is the good, the bad and the ugly. But, that is what families are. I loved Celestine’s relationship with her mother and sister. It’s rare to get good family bonds in YA, let alone Dystopian. I loved that they cared so much for each other. And even with Celestine on the run, she cared so much for her family.

I felt that Perfect was a lot slower than the first book. At times, I was getting bored and wanting something to happened, but then it didn’t. The last half of the book was pretty good on that part. There was action and every page I turned something was happening. The last 150 or so were probably my favourite. They were intense, I didn’t know what was going to happened next, and there was a twist – which I wasn’t expecting.

Overall, Perfect was an okay read. I enjoyed parts of it and disliked others. What disappointed me most was that I was expecting more. This world intrigued me and I was left hanging. The romance was a hit and miss for me, while I loved the aspects of family. Nevertheless, Perfect explores the notion of standing up and fighting for what you believe.

Have you read this series yet? What did you think? Have you read Perfect? What did you think? Are you planning on reading it?

Book Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Jul 24, 2016

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Pages: 402
Publish date: April 2016
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia
ISBN: 9780008126360
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found Flawed.

Flawed:

I received a review copy of Flawed by Cecelia Ahern from Harper Collins Australia in exchange for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I have seen this book around for a while, however I am not the biggest fan of dystopian, and I’ve just not had the best luck with it, so picking it wasn’t high on my list. In saying all this, I quite enjoyed Flawed and cannot wait to read the sequel.

Flawed follows Celestine North as her perfect life turns on its head. An instinctive decision changes everything Celestine knew, and what people thought of her. She breaks a rule of this new world and has to suffer the consequences.

I enjoyed Celestine as a protagonist, but I didn’t love her. She lives in a world where she is seen as perfect, where you are punished for sometimes simple mistakes. She has a notion of how the world works and she cannot see otherwise. However, as the Flawed goes on she witnesses a different side to this world and her opinions change.

I loved seeing Celestine grow, her character development was something that I adored about the book and cannot wait to see where she goes. Like I said at times she could be naïve and all I wanted to do was scream – however I understood why.

What happens to her is horrible and my heart broke. She now lives a very different life and she doesn’t have too many people on her side. I did want to see her a little more vulnerable though, Cecelia Ahern could have taken that a little further.

One of the things that I loved about Flawed was the family relationship. It’s not every day that you see a good family bond, especially in YA, so I loved seeing it. Her parents; if I could hug them, I would – they were brilliant. They stood by her and did as much as they could.

I loved seeing the interactions between them all; at times the younger members of the family were a bit…I don’t even know how to explain it, supportive, but it overall the relationship was okay.

Another thing I loved about Flawed was the world – I was fascinated, intrigued; it was a horrible world where people get published for the most simple of things, but it was done so well.

If you have done wrong, you are tried and if found guilty you are punished by a branding, an F. There are five brand placements and each mean a different thing;

The temple, for bad decisions.

The tongue, for lying.

The right palm, for stealing from society.

Over the heart, for disloyalty to the guide.

And

The sole of the right foot, for stepping out of line with society.

Apart from the branding they are treated like outcasts. They have to follow certain rules, they cannot live a normal life – they are flawed.

The romance in Flawed wasn’t exactly my favourite and we don’t see too much of it. At the start of the novel she is with Art Crevan, it seemed like a stable relationship, however I didn’t feel the spark. I felt like there was something missing.

Then there is Carrick and we don’t see too much of him, but Celestine feels something and she is intrigued and pulled into his direction.

Cecelia writing in Flawed was great, it was easy to read and follow. The world building was done okay, however at times I was confused because there was a lot of characters to follow.

Overall, Flawed was an intriguing read. With a world that marks people for being flawed and follows a system that is flawed itself, a protagonist that needs to hold on, Flawed is a captivating read and I cannot wait for more.