Review: Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips

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?

Paperback, 272 pages

Expected publication: June 30th 2015 by Kensington

Terri's Thoughts

**I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Kensington via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  The expected publication date is June 30th 2015**

This is not the typical YA read that deals with crushes, love triangles and teenage relationships.  Well, actually it is but that only scratched the surface of this read.  What this story is really about is dealing with the cards you are dealt and trying to overcome them.  It deals with the pain associated to broken families which results in broken people.

I would not recommend this to the younger audience.  This is simply because it deals with Lexi being a sexually active teenager and trying to fill an emptiness through sexual activity.  On the flip side it does teach a good lesson about being true to yourself and that pretending to be someone you are not will never be fulfilling.

Lexi led a dysfunctional life.  With no real role models in her immediate family this is not surprising.  An absent father for her entire life and a mother with a steady stream of deadbeat boyfriends.  Her attraction to Tyler was not surprising.  I found myself looking forward to any scenes he was a part of.  I also dreaded any scenes with Lexi's friends and Ben as they seemed only dull and judgemental.  Let me tell you that Ben would never treat me the way he treated his steady stream of girlfriends!

This story had a little more substance than I thought from the synopsis.  Several issues were addressed from teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol addiction, and broken families.  For this I found myself glued to the pages to find out what would happen next.  I enjoyed this book.

About the Author

Rebecca Phillips has been a fan of contemporary young adult fiction ever since she first discovered Judy Blume at the age of twelve. After a brief stint writing bad poetry as a teenager, she finally found her niche with realistic, coming‑of‑age YA. Her third novel, OUT OF NOWHERE, was a finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. She's also the author of the JUST YOU series. Her next YA novel, FAKING PERFECT (Kensington), is set to be released on June 30, 2015.

Rebecca lives just outside the beautiful city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her husband, two children, and one spoiled rotten cat. She absolutely loves living so close to the ocean. When she’s not tapping away on her laptop, she can be found vacuuming up cat hair, spending time with her family, watching reality TV, reading all different genres of books, or strolling around the bookstore with a vanilla latte in her hand.

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