Not Perfect

A Novel

By: Elizabeth LaBan

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

From Elizabeth LaBan, the acclaimed author of The Restaurant Critic's Wife, comes a captivating and very funny novel about a wife and mother's fall from grace, and why keeping up appearances is not her biggest secret.

Tabitha Brewer wakes up one morning to find her husband gone, leaving her no way to support herself and their two children, never mind their upscale Philadelphia lifestyle. She'd confess her situation to her friends - if it wasn't for those dreadful words of warning in his goodbye note: "I'll tell them what you did."

Instead, she does her best to keep up appearances, even as months pass and she can barely put food on the table - much less replace a light bulb. While she looks for a job, she lives in fear that someone will see her stuffing toilet paper into her handbag or pinching basil from a neighbor's window box.

Soon, blindsided by catastrophe, surprised by romance, and stunned by the kindness of a stranger, Tabitha realizes she can't keep her secrets forever. Sooner or later, someone is bound to figure out that her life is far from perfect.

©2018 Elizabeth LaBan (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Solid 4 stars

For the most part, the narration was good. The narrator has an obnoxious habit of lilting upwards ever so slightly on the last word of every sentence. But you get used to it. Kind of.

The story was great if you are expecting a story about a woman in a hard situation. If you're expecting a romance, you'll feel a tiny bit disappointed. Not super disappointed, by any means. Just a bit.

It's not steamy (which I appreciated), so no worries if you prefer to avoid sex scenes. But even in the scenes meant to be between the MC and the new love interest, the underlying focus was on the crappy (ex)husband. I wanted a bit more of THEM without the constant shadow of the ex.

That said, I still enjoyed this. Never felt like a waste of time. I cared enough to rewind if at times I felt like I didn't quite listen well enough. solid 4 stars.

Took a while to get thru

Was a bit slow moving at the beginning but it got better. I am glad about the pleasant ending though.

Great narration

Would have given it 5 stars but I was no aggravated with the behavior of the adult characters. They all are in need of some therapy. And what they did to those poor kids.

A feel good read!!

Loved everything about this book! A perfect summer read.. will b looking for more by this author

Great story line

This book held my attention and did not want to stop listening to it. Made me think of my own personal life and struggles.

the most I remember about this book is food

I feel like the whole book was about what they were going to eat every single meal. and it's a typical love story where the woman keeps running away and the guy keeps trying to get her back and she can't do it she can't do it she can't do it. okay to fill the time while I was working but I wouldn't read it again.

Desperation

Good story. Able narration. Worth a go. Captures Center City Philadelphia well. Lovely dash of humour.

Some slow parts

This book was pretty 👌. The main lady character irritated me a bit with her over analyzing everything. She should have get enjoyed her small sweet moments. Her husband was darn piece of crap.

Hmmmm

Not what I was expecting. Far too overly detailed and way too long. The main character made up most of her issues in her mind. Very anticlimactic.

Great read!

I recommend this book to fiction fans who love books about family and friends. I found this book engaging and was sad when it was over.