Perfectly Imperfect

By: Harper Sloan

Narrated by: Shirl Rae, Zachary Webber

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Mirror, mirror, who's the fairest of them all?

I still cringe when I hear that line. A fairy tale that had girls pretending they were the fairest, the most beautiful, and the most entitled. A fairy tale most couldn't grow out of turned my haunted childhood memories into a living nightmare. Girls who grew up believing that pile of garbage became the meanest of all mean girls. And those mean girls were right. It was a line meant for all the beautiful people in the world, and I knew the answer would never be me. The answer would always be the women with long legs, flat stomachs, and perfect chests - the type of women Kane Masters gravitated toward.

Well, that's definitely not Willow Tate. No. That will never be me, because I'm completely imperfect. I have no idea what Kane could possibly see in someone like me when he could have them.

©2015 E. S. Harper (P)2016 Tantor

Uplifting! Beautiful! Inspiring!

All words to describe this book. Not only do we get to see a HEA hells yeah. But we get to see a women become OKAY with her BODY!

I hate, hate, hate, when I writer tears down a plus size women. Or makes them have so much self esteem issues. I am a large women and have been since grade school. So yeah I know all about bully's and self esteem issues. But I also know my self worth and that I think is far more sexy then what my body looks like.

So I was really pleased with this whole story. I do wish she had lost the weight in a more healthier way but what can you do its fiction right. :) Her friends are the BOOM.com I swear I love that about Harper's works she always make them have kick ass friends.

I love me some Kane oooo weeee baby. I love how he looks past her body issues or no that's not right he doesn't look passed them he embraces them and shows Willow that she should embraces herself as well, because there is nothing sexier than a women who owns her own skin. Yes their are going to be times when she doesn't like what she see's in the mirror who doesn't but don't dwell on it.

I <3'd this book to pieces!

I have enjoyed the narration. I am not a huge fan for Shirl but she isn't terrible and her performance in this with Zachary perfection.

This was the best of all her books

This book is an erotic, romance novel. Loved every min.

I have to say this one really had me in tears and screaming all within five mins. The story between two people was so strong and the abuse that one person has to overcome just to be free of the past.

Willow use to know unconditional love through her mother but as she grew and her mother remarried, she soon became acquainted with a love that came with conditions. Starving and striving to give all she can to retain the love of her step father after her mother's death is a long dream that will be come to light. The emotional abuse of her stepfather and sister can only force willow into a shell.

Kane a man of the Hollywood spot light is looking of the one girl, a dream of finding the woman that he plays in every movie. When he finally finds her and await for her to lick her wounds so he can come to her rescue, he finds himself in the tabloids scandals. As stories from the press make him look bad when only trying to help a friend, Willow wants nothing to do with someone like Kane, sexy as sin and is no way in her league. He still will not let go of the hope that Willow is strong enough to believe the truth and to trust him.

Love, love, love this book. The characters are well defined and the emotions of each charter are truly a work of art. This book is not like her other, were there is a lot of action and violence, this book is awesome.

Heartwarming romance with a great message....

Any additional comments?

First and foremost I must mention the performance: 5 well-deserved, I love Zachary Webber and Shirl Rae stars!!! This is my first Harper Sloan book, and my primary reason for buying it was because of this duo of narrators. If you haven't listened to a book narrated by either of these exceptional performers, you are missing out!

The books itself was great. I loved the characters...especially Willow and her phoenix-like rebirth. She was a destroyed woman...kicked repeatedly while she was down. Her rise and redemption was a thing of beauty.

The story was rather like a modern-day Cinderella. Willow's meltdown at her stepfather's company was sad but satisfying. Her return for closure was a thing of beauty that made me want to start high-fiving anyone in my vicinity!

The romance between Willow and Kane was sweet. Willow denies Kane's interest initially because she can't imagine why the perfect male specimen of a movie star could desire her. As Willow slowly becomes comfortable in her skin (a voluptuous size 14), the romance blossoms and sexual tension builds.

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the time-skipping. There were events particularly during the building of the romance that should have been detailed. Large chunks of time were missing and glossed over with only a passing mention. This made the story choppy. I get that it had to take place over years, but there are more seamless ways to accomplish this. Cutting out the nitty-gritty of a courtship in a romance novel is a bad move. Sloan, I hope you have an ex-editor you hate for having done this to your book.

With that said, Perfectly Imperfect was a good romance read. Well worth a credit.

Whatt a Debbie Downer!

I gave this book 12 chapters that I will never get back. Typically, the audio performance of Zachary Webber can save any audiobook from mediocrity. However, nothing could make this book good. The female lead spoke so negatively about herself, going on ad nauseum about how awful, fat, ugly, and worthless she considers herself. One can not help but wonder how any hero can love a heroine that fails so utterly to lover herself. Frankly, I am frustrated, slightly depressed, and over it. I don’t read or listen to romances to be depressed. I read and listen to romances for escapism and the HEA. If depressing is your go to literature, you’ll adore Perfectly Imperfect. (I’ve never read a character that hated herself as much as Willow.) If you prefer your romance without the self-loathing, avoid this book and audiobook at all costs.

3.5 stars

So this is a hard one for me. I really loved the idea behind the story, especially after looking up inspiration pictures on Pinterest. It was such a nice change of pace from the stereotypical heroin in a book. I think the twist at the end was well played out until the epilogue, then I got lost again.

I think the author tried to get her point across so much that it came across as redundant. I felt like screaming... We get it! He loved her for who she is! And it seemed quite unrealistic for him to be so incredibly patient dealing with such behavior Willow about her body image.

Ok, negatives aside... It was a great love story. I am so disgusted with her families behavior towards her and it was hard to listen to knowing that there are people who treat others that way. Worth a listen, definitely entertaining.

Couldn't finish...

The story was overly predictable and too unrealistic. I found myself rolling my eyes too often. The narration was part of the reason for the eye roles. Webber was good. Rae would have been fine if she didn't drag out so many words and add inflection in odd spots. It was like listening to an overly dramatic, whiny teenager tell a story. With that narration, it was hard to picture a character I could like and want to know more about.

Predicable & Bad writing

I picked this because I like the narrators. I feel sorry for them. They had to try and make bad writing sound believable. I had to turn this off several times because I just couldn't stand how bad it was. Predictable story line and intimate scenes were badly written.

It was just ok...

The story was very predictable and didn't give much of a story plot, I felt like the story was ending before even begun.If it wasn't for the narrators being amazing I'm not sure if I want to finish the book. To tell you the truth the only reason I even bought the book is because I adore these narrators they're amazing.

The epilogue was horrible, not happy

Sure, the couple got their HEA, but the epilogue was just plain awful and didn’t add anything to the story. And the “secret” was dumb and, just like the epilogue, didn’t add to the story.

Bad female narrator

I couldn't finish. The female narrator has the worst male character voice I've ever heard.

Sweet book

A good book with a sweet message of strength and how having it allows you to help other people finding theirs. Also lovely to see the body positivity portrayal but not making it pathetic and overdone. It felt real and relatable. I feel it’s a bit sad that a man have to teach the broken woman how to love herself tho but also understand that the plot probably wouldn’t be quite the same without it. The positive thing is that he does back off and let her be strong in her self once he’s helped her there though.
Even though there’s quite a few sizzling scenes it still doesn’t feel like they’re thrown in totally willy nilly but that they have a purpose aside from being sexy. They build the characters and the story and portray the growing love between the main characters.
Both narrators were great, I really like Zachary’s voice. His portrayal of confident sensitive men is spot on if you ask me.

Good story, not so good female narrator

I loved the male narrator, Zachary Webber, and it's a shame he was not narrating more of the book. The female narrator's male voices were grating! In fact, I had to stop listening on several occasions because of it.
The actual story was really excellent, telling of a woman with little body-confidence, gradually accepting herself, and her body as she became a stronger person in general. The love story was sweet and very hot! Wear your earbuds!
The intrigue aspect was a good plot device too, although I did guess who the father was.
Overall, a good story, but it was slightly letdown by the female narrator.

Great book

Loved the story and female narrator. the male narrator was very flat and boring though unfortunately

brilliantly written

it's great to hear a story about a plus sized woman. . . . 5☆

Ambiguous buy

Any additional comments?

I thought it made a refreshing change addressing the issues most of us have, I loved that she became more confident and it was sweet that 'he' was so supportive, but I had some serious issues about how the man was portrayed.
The perfect issue - what is good for her should also be good for him, why was he portrayed as so perfect? doesn't this just displace the issue and project it elsewhere? Making it an unattainable thing only the gorgeous show stopper gets the girl. He could have been gorgeous in every way but perhaps be bald or had flat feet...
This had a contradictory message for me and for that reason is only a mid-range book.