Present Perfect

By: Alison G. Bailey

Narrated by: Appelusa McGlynn

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Amanda Kelly spent her entire life trying to control every aspect of it, while striving for perfection. Her obsession with being perfect, along with her feelings of worthlessness, consumed her. The one thing she thought was perfect in her life was the bond she shared with her best friend, Noah. Everything was going according to her life plan until she woke up one day and realized she had fallen in love with him. The one thing she couldn't control was the effect he had on her. Noah had the power to give her 100 lifetimes of happiness, which also gave him the power to completely devastate her. He was the one thing in her life that was perfect, but she couldn't allow herself to have him. Her life begins to unravel. Events take over and force her to let go of her dreams and desires. She needs to realize that a person cannot control the events in their life, only their reaction to them - but will it be too late for her to save her relationship with her best friend? Present Perfect is a story of how past events have present consequences and how perfect your present could be if you stopped fighting and just allowed it to happen.

©2013 Alison G. Bailey (P)2014 Alison G. Bailey

The Ultimate Angsty Friends to Lovers Romance!

This book was the ultimate angsty friends to lovers romance!
I fell in love with Noah just as much as tweet did. I loved their story from childhood to adult hood. All the ups and downs, the drama that comes with being a teen and early adult, the love and sexiness of it all.
The narrator did such a great job bringing tweet and all of her thoughts and quirkiness to life. This book is definitely a must read for any lover of Angst and friends to lovers.

Innovative. Inspiring. Ironic.

Innovative. Inspiring. Ironic. Past Perfect sets itself apart from the standard romance format. Bailey dares to be different by writing a love song that puts the duet to the test with some thought provoking solo work. Noah and Amanda put all of their cards on the table, even the not so pretty ones. The dialogue is the melody that calls to all hearts and McGlynn takes the lyrics of this heartbreaking song to new heights. Her delivery will pull at the strings of your soul.

Prepare for this emotional journey!

“Oh dear Lord, what an incredible story I heard. Present Perfect was simply perfect. Painful and heartbreaking with the highest levels of angst. First I must said that this was not a usual romance, from beginning to end the angst of this friends to lovers romance was amazing and frustrating at the same time! My heart ached for both of them, since their childhood until college. There were countless of times that I had to pause the narration because my heart simply couldn’t continue. Amanda, I cannot help but hate her honestly… geez her insecurities made everything harder for both of them. I know talking about someone not feeling worth it is hard and it sucks but I wish she would have been more secure and determinate not so frustrating. Noah, he was a Prince Charming, yes I admit he made some mistakes but he really tried to do the best. I fall in love with him, it was impossible not to. A part of my heart now belongs to him. Don’t believe this story is the typical friends to lovers romantic story, unpredictable is the most accurate word that describes this story. Grab your copy, a pack of tissue and prepare for this emotional journey.”

Killed me several times over

Would you listen to Present Perfect again? Why?

It was extremely worth it, but, no, I couldn't go through it again.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Noah is absolutely my favorite character. All he wants in life is to love her. He's patient, kind and handsome. He's the ideal friend and lover.

Which character – as performed by Appelusa McGlynn – was your favorite?

The voice of Tweet is done really well, especially the sarcastic parts.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My reactions during this book were all over the place. It made me a nutcase. I was swooning like mad, angry as hell and crying constantly.

Any additional comments?

Writing a review for this book is very difficult. It freaking killed me several times over.

The beginning is so sweet it could break the record for awww moments. I was totally into it. Then it morphed into a case of me wanting to smack some sense into the female lead. I needed her to snap out of it. Seriously I considered DNFing several times because of her stupidity. She's in love with him. He's in love with her. But she won't be with him because it will destroy their friendship so she destroys their friendship. It went to the point that I got angry and had to step away a few times. But then, it would be gnawing at me to return to the story. I mean I really, really, really needed to continue reading like a drug addict jonesing for a fix.

Obviously I became a total nutcase as my review is highlighting. I dropped too many tears to count. I was swooning like mad, angry as hell and crying constantly. Reading this novel was epic. I feel like I should be allowed to book a resort vacation now. It was extremely worth it, but I couldn't go through it again.

I freaking love Noah. All he wants in life is to love her. He's patient, kind and handsome. He's the ideal friend and lover.

This is a love story that started around preschool age and endures through a metric ton of life's crap. I will never forget reading about Noah and Tweet. Overall it left a great aftertaste and made me want more. Even though it probably took years off my life, I loved it!

Heart tugging!

I first started this book and loved the premise. Amanda and Noah are best friends since birth. They were born at the same time, their families are friends and their friendship is forged in stone. Now old enough to feel that boyfriend tug, Amanda(Bird) is looking at Noah in a whole new light, just like her friends are. But her insecurities of being perfect kick in and she pulls away. Nothing should detract from her perfect friendship and she has to stay on course to keep up with her perfect sister. What she doesn't understand is Noah's feelings and how much he feels for her. Will he be able to convince her? There are parts of this book I absolutely loved, then became completely frustrated. But I persevered through Bird's growing pains only to be shocked with the twist! I was completely flabbergasted! But Alison Bailey saw me through the good times and the bad times, giving a realistic story the emotions of true to life situations. It's a coming of age story that will steal your heart and fill you up. It's a great listen to start the year off.

Appelusa McGlynn is new to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed her performance. She has a young voice that fit the role from child to adult. I found her voices fit the characters and she has just enough emotion not to make it over the top. I will definitely be looking for more by her in the future.

3 Stars

I was sent this book from the publisher/publicity team. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review. I really enjoyed this story. It did take a direction that I was not expecting towards the end. I will say that Amanda was very unlikable most of the story. She annoyed me and I was over how she ran away from her feelings for Noah. When things change for her, it was hard to feel connected to her and what was happening to her. It was sad for sure, but just not as sad if I would have loved her characters (I hope that makes sense as I do not mean that anyone deserves what happened. It just did not make me ugly cry like I would have if I loved her character). I loved Noah. I really loved how he never gave up on Tweet and loved her no matter how she pushed him away. I was not a huge fan of the ending. I have now read two books from the author and the endings were both rushed. The story just almost comes to an abrupt end like the previous book I read. I wanted more towards the end when Noah and Tweet were together. The whole book was leading to that and we did not get much of them together. I really loved Noah, so I really want to pick up book three. Overall, this was pretty good though.

AMAZING!!

Still one of my favorite!!! Loved the moments from their past to give back history… Love it!!! Wonderful story!

Not what I was expecting.

Story line was okay. I love second chance stories, wished it was based on the characters as adults not kids in high school... I don't mind getting tidbits on the characters when they were in High school, this story was at least 60 percent based on them being under 18 and I did not partially like reading/hearing about them and their sexual conquest. Keep in mind this is my personal preference, nothing against the author. I have enjoyed listening to her stories. This is why I scored it as a 4. I liked the way the author wrote the story just did not partially like them being so young.

Heartbreakingly beautiful!

Holy Wow! This book is filled with so much angst but so much heart. Tweet and Noah really have a special relationship. I the push and pull throughout the story had me on the edge of my seat! Every time I thought they had the crap figured out something else would happen. A lot of the drama is because of age obviously then comes the biggest twist that I NEVER saw coming. From that point on my heart was breaking then it was full then it was breaking again....that ending I think I literally was holding my breath!!! Ms. Bailey you really have done an AMAZING job!! A book that will have you in all your feels.

Ohhh the teenage drama and angst!!!

The cover of Present Perfect is what drew me in. I was curious after listening to The Dance and wanted to check out some other books by this author. I was a bit unsure if this was a young adult story or if it was a sort that tracked a couple their entire lives... it's a bit of both. I didn't love this story like I did The Dance. It all comes back to Amanda. Goodness I disliked her so much. I know, she's a kid and her self esteem is CRAP. I felt like it gave her an excuse to mistreat Noah. I adored Noah. No matter the mental beat down he took, he just kept forgiving and forgetting.

So this is high drama, like there's drama E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E, so much so that it needs it's own disclaimer (kidding, kind of). Perhaps if there was some drama and more of a relationship between them. I think I would have felt more of a connection to them and their situation. Anyways, I really enjoyed the narration. I'm not sure I've heard this narrator previously. Appelusa McGlynn was a good fit for the story. She's young but pulls off the young adult age as well as the teenage years. Honestly I'm thankful I didn't read this... I keep imagining how this could all sound in my head and the narrator really helped it feel less whiny than possible!