Far from Perfect

Perfect, Indiana, Book 1

By: Barbara Longley

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

For Ceejay Lovejoy, life in Perfect, Indiana, has been anything but. Abandoned by her parents and left pregnant by her boyfriend, Ceejay has had to fight every step of the way to carve out a future for herself and her daughter. She swears off men for good - until the day Noah Langford appears on her doorstep.

Noah narrowly survived the roadside bombing in Iraq that cost him his leg, returning home to the news that his stepbrother, Matt, has died in a car accident. It is the final blow to Noah’s shattered soul - until he learns about the girlfriend and baby Matt abandoned. Suddenly Noah has a new mission: to make amends with the family his brother rejected.

From the moment he meets Ceejay, her beauty and warmth act like a balm on his fractured heart. But when a painful secret comes to light, it threatens to break the fragile bond growing between them...and to destroy a love powerful enough to heal them both.

©2012 Barbara Longley (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Great first book in the series

I started reading this book and was pleasantly surprised how it pulled me in. I have not been able to put them my Kindle since I started reading this first book. I think that a lot of people would enjoy this book and the series the characters are all very relatable to today's times that we are going through and that just makes it even better

Good but not great.

I enjoyed this listen despite the fact I found Ceejay too insecure and needy to be enjoyable as the female lead. Fortunately Noah was everything Ceejay wasn't which helped move the story along. Kate Rudd did a good job with the narration which added significantly to the listening experience.

Wow... just beautiful

Loved this story and was so glad of the outcome. Noah and Ceejay were so perfect for each other.

really sweet story

great story. love the narrators voices they connect you with the story easier and let you imagine and dream of being in the moment.

TEDIOUS AND NEEDY

This was painful. Two broken characters that need constant assurances between the counting and self doubt I was totally exhausted. Couldn't wait for the end. Never again!

Worst book ever!!

it was horrible. the main character was constantly yelling & angry, a self-centered "victim" that took her anger out on everyone. I could not finish it. The plot was weak.

Unbelievably awful story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better story!

Would you ever listen to anything by Barbara Longley again?

I seriously doubt it.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The relationship between CJ and Noah is probably the most dysfunctional and poorly written I have ever read. From the beginning Noah tried to manipulate CJ and "handle" her by passive aggressively forcing her into doing what he wanted without regard to her thoughts and feelings. I was hoping that this would be satire! The way everyone dismissed CJ's role and rights as a mother and pushed her for access to her daughter was appalling. And the fact that CJ got "upset" but just let everyone handle her...I just can't even review it coherently. I couldn't even make it to the end of the book. I have never turned off an audiobook because I was so mad at the story - but I did with this book. If CJ ended up with Noah after he tried to handle and mansplain how to raise her daughter and what was best for them I think I would have screamed. I am now mad all over again after typing out the review.

Any additional comments?

I wish there was a way I could get my time back. This book should be required reading for all high school girls so they know what red-flag behavior to look for in men before they get into serious relationships. Is he like Noah? RUN.

Predictable.

All the "good guys" are gorgeous and rich. The "bad guys" are ugly slugs. All ends happily for the the "good guys".

Ok if you and logic are not bedfellows

Ok. So. I know I gave this book two stars, but I think there are some people who would really like this book. The story line was reasonably complex and sweet. But you need to read it without really thinking about any of it. If you can do that - you will definitely like the book. I just could not. I can overlook one or two, but as the number of these events increased, so did my frustration. I can't really give examples of what I mean without spoilers, so I will separate them into the next paragraph.

SPOILERS BELOW
This author should not write about ptsd. You could tell that the author had respect for the problem and for military personnel, but her portrayal of it lacked depth and accuracy. It was problematic.

So, a big point of contention in this book is that Ceejay (this right here annoys me too. I am glad I listened and didn't read 'Ceejay' instead of CJ over and over again) take out her anger at Matt (the abandoner) on his brother and the rest of his family. While this is true, the book focuses on this too much. Even when Ceejay has valid reasons for being angry with the family, it is attributed to her angst. For example, the non-abandoning brother Noah lies to Ceejay in the beginning and she has no idea he is related to Matt. Then, after a couple months of getting to know eachother and kind of dating, he wants to adopt Ceejay's (and Matt's) little girl. I'm sorry, WHAT? She is supposed to give a person she has know for a couple months (an acquaintance that started with a lie) legal rights to her daughter? This is insanity. But her anger is presented as being wrapped up in her anger at Matt. Her feelings are not ridiculous and have nothing to do with past hurts. The suggestion is just nuts. Also, the father of Noah and Matt is an asshole. But her anger at him is mostly presented as being wrapped up with the whole Matt thing and not really addressed in its own right.

So, besides this 'justified anger being downplayed' issue, there is this whole other aspect of Ceejay being weak and whiney. She spends most of the book lamenting her small town and how every one knows her business and pities her. She also spends the whole book whining about how everyone leaves her. Now, I get that these are legitimate issues. But Ceejay is presented as having worked her way through nursing school as a single mother, clawing and scraping for everything she got. This Ceejay does not jive with whiney Ceejay. The contradictions become annoying. Her mother left her when she was 3, she didn't know her father and she had a boyfriend run out on her while she was pregnant. I get these are emotional obstacles, but they should not have been so insurmountable to her as they were presented in the book.

When she contacts her father, who had no idea she existed, she is devastated that he does not want her immediately and buy her a pony. I mean, WTF? The man asked for time (a mantra she repeated constantly throughout the book) but she was all pissed. Whatever. Stupid. I don't think the author should have put that in there at all. The way Ceejay gets over everyone abandoning her is to find out the never meant to abandoner her at all, not by any inner strength. Ugh.

Then there is the matter of the house Ceejay lives in. Her aunt's house, the ancestral home. The aunt was planning on leaving it to Ceejay. Ceejay doesn't want it. Aunt needs money and decides to sell. Ceejay freaks out, because of course she wants the house, and how is she going to afford a riverfront property. Ok, what? If her aunt was going to give her the property, why would she make her pay full market value for it? Who the hell would do that? And what kind of mortgage can they have on it? It's been in the family since the civil war. Ceejay should be able to buy it from her aunt for a reasonable sum. There should be no cause for the drama that ensued.

Also, Ceejay constantly harps on Noah about getting a job and finding a dream. This man had a dream. He wanted to be career military. Instead, he came home a COUPLE MONTHS AGO with ptsd and a stump. I feel like taking a little time to adjust and find a new dream is not asking too much. But is is for our heroine Ceejay, apparently. Annoying.

This is a little thing, but why the hell was her kid taking naps all the time? She was about to start kindergarten. I don't know any kids that are about to start kindergarten that take regular naps everyday. Even when my kid was in daycare, they made the kids relax and be quiet but none of them reliably slept every day. This kid was forever napping. It seemed weird.