Reviews

The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard

supermomcrazytown's review

5.0

The book was kind of off to a slow start... not because of the writing but my life has been busy. Once I had some spare time, I couldn't really put it down. It was fantastic. I'm upset that all the girls lives are slowly being turned upside down and it is my sincerest hope that things turn around for them in the second (and last) book. I am stunned by the second last chapter!!! Sara never seizes to amaze me with her twisty plots. I have a few ideas of who is responsible.... This was a great read!!

caitlinxreads's review

3.0

I loved the Pretty Little Liars series and The Lying Games series, so I was a little disappointed with this book. I had trouble remembering who the characters were and had to constantly flip back to the descriptions of them, I also found them kind of boring. The plot was good and engaging, but not as interesting as I had hoped it would be. I have no idea if I will read the second book.

jemimamc's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

cburgbennett's review

4.0

Fast paced and pretty suspenseful. Glad there's only one more book in the series, unlike Pretty Little Liars...18 books.

lyndsiamanda's review

4.0

I kinda liked how this book ended to be honest, leading into the second one. Starting the second one tonight.

redsilva95's review against another edition

4.0

"Não dava pra fugir e se esconder, por mais que se quisesse".

4 estrelas? 4,5?

Não sei ainda, só sei como divertido e gostoso foi ler este livro. A premissa é bastante similar a de [b:Pretty Little Liars|162085|Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)|Sara Shepard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377830522l/162085._SY75_.jpg|2191061]: a pessoa mais popular do colégio é assassinada, e um grupo de meninas tem sua vida virada de ponta-cabeça por alguém querendo incriminá-las por algo que não fizeram. Porém, achei essa trama infinitamente superior a PLL.

A maneira como a amizade das garotas se desenvolve é bem legal, e gostei muito da dinâmica delas. Até shippei um certo casal que acontece no meio do livro. Das cinco, as minhas favoritas foram Caitlin e Ava. E achei bem legal que aqui temos um plot parecido com PLL, mas com uma virada interessante. Só não consegui dar 5 estrelas porque a investigação policial do livro foi meio BELOVED??? Tipo mesmo no final, quando tem uma grande reviravolta que me deixou chocado, um novo suspeito aparece e os policiais nem se dão conta?! Mesmo na metade, quando as meninas fazem um denúncia importante, eles devolvem com os motivos que elas tem pra ter cometido o assassinato, e ignoram que outro crime foi cometido e eu fiquei tipo WTF???

Mas o importante aqui é entretenimento, e gente, isso aqui é entretenimento puro! Tem um lugar chamado Shadywood, pelo amor! Me senti cativado pelas personagens, de coração partido pelo sofrimento que elas estavam passando (alguns mais que outros), e já estou ansioso pra ler o próximo, sem fazer ideia de quem é o assassino.

No entanto, algumas ressalvas com essa edição. Notei que não houve revisão e isso prejudica o entendimento de algumas passagens da história. Percebi em duas ocorrências a troca de nome de personagens, o que me confundiu por um momento.

Mesmo assim, fica aqui a indicação de um começo promissor pra uma duologia de thriller YA bem divertido de ler.

caitiep92's review

dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kiaralovestoread's review

3.0

This book was such a great and fast read! I enjoyed every single chapter and never complained. But the characters were to similar to Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series which is why I only give it 3 stars. This book is about a group of high school girls, Ava, Caitlyn, Mac, Parker, and Julie who hate the most popular kid in Beacon Heights Washington, Nolan Hotchkiss. They hate him because he is basically a bully and each of them have had a personal experience occur that involved him being well a bully. So one day in films class they get paired up together, they analyze this film that had to do with punishing people that deserve it. They all started naming the people they think deserve punishment, Nolan was one person they named they wanted dead and they said exactly how they wanted it to happen-Cyanide or Oxy. Of course they weren't going to kill him but they wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine, all they wanted to do was get a little revenge. That is what someone did. They pulled a prank on Nolan but he was very much alive when they left him, someone came and put his life to an end. Slowly but surely the people they named in their film studies class start to die, the girls are now the main suspects and they could lose everything they have worked toward in perfect Beacon Heights Washington,where everyone has secrets and are just great at keeping them.

kiki3rra's review

3.0

This book is about 5 teens that discuss killing one of their classmates during class and the next day he winds up dead. The same way they had previously discussed.

This book brings me right back to watching PLL when I was 16, staying home from school to binge it.

This book was really fun! I flew through it!
Overall I think this book was fun and entertaining. It is definitley a plot driven book with lots of twists and turns.

Although, I still have so many questions.

Throughout the book I found it difficult to follow along with so many characters at the forefront. Each character was unique however, the writing was very similar if not the same from pov to pov.
I found there were too many main characters that I never really ended up feeling like I got to know them or care for them.
We got one short introduction and then were introduced to that characters conflict which I felt I couldn’t relate too, or didn’t care about.
There were so many side characters and I found it difficult to keep it all straight.
I could never remember who was who. Example; which MC was the soccer player VS the Cello player etc…

I also feel like there was no real theme/ story about being perfect?
Most of the characters just had normal teenage struggles, but I didn’t think there was any added pressure to be perfect which the title insinuates.

In addition, the whole point of the book is that Nolan is killed the exact same way the 5 discussed in class. However, we dont even get to hear their discussion until half way through the book?
The story starts with Nolans death before we are introduced to any character. This added suspense and intrigue, which was exciting. Therefore, when the characters introduce their versions of who Nolan was we already have that preconception of him.

As well, the main themes I was looking forward too I felt were flat and not fully fleshed out. For example, the perfectionist part, or found family.
“They came together because of their hatred for Nolan”
Reality: they came together because of class project. Only after did we hear individually why they hated Nolan. I don’t think they ever actually discussed it.

The main story was a little hard to follow as there were so many other side stories happening. Some side character almost completely grassed over at some points.

The writing: was very easy to get through. Definitley YA.

If you are looking for a fun YA book it definitley delivers!!
The twists and the turns were good. Was definitley shocked at the end with Grangers death. Am looking forward too the next one as I enjoyed this one and am excited to see where it goes.

TW: TeacherXstudent, suicide, drub abuse, domestic abuse hoarding, and stalking.

courthrilly's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5