book 2 - finished!

Perfect on Paper by Maria Murnane

Perfect on Paper roped me in from page one.  I was a little unsure at first because I just recently read a different book that began with someone being left at the altar, but the casual way in which the story was written grabbed my attention immediately.  The main character is a woman in her late 20s named Waverly Bryson.  I was really able to relate to her in that many of the things she said are things I would say.  In fact, more than once I read a line or two from the book to my boyfriend because I was so surprised by the coincidence!

A few things I really liked about this book: It was really funny and fast-paced, I never wanted to put it down!  I love how the story didn't focus on Waverly and one particular love interest, although one man, Jake, makes several appearances.  I enjoyed that it wasn't just constant Jake action or constantly running into each other all the time insanity.  Murnane did a fantastic job of creating likable characters, and you didn't like the ones she probably didn't want you to like.  Something that I noticed that I found really unusual was that I didn't feel like I had to root for Waverly.. she kind of just did stuff, and you knew whatever happened, she'd be ok, even if in the end she fell on her face.  I think what I mean is that I never had to pity her, or find myself hoping she would end up happy, because, although the character was insecure, you never had to really feel bad for her.  I enjoyed that!

A few things that kept me from going five stars:  The characters have annoying catch phrases.  Like Andie (one of Waverly's two best friends) always says "Way." after another character says "No way!"  I get that that's like real life, but it sort of niggled at me.  Also, Waverly has a habit of saying "Have we met? I'm Waverly Bryson." A lot. It's in situations where she's like "duh, isn't it obvious?" or "you should know this about me" kind of thing, but maybe if she said it twice it wouldn't have been so annoying.. However, it happened like nine times. These are petty, I know, but they were little thorns in my side that didn't really keep me from enjoying the story, but stood out enough to make me think more than once that it was worth dropping a star.  There are a couple of other things, but I don't want any spoilers here, so I shall omit them!

Perfect on Paper is a perfect beach read, vacation read, or just a breezy light story for any day, really.  I would highly recommend it despite the little annoyances I suffered.  Enjoy!

Four stars!