Faking Perfect

by Rebecca Phillips

“Edgy and honest, Faking Perfect is the real thing.” –Huntley Fitzpatrick

When Lexi Shaw seduced Oakfield High's resident bad boy Tyler Flynn at the beginning of senior year, he seemed perfectly okay with her rules:

1. Avoid her at school.
2. Keep his mouth shut about what they do together.
3. Never tease her about her friend (and unrequited crush) Ben.

Because with his integrity and values and golden boy looks, Ben can never find out about what she’s been doing behind closed doors with Tyler. Or that her mom’s too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills. Or that Lexi’s dad hasn’t been a part of her life for the last thirteen years. But with Tyler suddenly breaking the rules, Ben asking her out, and her dad back in the picture, how long will she be able to go on faking perfect?

 

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, High School, Young Adult Contemporary, Fiction, New Adult

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Rebecca Phillips is a copyeditor by day and a TV series binger by night. Oh, and sometimes she writes novels. Rebecca lives in beautiful Atlantic Canada with her family, which includes a spoiled senior-citizen cat.

Learn more about Rebecca's books by visiting her website: www.rebeccawritesya.com

Reviews

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley.)

"I didn't love Tyler Flynn. I didn't even like him."



This was an enjoyable YA contemporary romance, and I really liked Tyler.

I felt quite sorry for Lexi in this, it seemed unfair that her mother cared about her so little, and to not even know if her father was dead or alive wasn’t nice either. Lexi’s mother literally acted like a child, and it was up to Lexi to make sure the bills were paid on time.

"Mom," I said, not taking my eyes off the paper I was reading, the one from the cable company that claimed our bill was well overdue.



The storyline in this was about Lexi, her search to find out more about her father, and her romantic relationships. We had a bit of a love-triangle going on in this book, with Lexi having a secret relationship with Tyler, and putting this on hold to start dating the boy she’d had a crush on for years – Ben. There wasn’t really any cheating in this book, except for maybe the emotional kind!

"First you steal me rum and now my cigs," Tyler said indignant. "What's next? You want my wallet? My heart? No, wait... you already stole that."



The ending to this was pretty good, and I was happy with the way things turned out. It was nice for Lexi to get a happy ending after everything she’d been through.



7 out of 10.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lexi and Tyler had SMOKING HOT CHEMISTRY!


But Lexi only wanted one thing from Tyler (or so she thought!!)



Lexi craved illusion: the right image, the right clothes, the right boyfriend. Instead, she was sleeping with bad-boy Tyler on the sly, while hanging with the cool crowd out in the open. When she suddenly catches the attention of her secret "popular boy" crush, Ben, she thinks her life will now be perfect. But reality is the bitter pill which makes Lexi realize that all that glitters is not gold - that "Popular Boy Ben" is much less than a perfect catch, and that what she had with Tyler might be worth more than all the material things and popularity that she used to pine for.



The scenes between Lexi and Tyler just sizzle. Certainly worth the price of admission!



Why wouldn't a girl want to keep a guy who would climb through windows to get to her?



All hell breaks loose when Ben finds out about Lexi's past hookups with Tyler, but after everything got back on track, you are in for a very satisfying ending!



This story was downright entertaining. I highly recommend this book!
Phillip's newest book, due out on June 9/21 is called The Next Whatever

[NiCoLeTa E. {Addicted To Books} · Rating 4 out of 5]

***4 Imperfect stars from me***

That book was a pleasant surprise for me.
In the begining, i thought that it will be one common book, but it was more than that...

It was very emotional and it was having a great message to deliver...
That you have to embrace your imperfection and to not seeking for perfection because most of the times perfect is fake and overated...


But it will be better if i'll explain you some things about the plot...
Lexi was a seventeen year old girl who her life wasn't pretty.
Her mother was an alchoolic person and her boyfriends at every time was assholes. She wasn't paying too much attention in her daughter and her father was out of the picture since she was four...
Lexi was very dissapointed from this kind of life, so for the last three years she was trying to change herself. Outside, she was acting like a perfect girl.

She was always dressing perfectly, she was always acting perfectly and she was hanging with the perfect guys. She even had a major crush for the king of the perfection, Ben, who never acknowledge her presence beyond the friend type....

The thing is that when Lexi wasn't around anybody she was stopping the pretention...
Because inside of her she was far from perfect... She was even sleeping secretly for six months with Tyler, the boy with the bad reputation, but she had put him some rules, rules that lately Tyler didn't seem to follow and that irritated Lexi. She was just using him for an outlet, but lately Tyler asked for more...

Things that she wasn't capable to give him, since the only thing that she was seeking was perfection and Tyler was far from that role... Ben was the one for her...

"My body craved his body (Tyler's), just like my heart longed for Ben.
It would be nice if my heart and my body formed an alliance someday and started working together."

Well, in some point, her wish came true, but it was what she was seeking for???
Or the perfect boyfriend was far away from perfection, at least for her???
So why when she was with her perfect boyfriend couldn't stop thinking about her imperfect ex-lover????

"He wasn't as perfect as he appeared from afar. In fact, he was almost as flawed as i was, a realization that consistently surprised me. The only difference was, i accepted his faults while he barely tolerated mine.
Any other girl would have walked away a long time ago, but i couldn't seem to let go of the idea that it was where i was supposed to be, who i was supposed to be, and who i was supposed to be with."

Beyond her love life, Lexi was having another problems...
After thirteen years, she found out what was the deal with her father and she needs to get some answers about him, about her past with him...
Her mother is in her own world and she is so negative toward her daughter.
The only sunshine in her life was the family of the ex best frend of her mother who embraced her as her own member...

I really felt sad reading about all of Lexi's efforts to become perfect and to chase perfection with any cost.

Because following that path was missing real things that was there, beside her all the time. And i won't lie to you i felt angry with her, with her "perfect" assholes friends, with that dick Ben who thought that he was above all the others...
Why anybody should crave something like that???

The things that i liked in the book was Nolan and his family... They were very good and caring people... Especially Nolan, who was a real friend. A friend that never judge and always was there beside her.
I liked very much Tyler, because he was an authentic guy. A guy that even though Lexi was using him was there for her when she needed him the most. He was the right guy for her. I really loved that dude!!!

Also i liked very much Eric. He was sincere and he was trying so hard to earn his child back. I really liked that guy. Even though the ugly past, he never made excuses and he was so honest and open about everything. He was worthing the effort...
What i didn't like??? I didn't like the whole attitude of Lexi's mother. I think that she was caring only for herself and she forgot about her child's needs and that was so pity!!!

So, i enjoyed this ride very much...
It frustated me, made me angry and sad, but at the end came the salvation and that was the best.


So, the conclusion about this book is...
You have to have your eyes open and to embrace your imperfection... To be your truly self and not pretend something that you're not... To be always authentic and real and then, life will award you... You don't have to be around perfect people, but to be around people that really cares for you, not matter how imperfect you are...



***Thank you Kensington books and NetGalley for the ARC that you provided me**

[Sophia Sardothien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Teen for sending me this book in exchange of an honest review

Despite my low rating, this book was not an insufferable read.

Faking Perfect is about a girl name Lexi Shaw, she hangs out with cliques whom are "perfect" to cover up her flaws behind the act. She sleeps with Tyler Flynn the ultimate bad boy of the school, she smokes, her mother is too busy drinking and chasing losers to pay the bills and her father hasn't been in most of her life.



Now the synopsis seems interesting correct? Unfortunately this book wasn't my cup tea.

The plot was predictable, from the start of the story I knew exactly what and how things would happen. Which I tend to be alright given the fact that is an contemporary, so I was looking forward more on the characterization.

Lexi, honestly I could deal with her hiding secrets from everyone as it's just the way humans are, we tend to hide our darkest secrets in fear of people not fully accepting us. Also her occasional rude, mean, reckless and stupid behaviour sometimes tends to get on my nerves. But ultimately what made me dislike her most was her lack of application to people whom are nice to her.



Ben... Well let's just say he is an shallow, insignificant character that didn't appear until he start dating Lexi.

Tyler on the other hand, I was expecting more from him. I felt like I still don't know him after reading the entire book, despite the fact he spend a lot of time with Lexi but most of their interactions were written in reported speech form which gave me a vague idea on who exactly is he. I think I would have like this book more if the author would have unravel more of the mysteries around him.



As for her parents, they were portrayed extremely unrealistically which you would understand once you start reading it.

The only character I really love was her childhood best friend Nolan, I thought he was such a sincere friend as i got to know a lot about him. Which is a bit ironic as their conversation was more often then with her other two love interest.

Ultimately this was not a bad read, the romance did not overload the book however the characterization could have done a lot better.

[Marla Mei · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an insufferable read! I had to drag myself into finishing this book. I kept hoping that I'd find something redeeming about this novel but if it did came, well I didn't notice it and I couldn't care less because I was too busy fuming. Never have I been so angry at a main character before. Lexi is a shallow and ungrateful bitch and I couldn't feel even an ounce of sorry for her. The love interest, on the other hand, didn't evoke any interest from me either. How could I, when I never even got to know more about him anyway? How could I root for him when I barely knew him? The only characters that I really enjoyed are Norlan and Amber. They're real people and the kind whom I wanna be friends with so I don't see why Norlan's BFFs with Lexi anyway. He's way too cool for her.

More to come later after I nurse this headache this book gave me.

[Jasmine]

NOT review
Okay, this is so weird. I accidentally saw this book and the cover just then, but I suddenly recognized the cover because it's actually the one for the Chinese version of Me Before You.

cf.

Is it just me or do they really look exactly the same?!

[Mercedes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the blurb for this book, I was anticipating a lot more typical high school drama and definitely more boy drama. Neither of those things were really present. This book was weird for me because it totally wasn't what I expected.

The "romance" part of this story was really more background noise than anything. While she does "date" two boys during this book I didn't really feel like either relationship was fully developed. Lexi ends up falling for one of these boys but we didn't get a ton of information about him, he was more of a mysterious supporting character than a full-fledged main character.

The story focuses on Lexi who has a whole host of problems from self-esteem to smoking to serious parental issues. We follow her through her daily personal trials and triumphs. She does end up falling in love, and she does have some high school drama and this is all important to the story but more than anything, it's important for Lexi's growth. I don't even think it's really necessary to mention the boys or the friends that Lexi has because really they're just all stepping stones for her in this book.

This book was interesting, and different from what I normally read. I don't think I would classify this as romance, probably a self-discovery sort of teen book. The book could be pared down some, I found myself skimming over paragraphs and that's something I don't normally do.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Kerryn (RatherBeReading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

I really really enjoyed this book. I went into this expecting just a typical light fluffy contemporary read but I think this book is so much more than that.

I liked that the characters in this book are not all perfect little cookie cutter characters, the majority of them are deeply flawed and I really appreciated that. In particular, Ben, I love that he didn't just turn out to be your typical nice clean cut all American guy who the main character loses interest in only because he is too perfect, he was actually a deeply flawed character who turned out to, while looking perfect on the surface, actually be a huge asshole and I really appreciated that.

I really enjoyed the character of Tyler. I was really rooting for his "relationship" with Lexi to work out. I also really enjoyed Lexi's friendship with Nolan.

Next off, and most importantly, I really appreciate that this book does not "virginalise" the main character, which is something we see a lot of with Young Adult contemporary reads. The main character did still deal with issues of being concerned about how people would perceive her for not being "virginal" but I think that that is extremely true to real life.

So while I did find the overall plot to maybe be a tad predictable I thought that this book was really unique in its own ways and I definitely deeply enjoyed reading it. I definitely plan to pick up more books by this author in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy to review.

[Claire (Book Blog Bird) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and other reviews can be found on my blog: Book Blog Bird

4.5 stars
Faking Perfect is the story of Lexi, a girl with a pretty crap home life who thinks that the answer to all her problems is to try and fit in with the popular crowd. Unfortunately for her shiny image, she also has a weakness for bad boys and when she seduces resident tattoo-sporting, weed-dealing miscreant, Tyler Flynn, at the beginning of her senior year and carries on a secret relationship with him, she makes him avoid her at school, keep her secret and never ever tease her about her crush on her friend and local golden boy, Ben.

This was a really fun contemporary romance with some great characters and some really nice writing. The publisher has stuck a label on this book recommending it for fans of Sarah Dessen, and while I can see the similarities, actually I thought this was a whole lot better than the Sarah Dessen book I read recently. It was a lot fresher and feistier than a lot of contemporary romances I’ve read and I raced through it.

Lexi was a really great MC; fun and mixed-up and sarky in equal measures and I really enjoyed her narrative. She was totally flawed but really likeable too and I liked the way she developed over the course of the book. She was so relatable in the way she felt so much pressure to conform to being the image her friends wanted of her and how she thought

The author has got a good ear for dialogue and the scenes with Lexi and Tyler were great fun. I really enjoyed Tyler too. The surrounding characters were okay but there were quite a few of them so none of them got developed as much as Lexi and Tyler did.

The plot has a whole lot packed into it so it rockets along, and although I could kind of see where it was going most of the time and managed to predicted most of the plot points, I didn’t mind at all because there was plenty going on. The author highlighted a lot of high school struggles and issues: teen pregnancy, popularity, drugs, drinking, sex and this kept things pretty interesting.

All in all this was a fun, fresh story and I’d thoroughly recommend it for a beach read this summer.

[Rhea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasons to read Faking Perfect
 

1)Tyler Flynn is fantastic. Forgive me for starting this “review” with Tyler Flynn, but bear with me for a moment here. This guy, Tyler Flynn, was seduced by Lexi Shaw for one and only one reason—to warm her bed. And I had absolutely no qualms about that, considering the sex was consensual and they were being safe. But here’s the deal: Tyler wasn’t supposed to fall in love with Lexi and vice versa. They were supposed to keep their relationship confined to the bedroom and even though Tyler knew of Lexi’s life-long infatuation with her friend Ben, he wasn’t supposed to mention that ever. You may think that Tyler is just another filler character (which was my assumption too) but you slowly discover something completely different. We don’t see Tyler as much as we want to, but he’s a major character alright. He was a constant source of confusion for Lexi, considering he had started to break her rules, and she was thinking of him a lot more. And in the scenes were he really was present, I loved everything about him. He may have been a bad boy but he was definitely thebad boy you want to see in YA.


2)Lexi Shaw is no typical YA heroine.There is a certain way that Lexi had about her, that made you want to sympathise as well as throttle the girl all the time. She was real and she was flawed, and that entailed to her making a lot of mistakes. But Lexi was the character who, to me, was the perfect personification of a girl whose actions would make me reconsider mine. High school is not easy, no matter where in the world you might be, and its been almost 4 years since I’ve graduated mine. But reading Lexi, her actions and the reasons behind them, and reading how everyone is helpless against certain circumstances, made me want to go back and correct many of my own actions. I was no bully, far from it, but I was passive high school. And Lexi, the way she was with her friends, made me regret turning a blind eye to a lot of things that I’d seen back then.


3)Parent-Child Relationships are often complicated. And we need to understand that. Lexi’s relationship with her mother was something I hadn’t expected. Sure, it was mentioned in the blurb that her mother was an alcoholic who "chased losers to pay the bill” but I wasn’t quite sure what that would mean for Lexi. But what I read in the book was equal parts horrifying and eye-opening. This isn’t the worst parent-child relationship I’ve read in a book, not even close, but it was kind of like watching a car wreck. You want to turn away and avoid the pain of the scene, but your eyes remain glued to the wreckage. Something like that. Every time Lexi and her mother had a conversation, it was pretty horrible to read, and I did consider skipping those pages, but in the end, I couldn’t turn away. The whole thing served as an eye-opener, like these things happen in families and there’s nothing you can dokind of a revelation.


4)Your friends are your biggest asset. And Faking Perfect proves that.Lexi’s friends were all over the place. Some were shallow and the others were judgemental and some were plain mental. But then she had other friends, true friends and I could only imagine how much Lexi needed her friends. Lexi’s father makes contact with her after almost 13 years, and she has to choose whether or not she wants to have him back in her life. And this is precisely where her friends came in. Without them, Lexi wouldn’t have been able to take the right decisions for her, and her friends stood by her through whatever choice that she would make. One of her friends in particular was accused of having ulterior motives by Lexi’s boyfriend and Lexi believed him, and that pissed me off. But what mattered most to me was what I learnt from this book? Friends are important. They support you and tease you and challenge you and take you higher than you ever could be, simply by being your friends.


5)Because I said so.



*I was provided a free ecopy of this book in exchange of an honest review. This did not in any way, however, influence the content of this review.*

[Christine Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND GIVEAWAYS, DO CHECK OUT MY BLOG:


Faking Perfect (Paperback) by Rebecca Phillips

PLOT: 5
CHARACTERS: 5
COVER: 5

OVERALL RATING: 5



THIS BOOK WAS SERIOUSLY AMAZING!



If you're not into coming-of-age books dashed with a little bit of romance, then this book may not be the one for you.

To be completely honest, I tend to shy away from YA books since there are only a select few that I can really tolerate. Since personally I find YA books where the only problem the heroine has is who she'll go to prom with or being accepted by her friends shallow. I mean, life isn't JUST about what you'll be wearing to the prom and reading books which has heroines who are like that irritate me.

Faking Perfect does have the heroine constantly wanting to fit in with her friends which did make me a little bit wary but since a lot of people on Netgalley requested this book I decided to check it out and I am extremely happy that I did.

Like I said earlier, the heroine Lexi Shaw was trying hard to hide the parts of her life which was not so perfect, that wasn't the whole plot of the book. She had deeper problems, like having a mother who acts younger than you and finding that your father whom you thought dead wasn't dead at all. Add in the fact that her friends-with-benefits Tyler Flynn starts having feelings for her, this book turned out into something that doesn't seem shallow to me.

There were many times I was not able to relate with Lexi since she was trying very hard to seem like someone she's really not and as a person like me, I feel that it's something weird. I myself am not popular in school but I don't feel the need to change myself just to be accepted. I'd rather have few friends than having many who doesn't really know the real me. So this is just based from my own opinion since I never really did try to fit in so I can't really understand why the heroine felt that way.

Another thing which I really would have loved to see was more of Tyler. Halfway through the book, Tyler just disappeared and was shown only in some bits and pieces here and there. Which was really disappointing.

Toward the end, the book got better and better since Lexi started to accept herself for who she was which was really amazing. The ending was very realistic and didn't end in a way that made you feel that this can't happen in real life which was pretty amazing.

Overall the book was entertaining but it did have some things which I did not like so that's why I gave it a solid 3.

received digital edition from publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Raven_Blake (dreamy addictions) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Same Review Posted Here:Dreamy Addictions


This book totally wasn’t what I expected.I expected it to be a normal contemporary romance with some high-school drama, but what I got from it is a lot more than that.Faking Perfect depicts about finding your true-self and being happy with who you are.After reading the blurb everyone would’ve expected it to be sweet romance but there’s lots of emotional drama hidden in it.

The character Lexi shaw looks like normal high school girl who’s got a perfect life with perfect friends and family but in reality, it was a total facade. In school, Lexi may seem like a perfect role model student with popular friends, but they don’t know how complicated her real life is, where her mother is a total alcoholic who doesn’t care much about her and a secret in which she sleeps with the school’s Bad boy Tyler every night to burn out her daily frustrations after making a deal with him with no strings attached.The Fake Lexi is perfect opposite to the Real Lexi who has low self-esteem, family issues, sleeps with school’s bad boy, smokes a lot, and also has a weird interest in snakes and got herself a corn snake as pet.It always creeped me out whenever she feeds her pet with defrosted dead rats and guess what she stores them in the fridge Ugh.

Lexi is a dynamic character who may seem like a tough girl but she’s got a lots of weakness too. She’s got a crush on her best friend named Ben who is the most popular guy in school and she was afraid he would hate her, if he got the tale of her real life. so, she always fake’s perfection in front of him and everybody else in school, so maybe someday he might take an interest in her.Her situation gets more complicated when Tyler began to show interest in her which was totally against the rules she made for the deal. The only thing that I didn’t liked in Lexi was, is her faking perfection so she could attract a guy that’s totally ridiculous why bother if he likes your fake personality.I think the title suits the story better and the plot is somewhat predictable but still I liked reading it.

The plot not only focuses in romance but a large amount in family relationships too. Lexi has a hard-life after her drug addict father abandoned her and her mother.But she didn’t know that her mother lied about so many things related to her father who was still alive out there.I felt sympathetic towards her situation and I totally hated Lexi’s mother here, not only she wasn’t a good mother to her and the way she treats her is unacceptable too.At start I didn’t liked Lexi too who faked herself to get the attention of a guy I can understand she has gone through a hard life and her life isn’t perfect but still, she doesn’t need to build a fake personality of herself. Anyways, as the plot goes further I’ve started to like her more.

The supporting characters are good especially Nolan who is both her childhood best friend and her neighbor. I’ve really liked the friendship between Nolan and Lexi because he is the only one who knows most about her, and also the only one who understands her better. Ben was a total surprising character when he finally showed his true-self I didn’t expected it.Another character I liked the most is Tyler who knows the real Lexi but I couldn’t able to connect with him and the romance between Lexi and Tyler didn’t portrayed in depth which was somewhat disappointing cause I really wanted to know more about Tyler.The story was more focused on the complicated life of Lexi and her baggage of issues.So if you are looking for a sweet high school romance I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book to you.

The best part in this plot is the character development which was truly impressive.I’ve really liked the writing skills it was solid and perfect.I think this book is not for everyone but it is worth reading.This book gives a valuable life lesson to be proud of who you are and always be honest with yourself and how much you try nobody is perfect.Overall, it’s a good read but don’t expect it to be perfect.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you get an image of someone stuck in your head and then you can't let go of it, even after they show you they've changed. All you can see is that one side of them. {...} There were two sides to everything and everyone, and somewhere in the middle was the truth.

Faking Perfect is a contemporary with strengths and faults. Most of the side characters were severely annoying, however, there were some good characters (Nolan, Tyler, Teresa, Shelby) to make up for it. I didn't love the MC, but I didn't detest her either. She was okay, barely tolerable, but still okay.

The writing wasn't very beautiful or special it was just okay ( like the MC). ;). Occasionally, there was a description or bits of dialogue that were written surprisingly well. I cherished those moments =D

Sometimes it was a feat to continue reading due to the pace slowing down. Also, there were multiple cliché moments that made me want to DNF it and read something less predictable. Nevertheless I continued reading.
Overall, it is a relatively light summery read about finding yourself, being you as only you can be, the struggles and bonds of family and the hardships and the beauty of friendship and love. If you can look past all the cliché, it is an okay novel.

I received an ARC of this novel thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. My thanks for the opportunity.

[Ren nerdychampagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

OKAY I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I WOKE UP IT IN MY MIND

YOU CAN READ MY FULL REVIEW AT NERDYCHAMPAGNE

OVERALL, Faking Perfect is a beautiful story about accepting who you are and stop trying to fit in. When I phrase it like that, the book is just like a lot. But no, this is the realest thing I have ever read. The characters were so real. So alive. So flawed. So beautiful. The writing is great. So fitting. So alive. Just because a person looks so perfect from afar doesn’t mean they are. We’re all hiding something and pretending and a life built on these pretentiousness will get you nowhere. Life tip: If someone can’t accept you for who you are, that person isn’t worth your time. It doesn’t mean you’re all set for life the way you are already. You’re beautiful just being you but there’s always room for improvement. And improvement doesn’t mean you have to change everything about you. In the end, everyone deserves another chance to start all over again. I mean, how can someone show their worth if you won’t give them the chance to? If you think you have read YA contemporary, think again. You haven’t read this and you should.

[Cee (The Mistress Case) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I like best about Faking Perfect is the characterization. The story focuses on Lexi’s personal growth and the brave steps she take to “shed her skin.” Rebecca Phillips sheds a very realistic light on the relationships Lexi has with her friends, her mother, and her estranged father. I think that when you read this story, it shouldn’t matter if Lexi is a likable character or not because her characterization is so honest. Which is odd because she’s fake. She acts a certain way around her friends, covers her face with makeup, and wears specific clothes to become “one of those popular kids” and it’s all due to the fact that she has low self-esteem and believes many people are too good for her. For example, someone like her crush Ben. Even though it is never mentioned that she has low-esteem, I believe she does because it’s evident in what she does and says.


With that said, I don’t have anything negative to say about Faking Perfect, except I did skim a paragraph here and there because it wasn’t anything worth reading.


I would honestly love to read a book about Tyler or a book from his pov in order to see his side of things and discover who exactly this bad boy is.



*ARC via Netgalley in exchange for honest review.*

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book way back in 2018, and it was another impulse read that I saw on my library's e-book selection. In Faking Perfect, Lexi is trying to hide the fact that she hooked up with the school's resident bad boy, Tyler, over the summer, and now that they're back for their senior year, they're not going to talk about it. Lexi is too busy crushing on her friend, Ben, which Tyler can't tease her about, and if Ben found out about what Lexi and Tyler keep getting up to, everything will be ruined. However, it starts to go wrong when Tyler ignores her rules, and wants to spend more and more time with her.

I felt sorry for Lexi in most of this book. Her home life was horrendous, with her mother not caring about her at all, and her father walking out when she was just a little bairn. The mam was a complete piece of work, and I hated her, and when the dad came back into her life it just messed everything up. Lexi is flawed, and tries to be 'perfect' to fit in at school, but the majority of her 'friends' are not proper friends, and she tries too hard at times to keep up her persona.

The romance was okay, with a definite love triangle - if that bothers you. Though Tyler is described as a bad boy, with Lexi he's not, and does seem to care for her. Ben is not a nice guy, no matter what it says, and when he was with Lexi, you could see Lexi turning into herself as she tried too hard to be what she thought he wanted. With Tyler, she could be more real, and could talk to Tyler about her issues and what was happening at home. All in all, an okay contemporary, but nothing too special.

[Noella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: I received a copy via NetGalley to review. This review is my honest opinion.

Lexi feels like she should hold up the image of a 'perfect' girl, to put up a front and hide the fact that her mother is an irresponsible alcoholic and that her drug addict father abandoned them when she was just a little girl. She has the school bad boy sneaking in through her bedroom window at night, has friends who judge and shun her childhood friend Nolan (the only one who knows everything about her) and she harbours an unrequited love on her picture-perfect friend Ben.

With a title and blurb like Faking Perfect, I expected there to be a lot of drama but the book ended up quite boring. We spend a lot of time with Lexi who has this view about what she's supposed to do in order to not be like her mother. No doubt her upbringing has affected many aspects and outlooks on her life! But she pretty much creates lost of unnecessary stress for herself. The character growth could have been great but Lexi pretty much stays in the same spot whilst everyone suddenly changes around her and by the end of the book, her situation is improved because of these changes by other people.

The romance was weak and there wasn't enough interaction between the couple to make me believe they understood and loved each other. Many characters still felt like strangers to me. Overall, the story was lacklustre and with the amount of good contemporary YA romances out there, Faking Perfect isn't one I would recommend.

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)

Lexi was an okay character, but I didn't love her. There was a few times where she annoyed me slightly, but it was more down to just not being able to warm to her enough.

This started out feeling like a really quick read, but unfortunately, it ended up feeling the opposite after about 30%. It started to drag really badly, and I was glad when the book was over because of it.

Overall, Not a bad read, but I'm glad it's over.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 3 out of 5]

RTC

[nick (the infinite limits of love) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Faking Perfect took me by complete surprise. I was expecting it to be a more romance-driven story, but it turned out to be an emotional, character-driven book instead, especially when it came to the main character's growth throughout.

Lexi, our protagonist, seemed to have the perfect life from the outside. Armed with her popularity and her group of friends, she pretended to lead this school life completely different from her home life. Lexi wasn't the easiest character to enjoy. I struggled with her battles with maintaining her secret home life and while I got why she was trying to hide it from her friends at school, I was also a little baffled by her decisions. That being said, Lexi grew on me towards the end of the book with her character growth. I sympathized with her for her home situation. She had a horrible mother who constantly lied to her and didn't seem to care for her daughter, continuously putting her in the face of danger through her sleazy boyfriends. Unsurprisingly, I hated Lexi's mom and wanted someone to shield Lexi from the ugliness surrounding her. No one ever deserves to be treated the way Lexi's mom treated her. Thankfully, Lexi found out more about her father at the beginning of the book and she also had an incredibly support in the form of her best friend and neighbor and his mom, who sided by her and helped make sure that she wasn't hurting too much. I really liked the storyline of Lexi's newly blooming relationship with her dad. She had been denied his affections all her life because of her mother's lies, so they had a lot of catching up to do. They slowly got to know each other over emails and it was endearing to watch their relationship grow, despite Lexi being hesitant. By the end, while they weren't the perfect father-daughter duo, their fragile relationship had made progress. Through her growing relationship with her dad, Lexi grew as an individual as well, finding her courage and learning to stand up for herself and being honest.

The secret relationship mentioned with the school's bad boy left a lot to be desired, however. I was hoping for more palpable chemistry between Lexi and Tyler, but we never truly got to see their dynamics in depth, mostly because Faking Perfect did not focus on the romance, which was midly disappointing. Part of my reason for not fully being involved in the romance was also my inability to connect with Tyler as a character. We barely learn anything about Tyler's character aside from his bad boy attitude and that made me sad because he had the potential to be an amazing character from the glimpses that we did get of him in the book. I also didn't appreciate the storyline involving Lexi's crush, Ben. I thought it wound up being trite and I didn't particularly care for it. I do have to clarify that the book didn't have a true triangle and that there was no cheating going on, thankfully. The romantic relationship wasn't my favorite, but I did really like the friendship that Lexi had with Nolan, despite it being very frayed. Nolan's support and loyalty towards Lexi even though she basically hid him from the rest of her friends, was admirable and I loved him for it. While it does seem like a lot about Faking Perfect didn't work for me, I actually found myself enjoying the book because of Rebecca Phillips' writing which turned out to be very readable.

Faking Perfect won't be the book for everyone, but it's a book that's worth giving a shot to because it teaches a valuable life lesson: have courage and be honest to yourself and to others. I'm looking forward to reading more by Rebecca Phillips.

[Rachmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC was provided by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Faking Perfect is about being yourself and the image you shows the world. The main character, Lexi, is a naive 17 years old girl who has low self-esteem and always feels in secure for most of her life. It was quite hard for me to like her. And she doesn't make it easy for me either with her fake personalities. That being said I think the title couldn't be more perfect for the story.

Up until first half of the book, I couldn't connect with her and was mostly upset with her fake personalities. I really want her to realize what she thinks good isn't actually good just because it has every things that people think are good. I want her to see far beyond the image. But then it's what this story is about. So although at first she's annoying me, I begin to understand her better the more I read the story. And in the end I think as a character she does a good job showing me her character development. And makes me feel something for her, from annoyed to sorry and proud of her.

I liked that most of the characters here aren't picture perfect as good or evil characters. Everyone is not all black and white, yet everyone feels so human, with their vices and virtues. It was nice to read that kind of characters when I mostly got crystal clear good or evil characters in YA contemporary I read nowadays.

The story feels a bit dragged on, though. I needed time to be in to the story. And I did skim things that I think unnecessary and I’m sure I won’t miss anything even when I didn’t read it. Lexi’s description about her corn snake as her pet, for example, is too descriptive for my liking. But maybe it’s because snake creeps me out I cannot even read about it for the life of me. Strangely at the same time I also think there are part that feel too fast. They happen in a rush I ended up wanting to know more about them.

[Catarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw this on up for review on NetGalley and read the synopsis, which reminded of The Duff by Kody Keplinger, one of my favorites, I had to request it. I started reading it as soon as I was approved and, though I really liked it, it wasn't all I was excepting it would be.

First of, and the thing that got me interested in this book in the first place, I'm going to start off talking about the relationship between Lexi and Tyler. I was expecting that the main focus of the book would be the relationship but it wasn't. I felt like their relationship wasn't has developed as it should have been and it was really frustrating how Lexi was always thinking about Ben when she was with Tyler, and thinking about Tyler when she was with Ben. I was really hoping we would get more scenes between Tyler and Lexi, but that didn't quite happen. Their relationship was really under developed but I couldn't help myself from loving them on the few scenes they had together.

Despite the issues I had with the development of the relationship, I really enjoyed this book. The plot was really interesting, with Lexi discovering that it is okay to be herself and all the storyline about her father. But what really made it for me were the characters. The author has a way to make the reader really appreciate the characters and love them with all their flaws. Lexi was my favorite character in the whole book, something I wasn't really expecting to happen because of the first chapters.

Overall, this was a really great book and the only thing that made me knock out a star was the under development of the relationship, for which I had really high hopes because of the synopsis.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book--and Lexi, Tyler, Shelby, Nolan, and, yes, even Lexi's mom--the first time I read it and I love it even more now. Characters so heartbreakingly flawed and real you want to hug them--right after you shake them. No one in this novel is perfect, no matter how hard they fake it. Everyone makes mistakes, but sometimes it's the mistakes that ultimately lead us in the right direction.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Eti · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

In our society, we have placed a great stress on being perfect. We place masks over the face of our "real" selves. Everyone these days is trying to be someone else, everyone is trying to put up with the society , they are hiding their true selves to fit in, in the process of being Perfect. It is doubtful that there is anyone who does not. Everyone is Faking Perfect.

"If I expose my nakedness as a person to you- Do not make me feel shame."- John Powell, Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?

Marquez said "All human beings have three lives-public, private and secret." and I think he was right, we all live three lives, we are different person when we are with our friends, different person when we are with our family and different person when we are alone.

Faking Perfect is a book which is exactly trying to say this and this book is my first from Rebecca Phillips. So, this writer is also new to me.

This book is about a girl Lexi, she is a very authentic and a perfect person in front of the society, she is popular, intelligent and what not?

But in reality she is all messed up,damaged, insecure, shallow and full of flaws, her character is very realistic. Yes, she is not all that perfect, guess what nobody is, but what I liked is how her character turned out to be, it evolved over time and this book basically is about Lexi's personal growth.

There are many other characters in this book, Lexi's relationship with Tyler, Nolan and Ben is very distinct and it is something that tells a lot about her. These people make her realize what she actually is and what exactly she want.

I really like her relationship with Nolan's family, her father and Tyler and these people actually made the book worth reading because they gave a hope that people who care actually exists and they love her for who she is, her true self.

Her mother is portrayed as an immature and damaged alcoholic lady and she is not at all likable though I actually didn't like anything that is related to their house leaving the lilac bushes. Her mother don't give a damn about her which I thought is very insensitive.

She also got few friends she think are perfect Ben (who she also love), Emily and Shelby. But leaving Shelby everyone turns their back when they discovered Lexi's real self. But with time she discovered that nobody is actually perfect and everyone have some or other faults in them.

She have a no string attached relationship with Tyler and as said in the description she actually use Tyler for sex and she have also set rule for him to follow. I also hated that the author didn't talk much about Tyler in the book, I was actually waiting for him to appear and as of now when I actually have read the book, Tyler for me is still a mystery.

Yes, what the book actually tell you about Tyler is, he is a bad guy, he sells drugs in parties and stuff, he drink a lot, he is a man-whore and all the bad stuff you can think.And that he falls in love with Lexi :D

But I love how his character developed over time, and eventually he is a good person, I mean he stops doing all the bad things he used to do and a total grown up.

Okay, so yes I've this problem that the writer didn't actually give more description about the characters because yes that made it difficult for me to imagine about them.

Lexi's character is also not very likable, at times she is downright annoying, immature and the way she think about herself that she is out of someone's league. I think that is much like humiliating yourself in front of yourself , I hated that. She is not confident about herself and also hurt people who cared about her,damn.

But since in the end it does make sense, what the writer is trying to say, so I guess it's fine.

Well I give this book 3.5 stars for I wanted it to have more details about the characters and yes there where situations I was expecting different reactions from the characters, like from the father when she told him about her mother and how she actually treated her and in the last two chapters, the story was a bit forced like it was really fast paced .

And yes I don't actually consider this book as a romance novel.

[diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follow the tour and enter the giveaway!
Rating: 3.7 of 5 stars

Lexi Shaw as a heroine is hard to like at first. She kept on insisting with the whole "pretend to be perfect so your supposed friends will not find out who you really are and maybe dump you if they don't like it" facade. The first few chapters I really thought of her character as someone shallow and way too vain who cares too much of other people's opinions but cares very little about how she feels about herself. The whole faking perfect thing she's got going on? Yeah I hated it. But what I hated even more is her obsession over Ben. Okay it might be a bit extreme to call it obsession but right now I have no other words to describe it so I'll stick with the word... Okay fine, it was more of an admiration slightly bordering on obsession. So there. Ben was the perfect guy with the perfect hair, perfect grades, perfect clothes, perfect freakin' everything. But what Lexi saw in her I did not at all see. I always were more biased towards the imperfect bad boy and/or nerd who secretly cares and shows it in his imperfect, sweet ways. So Ben? Yeah, wasn't a big fan of his.

And now that that's all out of the way, I'd tell you why I loved FAKING PERFECT. Tyler Flynn would be on top of my list. Tyler Flynn with the rumpled clothes and bad boy personality. He's the exact opposite of Ben and I couldn't not love him. Although I'm a bit disappointed that Tyler and Lexi's relationship was underdeveloped I couldn't complain about the swoon-inducing moments Rebecca Phillips wrote. Whenever Tyler was in the picture I couldn't help feeling the urge to shake Lexi and yell at her to stop fantasizing about Ben when Tyler is in front of her and clearly cares. Granted, Tyler isn't exactly the kind of person you'd think would want a committed relationship but a girl would have to be completely blind to not see that the infamous bad boy likes her. One of the things that actually drew me in to this book (aside from that gorgeous cover) is the idea of a secret, illicit relationship between Lexi and Tyler. If that doesn't intrigue you and makes you want to read the book, I don't know what would. And I'm so glad I've got Tyler Flynn to add to my ever growing list of book boyfriends (Of course with Will Herondale still being number one and the rest tied at two.)

Secondly, although I did mention about Lexi seeming vain and shallow, I admired her honest flaws. I know we all have this fear of not belonging and we'd be willing to go through lengths to feel accepted and that's exactly what Lexi was trying to do. And in that regard I could relate. So after the first three to four chapters, I went from disliking her to admiring her and rooting for her. I loved watching her grow into her own self and own up to being her no matter what anyone thinks. The journey of discovery she went through felt real and was heartbreaking at times. It takes a lot of courage to be who you are and that's exactly what Lexi has shown.
I'm still not sure what I think about Lexi's father returning to her life. Again, this is one of those things I would've wanted to have been given more attention by the author.

Lastly, I love the writing. It's simple and direct with just the right pace. And although some of the minor characters are completely forgettable, Nolan is amazingly written. I think half the fun of reading this book came from him. I've always wanted to see a platonic relationship between a girl and a boy. (Most novels and even tv series nowadays revolve around a boy and a girl bffs who turn out to be in love with each other and I'm kinda getting sick of it.) Some people say it's impossible but I believe if there's one other thing aside from family that's gonna withstand time and distance, it would be friendship. And I loved seeing the genuineness of Nolan and Lexi's.

Overall, FAKING PERFECT is far from being perfect but it does have its merits and I highly enjoyed it. It would be really wrong of me not to recommend it.

I received an arc of the book as part of the tour.

[Grace {Rebel Mommy Book Blog} · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Rebel Mommy Book Blog Review
Faking Perfect is about Lexi, high school student, who is pretty much living two different lives. One for her friends at school where is all done up, acts a certain way and lies about her home life. Then she has  her other life when she has to deal with her awful mother, hideout at her neighbor's and best friends house and sneak around with her after hours hookup. We see her balance both worlds (or not), learn more about her past and grow as person.

Lexi was a character that so often got on my nerves even though I understood some of her actions and truly felt for her. She just had these ideas in her head about being "perfect"  in school, with friends, and Ben and how that was better than how she really was or felt. On top of that she had some pretty big daddy issues going on that were influencing her relationships with guys. Including her secret hook-up style relationship with the school's resident stoner bad boy Tyler Flynn (which I think is a perfect name for the bad boy (with a heart!))

We not only get Lexi dealing with all her crazy high school stuff including classes, parties, friends and boys but we have a healthy dose of screwed up home life. We have a mom who hits the bottle, acts much younger, doesn't pay the bills and dates losers and a dad who is gone. Thankfully she has wonderful family friends who are neighbors that she has as a second home. This also introduces us to her REAL best friend Nolan.

Nolan was awesome. He is a normal guy who isn't into the normal high shool jazz. He is there for her and deals with her perfect charade in school and knows he gets to hang out with the real her. He even has a pretty amazing girlfriend that pops up.

We see Lexi really start to face some of her issues at school, with her mom and dad and with Tyler and Ben (her crush forever). All of this leads to some realizations for her and definitely some growth.

This was a really quick read for me in under a day and half. It was a bit predictable on a couple of items but it didn't take anything away from the read really. Even though there was a ton going on which might be over the top I thought a lot of the characters were real and relatable, even if they weren't altogether likable. Also, I kind of got emotional at some points (but full disclosure - I easily get teary eyed and such!). If you need a quick read with some high school drama as well as family dynamics this is a perfect pick.

Thank you to Bound Book Tours!
 

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[Nita Kohli · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I got an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in return of an honest review

Faking Perfect by Rebecca Phillips is scheduled to be released on June 30th 2015. Its a contemporary romance book. After reading three beautiful, amazing and heavy books I picked this up to read something light and because I needed to review it.

Book Cover

The cover is pretty! In fact it is the cover and later of course the summary that attracted me towards this book.

Plot

The story is about Lexi Shaw who has a strained relationship with her mother. She does not know much about her dad and her mother separated from him for he was a drug addict. They moved to new city years back and now live close to her mother's best friend. Lexi's mother is nowhere close to a usual caring mom and she is most of the times in between pathetic boyfriends and spends time drinking. Thus, Lexi finds comfort with her mother's best friend and her family where she spends most of the time. Her other solace is Tyler Flynn, who is a bad boy of the school and is known for dealing with drugs and is mostly sleeping with girls aroud. Lexi and Tyler get into relationship or a set up based only on sex with no space for love. And yes, their association is to be kept a secret as Lexi is friends with the 'elite' people from school and has a crush on a golden boy who is looked upon by every one. As it is said in the book 'she is at the top of the food chain' in school. And of course, she does not want to be associated with Tyler in public.
Things take a turn when she hears about her dad after thirteen years and her crush, Ben asks her out.
Will Lexi able to make amends with her dad and accept him? And does Ben really turns out be a guy as Lexi has imagined? Or will she feel a pull towards Tyler?

Characters

Well, I did not feel for any character and I could not connect with any one. I felt sorry for Lexi at times and the girl really has a bad life considering her family. But, I could not understand some of her decisions and...I just could not connect with her.
The only characters I liked were Tyler and Nolan. Tyler is really nice who sticks to Lexi and really cares about her. And Nola, Lexi's best friend...well he is the best. He is kind of a friend you would like to have in your life.

What I like

The writing is nice as it flows smoothly. I liked friendship between Nolan and Lexi

What I did not like

I wish there was more of Tyler in the book. I really wanted to read about him more and know his character. But, it does not happen in this book. As a reader you don't really get to see him much in the book and not much is written about him. And the ending, well I did get that it signified a change for Lexi but I was not really happy with it and I did not get a closure as a reader.


My final thoughts on the book

The book is nice but it did not touch my heart. One can read if one is looking for a short simple book. I did not hate it but did not love it either so a 3/5 stars.

Find this and my other book reviews here: www.book-choose.com

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faking Perfect - Rebecca Phillips - Review

Faking Perfect is the first arc I've received personally, thanks to www.netgalley.com/ for approving my request to read it :) I read the book a few weeks ago, but I've finally got around to writing the long, overdue review.

Faking Perfect is about Lexi Shaw, who has a casual relationship with Oakfield High's infamous bad boy, Tyler Flynn. With her crush on her signature good boy best friend, Ben, she wants him to never find out what she's done with Tyler.

Not to mention, Lexi begins to uncover secrets about her father--for all Lexi knows, he was such a danger to her and her mom that they escaped when Lexi was a little girl--that her mother never told Lexi before. Suddenly, Lexi is meeting her father after all these years. He has a whole new family, he's an all new person willing to patch things up with his first born daughter, but Lexi's not sure if she is willing to forgive him just yet.

Unexpectedly, Ben asks Lexi out, saying that he never realized she had feelings for him. At first, Lexi is finally being the girl she's always wanted to be--Ben's girlfriend. But Ben isn't the perfect boy Lexi always thought. Behind his golden boy exterior is a darker, crueler person she never knew and never wanted to meet in the first place.

Personally, I liked that Lexi wasn't the 'good girl' cliche I see often in young adult contemporaries. She had flaws of her own, whether they were obvious--like her mother's current dating life, or less obvious things--such as letting Tyler Flynn inside her window at midnight.

One of my favorite scenes was at prom, of course. That scene had so much character and realization and drama it hurt me emotionally and physically. Up to that point, Ben had been telling Lexi to limit her time spent with Nolan, Lexi's neighbor and childhood best friend. Lexi and Nolan consider themselves unofficial siblings, but Ben is still unconvinced. At the prom after-party, when Lexi's secret about Tyler is exposed, she has nowhere to hide. Her entire senior class now knows her secret she's been hiding since September.

The only problem was the underdevelopment of Tyler and Lexi's relationship. They spent half of the book away from one another and I felt like something was missing when he confessed he liked her at the end.

The end tied up real nicely, which I definitely liked. I really hoped Lexi and her mom could come to some kind of middle ground and they would stop acting like two sides at war all the time. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing style done by Phillips and Faking Perfect was a great book about accepting who you are and not hiding it from the world.

~ review by jill ~

[Jordan (The Heart of a Book Blogger) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review and more can be found at The Heart of a Book Blogger

This book was like a Kody Keplinger/Katie McGarry/Sarah Dessen mash-up. It was a super quick read for me as it’s 272 pages, and I read it in a few hours.

Lexi had a no strings attached relationship with Tyler, which he was fine with at first. Now, towards the end of senior year, Tyler realizes he’s in love with her and wants more from the relationship. Lexi does not feel the same way as she’s still pinning after her friend, Ben, who may not be as perfect as Lexi seems to believe.

Lexi has a mom with a long list of dirtbag boyfriends and an absent father. Over the course of the novel, Lexi has to deal with reconnecting with her father and his new family as well as facing her mother’s terrible, new boyfriend. One thing I didn’t like was how Lexi’s mom handled her past and current boyfriends. I found it strange how she could leave Lexi’s father, but still had boyfriends that abused her or sexual harassed Lexi.

However, I did really enjoy Lexi’s relationship with her best friend, Nolan, and his family. Even though Lexi has not had the easiest home life, I was glad that she has always had a safe and comfortable place she could run to. I especially liked that Nolan and Lexi’s relationship was strictly a friendship.

Now, the love triangle that didn’t really feel like a love triangle. I felt this way because Lexi didn’t choose between the boys in traditional way. Yes, there are two boys who both want to be with her, but the relationships begin/end in separate ways.

Overall, this was exactly the kind of read I was in the mood for at the time. If you’re looking for an easy and enjoyable contemporary read, you should give this a try.

*This ARC was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.*