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A Perfect Relationship
Julia is a vivacious woman living a stable life in Stockholm with her boyfriend, Jacob. During a weekend trip to Paris she engages in a passionate affair with Eric, her friend and former au pair charge. For a while Julia's double life goes well and she believes she's struck a balance between her roles as girlfriend and lover. Then the trouble starts... Luckily Julia has her best friend Lisa standing staunchly by her side. With warmth and humor, Lisa loyally helps Julia stay grounded. Who will Julia choose, her lover or her boyfriend? A Perfect Relationship reads like an intimate diary. It combines chick lit and romance in an uncomplicated way and goes against assumptions of the norm. Female sexuality is accepted and embraced, no preachiness or shame involved. Set in Stockholm and Paris, A Perfect Relationship combines sexiness with the feel-good, entertaining mood of chick lit.
184 pages, Paperback
Published March 24, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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June 13, 2017DNF @ 10%.
I requested this book back when I first started Netgalley aka a time where I'd basically request every second book I saw that had a somewhat decent cover.
If I had read the synopsis back then, I would have never requested the book in the first place!
This is about a 30-something year old woman who's been in a happy relationship for 3 years but then she meets the boy she USED TO BABYSIT (he's like 20 now) and he says he wants to sleep with her and she's like "Oh, wow, now that he's mentioned it, he's really attractive" or something along those lines.
First of all, GROSS, like you used to be his babysitter!!! And second of all, YOU'RE IN A RELATIONSHIP!
"If it was completely unthinkable for me to even entertain the idea of sex with Eric because of my three-year long relationship with Jacob, then that would have been my first objections. None of these reasons are strong enough to motivate a no from me."
As soon as I read that line, I closed my Kindle app. I can't possibly read on.
*I received a free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way!*
I requested this book back when I first started Netgalley aka a time where I'd basically request every second book I saw that had a somewhat decent cover.
If I had read the synopsis back then, I would have never requested the book in the first place!
This is about a 30-something year old woman who's been in a happy relationship for 3 years but then she meets the boy she USED TO BABYSIT (he's like 20 now) and he says he wants to sleep with her and she's like "Oh, wow, now that he's mentioned it, he's really attractive" or something along those lines.
First of all, GROSS, like you used to be his babysitter!!! And second of all, YOU'RE IN A RELATIONSHIP!
"If it was completely unthinkable for me to even entertain the idea of sex with Eric because of my three-year long relationship with Jacob, then that would have been my first objections. None of these reasons are strong enough to motivate a no from me."
As soon as I read that line, I closed my Kindle app. I can't possibly read on.
*I received a free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way!*
August 18, 2017
This surprise-filled triangle is unique and titillating with lots of Paris landmarks and champagne to keep things sexy. I enjoyed inhaling it and being surprised by its naughtiness. I'm so looking forward to more from this author, and maybe even more of this story, entertaining stuff, read it in one go.
September 2, 2017
Title: A Perfect Relationship
Author: Anna Anastase
Publisher: A. A.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Three
Review:
"A Perfect Relationship" by Anna Anastase
My Thoughts...
This was quite a interesting read in that I was trying to follow this author thought pattern. This protagonist Julia wanting to have a relationship with Jacob and with a younger man whom she had once babysit.
To me her thought pattern was all over the place and with that being said she was finally caught by sending the wrong text to he wrong guy. When it seemed like all was going her way again she fell back into the stream of things in that she wasn't really willing to let either one of them go and that friend of hers wasn't much help to her for she had too many problems of her own. This story was quite a triangle of a mess. In the end Julia still wanted her cake and ice cream too from both men. I wonder if the story had gone on what would have happened when Jacob found out just who Julia was messing around with. Oh well, that's another story for another time. I kept trying to understand this title: "A Perfect Relationship?" All I can say is that I guess it was perfect for Julia in that she was getting what she felt was needed in her life. Wow, that gives me something to ponder over long after this read!
Author: Anna Anastase
Publisher: A. A.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Three
Review:
"A Perfect Relationship" by Anna Anastase
My Thoughts...
This was quite a interesting read in that I was trying to follow this author thought pattern. This protagonist Julia wanting to have a relationship with Jacob and with a younger man whom she had once babysit.
To me her thought pattern was all over the place and with that being said she was finally caught by sending the wrong text to he wrong guy. When it seemed like all was going her way again she fell back into the stream of things in that she wasn't really willing to let either one of them go and that friend of hers wasn't much help to her for she had too many problems of her own. This story was quite a triangle of a mess. In the end Julia still wanted her cake and ice cream too from both men. I wonder if the story had gone on what would have happened when Jacob found out just who Julia was messing around with. Oh well, that's another story for another time. I kept trying to understand this title: "A Perfect Relationship?" All I can say is that I guess it was perfect for Julia in that she was getting what she felt was needed in her life. Wow, that gives me something to ponder over long after this read!
July 21, 2017
Let me begin by saying that I am not some squeamish prude that is offended by infidelity in fiction novels. Even in the most romantic love story, unfortunately, there are moments when someone betrays someone else. However, in A Perfect Relationship, this is not the case. Julia is a happy, talented, successful woman that lives with and is loved by an amazing man. However, she meets up with the young man that she used to babysit, he propositions her for sex, and she’s like, “Oh, what the hell.” This begins a cycle of her flying from Stockholm to Paris to have sex with Eric, then come home to Jacob and pretend everything is all hunky-dory.
I like to think I’m open-minded regarding sexuality, but I can’t wrap my arms around the point of this novel, except for this. The author chose to create a character that was basically an unpaid whore. Not only did she decide to do the deed with the young man that she used to babysit, she hit on an ex at the grocery store (and proceeded to call him for a late-night booty call the same night), flirted with an older guy at Yoga, but still seemed slighted and sad when Jacob tossed her ass on the street as he should have.
She craved the attention of other men, but appeared hurt and devastated when Jacob booted her. However, after trying to get Jacob back and finally wooing him into letting her move back in, what does she do? Continues to flirt with yoga man AND meets up with Eric and continues their affair. But, God forbid while they are broken up she sees Jacob in a bar flirting with another woman. That just wasn’t o.k.
Enough of my ranting, but this novel depicts a narcissistic, controlling, sex-addict. Her best friend Julia wasn’t much better and was quite the co-dependent/enabler of Julia’s bullshit. Unfortunately, I just lost three hours of my life that I can’t ever recover.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I like to think I’m open-minded regarding sexuality, but I can’t wrap my arms around the point of this novel, except for this. The author chose to create a character that was basically an unpaid whore. Not only did she decide to do the deed with the young man that she used to babysit, she hit on an ex at the grocery store (and proceeded to call him for a late-night booty call the same night), flirted with an older guy at Yoga, but still seemed slighted and sad when Jacob tossed her ass on the street as he should have.
She craved the attention of other men, but appeared hurt and devastated when Jacob booted her. However, after trying to get Jacob back and finally wooing him into letting her move back in, what does she do? Continues to flirt with yoga man AND meets up with Eric and continues their affair. But, God forbid while they are broken up she sees Jacob in a bar flirting with another woman. That just wasn’t o.k.
Enough of my ranting, but this novel depicts a narcissistic, controlling, sex-addict. Her best friend Julia wasn’t much better and was quite the co-dependent/enabler of Julia’s bullshit. Unfortunately, I just lost three hours of my life that I can’t ever recover.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2017
This is a smart, sexy novel that will appeal to many women of the millennial generation. Protagonist Julia is in a committed three year relationship with Jacob until Eric, the much younger man she babysat, encourages her to sleep with him. Eagerly, and with reckless abandon she does and decides she can balance both men until she unwittingly sends Jacob a text meant for Eric. While I applaud her sense of self, I found it difficult to empathize with her as she feels little guilt and is able to rationalize casual sex so easily, even when it hurts someone else. So perhaps I'm just too "old-school" to appreciate this novel completely although I can appreciate the view that she makes her choices based on her own desires and not what society dictates.
September 3, 2017
Sorry Anna, really, really did not like this.
Not only did I not like your ‘heroine’ from the first page to the last but really do not like novels written in this tense, it may be modern, but sadly I am not.
I dislike this type of person, and I have unfortunately met one or two over the years, so I was not inclined to carry on reading about a selfish and thoughtless girl with no redeeming character traits.
Thank you for Netgalley for letting me read this and here is an honest review…I find almost all of the novels I read to have some redeeming features, but sadly not this one.
May 6, 2020
This is a book about a woman torn between two men. I liked it a lot. She doesn’t apologize for her selfish decisions which I find refreshing. Would like to know more about Julia’s relationship with her mother.
November 25, 2017
So boring and unnecessary. The main character has no redeeming qualities, and I don’t undsrstand her.
April 28, 2020
Fun and sexy, love reading this book! Well written characters, the beautiful Paris and on top of it, hot sex!
May 1, 2020
The perfect book for binge reading during lock down. The writer invites you in to a vivid world that you don’t want to step out from. Hoping for a sequel!
May 4, 2020
Great story with interesting characters!
dnf
October 10, 2023(Abandoned) I'll start off by saying that I had to abandon this book about halfway through. It left me feeling angry and a little creeped out.
It's the story of Julia, a successful, smart, happy woman who is propositioned for sex by Eric, the boy she used to babysit, who is now of age. Julia happens to be very content in a long-term relationship with Jacob but proceeds to have an affair nonetheless. When weighing the decision, she notes that none of the reasons to not go through with it were strong enough to motivate a 'no' from her.
There were so many points that were off-kilter for me in this novel. I felt like my moral compass was spinning in circles after reading the portion of the book I was able to choke down. Not only was the plot boring and predictable, I found no connection with any of the characters. This novel didn't have much to stand on unless you were after details from the sordid affair or the drama that ensues.
I don't like to abandon books, but there was not enough here to keep my attention. Not a favorite.
*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*
It's the story of Julia, a successful, smart, happy woman who is propositioned for sex by Eric, the boy she used to babysit, who is now of age. Julia happens to be very content in a long-term relationship with Jacob but proceeds to have an affair nonetheless. When weighing the decision, she notes that none of the reasons to not go through with it were strong enough to motivate a 'no' from her.
There were so many points that were off-kilter for me in this novel. I felt like my moral compass was spinning in circles after reading the portion of the book I was able to choke down. Not only was the plot boring and predictable, I found no connection with any of the characters. This novel didn't have much to stand on unless you were after details from the sordid affair or the drama that ensues.
I don't like to abandon books, but there was not enough here to keep my attention. Not a favorite.
*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews