Review: Craving Perfect by Liz Fichera

Filed in 3 Stars , Liz Fichera , Review , The Geeky Lover Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 10:00 am 1 comments

Format Read: eBook
Release Date: 27 June 2011
Formats available: eBook
Publisher: Carina Press
Source: review copy provided by publisher via NetGalley
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Carina Press


Book Blurb:

A Life Less…Hers
Grace Mills craves being perfect almost as much as she craves raspberry scones. In fact, her life would be perfect if only she could lose ten more pounds, if only the pastry café she co-owns with her sister would turn a profit, if only the hottest guy at the gym would look her way…
And then “if only” comes true. Grace is suddenly straddling two lives: an alternate reality where she’s a size two, weathergirl celebrity and being chased by the hot guy. Only Mr. Gorgeous isn’t very nice.

In her other life, she’s starting to realize her sister is less than happy running the family café, and hunky Carlos, the gym’s janitor, seems to have a secret crush on her. Maybe there’s more to him than meets the eye…
Grace is living two lives and it’s beginning to cost her. Is there a way to pick one…that’s perfect?

My Thoughts:

I decided to give this one a chance thinking it would be funny contemporary romance à la Bridget Jones and I really needed something funny. And let me be honest I just adore the cover. It’s pretty and I can be shallow that way. So perhaps I deserved that book because I was being shallow- that definitely hit a nerve with this story.  
In Craving Perfect we meet Grace, an overweight single woman owning a café with her sister. She loves her sweets and just can’t keep her hands of them. Still she isn’t happy with herself. She slaves away in a gym nearly every day to lose another pound. She wants to look like the perfect girls she sees parading around the gym and she hopes that losing weight would finally make Max Kramer, her secret crush, notice her. She’s obsessed with Max and finally gaining his attention even though he is what we can openly call the biggest jerk on the planet. He’s shallow and only notices the perfect ones of us. He even thought bad of Grace and never made her feel like someone he would choose.
But well, we know how secret crushes can be. I can remember doing something like that at the tender age of 13 but now? Not so much. I really don’t see how a grown woman can delude herself that much. And she really thinks she needs to lose weight or she will never get what she wants. I do understand where that came from in our present society but on the other hand she keeps on treating herself to a scone every time she sees Max. I have to say she really irritated me. Perhaps it’s because I’m overweight too but never actually felt so strongly and contradicting about it, I know that I’m still worth something and attractive even though I don’t fit the ideal of society. 
On the other hand we have Carlos, a law student working part time as a janitor at the gym. He’s a nice and caring guy but most people judge him wrong because of his appearance. He’s latino and has tattoed forearms so mostly everyone things he’s one of those troublemakers who aren’t able to speak one word of fluent English. I really loved Carlos- he’s what saved this book for me. Finally someone not so shallow even though he judges the pretty people pretty fast too (but I will ignore that for now). He likes Grace for what she is- the person behind all the doubts and low self esteem. He likes her for being funny and sweet. 
I don’t want to say much about the story- let’s say it’s not really a contemporary story. It has a certain, in loss for a better word, paranormal touch. Those give Grace the possibility to see her situation from a different angle and give her the possibility to realize that being perfect won’t make your life perfect.
The love was more like a side story- sometimes it crept in the center though. I loved to see Carlos and Grace together. Their chemistry was hot and also adorably shy at times. The way they discovered each other made my heart melt. I would have loved to see more about that and less about Grace and her self esteem. 
Craving Perfect was a fun read. It often made me think of Bridget Jones but on other times it was just too shallow for my taste. I really wanted to throw it against the wall when I saw slim equals perfect one more time. I usually like a not-so-perfect heroine but usually I do because they don’t focus that much on becoming something they just aren’t. Grace was too contradicting for me. There is nothing wrong with wanting to reach your goal but please stick to it then. With a bit less shallowness I would have liked this one way more. Still it was fun to read and the love story was cute. The love takes a backseat in this one though- appearance and Grace struggle with it are more the focus. If you like to read about this topic this book is something you should definitely check out.

I give Craving Perfect 3 out of 5 bookies.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

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About Susi


Susi is a geeky vegetarian from Gemany. She just finished university and now works as a civil engineer in steel construction. Besides her reading addiction she also knits like a maniac while listening to audiobooks. Susi also blogs at the Secret HEA Society.

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1 Comments

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  • Blodeuedd July 25, 2011 at 11:59 am

    Sounds a bit so so, but then again, I really want to laugh :/ Haven't laughed in a while now

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