Review: The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard

Title: The Perfectionists
Author: Sara Shepard
Genre: Contemporary/Mystery
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: October 2nd 2014
Page Number: 272

Summary:
In Beacon Heights High, Nolan Hotchkiss is king. His charm, wealth and good looks are deceptively seductive, and many are the students whose lives and reputations have been ruined by it. All while Nolan continues to reign, unquestioned and undisrupted. Until now, that is.

Mackenzie, Ava, Julie, Caitlin and Parker seemingly don't have much in common. Each has their own friends, dramas and goals. But one thing they do share: they all have a deep hatred of Nolan Hotchkiss. And they all think it's about time he paid for what he's done. They come up with the perfect murder - a hypothetical murder, of course. It's all wishful thinking ... until they wake up one morning to find that their wish has come true. Nolan has been killed - in exactly the way they planned. The thing is, they didn't do it. So who did?

Review:

 

I received this book from the Publishers for an honest opinion.

 

Sara Shepard is the author of the Pretty Little Liars series and my expectations for this Duology was high, sadly it didn't really hit the target. I felt like I was reading a reincarnation of Pretty Little Liars and not a new and original story. However, I did really enjoy it and the little twists that went on throughout the story.

 

This story is meant to be a mystery, but I kind of felt like the Mystery element wasn't in this book. I mean, there was a Mystery, but I felt it was too predictable and I guess that's why I tend to stay away from these type of books, because I always manage to guess who the suspect is. With the way it was written - in different POV's - I felt like it wasn't always clear who the character was and threw me off course, but after about 60 pages, I got used to it and it started to flow very well.

 

The writing is very simplistic and very easy to follow, which I think all contemporaries/mysteries need to be. They need to be confusing, but also easy to understand. What I wanted from this book was a spark, which I never got. Pretty Little Liars is an okay series, the earlier books were brilliant, but I can't help noticing the similarities between the both.

 

My other little problem was that I wasn't always captivated through out. Some scenes I got bored of and skipped a few pages, which shouldn't naturally happen. Sometimes with small books under 300 pages, I tend to find that I lose interest quickly because they rush it all and with this one I didn't feel that. I felt it was a bit dragged out. The cliffhanger at the end definitely didn't make me want to read the next book, but I may give it a chance to see how it wraps up.

 

Overall, I somewhat enjoyed this book. I just wished it was a more original idea. 3/5 stars!