REVIEW: A Perfect Mess (Perfect Secret series Book #1) By, Zoe Dawson

I know what you did last summer.

Aubree Walker, the perfect girl most likely to succeed, is sure there’s only one person who knows what she did.

Booker Outlaw, one of the three Outlaw brothers—all identical, all gorgeous, all from the wrong side of the tracks, and all pure bad boys. He was always the unpredictable one, the one who would be brash enough to make it big self-publishing horror novels on the internet. He promised never to tell, but everyone knows you can never trust an Outlaw.

Then a year later, in the middle of the night, she receives a phone call at Tulane. Her aunt, who took her in after her mother’s death, is in a coma under suspicious circumstances. Now she has to face that one person who knows all about what she did that summer—sexy Booker. 

Returning to Hope Parish to be with her aunt, stirs up all those ugly memories. When Aubree starts getting threats, she can’t help but wonder if what she did last summer was tied to her aunt’s “accident.” Afraid, she turns to the only person who knows the truth and Booker doesn’t hesitate to offer his broad shoulder for her to lean on. But Booker has a secret of his own that could crush their fledgling relationship.

As the hot, sultry summer days move on, she finds that even a perfectly smart girl can lose her heart to a perfectly bad boy. What is she going to do when someone starts asking questions Aubree doesn’t want to answer? She’s knee deep into a terribly dangerous, wholly life changing, who-can-she-really-depend-on perfect mess.

“You rescued me, again,” she said.

“I’m no hero.”

“For someone who claims not to be a hero, you seem to spend an awful lot of time coming to my rescue.”

This is the first book in the Perfect Secret Series. This series is about three girls who on the outside are perfect almost untouchable but on the inside they have terrible secrets that need to stay hidden. The unholy trinity. The identical triples. The Outlaws. They have the bad boy image down but they might not be as bad as the town thinks they are. This is Aubree and Booker’s story.

“We all wear masks to get by. To hide things from people who would strip us bare. We protect what’s inside because it’s too precious to be exposed. It’s who we are. The real us.”

Aubree Walker has been running for the past nine months. She has always been a perfectionist. In high school she focused on school and being perfect so that her aunt would keep her, unlike her mother. It was working until she graduated. One night changed everything for Aubree and the boy who helped. After that night she left and never came back. She cut off that boy and ignored every plea her aunt made for her to come home for a visit. Until her aunt has a mysterious accident that has her running home. Aubree is about to come face to face with the secret only one other person knows. I really like Aubree’s character. She tries really hard to be tough and not let things bother her but deep down she is broken. She’s trying to live with the choices she made and not doing a great job at it. Aubree grows and matures leaving her an even better character than she was in the beginning.

“He cupped my face, our communication all one-on-one, silent, and intimate.”

Booker Outlaw has spent the past nine months trying to forget the girl that has gotten to him since she moved into town in fifth grade. Booker is one of three triplets. His family is openly sneered at in public. No one wants to be seen or associated with the Outlaws and the triplets had nothing to do with any of it. Booker has spent year watching Aubree from afar. Loving her from afar. Protecting her from afar. Until one night he helped her hide something neither one of them could take back. Now she’s back and getting threatening text messages. Booker has to protect her all over again and try to keep his heart in the process. I LOVED Booker. He was swoon-worthy, protective, and amazing. He has spent the past nine months writing horror fiction and make tons of money doing it. He didn’t let it go to his head. He was a huge family man and he took care of the people he loved.

“I wanted to give her pleasure, mind-blowing pleasure, because I wanted her to stay. To stay with me for days, weeks, and months, maybe forever. She rocked my world, hard, and I wanted to find out everything about her.”

This book was filled with amazing characters, drama, love, and mystery. Zoe Dawson’s writing was fluid, well done, and heartbreaking. She was able to fill the book with all kinds of emotions that you couldn’t help but feel. You couldn’t help but feel the pain that Aubree has been in for years. Pain she can’t admit to anyone. Booker shows what happens when you are patient enough to look past someone’s flaws. I loved every minute of it. Some parts of the book didn’t really add up but overall I really enjoyed reading this one.

Aubree and Booker had some of the most hilarious banter between the two of them. I really loved these two character together. They brought what the other person was missing. I really like how Aubree fit in with his brothers too. After she didn’t have very much family she now has some.

Some things that bothered me…. The fight between Booker and Aubree. I feel like both of them, mostly Booker, over-reacted to the confession. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal so it seemed a little over the top and drama-filled for me. Another thing is people disappear and no one questions it. No one really even notices it. It just happens. I also feel like the ending was rushed. I think the book could have been a little longer and it would have been even better. Other than those things I really didn’t have any other problems.

I loved this book and I can’t wait to read about the other two brothers and friends.

“She filled up the hole inside me, flooded the pain away, made me believe for a moment that everything… could work out, and I was all about the possibilities.

It was genuine. It was heartbreaking.

It was…a perfect mess.”

     

Don’t forget to read the next two in the series…..

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