ARC Review: What Once Was Perfect by Zoe York

Title: What Once Was Perfect
Author: Zoe York
Release Date: July 1st, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Heading home always stirs up mixed emotions for Laney Calhoun. Twelve years ago she left for graduate school, broken-hearted. She's found professional success, but positive personal relationships have proved elusive. Running into her ex-boyfriend fans flames she thought long extinguished, renews her interest in love. Not with Kyle, of course. Never again. But as sparks fly and items of clothing disappear, she scrambles to lock down her heart.

I am happy to announce that I am officially out of my reading slump.

After finishing Leap of Faith, I was somewhat vary about reading this book because I really did not want to go back to the dark place, so  I started this book with a heavy dose of skepticism and a tiny fledgling of hope.

I was not disappointed. There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong with this book but the author pulled through. While there were some things that didn’t work for me, I was rather happy with the outcome.

Like their relationship. It could have gone so absolutely wrong. I mean they broke up 12 years ago and the last time they saw each other was 2 years ago at her father’s funeral. Think about the amount of angst that could have ensued or the fictional amount of time they could have spent avoiding each other?

Thankfully they acted like the adults they were and even though things were slightly awkward they actually sat down to talk about it. And let me just say this because I personally believe it’s a big deal, it was the chic (Laney) who took initiative NOT THE GUY! Do you know how big of a deal this is? You know what’s even bigger a deal? They actually talked through what went wrong the first time around (kind of) and came to peace with the actual break up (it’s about time anyway, 12 years is a long long time). We also had someone take the blame, while I usually hate it when one person takes the blame for a relationship gone south, I must agree that Kyle really did make it a whole lot worse.

They don’t exactly agree to give it another shot but they decide to enjoy their short time together. They realize that they have grown up and matured since the last time they were together so while the chances of them having a real relationship are next to impossible the live in different countries), they can still enjoy the time they do have.

The relationship was the strong point of the book for me, the characters, not so much. I liked them but they could have been a whole lot better.

Laney had me vary right off the bat. She hasn’t been in a real relationship since her breakup and doesn’t believe in love. The only real relationship she had had was with Kyle, which was over 12 years ago when she was still young and somewhat naïve. That tells me that she never matured emotionally which is rather important in a character isn’t it? How do I like a character that defines all relationships by a failed one? If Kyle really had been the center of her universe she should have stayed instead of going off to Harvard right?

Kyle was still better than Laney because at least he attempted other relationships. What I didn’t like about him (this contradicts what I said earlier when I was talking about their relationship but I am trying to separate the relationship and the characters here because it makes more sense to me) was the fact that he took all the blame. He spent years blaming Laney for the break up (which was obviously the wrong thing to do) and then he suddenly decides that it was his fault? He also goes as far as taking blame for Laney’s ruined idea about love/relationships. NO! It’s not your fault! She should be smart enough to realize otherwise, because, I am quoting what she said here,

“Not that young. Too young to make it work, maybe, but not too young to know what it was”

If she realizes that and has made peace with it, so should you dammit!

I am not going to dwell into the actual cause of the breakup because it would be wrong for me to judge these characters on their past mistakes when they have obviously grown since then and realized what went wrong.

All in all this was a pretty fun read. It was light and had good romance. You cannot ask for much more.