Flawless
Author: Lara Chapman
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Sarah Burke is so close to perfect…she has gorgeous blue eyes, long blonde hair, amazing grades and a loyal best friend. She just has one flaw: her big nose. Sarah’s nose has held her back for years and standing up for herself is something that comes naturally after being made fun of constantly. Even though her nose is an extreme annoyance, Sarah is ready for a fantastic senior year. And when the sexy Rock Conway walks into her journalism class on the first day of school, Sarah is excited to get to know him…until she learns that her best friend Kristen notices him too.

Rock and Kristen hit it off quickly before Sarah even has a chance to express interest in him. A little (okay, a lot) sad, Sarah takes a backseat once again to her best friend and watched the two fall for each other. There’s just one problem. Kristen doesn’t feel smart enough for Rock and asks Sarah to help her impress him by responding to his Facebook messages and emails. Sarah reluctantly agrees and begins to like Rock more and more as she gets to know him better. But quickly, the lines begin to blur and the web of lies becomes too much to handle. When Rock learns that Sarah’s been behind Kristen’s notes all along, her chances of ever being with him begin to slowly dwindle away.

Apparently FLAWLESS is a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac (a book I’ve never read) but I’m always impressed when authors write retellings. It seems like more and more authors are doing this these days.

One thing I found pretty unrealistic about this book was the amount of attention people gave to Sarah’s nose. I know high school is a cruel place and all, but some of the comments and random people on the street making fun of Sarah just didn’t feel real to me. Of course, people might notice and stare a little, but the comments definitely felt extreme. However, I get that Sarah accepting her flaw was basically the entire purpose of the book, so I understand that this storyline might have needed to be a little um, enhanced, than it might be in real life .

Overall, I really enjoyed Sarah as a main character. I could definitely relate to her in her desire to do well in school and get a college scholarship. I also loved how loyal she was to Kristen, even when Kristen didn’t always think of Sarah. I also loved that Sarah enjoyed writing. Definitely something I could relate to. If Sarah were a real person, I could definitely see myself being friends with her, and that’s always a good trait in a main character.

Even though I don’t think Kristen was necessarily the most attentive friend to Sarah, I really loved the friendship between the two. I love books about best friends and the fact that they were always there for each other and were so close seemed really nice to me.

The storyline about Sarah’s mom and her colleague Jen trying to ruin her reputation and career felt a little out of place to me. I wasn’t able to make a connection between that storyline and the main plot of the book (although it was entertaining). Perhaps the point was that Sarah would do anything to stand up for her family and friends, but had a hard time accepting herself and doing it for herself? I’m not sure…but for some reason this part of the book stuck out to me. One thing I did like about this storyline though was that we got to see how close Sarah and her mom were, despite their different opinions about her nose. I love books where the main character gets along with her parents, so this definitely stuck out as a positive to me.

Perhaps what bothered me most about this book was Rock. As a main male character, I didn’t fall in love with him, and I never really found myself rooting for him and Sarah. Actually, I was rooting for Sarah to begin liking Jay because he seemed like he had a genuine interest in her. It bothered me that Rock apparently liked Sarah or recognized that there was something more to her, but still chose to be with Kristen. I kept waiting for something to change and for me to begin liking him, but that moment never came. And when the book ended, I just felt kind of “meh” about the whole thing. I was happy for Sarah that she was able to get what she wanted, but I didn’t feel that familiar *swoon* that I often feel when the girl finally gets the guy she wants.

FLAWLESS ended a bit abruptly for me. When I turned the last page, I continued flipping hoping for a little more, but was greeted with just the acknowledgments page. The ending happened just a little too quickly and I wanted to learn just a little more before the book ended.

Even though I didn’t fall head over heals for FLAWLESS, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Lara Chapman’s next novel. I enjoyed her breezy, easy to read writing style and loved the way she developed Sarah throughout the novel. Plus, the takeaway message of this story was excellent, and one I think every reader can relate to.

3/5