Rate: Ok (2 stars)
Synopsis:
Life is full of choices: good, bad, and ones you can’t control.
Raegan strives to be perfect in every way. Varsity cheerleader, honor student, and proud granddaughter of Dover Lowery. By day, Raegan is an over-achieving high school student, but at three o’clock, her real work begins.
What happens when appearances are not what they seem? Will Raegan be able to hold on to her life as she knows it, or will she be left all alone?
All of these questions are answered with one night, one song, one story, and one boy.
Southern Perfection was an okay read for me. The story is a good one, but it didn't made me as excited as other books I've recently read.
The book starts with Raegan when she's a little girl. We get to see her early story, how she lost her parents and grandmother and was left with his caring grandfather. Now she's the perfect southern girl: she works hard every morning, doesn't date because she does not have time for it and every boy wants to be with her. Until Emmett gets back in town. The only boy that made her feel anything.
This book had a lot of potential from my point of view. There was definitely attraction and chemistry between the two main characters, but everything seemed to go way too fast for my liking. Moreover, since I didn't get the connection at the beginning between the two main characters, like their "before-story", it felt kind of impossible to feel so strongly for someone who you have just reunite again recently. I mean, she knew the boy from when they were little, maybe he has changed? or not. But To me, it felt just weird.
Don't get me wrong, I think that Emmett was a sweetheart and was the perfect definition of a southern book boyfriend, but at some point it was definitely too much drama, too much angst. And I blame it a little on Raeagan. I get that she has had a difficult life, losing almost her entire family and having to work so hard, and I get that she's worried about her grandfather, but I didn't understand why she was so apprehensive in dating. If she was with the right guy, he would understand that she cared for her grandfather and she needed to spend time with him. I don't see the whole point of making it a relationship problem.
Overall, the plot was a bit flat. I didn't get excited at all during the whole reading process. I was like, okay maybe now comes the good stuff. Aside from the ending, that's what brings all the emotional part to the story, the rest was all the same, all the time. I think the one character that always brought a smile and kept the story from sounding every single time the same, was Raeagan's grandfather. He was definitely something different and had his funny moments.
The romance in it was definitely sweet and a bit overwhelming. If the drama in the story was more focused in other problems that to me were more realistic I would have totally loved this book.
Casey Peeler grew up and still lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter. Her first passion is teaching students with special needs. Over the years, she found her way to relax was in a good book.
After reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston her senior year of high school and multiple Nicholas Sparks’ novels, she found a hidden love and appreciation for reading.
When Casey isn’t writing, you can find her listening to country music, spending the day at the lake, being a wife and dance mom, and spending time with friends and family.
Her perfect day consists of water, sand between her toes, a cold beverage, and a great book!
