Synopsis from Goodreads: Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?
Date Published: July 17, 2018
Date Read: August 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Setting:
No. of Pages: 320
Genre: Romance
Get your copy here: Book Depository | Amazon
Colleen Hoover has done it again!
I know I said in my review of Confess that I wouldn’t want to think my relationship with Colleen Hoover’s works has already run its course, that I could salvage it. All Your Perfects was my salvation. It was redemption, and a very sweet one. After reading November 9 and Confess, I kind of shied away from CoHo’s books, I thought that was enough for me already, that I should move along and enjoy other authors. And I was wrong. All Your Perfects was a reminder why I loved her writing since 2012.
Imperfect Marriage as its highlight
All Your Perfects is about an imperfect marriage, of two people trying to work things out but is so close to failing. It has flawed characters and a plot that might hit home to most of the people. It was a struggle some married couples undergo.. This is where it will hit you the most, that vulnerability of it possibly happening to you, or might have been happening to some people you know. It tackled something so raw and real. Admittedly, I have been always drawn to books with dysfunctional marriage/family. I loved how the characters deal with their problems and whether they were able to push past it or how they completely drift apart. For me, there is some sense of beauty in dysfunctional people, how they perceive life and the situations they were dealt and how they manage to navigate though life despite it. That’s how a good book connects to people, how it presents not just the good parts but more so the ugly ones. How it highlighted imperfection and flaws, ultimately what makes us human.
Flawed characters
At one point I was so frustrated with our female protagonist – Quinn, but at the same time understood where she was coming from. Quinn’s predicament plagued her marriage with Graham. The book was written in her perspective. Colleen Hoover was able to write something profound through Quinn’s voice. I commend how mature this book was compared to CoHo’s previous works, it truly is something different. The book highlighted the struggles of modern day woman, and that’s what makes it beautiful, it delved into something not all books willingly talk about.
Then we have Graham, our male protagonist who had flaws of his own but managed to come out of it well. These two characters really complemented each other. Graham oh Graham, he was just so good to Quinn, sometimes I feel like Quinn doesn’t deserve him. Yet another book setting high expectations for men. (This is why I’m single, lol). Graham wasn’t perfect, and so is Quinn, but Graham was the one who came through for this relationship to work, and I love how he was just so patient with Quinn. Graham was never perfect, from the onset he was presented to be as vulnerable as everyone else, but he always rise through the occasion and makes wise decisions. He was the one who stood stronger for the both of them. And though he made a mistake as well, you’ll just understand where all of it was coming from. I love how Colleen Hoover did not romanticize that part but presented it in a no-nonsense approach.
Two perfectly flawed characters who gave me the worst heartbreak. Ahhh I still remember the letters and I am seriously welling up right now. This book was just heartbreaking, I didn’t know what to do with myself from Chapter 20 down to the very end. I was inconsolable to say the least. I felt like I have cried a year’s worth of tears.
Fast Pacing and Unconventional presentation of each chapter
The Then and Now chapters definitely set the mood. I was happy reading Then chapters and I dreaded reading Now chapters. It gave off this balance, but kind of will put you in a confused state. You don’t know if you’re going to be happy or if you’re going to cry. It made the book a lot faster to read. The pacing was just right. I love the correlation of every events, not one event was unnecessary. It was well put-together.
You’ll cry river of tears
All Your Perfects truly wrecked me. I have cried over books before, yes, but All Your Perfects took it to a whole different level, that kind of level where my flu came back because I cried so hard. Hahah I am not even kidding. And it is a wonder because nothing in the book relates to me, I am not married nor I’m in a relationship. But this book pierced through my heart and set a camp there. I was already warned that I should not be reading this book in public, that I needed to be alone. Well, I guess thanks for the warning, because all the tears came without preamble. Before I know it my shirt was already soaked in tears. It was so dramatic, that I didn’t even wipe any of it, I just let it, one teardrop after another. I was a sight to behold really, and I felt the pain, really, truly felt it. I don’t know why I was so affected by the Now chapters, I have nothing in common with the characters, I haven’t gone through whatever they have been through, but I was so immersed in the story that my heart completely ached for them. I think that’s the gauge of a good book, how it able to transcend from the pages through the reader’s emotions, whether the reader could relate to it or not. Colleen Hoover truly evolved through the years. She always has something new to offer in the table, and everything is different from the last. I mean, where does she get her inspiration from? She is truly talented, no doubt about it.
This may very well be my favorite Colleen Hoover book among the ones I have read. Imagine, Maybe Someday and It Ends With Us were dethroned. That is saying quite a lot because I loved those two books so much. That said, please find the time to read this book. I am offering support should you need it, you know where to find me! Go get a copy now.
“Until then, I will continue to love you more and more with every struggle we face than I loved you when all was perfect.”
― Colleen Hoover, All Your Perfects
Nerdy Talks 