Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Perfect Imperfections

AUTHOR: Cardeno C.

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 210 pages

BLURB:

Hollywood royalty Jeremy Jameson has lived a sheltered life with music as his sole focus and only friend. Before embarking on yet another international concert tour, he wanders into a bar in what he considers the middle of nowhere and meets a man who wins him over with his friendly smile and easy-going nature. Accountant slash bartender slash adventure-seeker Reg Moore has fun talking and drinking with The Jeremy Jameson and can’t say no when the supposedly straight rock star makes him a once in a lifetime offer: keep him company on his tour by playing the part of his boyfriend.

Listening to music, traveling the world, and jumping off cliffs is fun. Falling in love is even better. But to stay with Jeremy after the stage lights dim, Reg will need to help him realize there’s nothing pretend about their relationship.

REVIEW:

I have a confession to make. I wanted to read this book solely based on the title. I am obsessed with the John Legend song that is playing on the radio now, with the line “perfect imperfections” in it. I’ve read most of Cardeno’s books, so I wasn’t worried about liking it or not, but the title got my immediate attention! Usually I don’t pay that much attention to the title or the cover, but I was intrigued by this one.

I loved the beginning of this book! What a great concept…. Jeremy Jameson, rockstar royalty, is out having a last bit of time to himself before his tour starts, walks in to a dingy bar and spends six hours chatting with Reg, the bartender. Reg knows who he is, but keeps it to himself and they just chat. Reg is jealous of Jeremy’s life, touring, seeing the world, doing what you want, he’s an adventurer at heart, stuck in a bar. Jeremy is tired of the games of fame, never knowing who to trust, or who is using him and his fame. He’s lonely and jaded. After an evening of chatting, Reg offers Jeremy his couch, they share another couple beers, and Jeremy asks Reg to go on tour with him as his fake boyfriend! Obviously we can all see what’s coming a mile away, this is a romance novel, but I was perfectly happy to let it all play out.

So here’s what I thought about this book: I enjoyed it very much. It was fun and easy, light and fluffy. It was the story of two men who become friends, then lovers, then fall in love. Jeremy is a whiny, needy, spoiled brat, Reg is calm and cool, taking care of Jeremy. I liked them both and I liked them together. I loved how protective Reg was of Jeremy, both his physical self, and his rockstar persona. I liked how Reg slowly opens up Jeremy, showing who he really is and what he really needs and wants. Introducing him to how sex should be. They have fun together, in bed and out, slowly building a friendship and love, and what will hopefully be a long life together. There is very little drama in this story, a bit with an employee of Jeremy’s promoter causing problems, but nothing major. A little incident at the end with Jeremy’s mom, but again, nothing serious. This is just a happy book, it made me happy to read it. When it was over I sighed and thought awwww…. I liked that!

I do have to say that I’ve recently read two stories about musicians, that were dark and gritty, with lots of drama and angst. This book had none of that. We never see Jeremy as a musician. There was one discussion about what instrument he plays, I think it was bass. No mention of his singing, no practice, no rehearsals, we never see any band mates, even though they are on tour, in fact I don’t even know the name of his band or what style of music they play. No groupies or fans, just interviews with reporters and stalking by photographers. We know his mom and grandfather are Hollywood royalty, and his father was a famous musician, and that he was groomed to perform, with no friends or real childhood, but that’s it. On one hand his job as a musician plays a big part, the whole book takes place while he is touring, Reg hangs out backstage, and we see Jeremy before and after performances, but on the other hand we never see him BE a musician. It’s like a totally separate thing from the story. I say that like it’s a bad thing, but honestly I didn’t notice the lack of anything remotely musical until I was done with the book! So apparently I didn’t bother me that much.

This story is very about Reg and Jeremy. Not much else. And that is actually ok. It was sweet, and fluffy, an evenings reading pleasure. There is no deep dark story here, no drama, no tears, just a nice story. Well written, good characters, good sex, very enjoyable.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

ARe