All Your Perfects

Well that was a ride. I don't even know what rating I want to give this. It was a solid 5-star read at first. Then at one point, I was so angry that I was ready to give it 1 star because COLLEEN WHY DID YOU DO THAT??

All Your Perfects is a gritty, emotional portrayal of life AFTER the HEA we're so accustomed to getting in romance novels. It alternates between Then and Now chapters, telling the story of how Quinn and Graham met and fell in love to where they are seven years later, seemingly broken beyond repair.

I went into this blind, expecting from the blurb a book about a couple that are having your typical marital issues with a few sexy times thrown in as they try to find their way back to each other. What I didn't expect was to relate to Quinn and Graham on so many levels. Let's be real, marriage is hard work. Every couple goes through their fair share of struggles. It was nice (in a sort of morbid way) to see a romance novel go down that road and to show that it's not all butterflies and rainbows after the epilogue. I know part of the reason why we read romance novels is because we want to believe in the fairytale but sometimes that's just not realistic.

What Quinn and Graham face is so common yet rarely discussed. It can make or break a relationship and in their case, I wasn't sure if they were going to make it. There were times in the book that I was so angry at each of these characters for one reason or another. I was ready to put my Kindle down on multiple occasions because how can two people come back from that?? But of course I kept reading because it's books like this, ones that give you whiplash and a metaphorical punch to the heart that are some of my favorites.

“Our marriage hasn't been perfect. No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.”