Book Review: Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams

“I am the quiet one in my family. The one with her nose always in a book because she prefers worlds where she doesn’t have to interact with other humans. It’s so much easier to read about relationships than to foster them. Less dangerous too.”

Sarah Adams, Practice Makes Perfect

Review:

For some reason, I’m a person who tends to prefer the sequels over the first installments. I read this book back to back with When in Rome and found myself much more attached to Annie and Will than Amelia and Noah.

Shy and introverted Annie has her heart set on finding her other half. Thanks to small-town talk, she begins to fear her quiet reputation has her out of luck in the dating department. She enlists her friend Amelia’s bodyguard Will to help her come out of her shell.

I’m not usually a fan of plots where the ‘good girl’ has to become someone she isn’t just to find ‘love’ but it worked for me more here than usual. Will’s personality has a great contrast with Annie’s. They fit well together as the narrators.

Like When in Rome, this book has quite a few references to Audrey Hepburn, albeit, not quite as many as the first. The film of focus this time around is Funny Face. If you’ve seen the film, you can see some of the similarities between Annie and Jo Stockton. I’m curious to see if this theme continues should the series go on.

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• A shy protagonist. I feel like this level of quiet introversion doesn’t typically take center stage, although I’m not an authority on that since I’m picky when it comes to this genre.
• Good contrast between the two main characters.
• I do admit the Audrey Hepburn references warm my heart.

What I didn’t like:

• The writing felt more polished in this book but it’s still not a style I prefer. It does, however, fit into the genre. I’m aware of this being a preference issue.
• Still not crazy about the ‘good girl’ trope but I chose to continue with it.

Afterthoughts:

Even though it’s not a head-over-heels read for me, I’m attached to the series and hope it will continue.

Where to buy the book: