The Problem with Perfect by Jillian Liota is live!

The fourth book (third full length) in the Cedar Point series, I was so excited to be back into this world with a read that is chock-full of some of my favourite tropes – a brother’s best friend, fake relationship, age gap romance with all the feels, this is a really sweet read.

 

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Blurb

Bellamy Mitchell is a meticulous planner. When her old flame returns to Cedar Point engaged, blowing apart her vision for the future, she claims to have a serious boyfriend. The problem? The first single guy she can think of is her brother’s much older, closed-off best friend.

Rusty Fuller likes to keep people at a distance. He’s been through enough to know that letting anyone too close is a mistake, unless it’s only for a little fun. What he definitely doesn’t need is his best friend’s little sister turning him into anyone’s boyfriend, especially her own.

For some reason, helping Bellamy is a challenge Rusty can’t refuse, and he develops a reluctant soft spot for the woman beloved by everyone in town. She’s too young, too innocent, but also too hard to resist. So he promises himself this fake dating gig is just that: fake.

When Rusty and Bellamy find more in each other than either of them expected, they’re faced with a difficult question. Is what they share too flawed to be real? Or did they stumble upon their own kind of perfect?

 

 

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Review

“That’s the problem with perfect – it doesn’t leave room for something real.”

4 stars!

The fourth book (third full length) in the Cedar Point series, I was so excited to be back into this world with a read that is chock-full of some of my favourite tropes – a brother’s best friend, fake relationship, age gap romance with all the feels, this is a really sweet read.

Bellamy Mitchell is the younger sister of Boyd and Briar who have already had their stories told in the first two books of the series. Rusty Fuller is the older brother of Abby, who is the heroine from the novella The Start of Someday. So we’ve met these two before, and there is some crossover of characters from previous books, but you could easily read this one as a standalone.

Bellamy is devastated when Connor, the boy she’s loved for as long as she can remember, returns home for the summer with a brand new fiancée. The last time he was in town, they spent a lot of time together and hooked up before he went back to school, and she was hopeful that they would rekindle their connection and finally have a chance at a happily ever after. But her dreams are instantly shattered. When he calls her out on her crush, she needs to save face, so she tells him she’s involved with somebody else, and randomly chooses the man sitting right next to them – her older brother’s best friend, Rusty.

Rusty is ten years older than Bellamy, and where she is all brightness and sunshine, he is closed off and a bit of a grump. He has his reasons for keeping himself private, and doesn’t engage much with others, other than to hook up with random strangers that pass through town, avoiding relationships or forming an actual connection with somebody. Bellamy gives him the shock of his life when she declares him her boyfriend, but he’s not a fan of Connor so he agrees to help her out.

It’s a great set up, and I loved watching the dynamic between these two shift and change. Though they’ve known each other for most of their lives, they’ve never really been close friends or felt any kind of attraction to each other, they’ve just existed in each other’s lives. So they really are starting from nothing, which means we get to watch it all grow from the beginning, and fake becomes ‘not so fake’ very quickly.

We might both need some time to cool down a bit and remind ourselves that this thing is supposed to be fake.
It’s fake for her, at least. For me, it’s been borderline real since the night she yanked me across the bar and planted a kiss on my lips.

Their feelings for each other come as a big surprise to both of them, and though they start to fall, they just write it off as a side-effect of all of the public PDA. But the chemistry builds, and I particularly loved watching Rusty fall so damn hard.

I keep telling myself I need to work on keeping a boundary so nothing happens between us, but that ship has sailed. It has sailed and crashed into a rock and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
I’m falling for Bellamy Mitchell, and I don’t know how to stop it.
And the truth is…I’m not sure I want to.

I loved the relationship between these two. There’s an honesty there that is really special, and they grow a lot together. I wish we could have seen a bit more one-on-one with them, to really feel the emotional build-up, but I did love watching them come together.

“This is real,” she whispers. “I know it is, and so do you.”
She kisses me, and I’m lost in her.
No – I’m found in her.

I loved Bellamy. She’s real and relatable, and she bravely puts herself out there, giving Rusty the push he needs, holding nothing back and embracing everything that is happening between them. It’s more of a challenge for Rusty, who has a slow awakening throughout the story. He’s been through a lot in his life. He’s lost so much and had to turn his life around, and he has a lot of soul searching to do when it comes to Bellamy and her potential place in his life. They have a 10+ year age gap, she’s inexperienced with all things love and sex, and he knows he hasn’t been living his best life. He’s the town “grump”, and he’s suddenly with the beloved golden girl, and I loved watching it change him, seeing how he reacts to having something so good in his life. He has a lot to wrestle with to come to terms with it all, which brings inevitable drama, but his journey is really well written. My heart hurt for them both, but I loved watching him figure it all out.

“It’s real for me … “It’s the most real thing I’ve ever known, loving you.”

“I can’t imagine living in a world where I had you and chose to let you go.”

I enjoyed seeing glimpses of the couples from previous books, and loved the introduction of new characters who brought a lot to the story; and Rusty and Bellamy’s romance has a beautifully happy ending that left me smiling.

It’s a swoony love story, and while I would have loved to see just a little bit more of it, I did love this one.

4 stars.

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

Cedar Point

 

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About the Author

 Jillian Liota is a Southern California native currently living in Suwanee, Georgia. She is married to her best friend, has a three-legged pup with endless energy, and acts as a servant to a very temperamental cat.

Jillian writes contemporary and new adult romance, and has had her writing praised for depth of character, strong female friendships, deliciously steamy scenes, and positive portrayal of mental health.

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