All Your Perfects

Book reviews

9 Oct

Written By Anzhelika Li

This depiction of a marriage in crisis was nearly perfect.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. ALL YOUR PERFECTS by Colleen Hoover

SYNOPSIS

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?

BOOK REVIEW

Colleen Hoover once again created an extremely emotional read. At this point, I cannot express enough how unique of a reading experience every single book by the author is. Both for those who have experienced, as well as never gone through the intense life-changing things Colleen’s characters have to endure time after time, her stories are crafted in such a way that it is almost impossible to not be sensitive to all the hurt...

“When you meet someone who is good for you, they won’t fill you with insecurities by focusing on your flaws. They’ll fill you with inspiration because they’ll focus on all the best parts of you.”

In All Your Perfects, the marriage of Quinn and Graham was on the verge of a divorce because of multiple problems all stemming from an issue of infertility. The couple’s painful journey to get a so desperately desired addition to their family had so many bumps and holes, including the financial burden of medical treatments that never give a success guarantee, the annoying intrusion of outside forces, but mostly, the mental health deterioration (internal guilt struggle accompanied by a downward spiral of constant depression and self-depreciation) of both parties to the issue concerned.

I cried so many times while being completely immersed in the narrative created by Quinn and Graham. I seriously appreciated how flawed and real the main characters were, and respected the hell out of their willingness to fight. I believe, Colleen Hoover did highlight the single most important truth about any marriage—that the secret to a long happy marriage is for both spouses to never give up at the same time. And Quinn and Graham never did… And the way the two of them came to realize that they were enough in their relationship was exactly what broke my little heart.

Okay, I think I’ve given out too much already!

“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”

What I’d like to say in conclusion is that a truly exceptional read is when it challenges the readers to think critically while trying to tame all the emotions that hold the power drain them as a whole. And All Your Perfects was exactly that kind of a book. Once again, I cannot stress out enough how important it’s for you to check it out!

““What’s the secret to a perfect marriage?” The old man leaned forward and looked at me very seriously. “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.””

PS. I think All You Perfects gets the third place in my personal list of favourites by Colleen Hoover, right after It Ends With Us and Maybe Someday.

Also, on the side note:

My Take on How to Overcome Problems in Marriage

Start from scratch because duh.
Put the relationship ahead of everything else (including your children) because marriages don’t work when something or someone is in the way.
Stop taking one another for granted because appreciation is the key to even making an effort to save the marriage.
Surround yourself with people in healthy relationships because human beings are prone to copying the patterns of behavior. You know the old joke:
Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I do that…”
Doctor: “Well, don’t do that anymore.”
Choose to love because “love is as much a choice as it is an emotion.”