Virtually Perfect

This was a very enjoyable read that had my attention from the very first page. I really enjoyed the author's writing style with a nice easy flow and pace to the story and characters that you either loved or hated. I found it thought provoking while entertaining which is always a great combination in a book. Once a culinary darling, Lizzie Glass had a popular TV show, professional recognition, and enough money to live a nice life. When the show gets canceled she finds that the fame and recognition dry up pretty quickly and she finds herself desperate for a job just to pay the bills. Unable to find anything else she takes a summer job as a personal chef for the Silvesters. A wealthy yet slightly crazy family. Well actually more than slightly crazy each with their own special dietary needs it proves very challenging. The most challenging of all is Zoe. Zoe could be the one Silvester that could completely shatter Lizzie's well crafted life. I definitely recommend this one.

Lizzie Grant appears to have it all: magazine column, successful cooking show, fame. But, with the blink of an eye – it’s all gone and she’s feeling like a failure. But there are bills that need paying, and since she is a chef, the opportunity to work for a wealthy Jersey Shore family as their private chef seems to be the perfect opportunity to realign her life and decide what’s next. The Silvesters are particular with their restrictive diets and a daughter that is a self-proclaimed wellness warrior. While not spefically about the food and cooking, the story delves into Lizzie’s discovery of the choices made, good and bad, and the realization that her own life is also in need of rework. Zoe Silvester is simply a façade – her entire being is wrapped up in the Wellness Warrior persona, a persona that is at best false, at worse detrimental. Lizzie sees this, but her stepping forward will reveal the shortcuts and misleading moments in her own rise to fame. Zoe’s mother Kathryn is just despicable and one of those ‘all for show” people, with an inability to take responsibility for her own mistakes and missteps, preferring to toss everyone and everything under the bus as she flounces away bragging about her wealth and ignoring all discord and drama that she doesn’t create herself. Lizzie’s mum Susan is truly lovely and caring, but their relationship is also in need of a retooling, and while her story is used as a bit of diversion from Lizzie’s, with her own moments of finding herself, it was predictable but refreshing: a nice chance from the interior monologues, created drama with Zoe and Kathryn, and Lizzie’s rather disappointing love life. As a debut, Roberts managed to create solid characters and compelling situations that present consequences, and show (with Lizzie and Susan) the positive value of finding a new direction and moving forward after a perceived failure or bump in the road. Where I got stuck was the lack of pronouns, causing an extraordinary set of echoes: frustrating in the abstract, annoying in reality. Lizzie said, Lizzie thought, Lizzie wondered when the ‘who’ is clearly apparent and present is overkill, and had me catching myself to stop skimming through the pages. Simple editing choices that would have eliminated these echoes and found a better way to reinforce the concepts and important moments then repeating them over and over. While the overwhelming theme in this story is of redemption and redefinition after a setback did stand strongly after the last page, the ride to the end was a bit more effort than it should have been. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.