All your perfects Paperback – March 31, 2022

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover5 stars!!!“…it’s hard to admit that a marriage might be over when the love is still there.”This is a review that I needed to write as soon as I finished the book. Normally I like to sleep on it, let my thoughts and opinions roll around my head to come up with something interesting and relevant to say. However, no matter how much thinking I do, nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever come close to representing what I just read. Nothing I could say could do this book justice, it was just one of those books that touched me on such a deep, emotional level, that I cried and I mean I CRIED. I have not cried this much over a book EVER and that is saying something. But this book, THIS BOOK, just drained me of EVERY. SINGLE. EMOTION. The message was something I could relate to, but my ending was magical, and while this couple had their own different magical ending, the road to get there just grabbed at my heart and soul and never let go, it still hasn’t.“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.”Colleen hoover delivers an unforgettable read and I mean UNFORGETTABLE. This will be one of those rare books that I put on my ALL-TIME list, a book that I will re-read time and time again. From the minute I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down, captivating, hypnotic, poignant, intense, brutally honest, raw, emotional, heart wrenching and yet one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Beautiful, how so? Because this book is about true love. A love so intense, so finite and that soul mate connection we all want to find. A love that can stand the test of a category 6 and while their belief may get muddied, may be stretched to breaking point, maybe to the point of no return, that intrinsic love for one and other is what ultimately reigns supreme. A love so deeply embedded for one and other that no matter the crisis, no matter the crappy hand that you’ve been dealt, that LOVE is a permanent foundation, no wrecking ball has the power to destroy it and while it gives a good attempt at it, it doesn’t succeed.“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.”Graham and Quinn’s beginning is unconventional and yet while when they first meet may not have been their day, when their paths do cross again fate has definitely worked its magic. I adored Graham in this book, his personality shone through the pages, like this bright beacon of happy, hope and everything good in the world. His love for Quinn was ever present, he loves fiercely, he wore his heart on his sleeve and it just radiated off every single page, and yet the more the story progressed the more that light dimmed, but most importantly, it never went out. Graham wasn’t perfect, maybe for ninety-nine percent of the time he was, but when you are losing the one thing you love the most, desperate times call for desperate measures. He got a ten for the thought behind it, but a zero in execution.“I love you more in this moment than any moment that has come before it.”Quinn was in self-destruct mode in this book and it is one place that I could totally relate to. But this is where Colleen Hoover excelled, her portrayal of a woman in this position was honest, it was gritty, it was raw, it was warts and all. The gradual breakdown of Quinn and Graham’s marriage was a reaction to circumstance. A couple whose relationship was built on honesty and talking to one and other to one where they never talked at all. Those bottling up of emotions, thoughts and feelings that just multiply and multiply in your mind, until something relatively little, becomes a huge, huge problem. Where a couple that know what the other is thinking on a normal day, lose that ability and jump to all the wrong conclusions, they read the signs all wrong and the more they think, the more the problems manifest, the more they grow until the love is slowly pushed to the bottom and the problems just cascade over the top.“Who are you right now? What did you do with my husband?”“He’s probably somewhere with my wife. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.”Colleen Hoover is one master story-teller, the myriad of emotions she effortlessly puts you through while capturing a test in life that many couples face was nothing short of amazing. A test that many couples battle and one you will never truly understand until you find yourself in the same situation. But Colleen Hoover goes out of her way to make you live it and she certainly succeeds. For a marriage to survive it is true what this author says, “if you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim,” and it is those perfects that you need to concentrate on. Remember the best times, the hard times are there to test us, speed bumps on the road trip of your life, but where you end up is the most important, don’t let those speed bumps derail you. Be happy, everyone deserves to be happy, and while sometimes you have to change your perception of happy, make a new one. Life is what you make it. Focus on all your perfects. What an unforgettable book!

After reading Hopeless and losing Hope I was really turned off by the fact I was told to read All your perfect next. The book seemed to be a whole different story than what I was reading before. And it was. I had to come down off the high that was the Hope books and readjust to new characters. I did not love the back and forth of past and present but I don't really like books like that in general. It was hard for me to get into as it does talk alot about infertility and that does not resonate with my life currently so it was difficult to relate. BUT HOLY COW did this book get better and better. The entire book seemed so depressing but in a way that made you keep turning the page and hoping for a better ending. It wasn't until the very end where I broke down in tears! You HAVE to read this book BEFORE Finding Perfect or you will not have the satisfaction at the end. As soon as I read the last couple chapters of All your perfects, everything tied together and I SOBBED. Give this book a chance even if you cannot relate to the characters challenges. It makes you appreciate what love can get you through even when you feel like there is nothing left to give.

4 stars — This was a rollercoaster ride of a book, mostly with my emotions. There were parts that I absolutely ADORED beyond measure. And there were parts that strained my sense of empathy. I was happy in the end, but definitely emotionally exhausted.Quinn and Graham were an exercise in patience in the Now chapters. While I’m not the best communicator in the world, my god! They were AWFUL at it! We mostly saw Quinn’s side because we’re in her POV, but Graham was pretty awful at communication too. I’m surprised they lasted 7 years. And therapy is boring? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I shy away from therapy too. But I don’t think I’ve ever read 2 people who needed counselling more.The Then chapters were an absolute delight. I was drawn in from the very first chapter. What a strange way to meet, a strange way to open a story. But you could already feel their connection. I kind of loved how the story was balanced between the Then and Now chapters. We got to watch them fall in love while simultaneously falling apart. I think it made it that much more heartbreaking, because you were seeing how solid they were initially, and how great a toll infertility was playing in their marriage.I will admit that I don’t want children…and never have. I was actually initially really offended with Quinn’s thought processes of how we’re only here for reproduction, so if she can’t do that she’s no use in the world. But I had to remind myself that she was only focusing on herself, and not necessarily on others (especially given her sister). So I definitely had a hard time connecting with Quinn’s all encompassing need to have children, and how it took over her life. I felt bits of it, just through Ms. Hoover’s brilliant writing, but I still couldn’t completely understand it. But I did get the resulting depression.I think that made it harder for me to *get* the degree of the struggles this couple was going through.Quinn strained my ability to empathize on so many levels. Maybe, it’s because I recognize glimmers of what she’s going through from a depression perspective, and some of her thoughts and feelings remind me of my own thoughts and feelings, and I HATE those parts of myself, so it was hard to not transfer that on to her. But Quinn took it to a whole new level, and I just had a really hard time with how things played out on her side of the marriage. I actually *felt* for Graham. It doesn’t excuse what he did by any means, but even *he* didn’t excuse what he did. He tried to explain, but not excuse.The Then chapters were honestly 5+ stars. I absolutely loved them as a couple, even if they were a bit over the top perfect in some ways. They made me laugh and grin. The Now chapters were more 3.5 stars. I appreciated the rollercoaster journey, but I’m kind of exhausted now. I wanted a bit more from Quinn at the end, but c’est la vie. I will also say that I LOVED the ending. In so many other stories it would have ended one way, and I would have been disappointed. But Ms. Hoover took the road less travelled, and I *really* appreciated that.The writing was lovely. I highlighted so many bits. The story may have been tough to digest, but the writing was beautiful. And it flowed so smoothly, the story was easy to devour (by my brain, if not my heart).

Wow, the book synopsis did not do this book justice and I almost did not read this book but for the fact it is the 4th in this series and had such great reviews. This turned out to be one of my favorite of Hoover's books and favorite in this series. This was deeply moving and so real and I enjoyed the authentic feeling of the marriage. This is a really good story about remembering to focus on what you have versus what you do not have. I really appreciate how Hoover can weave a story through two different timelines and keep the story flowing so flawlessly.