REVIEW: BAD GIRLS WITH PERFECT FACES BY LYNN WEINGARTEN

*ARC RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

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When Sasha’s best friend Xavier gets back together with his cheating ex, Ivy, Sasha knows she needs to protect him. So she poses as a guy online to lure Ivy away.

But Sasha’s plan goes sickeningly wrong. And she soon learns to be careful of who you pretend to be because you might be surprised by who you become…

Told in multiple points of view, Bad Girls with Perfect Faces is sexy and twisted with shocks at every turn.

I was really excited for this title having read the author's previous mystery novel Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls. Where SNFBG was exciting and mysterious, Bad Girls With Perfect Faces ​was bland and not thrilling at all. 

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We follow three points of view in this books; Sasha's, Xavier's, and a "mystery" person. The first two are fine, what you'd expect, though they do switch tenses: one in second and one in third person, which bothered me a little. The mystery persons was infuriating. I couldn't stand this character (you end up knowing who they are fairly quickly) and just felt entirely unrealistic and fake and nope. The formatting of this POV was also an issue - this may have been my e-arc but there was nothing to separate it from the main text other than it was in italics. What's wrong with a paragraph break? New chapter? UGH.

I really don't have much to say on this book because in all honesty, nothing happened. Actually, looking back I'm really not sure what I read for the most part. It was just... words? There was so much potential but it feels like I read a manuscript in the process of being edited. Characters felt a little underdeveloped and the ending felt fairly rushed - like Weingarten was trying to hit a deadline and figured 'oh I can fix it later' but never bothered. I wanted to just give up when I was about 80% through because I just didn't care anymore. I hated all the characters except Xavier and honestly I only kept reading because I was seriously hoping for a thrilling ending similar to that of Suicide Notes. Alas, nope. I wasted my time.

I also want to mention something about Xavier. We learn that for a month since he broke up with Ivy that he's been majorly depressed. Fine, fair enough. Some people probably do get very depressed like that after a breakup. But Xavier also has pills. It's never mentioned what they are but if I recall his parents took him to a psychiatrist who prescribed them to take 'as needed' and I don't know about America but that just seems unrealistic to me. He also drinks when he's on them and blacks out. I just wasn't thrilled with the portrayal of depression in this and the fact that he comes straight out of it the second Ivy comes back into his life. That doesn't happen, folks. 

I'm stopping my review here because hoenstly? The more I think about it the more I hate this book and wish I never requested it. So ya. First bad book of the year for me! Fingers crossed I get a 4 or 5 star soon!

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You can buy Bad Girls With Perfect Faces from the Book Depository here.

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Okay, I lied. I just made a twitter thread where I rant about the book. WARNING. SPOILERS. 

Okay so I'm not one for using the term "problematic" because I hate it and think that we need to realise books are there to show us all perspectives and real life can be and IS problematic but LORDY was Bad Girls With Perfect Faces fucking horrific

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

SO long story short there's a character who is majorly fucking depressed because he broke up with his super shitty bitch of a girlfriend and he gets put on unspecified meds to take when he needs them and he drinks a fucking lot when on them so he has blackouts

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

and then he gets back with his ex and oh guess what? C U R E D

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

He's suddenly super happy. He's gone from major depression requiring a psychiatrist and medication to perfectly fine... until the ex starts being her usual shitty bitchy self

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

and eventual a hundred or two pages later this bitch is murdered

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

and at first you think its the boys best friend who catfished her but then the friend finds blue hair which is exactly the colour that she dyed her friend (the depressed kid)'s hair not too long ago. So oMG IT WAS HIM

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

BUT THE FRIEND LOVES THE BOY SO SHE MUST PROTECT. SO SHE FUCKING CARTS THE BODY INTO THE BOOT OF HER CAR AND PLANS A ROAD TRIP DOWN TO FLORIDA TO DUMP IT IN A LAKE

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

BUT THE BOY WANTS TO GO TOO BECAUSE THE EX-NOT EX-NOW EX BROKE UP WITH HIM (WAS THE FRIEND USING THE EX PHONE) SO DEPRESSED/NOT DEPRESSED BOY AND THE FRIEND GO ON A ROAD TRIP WITH A FUCKING CORPSE IN THE CAR

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

MEANWHILE. friend is texting bitch-ex's friend as the bitch-ex

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

and eventually it turns out that the friend of the bitch-ex who killed her.

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018

so the Friend dumped a fucking body to cover up for depressed boy that she loves because the killer planted depressed boy's hair on the body.

— ems□ (@emmaferrierx) January 8, 2018