Simple Perfection

Written by Abbi Glines

Narrated by Elizabeth Louise and Sebastian York

Abbi Glines concludes the irresistible story of Woods and Della in the #1 New York Times bestselling Rosemary Beach series.

Woods had his perfect life mapped out for him. Rise up the ranks of the family business. Marry the rich girl of his parents’ dreams. Pretend that wealth and privilege was all he’d ever wanted. Then a girl named Della breezed into town, a beautifully imperfect stranger who captured his heart and opened his eyes to a new kind of future. Woods is ready and willing to sacrifice everything for her when the sudden death of his father leaves him with his mother to care for and a business to manage.

Della is determined to be strong for Woods, even as she’s quietly falling to pieces. No matter how far from home she’s run, the ghosts of her past have never stopped haunting her. Struggling to hide her true feelings from Woods, Della fears she can’t be his rock without dragging him down into the darkness with her. But is she strong enough to let go of the last thing holding her together?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781442368507

Abbi Glines

Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Field Party, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted book lover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama. She maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be found at Facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlinesBooks.com.

Reviews for Simple Perfection

[bookishthings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review:
Once again Abbi Glines grips me with her storytelling.

I love both Woods and Della, although I loved Della a little more than Woods in this one.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses, for Woods, that is Della.  He's terrified to leave her alone in case she needs him.  And he tries to shelter her from his awful mother.  I admire Della for standing up for herself and her health.  I think that is a major plus on her character.  She’s always viewed as this fragile object that will break.  She’s stronger than either she, or Woods, knows.

Simple Perfection is a fast read.  It’s one of those that you can’t put down.  And I flew through it.  There are some awful things that take place in this book, and leave you feeling deflated.  But there are times when you are cheering the character on when they realize that they are in fact pretty awesome.

If you are a fan of Abbi Glines’s books, definitely read this one.  I love how this circle of friends is so close.

[sdlashbrook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Received this free as a Goodreads First Reads.

Loving this whole Rosemary Beach series....can't wait to read about Grant. Oh Jace God love you! Also hoping there is something being developed about Tripp...yummy but Rush is still my favorite!

[msralways · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really liked the closure we got for Woods and Della, but I feel that there was a lot of unnecessary groveling sometimes which made the story crawl a little for me. That said, it was a beautiful story about two people who are thrown into an unknown situation and have to deal with the consequences. Very, very sad and heartbreaking stuff happens here so I'd advise you guy to prepare yourselves emotionally first. Can't wait for the next one!

[nataniar-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Omg I can't believe the ending so unexpected! I can't wait for tripp's story and grant's... Wow this series is AMAZING I can't get enough

[janersm · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh. My. This book was not good. It wasn't absolutely horrible, but some of the things it seemed to promote were.As with the previous book in the series, this novel deals with the heroine's fear of becoming mentally ill like the other women in her family. As with that book, it is filled with stigma about mental illness. The idea that mental illness signifies a weak individual was something that was stated over and over again. And when the character finds out that she isn't going to inherit a mental illness, she makes a miraculous recovery from her anxiety and night terrors because apparently the only reason that she had them was the apprehension about one day becoming like those other family members. This dismisses the fact that not everyone with a mental illness is genetically predisposed to them. (Some mental illness is caused by trauma.) It almost felt like Glines couldn't figure out how to give Della a happy ending if Della would one day have a psychiatric disorder, so she gave her this out. To me, that was a weak move. It weakened the entire "plot" of the story, which I already found wanting.The book also deals with issues like adoption. Did you know that a person not being biologically related to you means that they aren't actually your parent? I've heard that argument from petulant children, but not from adults. It was a bit surprising to see an adult talking about adoptive parents not really being parents. Of course, this character also felt the biological parents were not really parents. It almost felt like a philosophical discussion à la chicken and the egg, except that the book wasn't high enough quality for it to actually be a philosophical discussion. Instead it just felt like a perpetually whiny character being whiny.There was also more of the "girls shouldn't be having sex or talking to boys that they aren't in relationships with" stuff. Basically, boys can have all the sex that they want and they can have friendships with girls they aren't dating, but for a girl to do that is wrong. It perpetuates the idea that women are in some way owned by men. That kind of idea should be disturbing to all men and women. Ownership is not love and love is not ownership.Both narrators need some serious counseling. Their codependency and other psychological issues are as horrifying as they are entertaining, much like a car crash. I know I've used that example in other bad books, but that's seriously what it is like.The actual writing style, grammar, etc. is definitely in need of work. There are some really serious issues. I don't know if the writer meant for the characters to occasionally slip into stereotypical hick language usage, but it happened...quite a lot. It also seemed to happen a lot for boys who went to a boarding school. Unless they were being educated by the Duck Dynasty guys or Charlie Daniels or George W. Bush, their language use was not what I would expect from guys who'd had a quality education.The book also lacked a real plot, but that didn't really surprise me since the first one was also a bit on the plotless side. It was dull and annoying and I felt little empathy with the characters. I did cry at one point, but I cry pretty easily sometimes so I wouldn't take my crying as being indicative of the book being worthy of praise. It definitely isn't.I would only recommend this book to people who don't care about grammar, don't mind if a plot is missing, think that women can be owned by their significant others, and think that the mentally ill are somehow weak, defective, or deserving of being mistreated. If those things apply to you, then you should probably read this book. You also should never speak to me.

[emilymcgee-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

To put it lightly, this book completely wrecked me. Yes, I've read an Abbi Glines book before and I know she is known for her angst, and heartbreak. But this was that on a whole new level for me. And it wasn't all just Woods and Della causing my heart to constrict. Now, because I'm a HUGE Abbi Glines fan I have watched most of her ustreams and I heard her say that there were twist and turns in Simple Perfection that no one saw coming. So me, being the cocky reader that I am thought "oh it's nothing I haven't read before." Ummm... wrong. I didn't see any of her twists and turns coming and at the end I was left feeling a bit flabbergasted. I literally had no clue that she was going to take the series where she did. And while I understood it, it kinda broke my heart. But no worries, the heartbreak feeling wasn't towards Woods and Della... at least not at the end."She is my perfection. She holds my heart in her hands. When she hurts it brings me to my knees."~WoodsWe pick up almost right where Twisted Perfection left off. Woods is now head of the company and the house since his father has passed away and he an enormous amount of new responsibilities. His only stabilizer is Della. A little ironic, since she believes that she is the one upending his life and being a burden. Throughout the whole book, the love between Della and Woods is so palpable. Despite their ups and downs I didn't for a second believe their feelings ever wavered. But a misunderstanding causes Della to begin a journey of self-discovery, away from Rosemary Beach. This book was all about growth. Della finally breaks out on her own, and finds the person she was always meant to be, a strong, willful young woman. And Woods, despite his wants, lets her break out of her sheltered character on her own. I was really surprised at Woods' journey through this. Yes, it was mostly about Della finding herself, but Woods experienced a lot of trials as well. But, I think if they hadn't found a way to break free of their demons they would have come to a stalemate in their relationship, as well as their lives in general."What if I was strong after all? What if, underneath all that fear, I had buried someone deep inside who was brave and could take on life without someone to lean on?"~DellaWoods is such a magnificent character. I want to go up to all the guys I know and make them read these books and say "hey, this is how a guy is supposed to act." Also, can I just say that despite the deeper, more meaningful parts of this book, the chemistry between Della and Woods is disgustingly hot, and magnetic. Like, if there were ever a book that I wanted to be my life... this might be the one. Granted, these two have gone through hell but, they also found each other and personally I think that is karma's works at its best. As for the other characters in the Rosemary Beach world. We get glimpses of fan faves Rush and Blair :D as well as the rest of the crew. One of the aforementioned, heartbreaking parts is a major upset in the group. I won't spoil it but, I seriously didn't think Ms. Glines was going to go through with what she started. I could not breath while reading the scene, and once it was over I had to set down my e-reader and take the rest of the day off from reading. It has its purpose, but it still sucked... big time. All in all, Abbi Glines has written another masterpiece. She delivers a superior story that both melted my heart and made me outright cry. And this is definitely a must read for 2013!Happy Reading!

[iloveladyporn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Abbi Glines has yet to write a book I haven't loved!
It's the perfect mix of Drama, Love & Sex.
I knew that Della was gonna run it was just how she thought things had to be. There's a news dropped on Della that I didn't see coming that changes everything. When tragedy strikes I heart broken along with the rest of the characters. With this tragedy comes out a secret that was shocking. Lots of hot sex.
Fabulous ending.

[jrcook1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Simple Perfection, doesn’t that just say it all. I have read all the books in this series, yes I know this is #5. And I have enjoyed this series I have loved Rush and Blaire since the first chapter and I have grown to love each and every character in these books. I have read some of the reviews about this book, and while I understand that not everyone has the same opinion. I will go on record here to tell you that I won’t ever just bash the Author. My job as a review is to give you my honest opinion about what ever book I’m reading. And I try very hard to do that objectively. And believe me there are some out there I wish I hadn’t read. But even saying that I still won’t bash a book or author. With all that being said I will get to the review of Simple Perfection. Like I said I love this series but Woods has never been my favorite character. I don’t know what it was about him that I didn’t really like but it was that way for me. Now after reading this book I will say that I like him more. Is he my favorite? Nope but I do like and understand him more. I was crushed for him when Della decided it leave him. I think that Della and Woods where simple perfection as its defined. I love that Della found herself. Learned that she wasn’t the tainted person that she believed she was. I have to say there where a lot of moments in this book that I thought seriously that just happened? When you thought the book had taken its last turn it shifted again and sent everyone in a tailspin. All and all this was a great book. For me this series is a little more than just books, and I love that. I can’t wait to see what the revelations of this book mean for Bethy. And to fully know Tripp’s story, I think that it’s going to be a really wild ride. ✯JammieThis Review along with others can be found 2 Bookaholics