Perfect Imperfections by Cardeno C.
Released: May 5, 2014
M/M Contemporary Romance
Dreamspinner Press

Reviewed by Mandi

Blurb: Hollywood royalty Jeremy Jameson has lived a sheltered life with music as his sole focus and only friend. Before embarking on yet another international concert tour, he wanders into a bar in what he considers the middle of nowhere and meets a man who wins him over with his friendly smile and easy-going nature. Accountant slash bartender slash adventure-seeker Reg Moore has fun talking and drinking with The Jeremy Jameson and can’t say no when the supposedly straight rock star makes him a once in a lifetime offer: keep him company on his tour by playing the part of his boyfriend. 

Listening to music, traveling the world, and jumping off cliffs is fun. Falling in love is even better. But to stay with Jeremy after the stage lights dim, Reg will need to help him realize there’s nothing pretend about their relationship

The blurb sets up this book well so I’m just going to jump into what bothered me. First, the set-up that Jeremy meets Reg and in just a few hours asks him to come live with him for seven months and be his pretend boyfriend does not work. Jeremy is a world-famous rock star. His father was a rock star. His mother has won Oscars. He is in the tabloids all the time. To ask a literal stranger to pretend to be your boyfriend for the next seven months is weird. And Reg isn’t weirded out by it, which makes it weirder. Reg is gay – Jeremy isn’t, at least he has never admitted it to himself . The ‘gay for you’ trope in this one is not done well, so it was very difficult to determine at what point Jeremy decides to fall in love with Reg. I’ll get into that more in a minute.

As I mentioned, Jeremy is a famous rock star – yet I don’t even think I knew what instrument he played until halfway through the book. Does he have a band? What kind of music does he sing? I think halfway through I learned he wears make-up on stage. That would have been interesting to know throughout the book. We never see him practice or prepare. We never see or hear about the crew or the other 100 people who must be traveling with him. We never see him strumming his guitar or singing. These are all things rock stars do, right? All we see is Jeremy and Reg together – becoming friends. You get a feel that Jeremy grew up very privileged but he could have been ANY profession. He was definitely not rock star-ish.

Then coming back to the relationship. I just didn’t get it. I like ‘gay for you tropes’ like what Abigail Roux or Marie Sexton has done. What I didn’t understand in this book is this: I don’t think these two actually do anything physical together until the 70% mark (besides platonically sleeping next to each other). And once they do the physical act, they talk about what is happening between them. (remember, Jeremy has never been with a man). My problem is that – you can be intimate with someone and not have sex or a blow job. They share an emotional intimacy, and then a very big intimacy by snuggling in bed for two months – but they never acknowledge this. And it made no sense. I think this would be a very big deal in anyone’s life – falling for someone of the same sex when in 30 years you never have – and yet it’s not ever analyzed. Reg becomes this perfect caretaker for Jeremy and it made me scrunch my nose rather than find it sexy. Jeremy has a lot of vulnerabilities – No friends, no self-esteem etc. and Reg starts making a lot of decisions for him and I just didn’t like it. Also, the most famous rock star ever – has a boyfriend, pretend or not and we don’t get to see the paparazzi storm that I can only imagine would happen.

Rating: D

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