This was the first book I read in 2024. I have a few reviews I need to catch up on from last year but thought it would be right to start the year properly, so I’m reviewing Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah McAdams.
I originally picked up this read after hearing about it online; as you’re reading this, and you’re online, I’d advise that you don’t go ahead and read this. There were multiple occasions throughout the book where I felt like gouging my eyes out because I got too much second-hand embarrassment to deal with.
The plot of the book, also, was quite strange in my opinion. A shy, quiet girl who hasn’t any luck when it comes to dating is friends with a bodyguard who has a lot of luck in that area, so she gets him to teach her how to go on dates. The whole concept was extremely weird and adding the dynamic involving the main character’s sisters made it much worse. There were a few okay moments but I seriously regret reading this book.
Annie was one of the most irritating characters I’ve ever come across. Half of the book was from her perspective and every time one of these came up, I was dreading the awful internal monologue that was surely on its way. Every word she spoke made me want to crawl up into a ball, hide down a hole somewhere and never return to civilization - basically I hated her character and every chapter of hers that I read made me uncomfortable.
Will was slightly better but barely. He said fewer cringey things than Annie did but he still said them, and when he did it could be argued that they were much worse. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about his character as I found him to be almost as annoying as Annie, and even though they both had backstories written into the book, they seemed a little 2D; It was as if the history of these characters had been an afterthought that was thrown in so the characters appeared more developed.
My favourite character was the side character, Amelia, who Will was a bodyguard for. She didn’t do too much that made me want to shut the book, but she still wasn’t amazing. I didn’t really like the insane number of references to Aubrey Hepburn movies I knew nothing about but I guess I’m not the target audience.
Anyway, in conclusion, do not read this book if you have any sense of self-worth as it is a huge waste of time that you’ll never get back. I can’t be bothered to write any more on this. Don’t read it.
