Rating: 4.5 Stars

Bonnie had been Eden's anchor since she was first fostered by her family. But, right before their GCSEs, Bonnie ran away. The search for Bonnie uncovers some secrets she had been keeping, and these revelations threw Eden's world off balance.

There were a lot of interesting topics touched upon in this story - taboo entanglements, scholastic pressure, children caring for their parents, but for me, this was all about Eden and her relationships.

Eden was quite jaded, and I couldn't blame her. She spent her early years in an unstable home with her addict mother, and carried many scars from that time with her.

"I'm picky about people at the best of times, but when it comes to my inner circle, the people I let into my heart, I'm ruthless."

She trusted and loved Bonnie, who she saw as steady and loyal. Bonnie's secrets and lies really hurt Eden, and forced her to reevaluate many aspects of her life. I was never led to believe that Bonnie and Eden had any sort of co-dependent relationship, but still, the time apart from each other allowed Eden to take a closer look at many things, and I really loved the way she began to see herself and her family.

There was a lot of exploration of family and adoption. It was pretty clear, that Eden still struggled with her mother's abandonment, and perhaps, feared that the love the McKinley's showed was not what it seemed. However, through different interactions and inspection of many situations, Eden began to see her foster mother and foster sister in a different light. I really loved seeing her understanding of them grow, and their affections for one another warmed my heart.

This event also triggered Eden to re-examine her ideas about love and her future, as well as her loyalty to Bonnie. Most of these new viewpoints filled me with joy, but it the new realization of her friendship with Bonnie, which broke my heart. Seeing a long friendship like that begin to crack really saddened me, though I couldn't fault Eden for the way she felt.

I loved all the introspection and relationships, but one thing never failed to bring a smile to my face - Connor.

"His mum and gran say he's the best boy on the the planet. "

I agree with mum and gran. He was one of those beautiful, soft boys, who just made everything better for me. Because, he was his mother's caregiver, he was older than his years, and he had this gigantic heart. He was open and honest and respectful. His relationship with Eden just seemed so healthy, and I love seeing teen romance like this.

I am warning you - the ending was not all nice and tidy, but there were enough lovely things set in motion for me to be satisfied.

Overall: A beautifully told and compelling story examining the complexities of family, love, and friendship.

*Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing me a copy of this e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

*does contain some spoilers

Sara Barnard’s novel Goodbye Perfect depicts the struggle of keeping a secret or sharing that secret in order to ultimately help someone who cannot see their own fault. I’ll admit that this book was extremely hard for me to read at times, as well as aggregating to me. As a teacher it is hard to fathom another educator abusing their power towards a student. This book deals with the topic of a relationship between a teacher and a student. I thought that this book appropriately addressed this topic as the book progressed.

Eden loves her friend Bonnie, but she cannot comprehend why her friend ran away with an older male; especially a male that was a teacher at their school. However, Eden continuously struggles between betraying her friend and doing what is right. Eden aggravated me with her hidden truths and manipulation. I understand that Eden struggled with whether or not to give up her friend, but ultimately she recognized that Bonnie’s relationship was wrong and not beneficial to her in any way. I hated how Eden made others keep secrets as well as how she continuously lied to everyone. While Eden did grow as a character is some ways throughout the story, she was still extremely lacking.

I may have not connected with this book as much due to the subject, but ultimately it was an okay read for me. I think that the discussed topic is very important for everyone to be aware about obviously. It’s hard to believe that some adults “groom” (as discussed in the novel) children to make them fit their own personal agenda. This was truly a heartbreaking read from beginning to end.

While this does have a good message and is a beneficial read, I can’t say that I would include this in my classroom. This isn’t because of the overall plot; some other elements prevent me from recommending this to younger readers. I would say that this book is more of a mature young adult read.

While I like Sara Barnard other work, this one fell short. I thought th story didn’t feel very strong and the character development and ending were not fulfilling. It did keep me engaged asi wanted to know what would happen but was ultimately disappointed.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

The summary makes me want to read this book so badly! But, my phone will not let me access these files currently. Was unable to read to review at this point in time. If that changes I will update my review.