Review: Perfect Escape

Title: Perfect Escape
Author: Jennifer Brown
Published: July 10, 2012
Source: BookPeople Review

Synopsis:

Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.

Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.

Review:

Perfect Escape looked at all the difficulties of having someone in your family with an illness. Kendra has always lived in her brother’s shadow of his major OCD, and all she wants to do is escape from it and make him better. She decides that she wants to go on this road trip, and she is taking Grayson with her. I really enjoyed looking in on Grayson and Kendra’s relationship and how she deals with him.

Cover:

The cover was really interesting. I usually wouldn’t have picked this book up because of the cover alone. It had a very awkward cover. One aspect was of Kendra’s face, and the other was of Grayson’s. Something about that just creeped me out a little.

Plot/Writing:

You follow Kendra on her way to California and how she manages Gray’s OCD and the fact that she is running away from her problems. The story was interesting, if not a little boring for me. I found myself skipping over paragraphs and words because I wasn’t interested in the pacing of the story. You had to be patient and wait for the story to progress, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I wanted action, and the type of action it had I didn’t really want. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good story, it just wasn’t what I usually read. Plus there was no romance! I need my romance!

Characters:

Kendra is a little difficult. It takes a while to realize why she is freaking out. You get hints along the way, but you don’t know the full story until the very end. I could relate to Kendra and how she felt like she was always in her brother’s shadow. No matter what she did all the attention was focused on Grayson and she just wanted to be loved like her brother. She felt the need to be perfect, and well no one is perfect, and Kendra learns that the hard way.

Grayson is difficult, to say the least. He has major OCD where he is always counting, or uh-uh-uhing. You see Kendra’s flash backs of him when he is semi-normal, and then you see him freak out in the present. Grayson changes and grows as the story continues. He relinquishes a little control and relaxes. He becomes more of himself and has fun. I liked reading about this Grayson. He wasn’t someone to be pitied, or looked at weirdly. He was just like us, with maybe a few quirks.

All in All:

If you like realistic fiction, then this is your type of story. It touches your heart at a brother/sister bond, and makes you smile at the end. Also, it has some language, so be warned! J