A Thousand Perfect Notes

by C.G. Drews

I haven’t done book review (or a post) in… too long.

So what better to review than A Thousand Perfect Notes, which was not only written by one of my favourite bloggers, and was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, but was also absolutely stunning? I think nothing.

I went into this book with pretty high expectations. Like I said, it’s written by a blogger I love, and it was easily one of my most anticipated releases of 2018. But I was also slightly nervous I wouldn’t love it, because it’s not really something I would normally pick up.

But OH MY GOSH, I AM SO GLAD I READ IT!!!!! What an amazing, beautiful book!! It was perfect!*

(Also can I have The Boy Who Steals Houses now please? I made the mistake of reading the sneak peak, and I want it SOOOOOO BAD!!!!)

*I know, I know, this is the lamest pun ever, and everyone has used it. But I don’t care. It was just about as close as it comes to perfect, and I couldn’t help myself.

I’m also just realizing something… I haven’t done a full length review on my blog since I switched up how I do my reviews… And I don’t actually know how I want to do this… (Oops)

Umm… I guess I’ll just make it up as I go along… (yay me!)

Sooo… A list of (wonderful) things about this amazing book!

(I think this review will be… semi-coherent. I hope.)

• It was SO GOOD!!! (Nope, failing on the coherent part…)
• SO SO GOOD!!!!!
• Okay, ummm… it was REALLY REALLY AMAZING!!! ?
• Nope, still not working.
• Umm… Seriously, almost every aspect of this book was perfection.
• Okay seriously brain, come up with something actually helpful.
• Okay, for real now:
• It was a super powerful, heartbreaking book.
• I swear by page four I’d already teared up. Twice.
• It was just so painful, and heart wrenching, and I am in so much pain still.
• It was also a really powerful book about abuse. This wasn’t an easy read, not at all, but it was so, so powerful. (how many times have I used the word powerful already? Too many, but I’m going to keep using it, because it fits. It really, really fits.)
• This book hurt. It was really hard to read about the way Beck was abused, and how he was so filled with self-loathing, and he had so many hopes and dreams and fears, and how he didn’t feel like they were valid, and I just wanted to give him a hug, and tell him everything was going to be okay.
• The characters are so real, and so wonderful.
• Beck is amazingly, painfully real.
  My heart hurt for him so much, and I loved him, and I just wanted him to be happy, and ASJSDKSKDGSHF!!

• And Joey was a precious, vicious stabby five year old, and I loved her with ALL OF MY HEART!!!
  Seriously, she was such a stabby letting darling, and honestly she was such a sweetie (deep down), and she was amazing, and hilarious, and so protective of her big brother.
• I loved the sibling relationship here.
  They were both so protective of each other, and their relationship was so sweet and pure.
  Beck would do anything for Joey, and Joey was protective of Beck in her own vicious five year old way. As in, yelling insults at August in German… Which was amazing.
• Honestly Joey was my favourite, she was amazing.
• And then there was August.
• I adored August.
• August was amazing.
  She was wacky, and unique, and amazing. She was caring, and quirky. And she was also pretty darn badass!
• August is the sort of character who could very easily have been done poorly, but she wasn’t. She was done amazingly. She was very three dimensional, and real, and also just really, really awesome.
• And honestly I know SO many people IRL who are like her and her family, sooo… It was sort of really nice to see people who are wacky and love nature and are vegan, and whatnot, and have it not be either A). Their entire personality, or B). Portrayed as a bad thing, or used as comic relief.
  Like seriously, so nice.
• Honestly August and her parents would fit right in in my town…
• Just saying.
• And wow, I spent way longer talking about August than I did about anyone else, but I quite honestly love all three of them equally.
• Also the relationship between August and Beck is so so good as well.
• I love how, as much as it does eventually turn into romance, really the focus is on their friendship. Their friendship inspires and empowers August. The romance is just an added bonus.
  They’re friends before anything else, and that friendship is the powerful part.

• And then there was the Maestro.
• Wow, I hate her so much, but she’s written SO WELL!
• Because you hate her. Hate her SO much, but because you’re seeing her from Beck’s eyes, you see her as he sees her. And he hates her. But I think he also cares about her. As awful as she is, she’s still his mother. And he pities her too, a bit. And he’s also terrified of her, and terrified that he’ll become like her.
• She’s well developed too. She’s awful, and cruel, and you hate her so much, but never let it be said that she’s two dimensional. Because she isn’t. At all.
• And it’s really, really powerful.
• On a less serious note,* the writing was really good.
• It was soooooo easy to read. Like I binged it in a few hours, and I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.
• And also just like, the writing was soooo emotional at times, and almost whimsical at others, and just AHDSAJGKFGKFDFSJDFSGFHDSFJ!!!!!!
  

  *Mwahahahahahaha, NOTE! Get it?! Okay, yeah, I’ll show myself out…

• Okay, so my one quibble was just the ending… It wasn’t bad, it was just a lot more unresolved than I would have liked. This is really just a personal thing, but the ending left me wanting more, because it wasn’t quite resolved enough for my tastes. (Also I just wanted more because it was amazing.)
• Truly this was just my own personal thing… I’ve never been a huge fan of open endings is all.
• Still though, this book was SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Like, seriously, go read it.
• RIGHT NOW.
• Because it was amazing.
• It was heartbreaking.
• It was so powerful and emotional.
• The characters were amazing.
• It made my heart hurt.
• It just HURT, okay?!!!
• In the best possible way!
• Go read it.
• I literally do not even have words for this gorgeous book.
• I can already tell that this book will stick with me for a long time, and I can also already tell that this will be one of my favourite reads of the year.
• When can I reread it?!
• JUST READ IT ALREADY WHY DON’T YOU??!?!?!
• Because I will never be able to describe how amazing this book is, so just do yourself a favour and read it.

So yeah… there’s my semi-coherent review, as promised… This book was honestly just so good, and you should definitely read it! Like seriously, go read it. Right now. You won’t regret it. (Although I should probably mention TWs for abuse (both physical and verbal) and thoughts of self-harm. So do keep that in mind.)

But seriously, this book is SO GOOD. Read it.

Have you read A Thousand Perfect Notes? Are you planning to? (YOU SHOULD!) Do you follow Cait’s blog? If you have read ATPN, what did you think? Wasn’t it so amazing? And heartbreaking?