Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

Standalone Second Chance Romance with Older Characters.

Kristen Ashley has been my top favorite author for about a dozen years now and I love her storytelling style, so I enjoyed Perfect Together. In fact, I thought I loved it as I finished with tears in my eyes. My favorite of her books feature older couples with grown kids like this one. The storyline in Perfect Together resembled my life a bit, so that made this story even more of what I love. But as I sat down to write the review and looked back on the book, I started to feel differently.

“He walked out,” I said shortly. “And divorced me. I wanted to talk about it then. I wanted to work it out then. He didn’t allow either.

Wyn and Remy Gastineau have been divorced for 3 years. They had a great life with 3 wonderful kids and a happy marriage for 19 years, until Remy just up and walked out. But he still finds any reason to pop over and hang with her and the family, or even fight with her, despite the fact that he is living with another (younger) woman.

“We were perfect together. Then we were not. He walked out, and the only way I could deal was not to admit to myself that I wasn’t dealing and that I was hanging on to him even when he moved into an apartment, then bought and furnished a home, then entered into a relationship with another woman where she was sleeping beside him every night.”

It kind of feels to me that Remy wanted a break from marriage, realized the grass isn’t greener, and he wanted his old life back right when his girlfriend got scary and Wyn was finally moving on. He blames his leaving on a big family trauma that completely shaped his whole life, yet he never shared it with Wyn the entire time they have been together. That’s the wonderful marriage they want back? He kept something so HUGE from her, LEFT HER BECAUSE OF IT, but now he’s done and wants to come back. Sorry, but fuck that.

“I needed to hand you the world, but you took it for yourself,” he replied.

He couldn’t deal with his wife being successful and not needing him. Poor baby (Insert eye roll here). There was a side character, Bea, that was a total bitch because she was mean to Remy all the time and let Wyn know that she was too dependent on him. While reading the book I hated Bea, but thinking back, maybe she was right all along.

Mild spoiler

There was no groveling. Wyn just rolled over and took him back 2 weeks after he was living with another woman.

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I still enjoyed the read and liked most of the characters, but Wyn needed a backbone. There was also a huge missed opportunity to address mental health and therapy instead of making a big deal about a gay character. Remy has childhood trauma that he needs to work through and their relationship should have counseling as well considering he held such a huge part of himself back from her.

Likes:

I love when KA writes older couples with teens or grown kids.
Kristen’s storytelling never fails me.
It stands alone.
There weren’t a lot of characters to keep straight which has been a problem for me in most of Kristen’s recent releases.
Some super wonderful family moments.
I loved the family dynamic.
There was a lot of love.

Dislikes:

Remy kept a huge important part of his life a secret from Wynn since he’s known her.
There was no real discussion of mental health and therapy.
It was way too easy for him.
Remy’s father was also a cheating piece of crap who was made to look like a hero.
Wyn was supposed to have this amazing career, but when did she work? I would have loved to see the strong successful side of Wyn, because she seemed like a doormat to me.

The Down & Dirty:

This story is a rough one for me to review because I had a love/hate relationship. I loved it because I love Kristen’s storytelling and relationships, and I loved the premise of a divorced older couple with grown kids reuniting. There were so many things that troubled me about this marriage and reunion that I didn’t really root for the couple the way I wanted to. I just don’t see why she would take him back. The missed opportunities for counseling and therapy to be brought into the storyline really disappointed me. But I loved the family and it was wonderful reading a story with an all-new cast I could keep track of. I will read anything by Kristen Ashley, and I did enjoy this read, I just think that some therapy and groveling would have taken it from a 3 star to a 5.