Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

In Hopkin's sequel, she introduces readers to the need for perfection that some teenagers face, which leads them to feed the IMPULSE. Cara, Conner's twin sister, has her entire life planned for her, and everything seems to be falling into place until she realizes a part of herself that no longer wishes to stay hidden. Sean, Cara's boyfriend, has a plan, too: earn a baseball scholarship to Stanford and make Cara love him. But, what happens when half of the equation refuses to play the game? Then, there is Kendra. Beautiful, ambitious Kendra, who is willing to sell her life for a modeling career. As her stock begins to soar, she wonders if the cost will prove deadly. And, finally, Andre is a young man who must decide if his dreams are worth having, or if they're simply fantasies keeping him from reality.

The novel begins from Cara's perspective right after Conner attempts suicide and is sent to Aspen Springs. Although he isn't at the center of the novel, he is the glue that holds a lot of it together. For instance, Kendra is in love with him, Cara is distraught about his attempted suicide, Sean was his teammate, and Andre dates Kendra's sister, who knows all four main characters. Hopkins does a good job of weaving in and out of Conner's story to flow into their personal demons, constantly tying them together. Even though I enjoyed this book, I felt like it became repetitive in several places. I know that the goal was to present certain events from different perspectives, which I liked; however, I'm referring to the fact that each character of the story seemed to repeat what they said and did in the previous section. For instance, every time Sean surfaced, I knew he was going to whine about Cara and baseball - nothing new. When it was Andre's turn, I knew that Jenna (Kendra's sister, his girlfriend) and he would go on a date, and she would ruin it by acting insensitive; then, he would apologize and tell her how much he loved her. Kendra was going to count calories and not eat; Cara was going to question her entire life. For me, I would have liked more action and interaction so that the story didn't become dull. Hopkins did throw in a couple of twists towards the end, which really helped the novel end powerfully. I just wish that more of those events would have been woven throughout the entire novel.

This novel could be stand-alone; however, the ending of the first book will be spoiled.