Perfect Score by Susan Roebuck - blog tour review

Publisher: Mundania Press LLC

Feckless, exasperating Alex Finch is a rich, handsome and talented singer/songwriter who longs for two things: a career as a professional rock singer, and to have his love for Sam Barrowdale reciprocated. But drifter Sam's two aims are simply to earn enough money to pay his sister's medical bills and to hide from the world his reading/writing and speech disability. At this time the word 'dyslexia' is generally unknown so to most people he's just a 'retard'. From the severe knocks life's dealt him, Sam's developed a tough outer coating and he has no time for a spoilt, selfish guitar player.

Despite his defects, Alex's love for Sam never wavers and when Sam unexpectedly disappears, Alex begins a somewhat bungling quest to find him, only to discover that Sam has a fearful enemy: Alex's powerful and influential yet sociopathic uncle.

As Alex spirals downwards towards alcoholism, many questions need answering. Just why did Alex's evil uncle adopt him at age eleven yet deny him any affection? And what's the mystery behind Alex's father's death?

Both seem to face unbeatable odds. Are they doomed to follow separate paths forever? (Publishers' blurb)

I'm so pleased to start this blog tour, as I love a good romance that I can root for.

Alex and Sam's relationship was my favourite part of the book. I really liked both of them, particularly how they grew as characters. Their relationship was touching, heartfelt and at times heartbreaking. I loved this aspect of the plot, but sometimes I felt like the book went in a lot of different directions when I wanted more Alex and Sam time!

Another interesting aspect of this was the viewpoint. It was an unusual choice to have Sam's parts of the book in the third person and Alex's in the first person, but this worked for their characters and the development of the plot. Both characters' stories were told honestly and went to some dark places, more so than I expected. 

This book also had a strong sense of time and place, sometimes to disturbing effect when it came to how Alex and Sams' relationship was perceived. It captured the 1960s period well and created vivid images of the different settings.

I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and appreciated the honest (and sometimes dark) feel of this book. Thank you for having me on the blog tour!

If you want to follow the rest of the tour, you can find the next stops here: