Then Violet met Boy, a little lad from a place called, No-Man’s Land, whom she could only hear when she didn’t have her glasses on, and only see with a pair of gold rimmed glasses that she found. Boy agreed with Violet that something was not right in Perfect. The two set off on an adventure to locate Violet’s dad and find out just what it was that Perfect was hiding.

Violet and Boy form a beautiful friendship even-though they have been brought up very differently. They learn to get along together, although there are a few moments where they are not so nice to one another. They are very likeable characters. Violet goes from this little girl who is scared of everything, to one that is brave, resilient and determined.The synopsis was said to be a book fans of Roald Dahl would like. I’m happy to report that this pitch is quite accurate! However, it did miss the mark for me in some places. It is a lovely, enjoyable book that is just as good on the inside as the front cover looks. I also hear that there is going to be a sequel too. Right from the bat I knew something was up with Perfect, but what? Well, the writer slowly builds up and shows us hints, little secrets, little twitches in the characters, mysterious events. It was never a slow or dull moment, instead I just hungrily ate it all, I wanted to know more. I wanted to figure out everything there was about this town, about its residents, about the Archers. The town of Perfect was run by the Archer Twins, George and Edward. Just like the place name, everything was perfect, except for one thing, all the residents went blind not long after arriving and needed special pink rimmed/rose tinted glasses to be able to see again.

Violet was a little girl with a big imagination, but even she knew she wasn’t imagining that something was wrong in Perfect, especially when her father went missing and her mother didn’t seem to care. The only thing that would have made the book even more gorgeous is illustrations. A bit in the style of the chapter headings.Throughout all this there's a serious message to be found too. The book makes us think how we may be unwittingly made to fit a "perfect" mould, and how we may be oblivious to it all, content with following the majority without any questioning. This was definitely a brilliant book, quite creepy but still amazing, with some incredible characters and an enticing yet unique plot. The cover art by Karl James Mountford captures the quirkiness of Helena’s world and I was often drawn to the detailed map to remind myself where I was in Perfect.

Violet then meets Boy. Boy is different from the other people she has so far seen at Perfect, and with Boy helping her, Violet discovers that the two Archer brothers- her father's employers- are not who they seem to be. In fact, so cunning and dangerous are they that it's up to Violet and Boy to put their heads together and decide how to save the oblivious people of Perfect from the cunning Archer brothers.

Recent blogposts

When she meets Boy she realizes that her dad is not the only person to have vanished… and that the mysterious Watchers are guarding a perfectly creepy secret!” It’s a fun book with a dark side and a rather frightening premise that we can all see things through a different lens and lose our own power of thought – alarming similarities to our media driven world that sways public opinion on a single tweet. As we are following Violet through moving into her new home in Perfect with her parents, we gradually find out more about the town along with her. Her dad got a great job there. The founders of an important business in the town, comes to greet Violet and her family. They even serve them their favorite tea. Apparently, everyone in the town needs to wear glasses, due to something in the air. So they all get fitted for special glasses in town. Edward and George Archer have built this perfect town, but not all the citizens conform and do not become perfect citizens. Violet is one of those citizens and very soon Mrs Moody, the school teacher diagnoses Violet as having IDDCS (Irritable Dysfunctional Disobedient Child Syndrome) and Violet is placed on medication. However, Violet only pretends to swallow the pills because she does not want to be perfect.