I absolutely LOVED this book. Hands down one of my favourite reads of the year. Faith is a brilliantly written and surprisingly relatable character.

It is so pleasing to be back with the Valentines family. It took me a few chapters to realise why Faith wasn't as familiar to me as I was perhaps expecting and that is purely due to book 1 being from Hope's point of view - which makes this perfectly readable as a standalone.

Ah Faith, she is doing her best outwardly to be the Valentine that is expected, beautiful, nice, a bit of asap, actress, yet inside well it feels as though it may not quite what she wants. In fact some of the scenes where looks like she is going off the rails are really amusing.

And I loved her new friend Scarlett, everyone needs a Scarlett in their lives, a mix between mentor, friend, bad influence and just all around cool character.

The Valentines are at their dysfunctional best, the dynamics between them all are amusing, tricky to fathom and then we are given some insight into a past event that clearly shapes them all at the moment.

Interspersed with headlines and news articles about Faith, where we can see just how the press can spin things, Faith is on the ultimate journey of self discovery in this book and I was willing her to come to the reasonably obvious conclusion, before it impacted her further.

As groan worthy and Christmas crackery as they were in quality, Faith has many jokes sometimes within the dialogue, sometimes at the start of a chapter, which couldn't help but raise a smile, even if the punch lines were rather unfunny!

This is filled yet again with Holly Smale's fabulous ability to get inside teenage minds, produce quirky characters that you can;t help but feel for and root for, and for me was a reasonably quick read that whizzed by, leaving me the painful wait for the next book in the series, which I already know I want to read!

Thank you to Harper and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Far From Perfect is the second book in the Valentines series.

Synopsis:

Being born in a family that is considered Hollywood royalty is not easy. When all her family is expecting perfection form her, Faith just wants to be normal.

Instead, paparazzi follows her everywhere. She needs to rehearse everything she says and does. She needs to be herself - but, you know, someone else... at all times.

My Thoughts:

Far From Perfect manages to portray an unwanted life in the spotlight of a girl that simply wants to be normal. I was very satisfied to see how the media was presented in this book. They push famous people's boundaries, twist stories and stir waters, causing dramas. And while I understand this is their job, I am grateful to see someone write about the negative impact they have on famous people.

I loved Faith as a character and I was so proud to see her stand up and fight. It was so easy to put myself in her shoes and experience her anger and frustration of not being listened to. I loved the friendship Faith has with Scarlett. It is real and funny and strong. But most of all, I loved the sister bond that Faith has with Mercy. It is so pure and emotional, and it made me think of my own little sister and how much she truly means to me.

The story Faith tells us is a story that will touch every teenager. The struggles of love, family, friendships and finding purpose in the world. We have all been there, we have all fought the same battles and we understand. Even though some problems may seem trivial as a grown up, I remember how important those moments were to me when I was young, and how they shaped me today, and I was glad this was not underestimated in this book.

And sometimes, life makes us forget. Time passes by, and we are lost for a bit. Until a book comes in our hands - to remind us what really matters. This is that book. A beautiful continuation of the series. I recommend it to the teenagers - to find your purpose; and also to everyone else - to remember what that purpose is!

‘Far From Perfect’ is about up-coming teen actress Faith Valentine who is a part of the famous Valentine family. Faith is destined to become the new face of the Valentine family as she has turned 16 and is finally able to become an actress, just like her mother and her grandmother. However, Faith struggles to become the ‘perfect’ person that everyone around her seems to think she is.

I absolutely loved this book. Holly Smale’s writing is so fast-paced and completely sucks you into the story and makes you really love every single one of the Valentine siblings. I really loved Faith and I loved seeing her become herself and watching her finally say no to things that she does not want to do rather than forcing herself to do them in order to please everyone around her.

I really loved Faith’s friendship with Scarlett and seeing Scarlett helping Faith to push outside of her comfort zone and to learn that she does not have to be perfect all the time.

I loved that this book shined a light on the pressure of social media and having to be ‘perfect’ online in order to get people to like you.

Overall, this book was an amazing sequel to Happy Girl Lucky and I really hope there is another book about the Valentine family as I definitely want to read more about them!!

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, Children’s for providing me with a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Far From Perfect is the second book in The Valentines series which follows the life of the sister, Faith, as she tries to please everybody but finds she is not pleasing herself and doing what she enjoys.

I really enjoyed this book and think it's great how we get to see Faith as being the odd one out in the family, the one who doesn't want fame but feels pressured to follow in the rest of the family's footsteps. This is great to show that we don't have to do what everyone else wants us to do but should instead focus on being our true selves.

Seeing the story from Faiths perspective in this way was fascinating and I liked all of the fun little jokes throughout the book which gave us a small glimpse at what Faith really cares about and her true personality. I think it's great how we got to see articles and newspaper write ups during Faiths story as it shows how the news is exaggerated a lot and gives us a chance to form our own opinion from what we've read in the story and what the article suggests happened.

This is a great book to show how important it is to do what you love and follow your dreams rather than following someone else's. I have enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read more from the author in the future.

This is the second book in the “Valentine” series and was a great read. The reader follows ‘Faith’ this time in her struggle and battle with being a famous ‘Valentine’. She clearly isn’t cut out for the famous and elaborate lifestyle she has been born into. The reader will learn that you shouldn’t always believe what you see/hear in the media and the pressure that young celebrities live under . Faith is a young naive teenager, with her own thoughts and feelings and she finds out what it’s like to be trampled on.
The writer deals with a range of mental health issues throughout and you explore the importance of self care and mindfulness. You can’t help but fall in love with the flamboyant over the top family and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

I have read all the Geek Girl books, which my daughters loved as did I, but missed out on the first 'Valentines' book. I'm not sure how much this has mattered, as it does make sense and is an enjoyable read as à stand-alone book (though I fully intend to read the first book now as I really enjoyed this one!

Holly Smale writes in a very natural, light- hearted and easy to read way, but covers some extremely important issues in her books. Whilst this book is about 16 year old Faith, trained to be an actress by her famous grandmother, it is really about finding yourself, honesty in relationships, the image created by people in their social media accounts, the intrusion of the press and how they are happy to write about people without thinking of them as real people or the consequences of what they write.

Without giving too much away the story follows Faith's attempt at getting her first acting job, her families ongoing personal issues, an unexpected new friendship, boyfriend troubles, a particularly funny unwanted blind date (poodles in trousers made me laugh out loud!) and her own self-discovery. I thought that the characterisation was very good, and highly recommend it.

Far From Perfect, the second instalment in the Valentine family series. Following Faith Valentine, the girl who has it all; fame, money, a handsome singer boyfriend and a lineage of famous actors.
All sounds amazing, but living up to this life takes its toll on Faith.
This is a book about self discovery, making decisions that are right for oneself, friendships and family.

I really enjoyed the Geek Girl Series and Holly Smale has got another great series on her hands.

Faith Valentine is a feisty girl who's set to be an actress like the rest of her family it seems.

However when her relationship with her singer boyfriend Noah hits the rocks, her mum is depressed and locks herself away from the world while Faiths dad is off with his new partner.

All Faith wants is to be happy and do what makes her happy, can she get there?

Faith is a feisty character having to cope with a lot happening in her life while trying to work out what will make her happy too growing up into her future she desires. For me it was as gripping as the first book but still worth a read to get to know the family and their drama better.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I loved this second book in the valentines series. This book follows Faith, sister of Hope who we met in the first book in this series. Again we have a show all take on what it is like to grow up with famous parents and live life very much in the limelight.



The difference between Faith’s story and the first book in this series though is that Faith is older therefore she is very much expected to be part of the fame gang, she is expected to live life as her instagram account dictates, to be an actor and to have a hollywood style relationship all at the age of 16. As you can imagine this takes its toll on Faith and so we get a behind the scenes look at what life is really like for her.



Just like the first book in this series, we get the message of don’t believe everything you see on screen and the message about what a devil fame and not being able to live the life you want is not all it’s cracked up to be. I think that this message isn’t just relevant when it comes to children in a famous family like this one but all young people today. They are constantly bombarded with images and messages on social media that just aren’t how life actually is and are selling a false existence. What you see on the grid doesn’t show you what a person is going through.



This book also has good messages about mental health and what can go wrong if you bottle up your feelings and don’t actually take time for self care and a bit of mindfulness. There is so much pressure nowadays especially on young people and this book gives a clear message of how destructive that pressure can be.



This is a really fun family to spend time with and because of the fact that they have fame and money we can see them do things we can’t normally see in a book about young people, they have the fancy parties, the cars and cinema rooms in their houses and so it is a lot of fun to live in their extravagant lives over the course of the book. We do also see the price that this fame costs though.



I love the opulence of this series and the over the top nature of all the characters in this novel, but most of all I love the messages about social media and mental health that come across loud and clear. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series

I have enjoyed Holly Smale’s Geek Girl series, so I decided to given Far from Perfect a try. I have not read the first book in the series, so I am reviewing this as a stand-alone.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is very well written, and Holly’s style of writing pulls you into the story straight away. I was really rooting for Faith, who seemed unhappy in virtually every aspect of her life (though not admitting it even to herself). The characters were all believable, and those we got to see plenty of I really liked. The character development was really excellent, and I was so pleased when Faith started to work out what she wanted, and put her foot down.

I’d definitely recommend this book, just bear in mind that it deals with more serious topics, and is consequently a little more emotional. Hence only 4 stars, rather than 5, as I prefer less emotional stories.

I was given a free copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Readable follow up to first volume with s pure wish fulfilment scenario of a celebrity family of chaotic, well off siblings and show biz glamour. Ending reveals a more emotional charge that makes you understand the family dynamics and our character’s journey is pretty engaging. Not as immediately appealing as the Geek Girl series but in a similar vein so fans should still enjoy it..