Member Reviews
This was a very fun read, which I definitely enjoyed! I was especially charmed by the way it was written: it was written in such a way that I was sucked into the story immediately. I also loved the humor in this one, I did laugh out loud a couple of times!
This is a book I will likely come back to at a later date as it was currently not for me at the time I decided to read it.
This wasn't the book for me but I've recommended it to other folks who have loved it! We purchased a copy for the library.
Unfortunately, I failed to download this title before the archive date. My apologies for the oversight.
I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this at the moment. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!
All’s fair in love and kindergarten admissions.
At thirty-nine, Josie Bordelon’s modeling career as the “it” black beauty of the ’90s is far behind her. Now director of admissions at San Francisco’s most sought after private school, she’s chic, single, and determined to keep her seventeen-year-old daughter, Etta, from making the same mistakes she did.
But Etta has plans of her own–and their beloved matriarch, Aunt Viv, has Etta’s back. If only Josie could manage Etta’s future as well as she manages the shenanigans of the over-anxious, over-eager parents at school–or her best friend’s attempts to coax Josie out of her sex sabbatical and back onto the dating scene.
As admissions season heats up, Josie discovers that when it comes to matters of the heart–and the office–the biggest surprises lie closest to home.
As I prepare to send my special needs child to private school I saw a few similarities to the admissions process and what Josie went through. I thought this was a very enjoyable read that is great in both print and audio format.
Funny and enjoyable! Excellent! Entertaining! I really enjoyed reading this book ! It hooked me from the beginning and it had enough complexity to keep me guessing, but not so much so that I got lost! The characters and relationships were well developed and kept me waiting to see what would happen next.
Unfortunately, I was unable to make my way through this one. It just wasn’t the right book for me. The premise was intriguing and the characters seemed interesting, but the pacing was a bit slow for me and the large info dumps where a bit overwhelming and sluggish to get through.
Thank you Putnam for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Tiny Imperfections
By: Alli Frank, Asha Youmans
REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
I was a teacher for many years, and I hated it. Tiny Imperfections is funny because it's so true at times. I cringe at the craziness and ridiculous antics that people do. It is interesting to see several generations of women and their priorities, etc. If you like strong female leads, sassy humor, fun and sarcasm this book might be a good choice for you to read.
Tiny Imperfections is such a fun, sassy, and enjoyable multi-generational read. This book showcases the in's and out's of private school life from applications, parent emails, and sadly prejudice and racism. Alli Frank and Asha Youmans did a great job with this book!
This book centers around the Bordelon family. Josie is the dean of admission at the infamous Fairchild Country Day School. Every parent tries to get their teenage accepted and Josie sure shares some hilarious stories about the lengths that parents will go do get them accepted. Josie gave up her career as a model and has focused on raising her daughter Etta to be a smart and successful young woman. Etta is a senior and is applying for colleges and this is where she and mother butt heads. That is when the matriarch of the family, Aunt Viv, steps in. She is always the mediator and always seems to have the best advice.
I loved that the authors give readers strong black female characters that go after their dreams. It such a refreshing take on a multi-generational book.
I give Tiny Imperfections 4 stars. This book left me laughing and smiling so hard. It was hilarious and yet it highlighted important topics like prejudice and racism. I think so many people will enjoy this book for it's depth, heart, and sassy writing.
I was looking for a romance book and it surprised me because the romance was non-existence. The plot focuses more on Josie's career and the relationship she has with her family, especially her daughter, as she doesn't want her to make the same mistakes as her. The book is well-paced and quick to read, despite being quite descriptive on some pages. However, the problem I had with the story was the LGBTQ representation, in my opinion, it wasn't the strongest point of the authors and I wish they could've developed it in a better way.
Thank you to Netgalley and G.P Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an egalley of Tiny Imperfections.
Josie, our main character, is a loving mother and also head of admissions for a private school in San Francisco. Throughout he story she struggles with love, bosses, and keeping her daughter Etta on the path she has chosen for her.
I really enjoyed the family aspect of this story. It was very heartwarming to be in the center of a family as close knit as the Bordelon clan. With three generations of women living under the same roof there is drama and plenty of humor. I enjoyed Aunt Viv’s warm character as sh is the head of the household and the glue that keeps them all together.
I also really enjoyed seeing the admission process through Josies perspective. Her emails and gossip Tuesdays with her best friend Lola made me laugh out loud every time.
However, there were some aspects of this book that fell flat for me such as Ronan’s character. Roan is the admissions assistant who is also part of the LGBTQ community. I wasn’t impressed with his character mostly because it was very stereotypical, I would have loved for his character to have a bit more depth even in this contemporary romance.
I loved this story and the main character and her family. It was a little predictable but I had so much fun reading it that I didn't care and there was still a twist I didn't see coming. I am recommending this book to everyone.
{Thank you so much to Putnam Books and Netgalley for gifting me a copy to review}
Tiny Imperfections is a hilarious and heartwarming story. It tackles topics such as race, sexism, wealth and privilege, and mother-daughter relationships. Even though it does address some serious themes, it is satirical in nature and makes for an entertaining read.
Josie Bordelon is the Director of Admissions at a highly-coveted private school in San Francisco. Day in and day out she deals with the wealthy and overbearing helicopter parents and an extremely competitive Head of School. Josie lives with her 17 year old daughter, Etta, who is about to go off to college and her sassy and resilient Aunt Viv. Her best friend, Lola, is also trying to get Josie to open her heart to love again.
It was so much fun to follow the three generations of Bordelon women as they navigate life during one school year. I was laughing out loud so many times, especially when Josie was dealing with the crazy parents. As a former teacher, I can really appreciate the thoughts that Josie had and most of them were things that I’ve thought to myself before too when interacting with parents in a school setting. My biggest complaint was that the first half of the book was slow and it wasn’t until the second half that I really got into the story.
If you are a teacher or have worked in a school or if you enjoyed books like The Gifted School or Holly Banks Full of Angst, I think you would like this one!
3.5/5 stars!
Tiny Imperfections was such a fun read! I loved the relatable parts and how authentic this story felt at times.
Josie is in her late thirties, as a former model from the 90’s, with demands from work and life and caring for those around her.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the fee copy. All opinions are my own
Josie is a thirty-nine year old former model who is now the director of admissions at a private school in San Francisco. She’s also the mother to seventeen year old Ella. Josie has dreams of seeing Ella in the Ivy League, but Ella wants Juilliard.
This novel is smart and funny. The antics of parents trying to get their kids into this posh school and the running thought process of Josie throughout the novel had me laughing. I loved Josie’s snarky sense of humor, the mother/daughter relationship, and the ending of the book was so satisfying. I loved the writing. I’m mystified at how a team of authors can write and make one clear, concise voice, but I thought it was brilliant.
3.5 stars
This is a cute book at a look inside the cut throat world of the kindergarten admissions process of a private school. Josie is a former model turned mother unexpectedly who is now the admissions director at the school she graduated from. From dealing with entitled parents to coping with the fact that her daughter wants to go to college for *gasp* ballet and not academics Josie was a strong character that I wanted to be friends with. I loved all her emails to the parents and what she really wanted to say to them. I did figure out a major plot line very early on but there was another that I did not see coming so it evened out.
I decided to pick Tiny Imperfections up because the book was marketed as being similar to The Wedding Date, which was a book that I really enjoyed reading. Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations. I loved the idea of the plot, and really connected with it in the beginning of the story. But then, things started getting messy, and I didn't like reading the book as much as I wanted to. Some negative stereotypes were introduced, and that kind of weirded me out. I had problems with the LGTBQ+ representation in the book as well. It felt as if the authors included LGTBQ just for the sake of diversity in the storyline.
I did like some things about the book though. The relationship between Josie, Aunt Viv and Etta was really heart-warming to read about. There's something really fascinating to see three generations blending in a single book, you know? There were many relatable moments throughout the book as well, and then certain incidents made me laugh too! These made me rate the book with 3 stars. ^_^
Thanks to Penguin Random House International for the free e-arc.
I got around to reading this during my May ARC reading vlog and was quite disappointed with the racist main character and the lackluster romance!
Tiny Imperfection was entertaining fiction that revolved around Josie’s life and school admission season. It was about admissions at private school, drama, love, friendship, and at its heart of all it was about Bordelon family.
Tiny Imperfections was written in first person narrative from Josie’s perspective. Her witty and refreshing voice gave the story so much heart, emotions, and soul. It was set in San Francisco, divided in four parts- First season- that narrated Josie’s life story, about her job, and her dreams and worries for her daughter; Mid Season- narrating hilarious parent interviews and Josie trying hard getting her daughter to apply for academic college rather than art college; Stress Season that brought lot of drama and big revelation at the end; and Next Season which was more like an epilogue telling how things settled down after the storm of drama.
I enjoyed reading Josie’s backstory and her background in first few chapters, how she met her best friend Lola, turns of her career path from nanny to modelling to now 39-years-old admission director at San Francisco’s most famous private school, Fairchild Country Day, and in middle of all how she conceived at 21. She was wonderful character.
Josie was black mom living with her aunt Viv in San Francisco. She was sassy, snarky, sexy woman. Being diverse worked well for her as student and as employee at Fairchild but she had brains along with her beauty and diversity and loved kids and her job at Fairchild.
Author portrayed her personality as ex-model and single mother brilliantly. Her emotions were heartfelt. I rooted for from the beginning. I could see how it must be for her 4-years-old self to accept her mama abandoned her with an aunt whom she didn’t know existed, coming out of spell of big city and money, and coming back with lost dreams and a her own 4 years-old baby Etta at Aunt Viv’s doorstep, left with heart broken and unsuccessful relationships later. I was glad she found job, raised Etta with her aunt and kept her head high.
I understood her wish to secure her daughter’s future by making her apply to best college where she can major in academic subjects and have a high earning job but Etta had other plans. She was best Ballerina, wanted to be professional dancer and attend Art college. Everybody could see that and even Josie but she couldn’t ignore DNA and the possibility of Etta ending up the same as she did at her age. I liked the way she found a third way and made Etta apply to her choice of college and also let Etta apply to college of her own choice.
It’s not always easy when 3 generation women are living under same roof but Bordelon women cared and supported each other. I loved mother-daughter-grandmother banter. Aunt Viv was full of life, wisdom and love. I loved seeing her flirt with Golden Boy, taking Etta’s side and reprimanding Josie. If it wasn’t mentioned I would have thought she was Josie’s birth mother not aunt.
Lola and Roan were best friends one could ever had. Lola was mother of three sons and Josie’s best friend. She worked in rival school of Fairchild and yet that never bothered to their friendship. Their Tuesday drink day after school and their humour dripping chats were fun to read. Roan was gay and Josie’s colleague, her best hire and two worked together on admission applications and selecting right little students and parents like friends. Both created best and fun work place environment that made me wish to join them.
I hated that art director who looked down on Josie, always telling her she didn’t know her own daughter and how to raise her. How easy it was for him to judge Josie! Nina was another character I despised. Clearly, she was not best head for any school and I hated her for taking away one thing Josie wanted to do. I’m glad to read what happened to her later.
Golden Boy, Ty was fun to read. When he entered Josie’s life with his husband for their daughter’s admission, I found Josie’s attraction towards Ty a bit weird. It was smooth in the beginning Josie making a joke with her attraction and not giving it much thought by focusing on admissions and college application but then that parent interview and text banter implanted doubt in readers’ mind. I wasn’t shocked when Ty revealed the truth but it was fun to see where this was going. I loved him, he was total gentleman, a lovely doctor, perfect friend and brother. I wish I could see him more after his big revelation.
Romance wasn’t big part of the book. We aren’t even sure if there is possibility of romance until climax. Best part of the book was application and emails from parents and Josie’s sarcastic replies that she never sent. It was hilarious to read.
I liked the way author showed competitions between parents and how far they went to get admission in private school, how private schools carry out admissions, and that ‘the richer the better’ concept. It made me think how tough it might be for single parents or average income parents to get admission. Momsters fretting over their 4-years-old kids’ admission and praises they sung or activities they made their kids do to make their application strong was baffling. And my goodness, that mom saying, ‘I would die if my kid turned out normal’ was most shocking. At that point I really admired Josie for handling it smoothly because I know I would have snapped at that mom if I was in her place.
Climax was great. I was curious to know what will happen after whole drama with Nan and how Etta’s interview will go. I couldn’t place Aunt Viv’s weird behaviour and when the reason was revealed it was surprising. I liked their conversations afterwards and what Aunt Viv had to say about whole thing and it answered everything. I loved end and the way things turned out for Bordelon women at the end. A bit predictable but I’m not cutting star for that as I enjoyed it.
Overall, Tiny Imperfections was laugh out loud, feel good, and diverse women’s fiction with great characters and many hilarious scenes. I recommend this to fan of this genre.