Review: Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown

Title: Perfect Escape
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Contemporary
Release date: July 10th, 2012
Pages: 352 (Hardcover)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Source: Review
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Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.  


Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

Perfect Escape tells the story of a teenage girl who has lived in the shadow of her older brother for years.  He's the one her parents had to pay special attention to while they grew up due to his OCD.  Sometimes Kendra had to drop everything to help him out, she even had to sacrifice friendships.  Kendra put pressure on herself to be the perfect child, since her brother wouldn't be.  When trouble at school begins to stir and Kendra is caught in the middle of a cheating scandal, she decides to skip town before anyone finds out she was behind it all.

It's easy to say that I enjoyed both Kendra and Grayson as main characters.  Though what Kendra did by running away showed immaturity, she also helped her brother out immensely during the process.  When she didn't want to admit that she was running away from her own problems, she made up an excuse that she was helping Grayson run away from his OCD and she stuck with that for most of the way across the country.  Though his problems hold him back in life, Grayson is a great brother to Kendra and you can see that through the struggle, he's trying his best.

The story wasn't full of action, but it moved at a nice pace.  The way that the characters were able to grow throughout the story will give any reader hope.  I was kept on my toes, waiting to find out if they'd turn around, make it to their destination, or break down (both physically and mentally) along the way.  When I wasn't expecting it, Grayson completely stole my heart as he showed what a caring and responsible brother he can be when Kendra needs him.

As the reader, we got to be involved in Kendra's realization that her brother is worth everything she's had to give up in her life and more.  The author also did a fantastic job describing Grayson's OCD for those who haven't quite realized what a struggle it can be. Though after all of these things I seemed to enjoy about the book, it still left me a little unsatisfied.  It was emotional, heartwarming, everything I love, but I feel that it could have had a better ending.  Overall, I definitely think that Perfect Escape is worth a read.