Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams Series: When in Rome #2
Published by Dell on May 2, 2023
Format: eBook
Pages: 338
ASIN: B0B8HGWJV3
Source: Purchased
Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match - someone who nicely compliments her happy, quiet life running her flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. Unfortunately, she worries her goal might be too far out of reach when she overhears her date saying she is 'sounbelievably boring'. Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice...and Annie has the perfect person in mind to become her tutor: Will Griffin.
Will - the flirtatious, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard - is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement grows for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker. He has one personal objective during his time in town: stay away from Annie Walker. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will soon finds himself not only breaking his rule, but tasked with far more than simply providing security.
Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie, but he can't bring himself to say no to her request, so he officially agrees to teach her how to be the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky, and find the love of her life-even if he doesn't believe in love himself. Between faking a relationship so the meddling town doesn't catch on to what's really happening on their practice dates, and tutoring lessons that convince Annie to add passion to her list of must-haves in a mate, it doesn't take long for the lines of their friendship to blur...
Spiritual Content
The mention of church, heaven, hell, “Harriet’s Bible study,” and phrases like “Oh, Lordy” are as spiritual as Practice Makes Perfect gets.
Violence
“A superfan who made it onto the premises” — A.K.A. Amelia’s driveway, “managed to get a few good hits in” before “Will got hold of the situation,” but that’s all the violence in Practice Makes Perfect aside from a couple of the townspeople of Rome threatening to kill Will if he hurts Annie.
Drug And Alcohol Content
While on a date with John, Annie accidentally knocked a beer “across the table onto his lap.” Later, on their “sibling hearts night,” Annie recalls when she “had too many beers and online-shopped my drunken heart out,” and the Walker siblings drink beer. Annie and her siblings go to Hank’s on Friday nights to “drink a few beers and catch up on our weeks.” At Amelia’s wedding rehearsal, Annie drinks a glass of wine.
The only references to drugs throughout Practice Makes Perfect is Annie comparing “the process of dating” to “an emergency dental procedure you weren’t expecting—and guess what: they’re fresh out of Novocaine,” a tattoo artist smoking a cigarette, Harriet asking Will if he was “making meth with cold medicine,” Annie taking antibiotics for her throat and ear infections, and Will taking Tylenol.
Sexual Content
There are sexual references throughout Practice Makes Perfect ranging from Annie “insinuating [John] has to please me in bed, or he won’t make the marriage cut” and comparing dating to “menstrual cramps on day two of your cycle” to characters who “hook up” and are “sleeping with” people. There’s one fade-to-black sex scene, one off-page sex scene, three make-out sessions (one ends with Will shirtless and sleeping with Annie in her bed), and 15 kisses between Annie and Will: six descriptive and nine non-descriptive.
Swearing Or Foul Language
- 57 uses of da-n
- 46 uses of sh-t
- 40 uses of h-ll
- 23 uses of a-
- Two uses of b-ch
- Two uses of p-
My Take On Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
Although Practice Makes Perfect has a lot of swearing and a fade-to-black sex scene (the latter being a typical deal-breaker for me), Sarah Adams masterfully avoids anything too graphic while delivering a heartwarming love story about a shy, small-town woman yearning for adventure and a bodyguard who uses his globetrotting career to avoid relationships.