Book Summary: 

Trudie returns home from the glamorous New York Gala, shattered by the lies Dr. Alexander Pierce has told her, she must find a way to untangle truth from fiction. As she is forced to work alongside the pompous, gorgeous, and selfish Alex, Trudie must find a way to regain her focus on her students and her own life.

With a past filled with childhood trauma still affecting them as adults, Trudie and Alex must learn to trust one another if they are to heal and pave the way for their future. Alex still has lessons to teach Trudie’s wanton body, and Trudie continues teaching him how to get what he wants without being a jerk. They must figure it out before the school year ends, if not for themselves but for the kids whose lives depend on it.

My Review:

Having read The Perfect Lesson and The Perfect Voice, I have watched Trudie and Alex grow into the people they always dreamed of being. I have also witnessed the power of nurturing and the long lasting impact teachers can have in the lives of children. In that same breathe, we bear witness to the damage of bureaucracy and how disconnected decision makers can do more harm than good. Making Perfect Sense brings long awaited closure for those who believe that with love, dedication, and sacrifice – anything is possible. 

In Part Two, we rejoin Trudie and Alex, post New York Gala fallout. Life is moving forward and Trudie doesn’t know what to think, how to feel, or even how to fathom working along side Alex. With great growth comes great discomfort and Trudie is in unfamiliar territory. She’s not alone in her murky sea of thought as Alex has his own skeletons to deal with. His ex-fiance Sheila has reared her ugly head, causing the woman he loves to flee without a word. Knowing Trudie’s tendency to be standoffish and skittish when she feels out of control and hurt, he’s on the outside looking in – lost at how to reach her when she still refuses to give him the time of day. He’s called, he’s texted, and when he drops off her stuff, he is shattered that she won’t even look at him. The only luck on his side is their paired project forces their paths to cross. Locked in a conference room (thank you Eloise), he is able to rekindle the connection, fanning the flames through heart to hearts and big reveals, allowing them to come together, yet again. The problem is, with two people as broken as they are – are they strong enough to build a bond that will last forever?

The evolution of Trudie’s character was visible in Part Two. In Part One, I constantly felt as if she was overreacting, shutting down, displaying more of a childlike behavior than a grown woman who has spent five years learning the tools she needed to move on. In Part Two, she was present, she was vocal, her inner voice pushed her to “grow up” and take ownership. We saw her healing process and self-realization with her father, her articulation with Alex, and her strength and independence of accepting who she was as a person. Same with Alex, in Part One – he felt closed off, professional to peers but immature in terms of his family, and Alpha all the way with a complete absence of a “gooey-center” to be the man Trudie needed, alway the teacher but never the partner. In Part Two, we witnessed his own internal struggle of carrying two different personas and the conflict of which one Trudie truly loved. Would she love him if he was only Alex and not Dr. Pierce or did she love him for who he represented as Dr. Pierce, cast aside if that identity ever ceased to exist. We learned that the outer tough shell was more for protection and when he let his guard down, especially when he was around Jacob, he was just a man, not a God.

With the combination of part one and two creating a whole story, it is easy to see how this book would truly be a favorite for those in the education or psychology field. Unfortunately, while there were so many things I loved about Making Perfect Sense, the continuity of the overall story (looking at all three books – not just The Perfect Lesson), the cliffhanger, the 180 of the characters, and the laser focus on the school program for at risk children pulled me too far out to truly enjoy it.

The disservice of a cliffhanger is the “hope” that the reader has retained the information from the first part of the book. While Beth did provide a Prologue, the time between Part One and Part Two did make the recollection of facts somewhat cumbersome. For that reason, I felt lost the first couple of chapters. If this story simply stuck with the push and pull of Trudie and Alex, it would have been easier to jump right in. Instead, we needed to also remember the program Trudie and Alex were building as it is such an intricate part of the story. Again, Beth does a great job to reinform the reader but it also creates a drawn out process to get to the meat/heart of the book. The real time of this book is also something I didn’t favor as it slowed down/dragged out the overall story. We just went through the entire first half of the book and understand the nuances of their high risk student program, Trudie’s background with her father, Alex’s background with his family, and the roadblocks of their relationship. In Part Two, I wanted to accelerate past that and arrive deeper into the story. While we did eventually, the journey was at a snail’s pace.

I will warn that if you read The Perfect Voice, the lack of continuity between the two books may create frustration after awhile. For this book, focus on what you gather from The Perfect Lesson in terms of who Trudie is and her timelines of events. If you do read the Perfect Voice (or read it in between, like me) again just take away who Ruby and Daniel are as their story is referenced in The Perfect Lesson and more so in Making Perfect Sense.

As for the resolve, I am on the fence. On one hand, I am happy that Trudie and Alex evolved so much as characters that they were finally able to be what each other needed. On the other, I felt like the character evolution was such a whiplashing 180 that is made it difficult to accept this much change would be natural between two people. I also wonder what happens with the school and the outcome of the program. We have spent two books very heavily focused on this high risk program for this school. So much time and energy was spent on the intricate details of the program as well as the children evolved. While it may be unrealistic, as the reader – I would have wanted to have known what came of the program and jumped in the future to see what came of the kids. Again, if the book didn’t focus so heavily on it, it would have been irrelevant but it did, so it was. We also don’t find out what happens with Trudie – does she keep her job? Does she lose her job? Does she choose to quit and take the position as a Program Director? What happened to the others as well?

The one thing I will say is I didn’t feel like the odd Bobby storyline was necessary at all. I felt like that was very much out of left field. Eloise could have hinted that she knew about Alex and Trudie in a number of ways but having Bobby come on to her, get super aggressive about it, then get fired just seemed like a plot point that if removed, would have minimal impact on the overall story. Same with Jared’s infatuation. The only thing I can think of is that both situations presented an obstacle of possessiveness for Alex while challenging his trust in Trudie to handle the situation.

The resolution with the parents at the end is another that doesn’t quite stick the landing for me. The father calls and threatens Trudie and her job. The parents have treated their kids like garbage for years. The father wrote off people harassing his daughter but magically one therapist brings everything to light and now all is well? Again, possible but a hard pill to swallow – especially when everything – demeanor, attitude, changed so much that even Alex, a trained psychologist was perplexed and dumbfounded.

Like those who truly enjoy Ali Hazelwood’s books due to their STEM affiliation, individuals with a psychological background would be the perfect audience for The Perfect Lesson and Making Perfect Sense. Unfortunately, outside of that realm, the book may be too focused on the psychological profile of its characters and educational/supportive impact of youth – pulling away from the essence of a romance. For those who are just looking for a romance to melt into, this would not be it. For those who looking for a Michael Crichton approach to romance – a book that educations as well as entertains, you may find what you are looking for.