Perfect on Paper

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Perfect on Paper had me squealing with delight and I couldn’t help but smile as I finished. This novel is everything I want in a young adult book - young love, sweet sibling relationships, school drama. The reader gets a taste of the struggles in mother/teenage daughter relationship, the closeness between two sisters, the confusing feelings of love unrequited, and the yearning of a budding new love. Darcy is not perfect (hence the title) yet she gives everything her heart. And as she discovers more about herself, she begins to realize it’s okay to make mistakes, because the people you choose around you are what is important. Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke...who is in love with someone else. Thanks to #partner @NetGalley and @wednesdaybooks for the digital ARC of Sophie Gonzales’s Perfect on Paper in exchange for an honest review. I’m also thrilled to have read this as part of a buddy read with @lovearctually! The book will be published on Tuesday, March 9.

Perfect on Paper really gives a voice and mimics the thoughts of anyone who has struggled with their sexuality, relationship, identity, consent, etc. The topic of biphobia is brought up and I thought it was handled very well. It’s not something that I think of often (as a heterosexual woman) but I can recognize the problems bisexual people face. Darcy has to navigate SO many issues in this book: she’s keeping secrets from almost everybody, has made decisions she regrets, and—when she starts to have feelings for a boy—worries about what it means for her bisexual identity. Her mom is incredibly busy, so Darcy doesn’t feel as if she can bother her with her problems, and Ainsley is supportive but also in college, so she’s a bit removed from the high school scene. She has her own reasons for keeping her identity safe. If people find out, more secrets may surface. And can any high schooler really stand to have the rest of the school know their secret? Positives I feel like I could write an entire love letter to this book and it still wouldn’t be enough. Was this book perfect? Not necessarily. But did it perfectly pair some of my favorite things together? Absolutely. I knew him. Or, at least, I knew of him. His name was Alexander Brougham, although I was pretty sure he usually went by Brougham. He was a senior, and good friends with Finn Park, and, by all accounts, one of the hottest seniors at St. Deodetus’s.Darcy was a flawed but lovable main character. Even though we learn throughout the story that she hasn’t always had the best judgement, we see that she has mostly tried to have good intentions. I loved the little moments before chapters when we got to read her relationship advice—I even learned something about myself in like the second chapter!? Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else. We see Darcy struggle with different relationships throughout the book, and Brougham becomes a delightful foil who seems to play devil’s advocate about every little thing at first. Watching the two of them get to know each other over the course of the book was so satisfying, sort of an homage to finding that person who surprises you more than anyone else and then actually begins to understand you in ways others don’t. But this? This wasn’t so threatening. Maybe it was going to be okay. I swallowed hard in an attempt to shove the lump in my throat down closer to my thudding heart. “Help with what?” Can I just start by saying that I appreciated the bi rep in this book so hard. I know not everyone is going to feel that way, but I am excited for it and I’m glad that someone will read this book and feel validated and seen by it.

The evolution from frenemies to lovers between Darcy and Brougham really worked and I appreciated how the author showcased those tender moments as things started to shift, but also didn't rush them along. That uncertainty and vulnerability is one of the things I love most about the YA genre. The cast of secondary characters was delightful (Finn! LOL) and I also liked the focus on familial relationships (and how positive and negative they can be). The typical YA angst and drama do pop up in their own unique ways, but I thought it was handled and presented really well. Darcy and Brougham's character arcs were done so well and I was rooting for these two to find themselves (and each other) along the way. Everyone needs to go and buy this book RIGHT NOW. If you’re on a budget, then you need to go and request it from your library. You need to get your hands on this book ASAP. Meet Perfect on Paper, one of, in my opinion, the best books of 2021 and a new personal favorite book of mine. Audio Notes: The narrator, Barrie Kreinik, is prolific so I'd listened to another book by her just a week or so before this one. I ended up not enjoying that book, but I loved this one. That tells me only one thing: this narrator doesn't magically save boring material. She is, however, a capable narrator. As mentioned above, this protagonist is messy but I still rooted for her. A narrator has to be able to convey that internal struggle in single POV and make it compelling and Kreinik is successful here. I don’t want to spoil too much, but yeah I just loved this read. I think that it represents a side of being bisexual that is often considered a co-opt when it comes to writing a queer story about a bisexual character, but I think it’s important that someone who falls in love with a person not a sex is represented fully. I do wish some of the relationships were fleshed out a little more, but I realize this story was more about Darcy figuring things out. I love that there is a variety of LGBTQ+ representation, and that it was easy to fall in love with even the side characters. A classic enemies-to-lovers romance but with some very contemporary obstacles thrown in.” — Good HousekeepingOne thing I really loved about the book is that it made me pause and reflect on my own relationships and also the relationships I want to have. It made me think about and recognize the power and consequences of my own behavior and choice of words. I can't wait to read more from this author and Perfect on Paper is definitely a book not to be missed! Aside from the different reps we got from this book, issues revolving family, school, and friendships were also present which makes this so much more a perfect book for teenagers to be able to relate to. The part where Darcy was being manipulative towards Brooke’s life was handled well, that kind of behavior was problematic so I was glad that after everything, Darcy apologized and has seen it by herself how the actions that she has done was wrong and how the people were affected by it. This is why I would honest-to-god promote this book to every one of my friends because this book dealt with so many issues and helped me become more knowledgeable in a lot of aspects that I haven’t known before. After this book, I would gladly read anything Sophie Gonzales writes. From the looks of the very wet guy standing behind me, though, I’d made a fatal miscalculation. Apparently, someone did use the pool this late in the day.

WOW! Sophie Gonzales has truly done it again. I did not think there was any way for her to beat out my love of Only Mostly Devastated but BOOM - She did it. I am beyond shook after having read this book. Obviously, the first requirement is that the man be Jewish. He must be a doctor or a lawyer. While having the soul of an artist and speaking a second language, he should have no baggage like previous marriages or children. Chris fails on all accounts, but that's okay because he's intent on finding Dara her Mr. Perfect. As he gets to know her, he's charmed by her vulnerability. She, in turn, is touched by the way that he really gets her and understands her quirkiness and anxiety. Chris knows how to help Dara get over her fears in a manner that is supportive but not condescending. And along the way, we fall for both of them. Well, I’d committed to this enough to shove them down my tights so I might as well follow this through to the end, right? I held my empty hands out, palms up. “I don’t have any letters.” Brougham. Pronounced BRO-um, not Broom. It was an easy name to remember, because it was pronounced all wrong, and that had irked me since the first time I’d heard it.Gonzales has crafted a lively story with multilayered appeal...then wraps it all up in an electrifying love story.” — Booklist He looked at me like I’d said the stupidest thing in the world. Which seemed unfair, given I wasn’t the one who was wandering around the school halls literally dripping. Me han encantado las imperfecciones de Darcy, realistas y con consecuencias para ella y para los demás. Me ha encantado Alexander, me ha encantado conocerle a través de un POV tan limitado como el de Darcy, sabiendo que lo era, pero aún así, tener que esperar para saber más sobre sus motivaciones, hasta que te puedes adelantar a la protagonista. Me ha encantado también todo lo relacionado con los consejos sobre relaciones, me han parecido realistas, en sus aciertos y en sus fallos.