Title: Perfect on Paper
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Publisher: Hachette Children’s Group
Genre: Romance, lhbtiq+
Pages: 288
My Rating: 8/10
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Perfect on Paper
Darcy Philips is the owner of locker 89 at her school. Locker 89 is not just a normal locker, it is the locker where you go when you need love advice. Nobody knows that Darcy is behind the locker though and she wanted to keep it a secret. But one day after school, when Darcy thinks she is alone, she gets the new letters from the locker. But when she turns around there is Brougham. He decides to keep her secret from everyone if Darcy agrees to help him. He also needs love advice. He broke up with his girlfriend and now he wants her back. Since Darcy wants to keep this a secret from everyone, she decides to help him to get his ex-girlfriend back.
It would be the end of the world if it gets out that she owns locker 89. She once advised her best friend Brooke, only it was a bit of selfish advice. Darcy is actually in love with Brooke and she wants to be with her. So she gave her best friend the wrong advice. If Brooke will hear this, she would be so mad at her.
Review
I don’t read a lot of Young adult books anymore. These days I prefer the New Adult genre, mostly because I am also getting older and I can’t always relate to Young Adult books. But there are still a lot of Young Adult books that are also great for when you are older. I found this book in the online store and I saw it on Bookstagram and I decided to give it a go.
And you know what? I kind of liked this book. Even though these teens are still in High school, I thought this book was pretty good. I liked the diversity a lot. The main character is bi and her best friend is a lesbian and they also mention other sexualities like asexuality etc. It kind of reminded me of ‘Sex education’ because just like that Netflix show it shows that there is so much more than just being hetero or being gay. I remember when I grew up and read (Dutch) books, it was always about a girl who like a boy. The diversity wasn’t even there. Even all of the characters were white. But these days you can find so many different kinds of books and I like that. As a hetero woman, I don’t care if I read a book about two girls/boys falling in love or when a hetero couple does. For me, it is all about the feel-good aspect. I just want to read a book that makes me happy.
Okay, maybe it was less relatable because the characters were still in high school but to be honest, it did not bother me at all. This book was all about love and figuring out who you are. And let’s admit that I even struggle with that. So that aspect was relatable. This book was pretty easy to read since it was a Young Adult.
It was also pretty predictable. I’ve read so many romance books and these days I just can tell what is going to happen and how the book is going to end. And this time it was no different. From the start, I knew who Darcy would end up with. I just think romance books are too predictable, but it does not bother me at all.
I liked this book a lot and I think this is a good book for every teenager and older. It teaches you that there is so much more than hetero and gay. There is one thing that I did not like that much. But in the end, they found out who the locker belonged to and since that moment it was game over for Darcy and her business. In the last few pages, they mentioned she should restart her business online. I did not understand why she would restart her business. She got in big trouble with her school and her mom for having a dating advice business when she is not even qualified and now she wants to do it again. I hope that it meant she wasn’t going to ask for money again. But that was just a little thing that annoyed me. Other than that, I just liked this book a lot and I can really recommend it to everyone who likes to read romance and also likes to read Young adult books. And if you also like ‘Sex education, then this is the perfect book for you.
I also did some research on the author Sophie. I had no idea that the Bromance book club was one of her book series. Those books are still on my list. I heard so many great stories about the books that I going to try to read them this year, as soon as possible. From what I can tell so far, I think Sophie is a great author.