Book Review :: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
ISBN: 1250769787
Published by Wednesday Books
on 2021-03-09
Genres: Young Adult, LGBTQ+, Romance
Pages: 304
Goodreads

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she's not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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The story: Perfect on Paper

I have to say straight off the bat that Perfect of Paper was such a fun concept! The idea that a high school student was running an ‘agony aunt’ style business from an unused locker is absolute genius.

Darcy runs Locker 89. Students post their letters through the locker’s slot and include money and a return email address. Darcy then secretly opens the locker, takes out the letters and respond to her fellow student’s relationship questions via the email they provide. No one knows that Locker 89 is run by Darcy, and she aims to keep it that way.

Then one day, she’s caught in the act. Brougham discovers her secret, but instead of outing her to the entire school, he exchanges keeping her secret with the fact that he needs help getting back his ex-girlfriend. He even offers a bucket load more money than Darcy would ever earn from the locker. So she accepts, begrudgingly and Perfect on Paper follows Darcy as she coaches Brougham as he tries to get his ex back. As well as helping Brougham, Darcy has her own problems: she’s in love with her best friend Brooke, and if Brooke finds out Darcy’s secret, then everything is burning up in flames.

“For the first time, the very very first time, I really believed them. That my relationship status did not change me. And that even if other people didn’t agree, every single person in this room had my back without hesitation. I was with them and they were with me and we were with each other. A community within a community within a community. No questions asked. No proof needed. No valid form of identification required. We just belonged because we belonged.”

My thoughts on Perfect on Paper

This book was a lot of fun! While it was full of cliches and a billion things we’ve seen before in Young Adult novels, it was somehow refreshing, and a joy to read. While her actions to questionable at best, and I did feel like slapping some sense into her sometimes, I did like Darcy as a main character. She is a mess, to say the least, but somehow really endearing and I did just want the best for her.

Brougham as a character was a goodie, too, but don’t even get me started on the name! What even is that!? It IS his last name, but I couldn’t even bring myself to call him that the entire book. I spent each sentence his name was in, sort of just glossing over the name and thinking of the character as a concept rather than a name … if that makes sense. Essentially, I ignored his name.

Names aside, this book was funny, clever, witty, a complete mess and pretty darn fun. The LGBTQ+ representation in this book is around every turn, and Gonzales talks about her journey of writing bi characters here in a review she wrote on Goodreads, which is well worth the read.

I’ve only read Only Mostly Devastated by Gonzales, but if you’re a fan of Sophie Gonzales’ other books, or you like a good Young Adult romance story, then pick up Perfect on Paper. Then come on back here and let me know what you thought!

For fans of Rainbow Rowell, Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera.

Have you read Perfect on Paper? What did you think?