This book was fine. If didn’t do anything new but it did provide representation to I think an overlooked section of the LGBTQIA spectrum.

I thoroughly enjoyed my reading of Perfect On Paper, flying through it all in one day.

One of my biggest praises for this book was it's relatability to young people. Yes there is some high school drama but the author writes these characters with such believability and realism which really impressed me.
So often in contemporary YA high school drama ends up being the main focus and the writers have a tendency to over write some more petty aspects and emphasise the "not your average girl" tropes. Which is why I don't often gravitate towards the genre.
However after reading the premise of this book it hooked me enough to give it a go, and boy, am I glad I did.
I hadn't yet read Sophie Gonzales' previous book, Only Mostly Devastated, yet upon finishing Perfect on Paper I immediately ordered her debut.
Mainly because her writing was so realistic and digestible.

The characters in this novel were definitely the biggest aspect for me. They felt like real teenagers with flaws as well as attributes. Each character had a distinct voice and their own personalities and lives with differing conflicts.
Also, the fact that the romantic relationship that forms in this book with our main character is not the main focus of the plot certainly got a thumbs up from me.
There was also a good amount of parent/child relationship seen in this book. Family dynamics is yet another integral part of this book for more than one character.
The sheer amount of LGBT+ representation was a refreshing POV to read from. It didn't feel like token representation or performative allyship either which was even better. Being part of the queer community also wasn't the only aspect to these characters' personalities, they were more rounded and fleshed out. Also, the entire plot isn't based on a struggle with sexuality, which I think a lot of readers will appreciate.

I would definitely recommend this to fans of Holly Bourne's contemporary books. Looking forward to reading future work from this author

TLDR: Overall, a solid YA romance with a focus on the BEST kind of found family (queer!!) with really addictive writing. It was good, but missed the mark for me as a new favourite.

Our main character Darcy is as pragmatic as it gets, really witty and self aware to a fault. It was definitely her book, and I don’t feel like any more development was needed on the supporting characters in the story. That said, I would have loved to see more of Ainsley (because she was awesome) and their relationship; she was a great addition to the narrative.

I think hearing more about Ainsley and her support of Darcy’s queer identity may have bridged the slight gap between the main plot and some of the more queer-focused sub plots. There are a lovely few pages of dialogue about two-thirds in between tons of queer characters surrounding biphobia and the idea of being “queer enough”. These few pages were awesome, but they also seemed to come a little out of nowhere. Generally the conversations on queerness are quite erratic throughout the novel and therefore (while important and insightful!) felt a little plonked in when they were present. Yes, I’m salty that Darcy’s queer journey wasn’t as front and centre as I’d hoped, but that’s okay, there’s definitely merit in a romance with queer characters that doesn’t completely revolve around them being queer!

Some teeny things I wanted to address were the pop culture references, because at times I felt like I was being bombarded with *insert trendy social app here* in the name of relatability to a young audience. I found the young characters relatable and their dialogue authentic, so the referral to things like TikTok and various other Gen Z social phenomena were unnecessary and really just distracted me from the story. Another thing was a display of violence that I wasn't a huge fan of because it wasn't questioned or reprimanded. In fact, it was applauded by our main character and justified as an act of chivalry. Kids, punching people is bad and is not any less bad if it was done in your defence, please and thank you.

For me, this book read like a Netflix romance movie. This is in no way a criticism and is truly a testament to how vivid the descriptions of both the settings and the characters were. However I do think there’s a certain formula to these films that was present in this story to make it more digestible and read quicker that could have been left out/replaced with more original plot devices throughout. That said, if you liked To All the Boys and Simon vs., this romance will hit the spot, it’s all the best parts of the movies and the books refined into one lovely story.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the e-arc.

Darcy Phillips is the anonymous, relationship agony aunt for the students at her posh private school. They drop their letters into locker 89 and she sneaks them out after school hours and replies to the email address on the letter. When the new guy at school, Brougham, discovers her secret, she agrees to help him win back his ex in exchange for a hefty fee. Darcy has a 95% success rate, so she feels confident that this will be easy, until her best friend (and secret longtime crush) Brooke, gets into a new relationship, distracting her and making her question her relationship expertise.

This was GREAT! Teen/YA romances aren't a genre that I am usually drawn to. I find them a bit cliche and cringy. Not 'Perfect On Paper'. It has a witty heroine, great LGBTQ representation, and although we are thrown straight into the plot, there is no insta-love and the connection that develops between the two main characters feels genuine.

This is the next hit teen movie waiting to happen.

Thank you #NetGalley and Hachette for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect On Paper is one of those books I could have read in one sitting. Had I been able to pause time and all my responsibilities, I would have stayed up all night reading this book. But there was a bonus to not being able to do that, as I then had something to look forward to reading when I got home from work! I am so grateful I got the opportunity to read the ARC of this book because it was such a fun read that made me smile – something we all need in our lives these days.

Perfect On Paper is about Darcy Phillips, a girl who runs a secret advice service through locker 89 at her school. Students leave her envelopes of letters and cash in exchange for relationship advice, which Darcy carefully researches before sending over via email. Darcy loves helping her peers with their relationship woes and she’s really good at it. However, she can’t seem to figure out her own relationship issues, such as whether her best friend Brooke loves her back and her own feelings relating to her bisexuality and society’s biphobia. When senior hottie Alexander Brougham catches her in the act of retrieving letters from the locker, he hires her help to get his ex-girlfriend back. She cannot stand him, especially when he blackmails her. She has to agree to help him in order to keep locker 89 a secret, because if she doesn’t, there’s a chance Brooke would find out something awful she did last year. But when Brooke falls for someone else and she gets to know Brougham… things get even more complicated.

I really, really enjoyed this book. First of all, the concept just screams a fun and exciting plot that dips and twists with each new development, and the story delivers this through and through. Darcy is a fun, smart and witty character. I really loved seeing her locker 89 relationship advice in action with the snippets of letters and her responses that are weaved throughout the novel. Her friendship with Brooke and her secret feelings for her are layered and fun to read, especially when Brooke’s love interest comes into the picture and Darcy’s meddling with Brooke’s relationships unfolds. A big part of the novel is Darcy trying to deal with her feelings for Brooke and ultimately messing things up and then trying to win her friend back. I loved that aspect of the story, as it really established the importance of female friendships and also explored unrequited love. Darcy’s relationships with her mum and her sister, who has just recently transitioned and changed her name to Ainsley, are also a great aspect of the novel, as it really explores how important family is and how, even for a character like Darcy who offers advice to her peers, also needs people to turn to when her life is spiralling out of control.

Now, honestly, the best thing about this book is Brougham. I won’t lie. I just thought he was the greatest and wanted to give him a big hug. The reason for that is partly because he’s Australian like me, but also because his character just developed so well throughout the novel as Darcy got to know him. At first, he seems like an arrogant, self-involved ass, but he is anything but, which Darcy soon discovers as they end up spending more time together. I absolutely loved how Darcy’s quest to get Brougham back with his ex developed in the story and of course, how Darcy and Brougham developed together as a duo and in response to the other. He shows a great interest in Darcy’s relationship theories and they have many discussions that were really interesting and make Darcy reflect on her knowledge and grow stronger as a result. And, well, there were just so many great scenes between the two of them that made me all squealy and happy inside.

Perfect on Paper is a great read and I really recommend it if you are looking for something fun, dramatic and insightful with wonderful, unforgettable characters, an exciting plot and just an overall feel-good vibe. Perfect On Paper comes out in March next year, so add it to your TBR and be on the look out!

This book had no right to be as good as it was. Not only did it start off extremely problematic but it ventured into resolving the difficult situation and deal with it in a very interesting way. A lot of teenagers don't want to confide in adults so having someone like Darcy was a great idea. There are of course different issues to think about i.e. qualifications, legal aspect however I found that the school itself *spoiler alert* was disgusting in dealing with the fall out by only focusing on the school's reputation. Absolutely disgusting and far too realistic.

The major point of the book was biphobia which happens very often from either het community or queer community. Bisexual erasure is something that is not discussed enough and I was glad to read about it in this book. Not to mention the other queer issues were very interesting albeit only slightly touched upon.

The characters were fun and interesting and absolutely relatable. Especially the self-analysis.

I also found the relationship with all the parents portrayed very well. Quite often our relationships with our parents are a strong mix between loving them and hating them and feeling grateful and feeling unsupported and so on and so on. Sophie definitely hit the spot in portraying this. I really enjoyed the read and it will hopefully because an immediate hit.

Definitely recommend to fans of 'Leah on the Offbeat'.

I don't think I have enough words to describe how PERFECT* this book is. *You appreciated the pun and you know it*

The bisexual representation in this was just on another level.

There were multiple times when just reading Darcy's thoughts made me burst into tears out of recognition. I genuinely don't think I've read anything that explains internalised biphobia as well as this book did- some of the conversation was putting to words feelings I have never even managed to give coherent thoughts to.

The characterisations and romances were so brilliant- I literally squealed at one "romancy" moment!

There is a tonne of rep in the book (aside from the mindblowingly perfect bisexual rep) including: trans, non-binary, lesbian, gay, fat.

Also something I haven't heard anyone talk about is how Darcy lives between separated parents AND is the scholarship kid at a private school. As someone who lived both these experiences I just want to say how fantastically they were handled! It felt authentic and Darcy's thoughts regarding the extreme wealth of her classmates were so honest that I cried (again) at recognising how I used to feel at school.

Basically. This book is PERFECT.

(And felt a little too much like reading about my own life at times 💁‍♀️)

** Perfect on Paper was very kindly gifted to me by Hachette (5GetBookish) as an eARC through Netgalley. All views (and tears) are entirely my own.**