I had high expectations for this novel—and Sophie Gonzales exceeded all of them. Perfect on Paper is a funny & sweet, and also deeply important read. The characters are three-dimensional, messy, and real. I laughed, I smiled, I cried, and I had a genuinely excellent time reading this story.

I really appreciated seeing a diverse cast of queer characters; this story showcased a spectrum of sexualities and gender identities in a really positive way. The main character, Darcy, is a bisexual girl who is dealing with internalized biphobia and her place in the queer community when she starts getting feels for a straight man, and it’s handled in a really beautiful and inspiring way.

All in all, this is an excellent novel & highly recommend it!

Perfect on Paper, is about a about a girl named Darcy, who secretly gives dating advice out of a locker at her school, who also happens to be in love with her best friend, but starts becoming closer with the guy who catches her at her advice locker.

This book is messy with complicated emotions, that I’ve honestly never had to deal with and it was a great eye opener. Darcy who seems to be a really good advice giver, like her advice seems more on the professional side than on the oh I’m a high schooler and this is my side gig side, but man does she makes some questionable decisions that make me cringe a little. LOL I think that might be my mom side coming out. I knew those decisions were going to bite her but at the same time I felt like she had to go through that to grow.

I also love that everything was so causal and normal like her sister Ainsley, who I would love to have as an older sister, is trans and nobody bats an eye. She mentions taking hormones and other things about her transition are mentioned, but always in passing like it’s no big deal and I absolutely loved it. Even Darcy with dealing with biphobia and her own fears about her choices, was wonderfully done.

The only downside I had was it took me a few chapters to really get into the story, I’m so glad I stuck it out though because it was emotional, hilarious and I feel in love with all the characters and just a really good story overall

I remember being sixteen.
I wasn't one known for giving advice freely, and I can honestly say that any feedback I would have given at the time would not have been as solid as anything coming from Locker 89.

Darcy, secret advice giver, (usually) gives great suggestions via said locker. And (almost) nobody knows she's the author of the responses, giving her the power of anonymity in a school where she probably wouldn't have the same pull. She uses common sense in her responses, doesn't mince words, but still manages to get back to people in a gentle, humane way. Darcy and the cast of characters feel like full, realized people, and when her identity is discovered by a classmate it becomes apparent that Darcy *isn't* infallible.

The relationships between the characters don't seem forced, and the book got big points from me for LGBTQ representation, especially involving the topic of bisexual erasure in the community. With all of this, it still manages to feel relatively light, earnest, and has moments where it's legitimately funny.

I want this book on the library bookshelf. I want it in the hands of teens and adults alike. I'll definitely be recommending this one come March when it comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for this digital ARC. I was provided it in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so sorry you all need to wait until March 2021 to read this book! It is a delight!

This was such a wonderful story with complex characters, who do crappy things and learn and grow from them. The relationships, platonic and romantic alike, feel real and full. Sophie Gonzales is also a really good writer, making this a really smooth read.

The very best part of this book is how Gonzales treats sexuality and gender. All the characters - straight, gay, bi, and trans - appear as whole human beings whose sexuality is just one part of them. One of the best examples of this is the main character’s sister Ainsley, who has transitioned some time before the story begins. Ainsley is just Darcy’s sister. She is funny and warm and also happens to be trans. Another really lovely thing was how Darcy’s bisexuality plays out. She has, at one point, anxiety about dating someone of another gender because she felt others might perceive her to be less queer. But then the GSA she belongs to helps her realize that this is internalized biphobia and she accepts that she can date whoever she likes and this won’t make her any less queer.

Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored the very real bisexual representation in this novel. I wish it had been something I had put my hands on when I was young and still trying to figure out the Inner workings of my own sexuality.

The story was heartfelt and very sweet and I adored watching the (only slightly painful to read about) building of these relationships. I suffer second hand embrassement way too easily. Watching the romance bloom and grow and the very Cryanno De Bergerac plot line done in modern day was fantastic.

As queer romances go, this one remains well aware of the stereotypes that will lead people to assume it's a straight romance, despite the narrator's identity as a bisexual woman. In fact, her own struggle to navigate what it would mean for her to date a man is crucial to the plot development and handled effectively. It also helps that much of the relationship drama in the text is not Darcy's own-- her attempts to unravel other people's problems help to make her own feelings and desires (and her difficulty in navigating them) more believable. Some of the plot elements are a bit cliche, but the dialogue is great and many of the secondary characters-- especially older sister Ainsley-- are very well crafted.

While I enjoyed Only Mostly Devastated, I was even more excited for this author’s next release because it has a bisexual female protagonist and a lesbian Vietnamese-American side character! The premise was also so intriguing; it’s a take on Cyrano de Bergerac. Perfect on Paper was a fun rom-com that handles relationships, love, and friendship.

Darcy runs a secret relationship advice column out of Locker 89; rather, it’s a secret until Brougham catches her and blackmails her to help him win his girlfriend back. She agrees, desperately wanting to keep this secret under wraps because she has a crush on her best friend Brooke and has sabotaged her relationships through Locker 89.

I liked the plot! I did think Darcy gave way too specialized advice (like, professional-grade when she’s just read a few books and watched a couple of Youtube videos), but this is brought up in the book. She helps Brougham out genuinely, and she puts a lot of thought into her responses.

The characters were great; I especially liked how fleshed out they were by the end of the book. Darcy and Brougham go through a lot of character development. The side characters also added a lot of humor too, particularly Darcy’s sister, Ainsley, and Brougham’s best friend, Finn.

This book handles internalized biphobia very well. There’s some throwaway biphobic comments that are called out also, and I really liked the scene where Darcy is affirmed as not being straight when she has a crush on a guy or a lesbian when she likes a girl. I do want to say that this book isn’t sapphic (not a spoiler; the author has stated it publicly); while Darcy spends most of the book having a crush on Brooke, she is not her love interest. However, this doesn’t lessen Darcy’s bisexual identity!

Darcy and Brooke are a part of the Queer and Questioning Club at their school, so other LGBTQ+ characters are mentioned. Some LGBTQ+ characters in this book include: Brooke, a Vietnamese-American lesbian; Ainsley, a trans girl; Finn, who’s gay; Ray, who’s also bisexual; and other characters brought up who are asexual and nonbinary. There’s a side f/f relationship, and I thought it was really nice to read this community at a private school!

I did think the first half of the book was a little stilted, Darcy’s internal narrative and her interactions with Brougham in particular. However, by the second half, I was much more invested in the book. I really liked the romance in the second half!

Overall, Perfect on Paper was a fun rom-com read. You’ll definitely like it if you enjoyed Only Mostly Devastated. I recommend Perfect on Paper if you like Cyrano de Bergerac retellings, books that call out biphobia, or cute romances!

As her high school’s go-to relationship guru, Darcy Phillips is great at giving anonymous advice to other students. She knows how to get your oblivious lab partner to notice you, or your boyfriend to be more emotionally present. Until fellow classmate, Alexander Brougham, finds out who’s actually running this (previously) covert operation and recruits Darcy as his personal dating coach. In exchange for helping Brougham win back his ex-girlfriend, he promises to keep Darcy’s secret identity under-wraps—which she desperately wants, because if her best friend (and long-time crush) Brooke found out who was behind locker eighty-nine, she’d also uncover some unsavory secrets Darcy’s been keeping.

For fans of Netflix’s Sex Education or anyone who loved Sophie Gonzales’ previous YA rom-com, Only Mostly Devastated, prepare to be dazzled yet again. Perfect on Paper is a hilarious, heartfelt story full of great relationship advice, trips to Disneyland, and a damn-good romance. The novel is also an unabashed rejection of queerphobia (biphobia specifically), showcasing widespread normalized queer representation and an openly bisexual heroine whose interest in a boy in no way “erases” her queerness.

Gonzales is a talented storyteller who brings new life to young adult romance through her unique concepts, dynamic queer characters, and spot-on dialogue. In Perfect on Paper, she both engages with and subverts classic tropes of the genre with wit and skill. I mean, and I know I’m not the first to say this, but there’s just something about the timeless “two characters who only refer to each other by their last names suddenly switching to a first-name basis to show the growing intimacy between them” that really hits me hard in the ole heart.

So let me channel my inner Darcy Phillips for a moment and offer you some advice: don’t miss this book!

(Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing us with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales follows Darcy Phillips, a bisexual 16 year old, who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates. When her secret is discovered by Brougham, a hot Australian senior Darcy can't stand, he hires Darcy to help him get his ex back.

This book was so adorable and the premise led to so many instances of fun shenanigans. The chemistry between the two leads is super entertaining and had me thoroughly engaged throughout the book. I loved the LGBTQ+ representation in this book and loved how it was portrayed. I can't wait to read more books by Sophie Gonzales in the future. I highly recommend!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When St. Martin's Press emailed me with a link to read the book, I couldn't wait to finish reading the book I was reading so I could start on Perfect on Paper. I adored Only Mostly Devastated, so I had a feeling that I would enjoy this one. And boy did I.

Sophie's biggest strength is her ability to write great characters. Not just the main cast, but the supporting cast as well. Everyone is pretty well rounded with their own strengths and weaknesses. They're not perfect, Mary Sue wonderkind. Her dialogue is also top notch, and I found myself laughing out loud several times. I don't know if that's how teens really talk, but it was realistic enough for me to blur the lines between reality and fiction and not care.

I love how not only was this a teenage love story, but it also talked about the prejudices that bi people face, not just from others but within themselves as well. Biphobia is discussed in this book, and Darcy's feelings are justified and heard. She is also validated in her queerness just because she may pursue a relationship with a boy. This doesn't make her less queer, and I loved that she found that support she needed. Especially considering where she finds the support, but...spoilers, sweetie.

I also loved how Darcy didn't just give advise to love-lorn teenagers. She did research from experts and read up on relationships. She knew her stuff about love languages, different types of attachment styles (my inner clinical social worker was SO PROUD), boundaries, how to have needs being met, and although she shouldn't have been charging for the advice, what she was giving wasn't actually bad advice. I did, however, appreciate that she was put in her place by one of the gay characters who told her she doesn't know their experiences so there would have been no reason for him to write to her. This really brought forth self-reflection that was sorely needed for Darcy's overall character growth.

Overall, I enjoyed the hell out of this book, and I'm pretty certain that Sophie Gonzales may become an instant buy for me from now on.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Perfect on Paper in exchange for an honest review.

First off, this book is league ahead Only Mostly Devastated in plot, character, and writing. Darcy and her friends felt so much really than Gonzales previous characters and were all flawed and yet still easy to root for and relate to.

I'm a sucker for books with GSA scenes (called here Queer & Questioning) and Perfect on Paper has some of my favourite GSA-conversation scenes (please keep in mind that I'm incredibly biased as a bi woman since the main conversation was about being a bi woman). Gonzales has said that this book serves as kind of a 'subtweet' to people getting mad at bi media that focuses on straight-appearing relationships and I really loved the representation of Darcy's struggles with her internalized bi-phobia. "You're still queer even if you're dating someone of the opposite gender" is is an important conversation to have, but one I've never really seen done in any serious capacity in YA and it was such a delight to read.

Perfect on Paper is at times a rom-com, at times relationship advice, and at times a serious look at the struggles of both queer and non-queer teenagers and it was an absolute delight to read.

Rating: 11/17

*Spoiler free*

Ever since reading and adoring Only Mostly Devastated, I was ready to read Sophie Gonzales's next book. And then I found out it would be about a bi girl who secretly gives dating advice out of a locker at her school, who is also in love with her best friend, but starts becoming closer with the guy who catches her at her advice locker. It sounded like such an amazing book, and my jaw literally dropped when I saw that I was sent an e-ARC from the publisher. I was really, really looking forward to reading it.

I loved this book just as much as Only Mostly Devastated. I know this author was already on my favorites list after that single book I read by her, but this book just firmly secured her spot. This book was so, so good.

I'm gonna start off by screaming about the casual trans rep. THERE WAS CASUAL TRANS REP. Darcy's older sister, Ainsley is just casually trans. She's just there and she's just awesome. Her needing to take hormones and small mentions of her transition are mentioned, but always in passing. It was so cool to see and as you can tell from my gushing, I loved it a whole lot.

Alright, moving on. One of the things I liked best about Only Mostly Devestated was the messy, complicated emotions. Well, Perfect On Paper might just be messier and even more complicated. But still in the best way possible. Darcy isn't perfect. She makes questionable choices and makes mistakes. But she felt so deeply and such hard emotions. And sometimes those kind of emotions inspire questionable decisions.

Though, Darcy doesn't blindly make those decisions and feel nothing over them. Those complicated emotions are looked at, examined, and felt. And Darcy wants to try to make things better. She wants to be better. She knows when she does something wrong and she wants to grow from it. Sometimes its hard and painful, but that's how emotions are felt sometimes and that's alright.

This book touched parts of me that I didn't expect it to. I got Darcy's feelings toward friendship. I got her feelings toward her bi-ness. I got how she got scared and overwhelmed and how hard it was to feel scary emotions. This just made me love the book all the more.

I also thought Darcy's whole set up with Locker 89 and her dating advice was so cool. She does it because wants to put even a little bit of good into the world. I loved how into it she got. She researched advice and it was something she was truly passionate about. It was fascinating to see her fascinated by it.

I loved Brougham a whole lot too. I loved how her turned out to be something completely different than what I thought he was going to be. Darcy wasn't sure of him in the beginning and I loved discovering more about him with Darcy. He's such a great guy overall. He's serious, but he's kind. He's awkward and he has his own struggles. I just loved him a whole.

I also loved all the other side characters, some of whom grew on me as well. That's also something I liked about this book, it completely flipped my expectations at times. I didn't think I would like this one girl and Brougham turned out to be different than my original perception.

This book also had such amazing relationships. Relationships that were complicated and weren't perfect. But they were relationships that the character's were willing to fight for. I loved the friendships, I loved the familial relationships, and I loved the romantic relationships. Sometimes they were completely flipped on their head, but sometimes that's what is needed for growth.

This is kind of a minor thing, but this book was seriously hilarious. I started cackling multiple times haha.

Oh, also, Sophie confirmed that the movie Respawn that Darcy and Brougham watch isn't real haha. I know I wanted to watch it when I read that scene, so I thought I'd let you know in case you were also curious!

All in all, this was another amazing Sophie Gonzales book. I loved the conversations about queerness, about healthy relationships, and about messy and painful emotions. It has amazing writing and amazing characters and I just loved it so, so much.

I have a weird start to this review: I think the book could have been about one quarter shorter than it was. That’s the primary reason for the missing star. However, ultimately, I appreciated the REAL-ness if this story. I mean, I AM the mom from this story. But I was also, at one time, sort of the Darcy from this story, too. I never had letters written to me. And I never made money off of the advice I so often was asked to dole out. But I was that rare high school girl with a fair level of popularity but never a relationship. Lots of crushes. LOTS. But not one single date. (Until my 18th birthday which happened after graduation and could never lead to anything because he was leaving to CA for college.) No romance. Just lots of friends who, for some reason, came to me for advice. College was much the same.

Anyway. I liked the book. Quite a lot. I especially liked that the love interest was NOT ridiculously in love from moment one. And that he wasn’t transformed by his love. Neither was she. It was good. 💜📚