Perfect on Paper was just....PERFECT!

I loved this story and how it was written. It took so many things that we are currently facing in our lives from Trans rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and taking the stigma of what it all entails and bringing it up.

I love the fact that there was an LGBTQ+ club in this private school that allowed their students to share that. Public schools definitely wouldn't allow it. Needless to say I love the representation of it all!

I love the writing style and how polished it is. It's a funny and well written story that I loved. Did I think some of it was a little predictable? Yes, but that's ok! It was a read that I didn't put down until I finished. Who needs to go to work well rested?

Darcy Philips secretly runs the infamous locker 89, an actual locker and anonymous source for dating advice in her high school. For years people have been leaving notes asking for advice from everything about how to approach a crush to how to express your feelings in your relationship when you aren't being heard. Darcy has been careful to keep her identity secret even from her best friend Brooke whom she has romantic feelings for. One day, however, Darcy is caught collecting the letters from the locker by Alexander Brougham the stereotypical hot jock. Now she is being blackmailed by Alex into helping him get his ex back or he'll tell everyone that she runs the locker.

You can't talk about this book without talking about all the LGBTQ+ rep found within. Sexual orientation plays a huge role in this story as not only is Darcy giving romantic advice to people but she's also trying to work out her own feelings about what a bisexual person should look like to the outside world, It's a complex story as there are a lot of moving parts but it's very easy to read. The story reminded me a lot of a modern day take on Some Kind of Wonderful. I really like Alex's character even though meeting him as a blackmailer probably wasn't the best first impression. Darcy had that that amazing teenage "I'm smarter than people" confidence that made her such a flawed protagonist. Everything she does for the most part is for the right reasons but as they say no good deed goes unpunished.

This book was sooo cute! An amazing cast with tons of LGTBQ2+ representation!! The story itself is so joyful and fun, so very sweet!

Giving advice to someone else seems easy. Following your own advice, not so much. Darcy Phillips is a little bit of every high school girl. Questioning, answering, and getting caught in the middle of other people's problems.

**FULL REVIEW**

Heartwarming. Interesting. Full of real-life issues.

This story hits just a little different, it's one that shows realness in a way so many wouldn't imagine it to be. It is all-inclusive, the representation is beautifully written and gives any reader who is willing to go outside of their "norm" a way to learn something new without putting them on the spot.

I feel I learned something, actually a lot of somethings from this story and I am thankful to have read it. It was sweet and funny, the emotions felt real and the relationships felt relatable.

It holds true to a YA storyline, one every teen can relate to in some fashion and the spectrum of characters keep you fully engaged to every facet. I rooted for Darcy and I cried with her as she made some royal mistakes--while some unintentional and maybe even from a good place, they weren't without consequence and I felt her lessons. I could see how she wrestled with herself and who she was vs. who she thought people would perceive her to be and I absolutely teared up when she found her acceptance even in the midst of conflict.

Lastly, I adored the ending. While it may seem unconventional, it fits perfectly. Everyone got their happy ending...and life moves forward. It evolves, people grow...it's a beautiful thing.

**4 Be Who You Are, Stars**

4.5 Perfect on Paper is a sweet and smart romance with a nuanced bi main character and an awesome focus on consent culture and healthy relationship advice that feels organic and not preachy. Supporting characters are in the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and a Queer and Questioning club is part of the plot, helping to answer questions for readers like aro/ace distinctions, etc. Parents are included in the story and are also given nuance and teens make realistic decisions. Strong recommend, this has wide appeal.

I loved the broad spectrum of characters in this fun, fast read. Darcy uses her problem-solving powers (anonymously) for good, especially when dealing with the love lives of others. Unfortunately, she finds helping herself, isn’t always that easy!

Perfect on Paper is a sweet and funny rom com with heartfelt and specific bi rep (more of which is needed in YA and fiction in general). The characters are fully realized and multi-dimensional and the story has lots of depth to it. Read my full review for Lambda Literary at the link below.

I'm kind of obsessed with Sophie Gonzales books, y'all!

Only Mostly Devastated was such a fun and surprisingly heartwarming debut in 2020. Perfect on Paper continues that trend with quiet, skillful character building that sucks you in. But stick around for meatier content like exploring positive habits in relationships, understanding yourself and others, and, most importantly, battling biphobia and bi erasure. This book is unapologetically queer and anyone questioning otherwise because it follows a bi girl who ends up with a boy (a necessary "spoiler" because some of y'all are ACTING UP) needs to check their incorrect learned behavior at the door.

Darcy runs under the radar to her classmates, but they don't realize she's the girl behind Locker 89, a.k.a. the place where you can get advice for a small fee. But when Darcy's cover is nearly blown by Alexander Brougham, she strikes a bargain to help Brougham get his ex back (healthily!) if he keeps her secret. But things get complicated as she gets closer to Brougham and further from Brooke, her best friend who's she harbored a crush on since forever - and from whom she's hiding a big secret.

Like I said, this book is unapologetically queer. Most of our main characters are queer, aside from Brougham. Darcy is also part of Queer & Questioning, a queer group at their school which gives space to queer teens to open up. Additionally, Darcy writes her advice in a way that's gender neutral (unless genders are given for both parties). I also think this is the kind of romance book teens need. We love teens having positive conversations about respect, boundaries, consent, and understanding the way relationships work healthily! It doesn't diminish that teens - and people regardless of age - get messy, but it does provide a conversation for how to do better which is cool to see.

As far as the romance goes, heck YEAH. It's a nice slow burn without too much angst alongside a lot of good banter. A weakness of mine for sure! I also appreciated that Brougham is open and willing to get vulnerable from the get-go rather than having it pried out of him. It's always nice to see male characters shying away from the ways toxic masculinity affects emotional expression.

I'm super eager to see more from Sophie, and can't wait to promote this one 'til I'm blue in the face!

4.5/5

I don't know why it took me so long to read a novel by Sophie Gonzales, but boy am I glad I just read Perfect on Paper. There were so many things to love about this book! Not only does it have a romance aspect, but I felt like I learned a lot about what it means to be queer as well, and the majority of the characters are quite loveable. I haven't read a young adult novel in a while, and I really loved the representation Gonzales included in the story. She takes a deep dive into so many subjects, and this is one of those reads that I wish had been around when I was a teenager. There is the perfect mix of heart, humor, and reflection, and I didn't want to put the book down. It hooked me from the first page, and the aspect of Darcy giving anonymous relationship advice was so fun. There are so many things packed into this one that I haven't read before, and I loved every minute of it.

I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Barrie Kreinik, and she was fantastic. She was just the way I would expect Darcy to sound, and she was a pleasure to listen to. The audio is just shy of 9 hours while the book itself is just over 340 pages, but I could have listened to it for hours more. I loved the plot, characters, and Gonzales' writing so much, and I wanted to stay in the world she created forever. It is also a perfect read for Pride Month, and even though I've been trying to read LGBTQIA+ all the time, I haven't been able to fit in as many as I would like. So I knew I had to pick Perfect on Paper up this month and clearly I am happy I did! Anyone who hasn't read a book by Gonzales before needs to grab this and put it on their shelf ASAP.

Thank you to the publishers for my advance listening and digital copies. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Darcy has a secret. She's the person behind Locker 89 who dishes out relationship advice anonymously to her classmates. But then she's caught by very popular Brougham who needs her services to get his ex girlfriend back. This had everything you want in a contemporary YA romance with amazing LGBTQI+ representation!

I loved loved reading Perfect on Paper. It was such a charming, romantic, queer story. I loved Only Mostly Devastated by this author and Perfect on Paper is equally lovely and easily devoured.

**I received this book from St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley for an honest review**

Darcy is basically the teenage version of a Dear Annie type. She helps her fellow classmates with their relationship woes and offers a full refund if it doesn’t work. One day she’s caught in the act by a boy she despises. In order to keep her secret, she agrees to help him with his relationship problems.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. There are so many facets to this story that I found myself wanting one thing after we’d moved on to something else. At times I was interested in Darcy’s side gig more than anything else. I thought the concept of what she was doing was pretty cool.

I loved the way things turned out. I hated the process of how we got there but I had to remember these were high school kids. There are many things that frustrated me about Darcy. I hated her actions, but I also hated the consequences of said actions. I thought a bulk of this was very realistic. I question how blind these kids were to things that seemed obvious if I’m being honest though.

This was a great coming of age YA book that reminded me of HS and my crushes.

This was the perfect book for pride month! The characters were so diverse and so stinking lovable. The representation was spot on. I had no clue who the love interest for the MC would be at first and honestly loved that fact! The little club was adorable. Definitely a solid 4.5, and I would have rated it 5 had the beginning pulled me in like the end. I will absolutely be picking up more from this author.

Who hasn't been caught running an illegal advice ring by a rich guy at school and semi blackmailed into helping him try to win his ex-girlfriend back, all the while in love with your best friend?

I will say, this is a book that allows its characters to be unlikeable sometimes, and I don't say that as a bad thing. As a teenager who was also logically observant of others but unable to parse out my own thoughts and feelings to the same degree, I identified with Darcy. I'm also a sucker for dislike to friends to more, and also a hero who comes off cold when really he's just bad at peopling (hello, Brougham!) The friendship between Darcy and Brooke, however, fell a little flat for me, which was disappointing. But what it lacks in friendship is made up for in sister bonding, so there's that.

I had a bad day yesterday and was struggling to get into a book. I picked this one up assuming I would have the same trouble concentrating as I had on the others and 2 hours later, I finished the entire thing. Perfect on Paper quickly grabbed my attention and did not let go until the very last page. Darcy is one of the most fun teen characters I've read in quite a while and her relationships with her sister Ainsley was one of the best parts of the book. The book deals quite a lot with biphobia, both internal and external and definitely had me reflecting on some of my previous thoughts/statements and how judgemental they actually were. So much representation in one book, combined with a great storyline and it was clear to me the author did her research about attachment styles and other relationship advice before writing the book. Really wonderful story and I look forward to picking up more from this author.

Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an advance copy.

I don’t know where to begin with this review. So, I’m just going to dive right in. We start the book off in a very Simon vs the Homosapien way with the blackmail. But where Becky failed at Sophie did it better. Perfect on Paper is a fluffy YA romcom, with the usual YA romance tropes, very predictable and cheesy, but still worth the reading experience. I will say that it starts off super slow. I reread the first two chapters at least twice before I gave up and put the book down. When I came back to it I was able to push on to the end of the book. I loved the array of diverse representation mentioned in this book. Giving people advice on life, love, and relationships can be tough and Darcy learns that the hard way. Darcy Phillips is her high schools resident relationship guru. Only problem is she has never actually been in her relationship herself so her advice is a lot of guesswork and learning from the experts. Also, no one knows Darcy Phillips is the person giving the advice. Students contact Darcy through a locker system at school. Students drop letters into the locker and Darcy anonymously retrieves them and responds with her best advice. Everything goes well until she gets caught by senior, superstar, Brougham who needs her help with getting his ex-girlfriend back. The humor and emotions were conveyed nicely and helped the story along. There were times that I wanted to shake Darcy and yell at her that she should take her own advice. She had some very naïve moments that drove me crazy. The sister relationship was okay, Darcy would feel bad about certain girlish things Ainsley didn’t get to experience, so Darcy would let her sisters behavior slide a lot. I also, didn’t care for the callous nature Brooke took on when she was the cause of what happened to Darcy. She didn’t even apologize for her role, which annoyed me. Overall, I loved the discussion around bisexuality and biphobia. I think it’s something many people struggle with not just teenagers. Some adults question themselves and their sexuality. So, yeah awesome job on that Sophie. I am grateful to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance.

Fuck Biphobia. PERFECT ON PAPER is that book. Sophie Gonzales writes with a witty humor. The trio on the front cover are fully fleshed out and easy to root for. The book is well paced. What a lovely book with a bi protagonist. Here's the book for you

Really enjoyable read that I've ended up booktalking for my library! Bisexual Darcy is the love guru of her school, anonymously available for hire by her classmates. When she's hired by resident hot guy/her nemesis, Alex, she has to be his dating coach to help him get his ex girlfriend back. What folllows is a fun romantic comedy as Darcy realizes that Alex isn't quite as bad as she thought he was. Gonzales's writing style is funny and witty, and even though. most readers will see where this is heading, they'll have a great time along the way.

3.5 Stars ~

I was absolutely so charmed by Sophie Gonzales’s Only Mostly Devastated—the writing, the characters, and the storyline, especially, were a lot of fun, so I was excited for her latest release, Perfect on Paper.

This book offers up an entirely different sort of story in a high school enemies-to-lovers romance that reads like a Gen Z-er’s guide on how to navigate and survive the inevitable ups and downs of teenage relationships. Darcy Phillips has been running a low-key moneymaking gig, secretly offering advice to the lovelorn out of Locker 89, an abandoned locker at school where her fellow students leave anonymous letters (and a little cash, thanks) seeking advice on a variety of woes, from breakups to finding out if someone is interested enough to risk asking out.

When Alexander Brougham catches Darcy at the locker collecting letters after school one day, the jig is up and Brougham takes advantage of the secret to ask her for help to get his ex-girlfriend back.

It becomes clear early on that Brougham is Darcy’s foil, and eventually the same becomes true for Darcy to Brougham, the more time they spend together. I would even go so far as to say some of their dynamic might have given me some Pride & Prejudice vibes, but that may just be me. I do have to say, I did not love Darcy or Brougham outright, so kudos to the author for giving me a storyline that kept me engaged even as Darcy was salty and Brougham aloof, and then allowed me to judge Darcy pretty harshly for doing a no good, awful, very bad thing—which she does at least realize and acknowledge was bad, and felt the appropriate levels of guilt for even if it took her a while to make amends for it—and kept me hooked to the end.

Darcy is the perfect example of someone who takes her advice-giving seriously, but whose own love life is such a disaster that you wonder how she can be so perceptive for everyone but herself. The aphorism “know thyself” isn’t one Darcy’s necessarily familiar with. She’s head over heels for her best friend Brooke, but doesn’t know how to tell her, does some shady stuff to try to keep Brooke for herself, and then loses her anyway. It takes working for Brougham, then with him, to confuse her even more, but only in the way that makes her look inward a little more.

Perfect on Paper is about more than relationship angst and getting busted for running a questionable, possibly illegal, business out of a high school locker, though. It’s a book that celebrates queer teens and diversity, and it confronts biphobia head on. One of Darcy’s greatest anxieties is that if she falls for a straight guy, people, especially her friends in the Queer & Questioning club, won’t accept her anymore. There are lots of great messages delivered through these conversations about bisexuality, affirming and supportive conversations that speak directly to teenage readers.

While I didn’t love this book with quite the level of joy and excitement I did Only Mostly Devastated, it’s got its own charms and delivers an important message to boot, which elevates it to something much better than good.