Cute romcom that gives voice to bisexual romantic leads. This book is more than cotton candy, it takes on LGBTQIA issues, especially as it relates to being bisexual.

I really enjoyed this YA novel about a bisexual teenage girl running an anonymous advice locker. Darcy Phillips has been running an advice line out of a locker for the last three years of high school. Darcy has been in love with her best friend, Brooke, but has yet to reveal her true feelings. Darcy is discovered at the locker one day by Alexander Brougham, a hot Australian swimmer trying to win back his ex-girlfriend. So, he hires Darcy to help.

As Darcy begins to work with Brougham, her guilt, feelings, and anonymity for the locker start to get in the way of her choices and relationships. How long can she keep a secret from her best friend and what happens if it gets revealed?

I really liked how this story felt so inclusive. It had that typical rom com teen ya love stuff we all miss and wish we had in high school and heck, even today. The character relationships were intertwined and not too deep with just enough meat to really make a teen fall for this book. I liked the banter between Darcy and her sister as well as Darcy and Brougham. I also love how the author showed the growth of the different characters. I will say that Brooke was never on my favorites list, but I think I would not have wanted a friend like her.

This was great on audio as well!

This was an ok book but the main character annoyed me too much with her jealousy. She was jealous and made answers on her letters based on her personal jealousy which I didn’t like.

Unfortuneately I just didn't mesh with this book and decided to DNF it.
I just wans't for me, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to love it.

Really liked this book! I thought it wasn't going to be my type of book but the blurb was interesting so I gave it a shot. It definitely did not dissappoint.

Sophie Gonzalez has crafted yet another hit with Perfect on Paper. Darcy knows exactly what to say to her classmates when the come to Locker 89 for advice. (She truly does! I learned a thing or two reading!) But it's easier said than done, in her case.

Darcy struggles internally between her feelings for her best friend Brooke and her growing feelings(?) for Brougham, who hired her to be his dating coach. Darcy openly identifies as bi, but what would her friends think of her if she dated a guy? Would she still be queer enough for them?

Seeing these internal struggles play out in YA is crucial for readers who may be having the same thoughts and experiences. Gonzalez managed to weave a great deal of educational information and support into this book without making it seem preachy or too much.

Perfect on Paper is so cute. Between the trips to Disneyland and other hijinks, I've been recommending it all over the place.

I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It tackled some very important issues in the LGBTQ community and I loved learning more about the different sexuality’s.

4.5 STARS

YES YES YES

SO MUCH YES!

I loved this book!



Remember that Meg Cabot book that featured an ASK ANNIE series? I think it was Teen Idol, Darcy is basically a more mature version of the advice columnist in Teen Idol. This book was just so much FUN! But it also dealt with some issues (bi-phobia and erasure of bi identity). The protagonist is a teen and I loved how it focused on how people who give advice don't always have their shit together. Basically some of my favourite tropes.

I just loved it. It's all about the YEARNING!

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales, 304 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2021. $19. LGBTQIA
Language: R (168 swears, 67 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Darcy, a junior, is the only person who knows the secret behind locker 89 because she’s the mastermind. Students drop off letters with relationship issues and the fee, and Darcy responds with advice guaranteed to help -- or your money back. Well, Darcy was the only one who knew before Brougham caught her and demanded her help for his silence.
Darcy’s story is a lot of fun to read for both the fictional drama and misunderstandings as well as for the non-fiction relationship theories and advice she gives throughout the book. While the drama can be over-the-top and the misunderstandings can be a bit obvious to the readers, Darcy’s experiences of making mistakes and trying to fix them feel completely relatable. I’m already making adjustments to my to-read list so that I can reread Perfect on Paper. The mature content is for mention of sex, underage drinking, alcohol abuse, and drug use.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rating: 8/10

I loved this book with all its genuine moments and solid LGBTQIA+ representation. Darcy Phillips secretly runs the school’s locker 89 advice service. Students place a letter with a $10 payment requesting guidance on their romantic relationships. What could go wrong with advising high schoolers? Darcy is challenged when her own romantic feelings get involved when her best friend and crush Brooke asks for advice about another female student. One day Darcy's secret is discovered by Alexander Brougham and he requests her personal services to help him get his ex-girlfriend back. As the story develops, Darcy begins to question herself as bi and seeks support from the schools the Queer and Questioning Club.

I loved all the characters of this book. I just wanted to keep listening. Please check this out if you want an enjoyable YA romance full of queer representation and advocation. I would love to see this book picked up for a Netflix movie.

Thank you, Wednesday Books, for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect on Paper is a wonderful easy read. Set amongst teens within school, Sophie Gonzales delves into first romances and the struggles of teens working out who they are, Darcy, daughter of one of the teachers, is a scholarship student. She isn’t like all the other kids, she isn’t rich and without the uniform to hide behind everyone would know that she wasn’t one of them.

Darcy carves a place in school with agony aunt antics and her participation in the Queer and Questioning group. She wishes her agony aunt status to remain anonymous but that cannot last forever,

I believed this story and the characters Gonzales created. Perfect on Paper made me reminisce about my time at the end of school, the relationships with friends, the struggles and the uncertainty of who I was and how I was perceived.

This is a must read for young adults and for those that enjoy a momentary flash back to their youth.

Okay, so first off, I want to start by thanking the publisher for sending me a free digital copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm not gonna lie; I put off reading this book for a really long time because I was scared I was going to like it too much and binge-read it in one day. I was RIGHT because that's EXACTLY what happened. I picked up this book yesterday and could not put it down!!!

So let's start by talking about my favorite parts of this book:

1) THE REPRESENTATION IS FANTASTIC!!! I saw me, my friends, and my family represented in this book, and it was so freaking amazing to see!! I honestly don't think I've ever related to a main character as much as I related to Darcy; her relationship with her sister, her struggles with her divorced parents, her relationship with her mom, going to a private school with a bunch of rich people, her evolving relationship with her best friend, her working through her bisexual identity and dealing with biphobia, having a crush on her close friend, and just her overall desire to help people. Reading about her figuring out her bisexual identity as it pertained to the other relationships in her life and how people perceived her (i.e., crushes, potential romantic partners, friends, parents) was just so wonderful to read about. I felt so SEEN! I wish with all my heart that I had been able to read this book when I was in high school because it would've meant the world to me then & it means the world to me now. It's definitely a new favorite of mine!

2) The romance was so freaking cute while still being realistic! The relationships and the ways they come together felt so natural! I think it was a fun blend of making me feel like I'm going to die alone because they were so cute together and actually feeling like a real relationship. The love interests weren't perfect people who handled every situation perfectly, and I loved it! The banter between Darcy and Brougham, while they were working together, was just so fun to read! Also, not to spoil anything, but if you like the song Fearless by Taylor Swift, then you're gonna love the romance in this book!!

3) The conflicts in the novel were extremely well written, and all of the characters were fully fleshed out and imperfect in their decisions and reactions to things that happened, and I loved it. There was a conflict I normally would've been uncomfortable reading and probably would've stopped reading the book over if it had been another book (I hate awkward situations). Still, it was so well-written and fleshed out that I was addicted and couldn't put the book down because I fully believed the author would write it and resolve it well. Also!!! When characters made mistakes, they knew they did, apologized, struggled to fix them, and worked to make things better, and it just felt so real.

4) The ending! The book ended in a perfect place because it was wrapped up well, but I felt like I knew where the characters were headed. I felt very warm and fuzzy inside when I finished this book.

I did say I would start with my favorite parts of the book, which does imply that there were things I didn't like. I don't actually have any critiques, outside of the fact that this book did not exist when I was in high school. It makes my heart happy that younger people will get to grow up reading this book.

I put this book in my cart online immediately after reading it because I wanted to have my own copy to re-read, and I will be checking it out after finishing this review. This book is a new comfort read for me, and I can't WAIT to annotate my own copy!!

If you like the movie "The Half of It" on Netflix or the book Amelia Westlake Was Never Here, you'll like the plot and relationships of this book. Happy reading! :)

"You are queer, because you are, and who you fall for or date or kiss does not alter that. No one else can change you." - Sophie Gonzales

Perfect on Paper is a wonderful romantic comedy with fantastic queer representation and diversity. This was the kind of read that feels like a pajama party. There’s drama and misunderstanding, but overall full of positivity and authenticity. The perfect blend of feel-good fluff and reality. I loved it.

I had not read anything by this author before, but really enjoyed it! The writing style was good, solid pacing, and well-crafted characters made this YA novel one to remember!

Hands down one of my favorite reads of this year so far. Like...wow. I can't get over how much I loved this. Everything about it is a delight--the witty banter, the unabashed queerness (including addressing bi erasure!), the endearing characters, the whole plot revolving around a girl who gives anonymous relationship advice...it's just really freaking good, okay? I really shouldn't be surprised; her debut novel, Only Mostly Devastated, was one of my favorite reads of last year.

A few more reasons to read this one:
- Excellent queer rep (bi lead, lesbian best friend, trans older sister, other queer side characters) 🏳️‍🌈
- On that same note, very INCLUSIVE queer rep--it talks about bi erasure in depth, mentions ace erasure, and basically tells gatekeepers to suck it (check out the author's review of her book on Goodreads for an explanation of why she wrote this particular story!)
- So. Much. Banter. I laughed out loud so many times 😂
- Complicated family dynamics, including divorce and cheating parents 💔
- But also some wonderful parents who fully support their kids 💜
- Amazing sisters who always have each other's backs 👭
- Tons of popular/social psychology backing up her relationship advice--my old Cognitive Studies major brain was geeking out over her analysis of attachment styles 🧠
- Characters who all make big mistakes but are also all still very endearing
.
Highly, highly recommend this one!

As an aside: this book would make an AMAZING Netflix series. I hope they pick this one up, because dang.

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?

Of course everything. The truth will always come out.

Darcy Phillips enjoys helping others but when it comes to her own advice and some advice maybe not so helpful.

Alex needs her help, since he found out the truth, but will keep Darcy secret if she helps him.

Mom works at school, so she has a bit of an advantage to keep this locker a secret for a reason.

But when you hurt the person that you love, it can come back to haunt you and all else breaks loose.

I really enjoyed this book by Sophie Gonzales, I don't want to spoil the end, but Read it!! It will be worth it.

Darcy's big secret of running Locker 89 has been successful for about two years, until she's caught red handed retrieving the letters of her schoolmates. Her secrecy in exchange for helping Alexander get his ex back is priority number one.
I can't necessarily pinpoint why this wasn't a rave story for me. I tend to read more YA than others of my acquaintance so I feel confident that it's not necessarily a genre issue when I say this didn't quite resonate with me. I believe that a great audience for this book would be someone who loves what I would consider to be a Gossip Girl/Mean Girls mash up. The only things I can think of is that I did not particularly like Darcy's manipulation that I went back and forth between the e-book and the audio. The narration and my head voice weren't mashing up well.
Here's what I did appreciate. I loved the twist on the secret identity/enemies to more/love triangle tropes. I loved that it feels like a book that should resonate with young adults. The representation was just what I was hoping it would be from the outset.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Unfortunately this one felt just a little too immature for me- I liked her previous work and would encourage others to still give this one a shot!