This was a great YA book about a trans protagonist who knows he's trans the whole time but has to figure out everything else. I think it did an especially good job capturing his cis girlfriend who tries to be supportive but bungles things multiple times -- it felt really realistic. I also loved the theater stuff, and specifically the Shakespeare stuff, which I think did a great job making sense of Shakespeare for a teen audience.

This was a wonderful coming-of-age story about a closeted trans boy discovering who he is. Dean’s coming-out story is inspiring and I’m sure will be relatable to many trans teenagers trying to find who they are and being able to tell the world.

I would highly recommend reading this one if you have ever been curious about the thoughts and feelings many trans individuals may feel when growing up - of course, this isn’t inclusive of every trans individuals’ experience. Being someone who has no experience of the feelings of gender dysphoria, I thought this novel had great insight and description of many of the thoughts and feelings one goes through when transitioning. I would highly recommend reading some own voices reader reviews about this novel as well.

Overall, this was a great YA coming of age novel that taught me a lot and I’m sure many kids will be glad to see themselves represented in literature.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Amulet Books for the gifted ebook!

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Oh my feels! I absolutely LOVED this book. It was definitely a slow burn but god damn did it hit me in my emotions. At times it kind of felt like a like an educational book, but it also had some raw feelings. The characters were believable and the situations realistic. I will be keeping my eye out for more from this author.

I adored this book. Between Perfect and Real is following Dean come to terms with how he's feeling in himself and working through this whilst also trying to deal with how to come out to the people in his life.

I haven't read many trans books that start this early on in a person's journey. However this was really beautifully written, very thought provoking and it was nice to go on this journey with Dean and see him grow into himself throughout the book.

Between Perfect and Real is the story of Dean, a trans boy who has just landed the lead role of 'Romeo' in the school play 'Romeo and Juliet'. It is a story about love, acceptance, finding yourself and being who you need to be.
I enjoyed how diverse the characters were; we had gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans. It was so interesting hearing from so many different points of view. I was particularly interested on reading a book and hearing from a trans perspective. It was moving, desperate and heart-breaking, but at the same time, hopeful.

I know I am not the target audience age-wise ( this was very clear to me in the book when 2000's rock music was called old), but aside from that I enjoyed this read. It wasn't mind-blowing for me, and I didn't fall in love with the book, but it is important and it shares some important topics. I think this book could be really comforting and helpful to the right audience.

I am thankful that it gave me the chance to read from a trans perspective and gain some insight into what it might feel like for them. I have important people to me on this journey too and I want to gain as much information as possible, this was a good experience.

Thank you to the publishers, the author and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited when I read the blurb of this book, and once I started reading I found it difficult to put down. It’s certainly not a lighthearted, fluffy read, instead dealing with the self-reckoning that living as a trans person brings about. It was a comfort in its relatability and the hopefulness of the ending, as well as the queer community that Dean has already around him and finds along the way. The book is told through a first person perspective, leading to a lot of introspection from the main character, and at so many points I just wanted to reach through the pages to comfort Dean. The book is entirely character driven, with not much by the way of plot, but that made it more engrossing to me. I wanted to see Dean do well in the play, but I also wanted to see the developments in the relationship with his parents, the important conversations between him and his girlfriend as they navigate their new relationship, and Dean settling into his identity now that he’s out.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The end left me hopeful for Dean’s future, as he was ready to face the world and all sorts of new changes having overcome such a huge milestone, even though things hadn’t gone exactly the way he would have liked. Between Perfect and Real is definitely one of my favourite reads of the first half of 2021.

I really loved this coming out story. I don’t normally enjoy books revolving around theatre but this was an exception! I think all the plot points and character development were very well balanced.


CWs: Bullying, transphobia and transphobic violence, harassment, minor outings of a trans person, deadnaming (dead name not mentioned on the page), homophobia and homophobic slurs, mention of suicide, and explorations of dysphoria

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

“Between Perfect and Real” is the story of Dean, who is a trans boy in high school. After getting cast as Romeo in the school play, he starts to question whether he wants to come out. This YA mainly focuses on Dean discovering who he is, theatre & acting, friendships and possibilities.

Overall, while I had a few issues, I did enjoy it, the writing was really great and the plot well paced. I can’t wait to read more by this author in the future!

Absolutely wonderful book about finding yourself and coming out as a trans person. Will be throwing this at my friends. Full review to come

I really enjoyed this story. I loved the writing and the characters. I loved that there was a found family trope, and even better, I loved that there was an explicit acknowledgment of it. I loved watching Dean grow into himself and become more comfortable with who he is and confident enough to stand in that, even when things change and he loses parts of what he initially saw for his future. I loved Ronnie so much, I wish we could’ve seen even more of him. Overall, I truly did enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley for an earc for an honest review.

This book was really good to me, but I also have a few select feelings towards it. I liked the way first person pov worked in this book. I liked seeing Dean’s direct thoughts and seeing how everything fell apart and came together directly from him. I liked being on the journey with him as he found himself more and came to accept how things played out. I love seeing people find themselves and become more and more comfortable in themselves. I loved when he said he didn’t need Zoe or NYU to be whole.

My problems come in more with how the love interest, Zoe, was handled. Now, I do think it’s kind of screwed up that she outed him to their friends, but that also goes hand in hand to their many miscommunications, or better, lack of deeper communications. I don’t like how she was almost villainized, even by other queer people who didn’t know her or by their friends, when they should’ve done better at communicating on both their parts throughout their whole relationship and dean’s transition, and it wouldn’t have played out as it did.

Also, I know this is just a personal thing, but I hate when characters cry every other scene. It just kind of drives me a little nuts. But that’s just on me, and Dean cried every few pages.

Between Perfect and Real is the story of a teenager determining and owning their identity. It beautifully demonstrates the struggles that transgender teens face as they learn who they are and strongly face the fears associated with this situation and own it. What a powerful tale for the year.

I really liked this contemporary YA about a closeted trans guy whose getting cast as Romeo in the school play sparks his coming out.

Content warnings include: transphobia (including misgendering and deadnaming), coming out, getting outed, bullying, fistfight, school suspension, college applications, unrelfected adherence and enforcing of gender roles; mentions of teenagers getting kicked out for being queer, teenage homelessness.

The plot is mostly centered around Dean's coming out as trans after getting cast as the male lead in a play. There's subplots around the play itself, how coming out goes at his school and with his parents, tensions between him and a bully, Dean's girlfriend, Dean's friends and their plans for the future, and a good chunk simply about how being trans affects Dean, and how he thinks about it, and the support group for trans teens he joins.

The tensions and transphobia wasn't the worst I have seen, but some scenes were definitely hard to read and made me very angry on Dean's behalf.
The trans stuff was handled very well and is accessible to cis readers as well as relateable to trans readers.

My favourite part of the book were the characters. I really liked Dean's friend group in particular, and their interactions and just how they hung out with each other. The tensions between the characters were also realistic, and never too over the top for my personal taste.

I have just finished reading it and I want to start again straight away - and I VERY rarely re read books.

I thought this book was the top one I have read so far this year. I am not an own voices reviewer (but having seen Perpetual Pages review this, I know that thats one nod) but I just love theatre, love diverse fiction and love it when I leave the book wondering how the characters have got on. All of the characters in this were just such whole, complex people. The title lends nicely to the characters, who make mistakes, but also the setting of boundaries in this was something I haven't see done so well in any other YA book.

I can't wait for the paperback to be released (thats what I collect) I will be pre ordering it as soon as I can.

Wow. Just wow. I will be recommending this to everyone I speak to!

i absolutely LOVE when books help me, as a cis person, understand the trans experience more fully while maintaining a plot that is more entertaining than educational for trans readers who already know the shtick. this book does that PERFECTLY. this book should be required reading for all cis people, and for all trans people who don’t mind reading about graphic transphobia and other potentially triggering topics relating to trans-ness. this book is written wonderfully; this is a rare YA contemporary that doesn’t depict teenagers in a super cartoonish, out of touch way. i also love how the book doesn’t contain any pop culture references that are likely gonna be dated as soon as the book is in print, and completely ruin the vibe of the book.

this book is very raw, very painful, and very “between perfect and real” (pun completely intended.) you will see the internal battle of our main character dealing with transphobia and transphobic microaggressions from people at his school, his girlfriend, and his parents; how long will it take his anger to burst? but this book isn’t ONLY a pain story; it’s also a story of the joy of finding yourself and people who accept you (queer found family trope eeee!!)

(this paragraph is a minor spoiler)
as a high school senior who’s college plans went very south, i REALLY needed to read this book right now. most YA books make college out to be super idealistic: if the main character is rejected from their dream school they try try again, or they’re accepted to another amazing school in their optimal area. it gets SO old when you’re situation, as dean’s is, is far from perfect. people don’t typically settle for less than the most college-wise in YA books, and the fact that dean did made me feel VERY seen.

this is definitely a new favorite.

TWs: transphobia, unaccepting parents, deadnaming, (name not mentioned) misgendering, mention of past trans person dying by suicide, bullying, transphobic micro aggressions

I enjoyed this one a lot. I thought it was a really compelling and authentic portrayal of a trans teenager, and there was a lot to like about it. Dean's first person narrative voice is really easy to read and to empathise with, and all of the characters seem realistic, except for the bigoted character, who's so over-the-top and adored by all the authority figures despite it that it sometimes did push the envelope a bit. The theatre scenes are also really well done; I don't know much about theatre, but the book gave enough context to make up for that without just dumping a whole load of exposition. That's a hard line to walk, and this book manages it really well. Dean's love for the theatre is palpable and it really does shine through, making his character seem more realistic; so many books tell us that characters have an interest or a hobby, but don't show us their love for it. This book does that.

It also does a good job of showing how transphobia isn't really taken as seriously by authority figures and institutions, and although I think this book probably does need some trigger warnings, it would be disingenuous to present Dean's narrative as easy.

The one thing I sort of hated about this book was how Dean, treats his girlfriend. His girlfriend, Zoe, is a lesbian and makes that really clear throughout the book, and once Dean tells her that he's trans and plans to medically transition, Zoe tries to support him through it and tells him that she doesn't want to break up with him, but later changes her mind because she doesn't want to be with a guy (... because she's a lesbian.) Dean takes this really badly and acts like she's the least supportive girlfriend in the history of girlfriends, and many of his friends (and thus the narrative in general) affirm his perspective, saying that she's behaved terribly by telling him how she feels. But the thing is, the only way for her to affirm his gender is by ending their relationship. If she stays with him, then the underlying message is that she sees him as a girl. She never tells him not to transition, never says she sees him as anything but a guy, and is obviously affected by the fact that the person she's in love with isn't the gender she's attracted to. I really felt like the book did her character a huge disservice, and it made me really dislike Dean towards the end.

Still, it didn't change the fact that this is a really great book overall, and I think it's fine to have a messy protagonist; no-one's perfect, after all. I just wish that Dean's viewpoint had been challenged a bit more because he didn't really seem to acknowledge that his transition, whilst obviously something entirely personal and right for him and, in many ways, no-one else's business, was still inevitably going to affect other people in his life. Part of that might just be down to the fact that he's a teenage boy, though.

This was a little boring and didn't stray much from the coming out narrative. I was really excited for this title, and honestly I was disappointed. The best description I can think of for it is "fine."

I was really excitin to read this book and I really loved it! I do believe that it could mean a lot many people. It's a really impactful story about gender euphoria, learning who you are and finding your place in the world.

Between Perfect and Real is wonderful. Has characters everyone can relate to on some level, It's a book where you become very invested in the characters and their lives. It's one that both younger and older readers will enjoy but for different reasons.

I loved this book so much! It instantly went on my list of favorites and is one of the best books I've read featuring a trans main character. As a nonbinary person, there were many things that I could relate to in this story, and I loved that the reader is introduced to various characters within the trans community - men, women, and nonbinary people - and given insight into their experiences. The main character, Dean, is white, but through his support group he meets trans people of color and learns how his experiences and their experiences are different. There are also an abundance of queer identities represented in the story.

Between Perfect and Real is the story of Dean coming to terms with his identity and coming out to his friends, family, and school. At times it's hard to read as Dean does face transphobia and bullying, and doesn't receive the support he deserves. But throughout everything he has a solid friend group that rallies around him, as well as other allies and his trans youth support group. I love that Dean's growth as a character matches his growth and confidence as an actor, as he's not only transitioning socially but also transitioning professionally, going from playing traditionally female roles to playing Romeo.

In addition to the coming out narrative, this is a really great contemporary high school story featuring many milestones including senior year, applying to colleges, first loves, breakups, and more. I enjoyed all of the characters and felt that they were well rounded and relatable. All in all, a truly amazing book!