"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭."

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QUESTION: If you could bring ANY "fictional" character to life, who would it be?

Mine have changed throughout the years: Nick Miller from New Girl, Lucifer Morningstar from Lucifer... Killian Jones from Once Upon A Time *swoon*
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This is exactly the case for Ivy, when she accidently brings her favorite character from her favorite show to life... and she quickly finds out just how true the old adage of "Be Careful What You Wish For" is...

And just how powerful wishes and sheer imagination can be!

Will she get the girl? Or will she be forever stuck with the creation of her own fanfiction?

Thank you to @stmartinspress, @wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!

And a beautiful job by @jercarparvo on the narration of the audibook 😍
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #theperfectguydoesntexist #sophiegonzales #book39of2024 #whatsnikkireading #whatsnikkilisteningto #magicalrealism #teenandyoungadult #fanfiction #lgbtqiap #becarefulwhatyouwishfor #netgalley #wednesdaybooks #stmartinspress #advancedreadercopy #audiobook

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I’ve enjoyed Sophie Gonzales other titles but this one was a little too weird and out there for me to get hooked. I was drawn in by the fan fiction aspect but it’s what kept me from liking the story. I did appreciate the spectrum of lgbtqia representation.

This could not have been more fun! Laugh-out-loud funny, a total page turner that I ate up in one sitting.

Sweet YA book about friends, turned strangers into something more. Everything you want out of YA romance and a beautiful understanding of the queer experience

Ivy's parents go out of town for a week while still going to high school. Her fan-fiction guy appears in her bedroom, she is in disbelief. What seems like a great idea at the beginning, she changes her mind in the end.

This book was not for me. 3⭐️

Many thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book for an honest review.

This was a cute bi romcom about friendship vs fandoms and learning how to maintain a friendship without liking the same things. This subject felt unique to read about, but in the end it fell a little flat. An easy and fun audiobook to listen to in a day or so though. Not mad I read it, but probably won’t remember it much in a few months. 3.5 rounded up!

Also I think the cover image could have been a liiiiittle more sapphic, because the character on the left is a cute little masc girl (the MC) but the cover looks pretty straight at first glance!!

🌈Queer rep: FF main couple, bi female main character. Secondary aromantic asexual male character. Brief mention of a nonbinary person.

This was the ode to fandom and fanfiction I’ve always wanted and didn’t know I could have. As always, Sophie Gonzales delivers. While it was a tad goofier and off-beat (it's younger YA) than I was initially prepared for, I really enjoyed this once I got into it. A fun and funny story about fandom, friendship, and how the guy in your fanfiction isn't necessarily your dream guy no matter what you tell yourself.

This was really cute! Ivy is a typical teen character not sure of herself and her feelings and just trying to figure out life. Mack is the same way, and they butt heads over the miscommunication that comes with being a junior in high school. Henry is an awesome third character too! He might be my fav because I loved how honest he was about being a horrible secret keeper, and he was so funny! I like how much Ivy grew throughout the book, and how she figured out that tropes aren’t what real life should be, even if they’re fun to escape to every now and then. I think this is a great YA read for teens that might be struggling with friendships and/or relationships, because it shows that those things need work, and aren’t always perfect the way they’re portrayed in a lot of books.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

DNF @ 51%.

I’m always on the hunt for more romance that features queer young people, especially bisexual nerds who like to write, since it makes me think about what life could have been like if I had grown up in an decade when being out of the closet was not only safer, but socially acceptable. I was also looking forward to this book after loving Never Ever Getting Back Together by the same author.

Although both books were written by the same author, there was a very different feel to both books, party because of the personalities of the characters involved, partly because of the way the characters in this book read much younger than the characters in NEGBT, and in the believability of the storylines—while NEGBT was highly unlikely to occur, it theoretically *could* still be within the realm of possibility, yet this one incorporated elements of magical realism that couldn’t actually happen in the real world without significant bending of the space-time continuum or a flux capacitor or something equally sciency sounding.

My biggest problem connecting to the book had absolutely no issue with the book itself. This is really best described as one of those books that just wasn’t a good fit for me personally. And if I was really pressed to find any solid reasons to explain why? There are two that pop into my head, and even after I think about them, which I’ve done for two days straight, they don’t change.

Reason number one is the one that was the blatantly obvious one for me—I was stressing and trying to distract myself from an upcoming surgery with a lighthearted read, yet my stressors were too big to be distracted from with a read this lighthearted. And the second reason is one that I’ve been trying not to admit to myself. It’s almost like admitting it, even if I’m only thinking it inside my head, but I’ve been fighting against saying that I might finally be outgrowing YA books. Hold on…let me rephrase that. YA books aren’t something that there is an age limit on, so I’m not outgrowing them per se, but rather they aren’t appealing to me as much lately.

Overall, this seems like a fun, lighthearted rom-com featuring a bisexual teenage girl who specializes in writing fanfic of her favorite fantasy TV show, but when the (fictional) main character of the show wakes up in her room assuring her that he’s her soul mate, she quickly realizes what most of us already know—the things we love and find romantic in books are not only *not* romantic in the real world, they’re actually pretty creepy. But don’t let my DNF experience with this one discourage you from giving it a read—it might just be the fluffy YA romance you’ve been waiting for! It might even be the perfect read for me too…as long as I wait until I’m more relaxed before trying it a second time.

The premise of this one sounds so fun but I don’t think it really worked for me. The magical guy was kind of off putting and is giving me second hand embarrassment! I do like this author so I would definitely give her another try. I think this will definitely resonate with those who grew up reading fan fic, but just not so much me :/

I loved this! From the title alone, I was sold. I went in almost completely blind, having enjoyed We are Never Ever Getting Back Together as well. For anyone who has read and enjoyed fan fiction, loves romance tropes, and a little magic this is for you.

This story is told in dual timelines from the perspective of Ivy. Ivy used to be best friends with Mack (and fell in love with her) but they have since had a falling out. Ivy has since befriended Henry over their shared love of their favorite show, H-MAD. Ivy loves the show so much that she even writes fanfic about H-MAD starring herself and the lead character Weston. Things go completely sideways one morning when she wakes up and realizes Weston is in her house! And not the actor who plays him, the actual character!

This story is about second chances, being careful what you wish for, and a joy for any fanfic reader. I especially laughed at the brief omegaverse mention. Overall, this is a cute sapphic friends to enemies to lovers story and I really enjoyed it!

3.5. I love the values of friendship and acceptance here, and the romance is sweet yet realistic (shout out to the queer rep!). The actual plot doesn't make much sense--there are holes that bothered me--but it's a fun read overall.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this title. I was not the target audience for this book. It read a little too young for me. I can recommend it for the YA audience.

I am a big Sophie Gonzales fan! This was such a fun book, and I thoroughly enjoyed both the found family aspect as well as the coming of age queer story that isn't solely focused on a coming out narrative. This insertion of magical realism made my reading experience feel like the best VR simulation I could think of. Very fun!

This book was good not great for me, unfortunately. The characters were frustrating to me, but I think it was a case of right book wrong time. Will pick it up again in the future!

DNF at 29% at the start of chapter 7. Unfortunately I don't think I was a good fit for this book. I loved the idea and was excited to see how it would plan out but I just couldnt buy it.

It’s crazy that Weston is there, how his clothes change, how he was able to get all the stuff to take care of her in just a few seconds, and just in general I can’t suspend my belief enough to buy this story. Maybe if all of that didn’t happen (the clothes, remedies, distress message) I would go along with it. Like a Freaky Friday type of magic from the storm and her fanfic created a whole ass person out of thin air. But then to have him glitching while part of this reality? And I could even buy him glitching if other people couldn’t see or hear him. But they can, so he’s here and honestly it just doesn’t add up for me. And if I’m being honest, I feel the same way about the show as Mack does. Just putting up with it cuz Ivy likes it. I stuck around as long as I did because I liked Ivy. She’s fun. Her voice is strong and I wanted to see more about her and her mom. At first, I wanted to know what happened with Mack but there’s been a couple of teases so far and I’m less interested in the reason.

Mostly I think that this book is not for me and that’s because I’m not the target audience. I love YA but sometimes YA Contemporary and YA Romance are a miss for me.

I really enjoyed this book and read it in one day. It was a crazy, but fun book. I would definitely recommend this book.

Kerri Resnick sold me on this book. I love the cover and they did an incredible job with the design of it. It tells the story that I actually think it tells.

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist works for a hetero romance, but not so much for a sapphic one. I wish Sophie Gonzales had put more of a foundation for Ivy and Mack to make it realistic. I know that they are teenagers, but they are ruled by their hormones so chemistry would have been good. Butterflies and nerves are what I remember from crushes in my teen years, so this would have been a key indicator for these two characters.

For some reason, I just couldn’t get into this story. I didn’t make a connection with the characters. Let me know what you think.

DNF at 38%. I was not reared on fan fiction, but that hasn't stopped me from trying some stories out that are based on that! This one for me, though, I just couldn't get into. It reads like a 90s/00s Disney movie, which is both good and bad.

I don't think it's a bad book, I'm just not wasting my time on St. Martin's e-ARC titles if they aren't capturing me fully. Which stinks because Sophie Gonzales has so many books I enjoy! Just couldn't stick it out for this one.

Thanks to them and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

Did Not Finish at 20%

I’ll be completely truthful with you guys: this book was a mistake for me to pick up.

You know when you think you have an idea of how a book is going to go, so you pick it up, only to realize that it is actually going a different way that should have been obvious from the description? That was The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist for me.

I found the idea of a girl who writes fanfiction and ends up having her favorite character come to life to be an interesting concept. I’m sure a lot of people out there wish they could interact with the characters from their favorite piece of media, and as someone constantly thinking about the world of their favorite book, I thought this would be a fun book to pick up!

And there was a lot I was intrigued by in this book.

For one, while I didn’t get far enough to understand the relationship between Ivy and her ex-best friend, Mack, I was interested in seeing how their relationship changed from being so close (to the point that Ivy used to have a crush on Mack) to being enemies.

I was also really enjoying the way this book kept jumping between the past and present to show their relationship. As I made my way through the book, the details of what happened between Ivy and Mack in their past were slowly revealed to me, interspersed with scenes of Ivy struggling to figure out what to do with her very fictional favorite character, Weston.

But beyond that, I couldn’t find much else to enjoy in this book.

For one, I did not like Weston. At all. To be fair on the book, the whole point is that the idea of Weston should be appealing to Ivy, but the actual man himself shouldn’t. We’re not really supposed to like Weston. But when we’re confronted by a man who is extremely clingy, aggressive, and possessive of Ivy and are stuck with a main character who is enamored by his presence alone, it becomes a little difficult to read about.

For two, the writing in this book, especially when about Weston and the things he says… pained me. That might be a plus to Sophie Gonzales’ writing, considering how the version of Weston in this book is based off of Ivy’s immature writing style, but the purple prose? At 20% of the way through the book, he says (and I quote) “As long as I’m with you, I could sleep on a bed of molten coals beneath a blanket of thorns, and I’d cry out not in pain, but in ecstasy.”

I can’t. I had to put the book down and never pick it up again from that line alone.

Also? This is me being very open and honest with you guys in a way that’s embarrassing, but I… thought Mack was a guy. Before I started actually reading this book, based off of the cover alone, I thought Mack was the blond boy on the cover.

That’s Ivy. On the cover. Our main character. Mack is a girl, and this is a SAPPHIC ROMANCE NOVEL.

But that just goes to show how incredibly wrong my assumptions of this book were before I picked it up.

This one’s my fault. I’m sorry.