Overall: ★★★
Plot: ★★★.5
Characters: ★★
Enjoyment: ★★★

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist is the Pleasantville-adjacent story of Ivy Winslow who manages to conjure up who she believes is the perfect guy—straight from her fanfiction. 



While I enjoyed the novel’s overall premise (huge Pleasantville fan here) I felt as though the story fell short for me. There were times where I didn’t believe the conflict between Ivy and her Mack, her friend turned crush turned enemy turned romantic love interest. 



The story is told in alternate timelines of past and present, in the present Ivy is navigating having a living being dreamt straight from her fanfiction stories, and in the past the reader uncovers the true feelings and reasons for the massive friendship breakup between her and Mack.

I found myself skipping over the chapters with the timeline set in the past, the conflict and reveal didn’t feel “ah ha!” Enough to warrant an entire timeline dedicated to the fallout. I was far more interested in the present day and what was happening then. 



Overall, not a huge fan, however I did finish it, which speaks volumes to me as someone who won’t get to the end unless the story catches my interest. I really, desperately, wanted to see how the story ended, Sophie Gonzales is phenomenal at ensnaring her readers that way.

For anyone that loves a fictional character, wouldn't you love for them to come to life? And if they say they love you and just want to make you happy, even better! That's what happens to Ivy and everything seems amazing, until things get complicated and she has to decide what (or who) she really wants.

This was cute and I enjoyed the funny references to popular romance tropes, like enemies to lovers and one bed. The story doesn't take itself too seriously and is easy to get through in one or two sittings.

I did think Ivy was pretty immature, she truly didn't see how mean she was being to Mack and thought she was the victim in this. I also thought some things were pretty obvious, but Ivy was determined not to see herself at fault and it took too long to get there. Maybe the characters should have been aged down a little because it felt more like junior high drama.

While this wasn't my favorite of Gonzales' books, I think people will enjoy the fandom aspects and humorous bits sprinkled in.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Rating: 4/5
I received eARC for my honest opinion.

This is a YA romcom and it’s all fun and goofy with an important lesson that is learned. How to open and be your true self, even if that means you might lose the people you love the most. It’s also a story about growth, learning when you’re wrong and why you might be and what you could have done instead, but at that age it’s all a learning experience.

This book does have a little bit of magic in it and all I will say is that when Ivy goes to bed one night during a thunderstorm, she wakes up to find that her crush from a TV show is in her bedroom, and he is a very fictional character. West Weston! Ivy tries to figure out what to do and how did he make it here. She gets her friend Henry involved with what to do with West, but she soon finds out that she will need more than just Henry to help her, she will need her ex-best friend Mack to help as well. The only thing about having Mack around is that she is finding out that she still has feelings for her too.

I loved everything about this book, the setting, the plot, the characters, and the development. I love that in this book you can see yourself in moments from the past with fights with your best friends in high school, and of course it’s always over things that were blown up for no reason at all. I loved that I could feel all the emotions that the friends had, and that was all due to the great writing of Gonzales. I enjoyed that this book was about friendships more than it was about romance, but no worries it does have romance in it but it’s more about mending friendship and having the chance to have a romantic relationship with the one that has stolen your heart. I found Ivy’s character to be easy to connect with and relate with. With Mack, it was more like a flashback feeling of past friendships and something that I hated that my friends would do. Henry, I just adored him, and I laughed out loud at some of the things that he would say. West, omg! I loved his character so much in the book, I know that I have dreamed up a fictional character a time or two in, but I don’t know what I would have done if they would have come alive.

This was my first Sophie Gonzales book, and it will not be my last one, I love her writing style, the pace of her books and how she brings out the characters.

I love fanfiction and if you do too, you can relate to Ivy a lot in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA books, with a small amount of romance, a lot about friendships, magical realism, and LGBTQ.

I want to thank NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the opportunity to review this book.

I really enjoyed this! It was every “what if…” come to life. Imagine your fanfic comes to life and at first it’s great, but then you don’t know what’s real and what’s not. It’s such a great concept. I was a little annoyed at a certain point, which took it down a Star, but other than that, I really enjoyed it!

Listen... I know that I wasn't the target audience for this book, so therefore my opinion isn't the main one you should listen to. However... gosh was this book frustrating and just way too strange for me to fully enjoy.

Now, I definitely remember the days of being a teenager and how we would always blow everything out of proportion, so I understand where the fight between Ivy and Mack came from (miscommunication makes the most sense in YA books - change my mind). All of their personal grievances and crushes are not where my issue came from.

My biggest issue was the fact that Ivy was so dedicated to keeping Weston around even though the entire time she knew him, she seemed irritated by him. There was not a single moment that they were together other than when he was blatantly complimenting/flirting with her that she seemed to have any true feelings for him that were positive. Otherwise, she just seemed stressed out or annoyed by him. SO WHY WAS SHE SO DETERMINED TO KEEP HIM AROUND AT FIRST?

While I know this story was supposed to be unbelievable, it was truly SO unbelievable at times that it really took me out of the story and made for a subpar listening experience. There are way better YA books out there, so I'd say keep this one at the bottom of your TBR.

P.S. WHY ARE TEENS TALKING ABOUT OMEGAVERSE!?!?!?!

Sophie Gonzales has provided us with a fun and twisty YA fanfic mash-up and it was intriguing from beginning to end. You will grow to enjoy reading the story of the characters and following along. Great read, and very enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend if you enjoy YA and fanfic reads!

This was a cute YA romance book about fanfic writing come to life. Personally, as a 32 year old woman, I was not the target audience for this book but I still enjoyed it! I thought the character of Weston was funny and went through common romcom tropes. I think if you like YA and rom com you would enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for a copy of this work. All opinions are that of my own!

Overall this is a very cute YA! I will say, it took a WHILE for me to get into the story, but I believe that was due to the fact that I am not a huge YA reader.

I loved the alternating timeline and the friends-to enemies-to lovers! I definitely wasn't expecting the story to play out the way that it did, which I absolutely loved! I also loved the concept of this book and I feel that young teens can really connect with and enjoy this story.

It was funny, it was cute, and it was interesting. Truly a good book!

I won a physical ARC in a Goodreads giveaway back in the fall and didn’t get around to starting to read it until right before pub day, even though I really enjoy Gonzales’ writing! Thank you to Wednesday Books for NetGalley access to this title in exchange for my honest opinion.
Ivy is obsessed with a fantasy TV show - she watches every episode, she goes to conferences where the characters appear, and she even writes fanfiction about it. Her parents are going to be out of town for a week and high school junior Ivy is being left at home. All she wants to do is watch her show, while also doing the usual stuff like going to school. But after a scary storm the first night she is alone, her crush, the main character of the show, appears in her bedroom. What follows is her attempts to figure out where he came from and why he’s here - and what to do next! The chapters alternate between this present debacle and her past, when her friendship with her neighbor Mack deteriorated. Surprisingly, Mack comes back into her life to help her handle the present situation, so it’s helpful to get the backstory, little by little, about what caused the rift in their friendship.
I am not a fanfic reader, nor have I ever been such a big fan of any one thing that I thought about the need for fanfic, so I was probably not the best person to read this book. I thought the storyline was kind of silly, but I did like the way the author used some tropes in a very comical way, such as bringing to life an enemies-to-lovers fanfic which made no sense when the person involved acted kind of crazy, alternating between hate and love.
Overall, I think people who do like fanfic will enjoy this one much more than I did - I liked it, but I also kept thinking of how much more my students would like it. I passed on my copy to one of them, and I’m excited to hear their thoughts.

This was such a fun, interesting coming-of-age book. When Ivy is struggling to make the connections she wants in her life, she turns to writing fan fic about a character, making him the perfect boyfriend. But when he comes to life, she realizes how problematic it can be to have everything she wants with no pushback. I loved the characters, Ivy, Henry, and Mack and even Weston. Ivy works through the trials of self-discovery and navigating her relationship with Mack, how it is to how she wants it to be. This was a unique and amazingly enjoyable read!

I fell in love with Sophie Gonzales’s writing thanks to Perfect on Paper
(I still consider that her best book so go read it if you haven’t) so I will read basically anything else she writes. Based on the description of this book I wasn’t sure it it was really going to be my thing (these kinds of romcoms meet speculative fiction can be hit or miss for me) but I should have never doubted! Sophie infuses her stories with so much heart that you can’t help but be caught up in them.

The Perfect Guy Dosnt Exist is the story of Ivy, who is obsessed with a fantasy TV show and writes fan fiction about her favorite character. One night when she’s left at home alone while her parents are traveling for work she makes a wish to have her favorite character there with her. And surprise, she wakes up and he’s there! Chaos of course ensues. Ivy gets her best friend Henry and her former best friend turned enemy Mack to help her figure out what to do with Weston before her parents get home in four days. Things do not go smoothly! Interspersed between the present day chapters we also get flashbacks to what happened between Ivy and Mack that lead to their current status as enemies.

The characters themselves were all a delight, Sophie is so good at this, and their dialogue and banter was just so much fun. The plesiosaur meets Marie Curie scene was fantastic. I also loved the way Weston’s character was developed and what he came to mean for Ivy. Even though this was a fun and sometimes silly story, it had depth and heart and showed us all that getting to live your fantasy life isn’t going to be as perfect as we imagine it. If you are a Sophie fan or just want to read a fun YA romcom, I highly recommend.

When I read Perfect On Paper by Sophie Gonzales back in 2021, I thought for sure that I would read everything by the author from then on. The characters were so well developed and it felt like true YA that adults could still enjoy. The next one I read, Never Ever Getting Back Together, wasn’t as strong, but the premise was awesome, so I was fully invested. Now I’m on my third, and I’m not sure I’ll be back. I think maybe I’m just too old for these now—and that’s perfectly okay. Teens and younger adults will probably be able to relate better than me.

What didn’t work for me

Most of the characters: It’s funny because I said that Gonzales’s character development really made me love her writing, but these teens are cringy. They make silly choices that can’t really be explained by their personalities because we’re not sure who they are. I know literally nothing about Henry other than his sexuality and that he is Ivy’s friend, and then Weston is ridiculous, though I understand he’s supposed to be.

The plot: As I mentioned above, I think I’m too old for this story. And that’s perfectly okay because it wasn’t written for me. I just kept thinking about how Ivy’s parents left her alone when she clearly wasn’t comfortable with the idea and just couldn’t get into the world. But I think this is all on me.

What I liked

The dual timeline: I really liked how we were getting bits and pieces of Ivy and Mack’s backstory as we progressed in the plot. It made me really wonder what the big blow-up was that happened between them and whether they were going to be able to make up. I was a little disappointed by their fight (it didn’t seem friendship-breaking, in my opinion), but I liked the structure of it. The moral of the story in the end is also a good one—and I think the target audience will appreciate it.

The fan fiction: I am not a person who’s ever written any fan fiction, but I totally get it. I liked how Ivy was unapologetically super into what she loved, and she wasn’t willing to change to fit in with anyone. Fan fiction should have more of a platform than it currently does and I love that Gonzales gave it a spotlight here.

2.5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a fanfiction girly, I felt like this book was absolutely meant for me. Sophie Gonzales has always been a favorite of mine, but this book was just magic. No pun intended.

When Ivy’s fanfic comes to life, she must figure out how to handle her “perfect man” Weston, with a little help from her former best friend Mack.

This was not my favorite from Gonzales but mostly because it was hard getting into the fan-fiction universe. I love her complicated teenage relationships as we see our characters get comfortable with their identities and navigate changing friendship dynamics. The chapters alternate between past and present, giving us a glimpse into where things went wrong for Ivy and Mack.

Pick this up if you like:
- YA romance
- friends to enemies to lovers
- LGBTQ+ representation
- fanfiction

Thanks Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Six. For. Six.

Sophie Gonzales has released six books (at the time I'm writing this review, this specific one isn't out yet but it will be in March!!). I have now read all six. And every single one of them has been 5 stars.

This one in particular, I can almost guarantee to end up being the MOST fun YA Contemporary (with some light magic) released in 2024. It was hilarious, from start to finish, but definitely not lacking in Sophie Gonzales' signature emotion that is mixed in either. I praise this in every single one of her books, but it's true again here- the friendship dynamics are messy and REAL. I find some authors struggle with creating relationship dynamics that are complicated without veering into ridiculous territory. Gonzales does no such thing, and it's always such a wonderful experience reading how her characters come to terms with their relationships and feelings.

The plot is different from her other books, with some magic thrown in this time. It was hilarious watching all these fanfiction tropes play out in different ways and magical occurrences happening left and right.

This is easily one of my favourite books of the year, and I will be sure to grab a copy when it comes out next year. I'd recommend anyone who is a fanfiction lover, a romcom lover, or just a general YA lover to do the same!

i’m submitting the reviews for books by you that I already have, but I will never request another one. In October one of your employees made a horribly racist statement and you have chosen to do nothing about it. People have continuously asked you to say that you don’t stand with what the employee said, and you refuse to. This is not someone who I want to promote ever because you are sending the wrong message. These reviews will not be posted on social media because you don’t deserve the promotion. By not speaking out you are also not preventing your followers from stalking and harassing people who are participating in the boycott. Your silence speaks volumes. I hope that all of your authors move to other publishers because you are standing with a genocide. You are also currently saying that you support black women in black history month but you have ignored their concerns for months and shown them no support.

Watch this video for more information https://www.tiktok.com/@vivafalastinleen/video/7288407369313307947?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7211704101519296042

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Thank you Wednesday book for the review copy of The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist. I loved this sweet swoony YA read and it really fits in with a of how I here adolescents today talking about fandoms, media engagement, and simply how they experience a diverse way to experience first crushes, loves and attraction. Sophie Gonzales as a new to me author but I understand now why I have seen so many positive reviews for her work, this was a fun read and I loved the voice she gave to Ivy, she was real and relatable. What stands out the most though for me is the depth that is offered in a fairly short read; a rich real adolescent world and characters, fan fiction embedded into the story and the world for that fan fiction, and every day adolescent life. It is done well, with balance and charm, and with strong well developed characters who felt real and not one note and not stereotypes.

Thank you so much, St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Ivy only wants to hang out with her best friend Henry, binge-watch her favourite show H-MAD and trying not to think of her former best friend, now enemy, Mack. But when she wakes up to a real Weston, main character of her favourite TV SHow, claiming he's her soulmate, her life is turned upside down. Her fanfics have brought him to life and now her dreams aren't exactly how she thought they would be, creating chaos and real life problems. To figure out why and how Weston is actually alive, she ropes Henry and a reluctant Mack into the chaos and as they spend more and more time together they are forced to understand what's happened to their friendship and what they really want from each other.

First of all, WHAT? Who hasn't written fanfictions and wished for a character from a TV show to just exist? How cool would that be? From this book, not so cool, but very complicated and chaotic!
Sophie Gonzales does it again! The perfect guy doesn't exist is a lovely enemies to lovers rom-com and it was absolutely fantastic to read. I devoured this book because I loved every single thing! Ivy is amazing, Henry and Mack are brilliant and Weston is the perfect guy and soulmate and everything was an emotional and funny rollercoaster!
Between real life problems and fiction, broken friendships and wanting something more, Ivy and her friends embark in a funny and intense journey to discover what Weston is and how to solve this problem, while also trying to figure out what they are to one other and what they actually want.
The perfect guy doesn't exist, but this book does!

A funny book.
I actually spent a nice time reading this book, I laughed too much at the very random situations that happen in the story.
The story follows Ivy Mack and Henry, I would describe this book as a friends - enemies - lovers, Avy and Mack were best friends but due to an event that they explain little by little in the book, their relationship fractured.

This story is very random and funny to pass the time, it is not something I would normally read but I saw the cover and thought I had to read it. I had also heard and seen on social networks that the author was very good.

Thanks to netgally and the publisher for this advance copy.

This was a fun, feel-good young adult book. It was a quick read. I think I would have enjoyed this more at a younger age. I enjoyed the characters and the plot was fun, but I wasn’t as into it as I hoped I would be. I can definitely appreciate the story and how it will be meaningful, especially to the target demographic.