High schooler Ivy Winslow has the house to herself while her (sometimes overbearing) parents go on a week-long trip. She plans to binge-watch her favorite fantasy TV show, H-MAD, with her best friend Henry and avoid her former best friend and next door neighbor, Mack. But after trying to write a new installment of her H-MAD fan fiction during a big storm the first night her parents are away, Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous and very fictional main character of H-MAD, in her bedroom claiming to be her soul mate.

The book is told in dual timelines. The present where Ivy and Mack aren’t speaking and the past leading up to their friendship breakup, and it was less of a romance than the author’s other books. That said, there’s definitely romance woven through the story along with the question of whether or not a perfect fantasy mate is better than the real thing. And there’s the great LGBTQ+ representation readers expect from the author. But the story is more a coming of age tale about Ivy who needs to figure out who she is in the world and what she really wants.
This one read as younger YA to me. I think teens who love fan fiction will enjoy the journey of figuring out why Weston materialized and all the tropes that play out. I also think younger teens will enjoy Ivy’s journey towards figuring out how to be honest about her feelings and how to mend a friendship. I’m not sure that same journey will resonant as much with adult readers—which is fine since they’re not the intended audience.

I would definitely recommend the audiobook. The narrator, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, does a great job capturing Ivy’s state of mind through both timelines.

Fresh & funny! Love the mix of rom com with a little fantasy. Thank you to McMillan for the ARC of this book!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This follows Ivy after she has brought her favorite character to life. The book/audiobook is out now (release on 3/26/2024). This was a solid read. Definitely a good pallet cleanser amidst heavier books. The narrator was easy to listen to and I found that I was able to listen on double speed with no issues which is something that is important for me on audio. I personally cannot stand listening to a book on normal speed for some reason. I enjoyed the fanfic references as someone who admittedly read too much as a middle schooler/teen. There were nods that made me laugh out loud at time. For some reason, I did find Ivy to be grating and the last quarter of the book kind of went 0 to 100 in a way that gave me whiplash. Overall, enjoyable and would definitely recommend especially if you are a fanfic lover but it wasn't a standout for me.

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!?!?!?!

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio | Macmillan Young Listeners for allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were so cute and relatable.

This is an adorable LGBTQ+ romantic comedy. The elements of fantasy sprinkled throughout the story gives readers a cozy kind of feeling.

Cute and very fandom-y. The most teenage book ever. I don't know that I bought the chemistry between the leads, unfortunately, but it was fun and you'll probably get a kick out of it if you wrote too much fanfiction in high school.

Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist

by Sophie Gonzales
narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker

Rating: 4/5
Genre: LGBTQIAP+ | Teens & YA

I really really enjoyed the book! An amazing sapphic and fantasy novel. This is a friends to enemies to lovers, and it has all the teenage angst you need in a book. Ivy is a typical nerdy girl with a huge crush on her best friend. While she’s trying to figure out between her love life and her hobbies, her fanfic superhero from her favorite tv show comes alive!

I enjoy the book, and the narrator did great!

Thanks Netgalley for the review copy

This was an entertaining book to read. It is silly, cute, and wholesome. I found myself relating to Ivy and her coping through life with writing and trying to express herself in a way she can’t always outside of text. The way Sophie Gonzales developed Ivy through the book and made you care so much about her was great. I also found the pacing to be lovely and kept me reading the book all in one go. If you’ve enjoyed any of Sophie Gonzales’ books you’ll love this one too.

<i>The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist</i> by Sophie Gonzales feels like your teenage years. I suppose it makes sense, being a book for and about teenagers. But for those of us who spent our formative development to pre-adulthood time immersed in the fan fiction realm, it truly does feel like a blast from the past.

The are the sort of stories we <i>lived</i> for back then. We wrote them, we read them en masse. I felt like a kid again, to be honest, as I read this.

Suffice to say, Gonzales has a pretty fun book that I think a vast number of fandom-minded children are going to absolutely adore. It’s a fun romp through memory lane and a genuinely enticing imagining of what might happen if your fanfic character magically came to life, creating more chaos than you could’ve imagined and inadvertently helping you to solve your problems.

Are the characters very immature at times? Oh, you betcha. But this is a teen rom com, so I think that’s kind of the point!

Loved the narrator!

This had a whole lot of stuff in it I'm not used to reading, but I did enjoy it. Is it my favorite ever? No.

This is a Young Adult, magical realism and LGBTQ romance. I thought it was cute and entertaining. The main character, Ivy, writes fanfic (not something I was familiar with till this book) of her favorite TV show and the main character magically appears in her bed and is totally mad about her. Things are definitely not as they should be and she ends up needing the help of her one friend and the estranged friend who lives across the street to keep this dude out of trouble. The gorgeous guy is mixed up with fantasy and I don't know what else. He has powers, but the results aren't always what Ivy wants. Sometimes what you want is right in front of you to start with.

I listened to the audio version narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker. The narration was good, but once again my old ears had issues with the soft parts mixed with the louder parts.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

Who was your childhood celebrity crush?
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This was such a fun read! It’s also filled with hilarious characters who had me laughing out loud 😁. Coming of age, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, and all the dry wit.
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What if the heartthrob MC of your favorite television show came to life and woke up next to you one morning? Ivy is a hardcore fan of a popular TV show. She even writes fanfic for it. But when the dreamy MC, Weston, wakes up next to her, things are less than perfect. Weston is obsessive and seems determined to act out her romance fanfic. Also, the laws of nature don’t seem to apply to him. Ivy’s friend Henry and her ex-best friend, Mack, volunteer to help deal with her problem. And Ivy soon finds a love interest in the least expected of places.
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This story explores identity and sexual identity. It’s about how we grow, and how friendships change and evolve. And ultimately, “the perfect guy” and the perfect life doesn’t exist, because perfection is in the imperfection.
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Thank you to @macmillan.audio @netgalley @wednesdaybooks for these ARCs! The narration was excellent and had me laughing out loud at times.
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The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist - Sophie Gonzalez
4/5⭐️
Pub Date: 3/26/24 🎉Out Now!🎉

This was a really fun YA story! I loved 90s movies where kids made a wish and the next they it was somehow granted, like 30 over night or Big, so this was a really cool idea.
I liked the alternating timelines between now and back when Ivy and Mack were best friends, it gave us a better idea how their fight happened.
Sadly I have to say that when it all came out it was pretty underwhelming for me to be honest. I think Mack was acting unnecessarily mean in the past and also now. I didn’t like her a lot so it was hard to make me root for their romance.
Then it all turned into kind of a horror, with Weston getting all psycho, and the story lost me a bit.
Overall I think this was a fun read, I just kind of expected more of the story.

This was a nice little adventure, especially for anyone who has found themselves involved in the world of fandoms. There were lots of fun bits that lovingly nod to tropes and such. It definitely made me laugh. I enjoyed the characters and the plot was nicely paced. Jeremy Carlisle Parker did a great job narrating and bringing the story to life. Again, the book didn't make fun of fandoms but touched on the cathartic elements and friendships that can form from these shared interests. The book went from huh, magic? to Oh...Nooo. and that made for a pretty fun ride. I'd say this book is still for people who didn't find themselves falling into a fandom somewhere along the way because it might give you insight into that friend of yours who is always going to conventions. Overall a fun read and one I'd definitely recommend.

Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

Ok what in the Disney channel original movie did I just read. I’m gonna be honest I didn’t like this all that much. It really felt like a cheesy teen movie but less in the nostalgic and campy way and more in the cringy ‘oh we watched that and liked it?’ type of way. Although this did make me wish there was queer, campy and nostalgic movies from my childhood (I swear don’t even bring up the baseball scene in HSM2, I might scream)

The one part I was kinda crazy about was the fact that they’re out in high school. Which probably brings me so much joy because I’m totally jealous and living vicariously through the main characters. Yikes. But still, I love reading about out teens in accepting environments. At the same time there was not really emphasis on being queer or the environment so I guess this nearly hit that mark but it was still enjoyable.

Ivy has the house to herself for a week, which is the perfect time to catch up on her favorite fantasy TV show and maybe even write some fanfic. But when Ivy wakes up on the first day and finds Weston, the super good-looking main character of the show in her house she is so confused. Somehow, the fanfic she wrote brought him to life and unfortunately the tropes she envisioned aren’t as romantic in reality as they seemed when she was writing them. With the help of her best friend Henry and former best friend-turned enemy Mack, Ivy has to figure out how to get Weston to disappear before her parents come home.

This book was a wild ride and a fun twist on fanfic. While the book is YA and features high school characters, they didn’t feel immature. I loved the friendships in this story, and while I was rooting for the friendship between Ivy and Mack, I felt there was too much backstory missing for me to be fully invested in the relationship. Overall, this was a sweet and fun read. I really enjoyed the audiobook - the narration was engaging and made the story fly by!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy.

What a unique concept for a book! I mean, bringing your fanfic to life? You can imagine how off the wall that could be!
This book was laugh out loud funny at times, but also deep! I loved all the hijinx that they got into when her fanfic came to life, it had me howling with all of the misunderstandings.

Cute YA fantasy/romcom that veers towards the Y end of the YA spectrum. The fantasy angle kept it fun.

This book above all else is unique! I love that Sophie Gonzales went totally out of the box with this one. It’s a fun, fast-paced rom com that is perfect for young readers (mainly high school teens).

This book pays homage to fanfic writers and readers everywhere, when Weston comes to life and is everything Ivy thought he would be. But then… we start to see why our fanfic boyfriends are probably better off staying in the fanfic. This was a funny, entertaining, at times twisty, magical realism/romance read, with themes that young adults can strongly relate to. It was fun watching Ivy get to know herself more, face her fears, and embrace her true self.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!