Elizabeth Eulberg's Past Perfect Life is a coming-of-age story with a twist. Ally Smith, a high school senior with a seemingly perfect life, has her world turned upside down when a college application snafu reveals a shocking truth: her entire identity is a lie. The novel delves into themes of family, self-discovery, and the strength of friendship. Ally grapples with feelings of betrayal and confusion as she confronts the past and tries to piece together who she really is. The journey leads her to uncover a new family and a different sense of belonging. Past Perfect Life is a compelling read that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. It's a great choice for fans of YA contemporary fiction with a touch of mystery.

I tried to get into this one on numerous occasions and I just couldn't get into the story. It is just a book that wasn't for me. I have heard great things, but another case of "it's me, not you". I do plan to try again but I'm not going to force it.

This book gave me all the feels! I loved the drama and somewhat mystery of this book and it was such a quick read!

Past Perfect Life is a young adult contemporary mystery by Elizabeth Eulberg. I enjoyed Past Perfect Life. It is a mystery but the mystery element of the book was over much quicker than I expected it to, and instead the main chunk of the story deals with the aftermath of the event, which was interesting. I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read that had me feeling all the feels! I think Past Perfect Life if good for readers who enjoy emotional contemporary reads that also incorporate mystery and suspense elements.

In Past Perfect Life we meet our main character, Allison, or Ally, as she tries to complete senior year and her college applications. When she finds out something she was not expecting- that she isn't who she thought she was. I have to admit, this would really rock my world, so I completely related to Ally when it totally turned her world upside down. This was a really emotional read for me, and I loved Ally as the main character because I felt like I was in sync with her throughout the whole book. I was really all over the emotional spectrum, just like she was. Understandably so!

The plot of this book was great. I enjoyed the twist in the story, even though I kind of felt like we learned about it a little too soon. [spoiler]Her father actually kidnapped ally when she was little and they have been on the run from her mom ever since.[/spoiler] watching Ally navigate everything that was going on all around her was interesting. I found the character development and thought processes to be the best part of Past Perfect Life. I also enjoyed the romance, which was cute but nothing remarkable in my opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed Past Perfect Life. It didn't blow my socks off, but it was a good emotional read. I think fans of contemporary coming of age stories mixed in with a side of emotional suspense books will enjoy this book.

DNF
At this time, I am no longer interested in reading this title. Thank you for the opportunity to review this title and I apologize for the inconvenience.

I don't think I was prepared for Past Perfect Life to be as emotional as it was. Imagine living your life as one person and then finding out you are someone else entirely, and the people you love most in the world is someone who has lied to you all your life. You lose your family, your identity and essentially your sense of who you are or going to be in the world. Heavy, heavy stuff when it is all said and done.

Beautifully written, and just a gorgeous and heartbreaking story.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

The plot for this book sounded interesting but it really failed to deliver. After being introduced to Ally's incredibility boring and charmed life, her crush, and all her lovely friends for what seemed like forever, we finally get to the interesting part of the plot but even that section was lacking. The reasoning for the whole mess to begin with is beyond stupid. Not to mention the writing was bland and the dialogue was bad. This was really disappointing.

I went into this thinking it was a suspense novel but it is NOT. What it *is* is a hugely engrossing, emotionally high stakes YA contemporary. I loved what it was, but I do think it was marketed just a tick like it was suspense which does a disservice to suspense readers IMO. (Like... maybe by the time it was released it wasn't being marketed that way, but I swear when I requested the ARC from NetGalley I thought it was suspense?)

ANYWAY. God this was a ride. And not a "the plot twists will BLOW YOUR MIND!" kind of ride but a "the ANGST the MC goes through is ANGUISHING and I was so so angry on her behalf!!!" ride. I was right there with Ally, and so in her feelings, and so upset on her behalf. I was so proud of her for NOT just screaming expletives at people multiple times, as I would have done. The personal stakes are so so high, and all the relationships emotionally complex.

The one thing I thought was interesting: the lead up to the inciting incident (when Ally finds out she was kidnapped when she was 3) is a bit dull? Compared to the rest of the book, it's a marked change. The scenes with Ally and her dad, ie: chapter 1 were a bit twee and at first I wasn't in love with the tone of the novel. Ditto her early scenes with friends at school were almost too cute. I felt like I'd hopped into a time machine almost, especially with names like Marion and Neil for teen characters ha. So I did have to push through the first few chapters where I wasn't totally vibing with the tone. It's very sweet Americana. And Ally is... just very standard "nice teen girl who likes a boy and is nervous about college apps!"... then when everything goes sideways all of a sudden she has a HUGE personality, gets very angry, curses, has super strong feelings... I liked post-chaos Ally so much more. She felt like a real, modern teen. Though, that said, thinking back on it: I think what got me a little is other than "good at school and wants to get into college" and all the cute things she does with her dad, Ally is a bit light on specific personality traits and goals. I think that's what I had trouble grasping onto early on, but then later, that stuff didn't matter.

So I'd say to anyone giving this a try to push through the very first part/set-up because if you LIKE "character is thrown into CRAZY, life changing situation"-type stakes, the other 80% of this book is just so so satisfying. I mean can you imagine? You spend your whole life thinking you are one person and then BAM you find out your whole life is a lie and you have to go play happy family with strangers? Shit.

I will say, while ultimately it goes where it goes and I was pleased/decently impressed, when I was maybe 20 pages from the end I COULD NOT believe I was 20 pages from the end. Just when all the inter-personal conflicts are getting good, the book ends, and resolves pretty neatly. But, then again, a book like this can only be so long. I was expecting some more entanglements, but oh well. I still really loved it. Can't fault me for wanting MOAR :)

OH I will say, one thing that tripped me up initially: the main plot conceit is based on a logic hole. Everything unravels when Ally applies to 3 colleges, she gets an automatic response back that her social security number has an error. She goes to her high school guidance counselor for help. Here's the thing: you don't NEED a social security number to apply to college. They actually can't require you provide it. There's no college that would have a system that "automatically" checks your SSN against a database to prove it's a real SSN. You don't have to be an US citizen or have an SSN to apply to US colleges. Citizenship is NOT a prerequisite for acceptance. Now, you likely have to provide that information for the FAFSA--but that is a federal form whose info is provided to the college (ie: the results), and frankly Ally's dad should have STOPPED her from filling out ANY such form.

So yeah: this is perfect for contemporary YA fans who like SUPER HIGH STAKES emotional drama. It's a pretty crazy premise, and I enjoyed the ride.

I found this book to be extremely predictable. It was hard for me to stay interested in the story and the characters because I didn't think there was much depth to the story and characters.

The true crime lover and fan of The Face in the Milk Carton books in me was immediately attracted to this book for obvious reasons. When the MC applies to college, she learns that her social security number is not her real one, and finds out that her father kidnapped her (away from her mother) when she was three years old. She’d been living under an alias and moving to multiple towns over the years. Naturally, cases like this fascinate me, and seeing a fictionalized version by an author I’ve been meaning to read? Sold.

This was actually a lot harder to read than I expected! I slated it as my “dark or hard-hitting” contemporary for Contemporary-a-thon, but I didn’t expect to feel so much while reading. When Ally finds out about her kidnapping and whole other family, she’s forced to move back with them to Florida and upend her life. Obviously I understand that her mom – who has been missing her for 15 years – would want her back ASAP, I was so frustrated reading it. She was emotional and often bitchy, making a lot of assumptions and forcing Ally into EVERYTHING before she was ready for it. If she hasn’t been to church for years, why would she come back to your family (with no memory of her former life) and just be catholic again? That kind of thing is what annoyed me the most. Again, I can understand the conundrum everyone was in, but dang – have some understanding. I guess this can be true for both sides though.

Like I said, definitely hard-hitting in a lot of spots, but a quick read. I enjoyed stepping in Ally’s shoes because of my general interest in “kidnapped kids returning ~home~” sort of stories/true crime in general. I don’t have many complaints about this one! I’d recommend it if the topic intrigued you; I don’t think it misses the mark from what I expected at all.

This book was almost exactly what I was hoping it would be. The emotions involved are complex. The loyalty to the father who raised her and the betrayal and anger of learning what he had done. The loss of her sense of identity as well as all she knew. The awkwardness of fitting herself into a new family. The trauma her mother experienced and continues to project onto her family. The resentment of the sister. It's complicated. There aren't any real surprises to the plot, no new ground being explored. The ending was a bit of a disappointment as well.

This book was not my first Eulberg novel, but it is definitely my favorite. It's an emotional roller coaster that I know will shock everyone as they read it. This is an intense read, but its definitely worth the destruction of your emotions.

Allison has lived a nice normal life with her dad in Wisconsin. She's starting to get ready for college and hanging out with her best friends and her crush, Neil. But her perfect life starts to unravel as she fills out applications to college. She's suddenly not Allison Smith and her life is suddenly alot more hectic than she ever knew. What is she supposed to do now?

This book did a number on my emotions. This is a very intense read that made me immediately want to read something light and fluffy after this. There is so much gray area in this book and I felt like I had whiplash when I was reading trying to decide which side I felt bad for. In the end I just felt bad for everyone involved. Except one person. I don't think there's anything that could make me feel better about that one person.

As for the plot, I liked the way it flowed. It was a bit repetitive, but the entire thing gripped me and wouldn't let me go. I read the first half of this book in a single sitting. And I literally mean half the book. It's a stressful subject, but I had so much fun reading it.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is the characters. I know everyone grieves in their own way, but everyone at some point got on my nerves. Literally no one was trying to listen to the other and it was driving me insane. I didn't feel that they really started listening to each other until literally the last 5 pages. And that frustrated me. But again, like I said, there's a lot of gray area in this book and literally everyone is to blame when really only ONE person is to blame smh

This book is intense yes, but it is the worth the read. It will make you think about it long after you've turned the last page. Jut like I did.

It's been years since I last read a book by Elizabeth Eulberg and Past Perfect Life was a great reminder of why I became fan back in my early blogging days. Allison Smith is a happy high school senior living in Wisconsin with her widowed father who she has a close relationship with (very reminiscent of Veronica Mars and her dad). She belongs to a great group of friends, who feel a lot like family, including Marian and Neil who might be making the transition from friend to something more than that (they are adorable). Right now her biggest concern is sending out all her college applications and just when she thinks she done, admissions spots a red flag and informs her that she's not actually Allison Smith. This book could've easily delved into the more mysterious or even thriller-ish aspect of this scenario but Eulberg wisely decides to keep it focused on the characters. Namely what this revelation does to Allison and how it upends her whole life and sense of identity. A lot of the story takes place in Allison's head as she comes to grips with this news, which was both a good thing and somewhat bad. It was good because this does affect her most of all and it was important to get her unfiltered feelings. But because there are so many people in her life – friends who are family, biological relatives and a father who did a really terrible thing but also deeply loves her – I wish more time had been spent on the latter and exploring how finding out the truth had this ripple affect on all the aforementioned relationships. It's touched on, but I wanted a lot more or at least an ending that gave a bit more closure.

Do I recommend? It's quick and interesting read so if you've been eyeing this book, I'd recommend borrowing it from the library.

BOOK REPORT for Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

Cover Story: Monopoly House Destruction
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 3
Talky Talk: Lightweight
Bonus Factors: Wisconsin, Awesome Stepdads
Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grownups
Relationship Status: Onlooker



Cover Story: Monopoly House Destruction

Simple, effective, a touch boring, but, overall, inoffensive. Everything Ally knew about her home and family has been shattered, so while a little on the nose, the cover works.

The Deal:

As someone who moved a lot as a child, Ally Smith knows how precious it is to feel a part of a tight-knit, small-town community like Valley Falls. Her best friend, Marion, is one of the many Valley Falls Gleasons, and Ally’s crush is Marion’s cousin, Neil. She also cherishes her little home with her father, her only parent, and their myriad of weekly rituals (Taco Tuesday, Sunday Packers games with hamburgers ONLY during halftime, etc.). The biggest thing going on right now is that it’s senior year and Ally’s facing those pesky application questions that ask you to summarize your entire life in fifteen hundred words.

But once those applications are in, Ally breathes a sigh of relief. Everything is working out just as planned…until the Sheriff and an FBI agent show up at their door and arrest her dad. Then the truth that has been hidden from her for fifteen years finally comes out: Ally is actually Amanda Linsley, and her father kidnapped her from her mother when she was three. That mother that she thought died from cancer when she was a baby—yeah, she’s alive, and she’s been searching for Ally this entire time.

Suddenly Ally’s world is in shambles: the father she loves is in jail and the mother she’s never known is begging her to “come home”, as if that means anything right now. How do you pick up the pieces of a good life turned sour? Who are you when everything you thought you were…is false?

BFF Charm: Big Sister

Ally before her family revelation isn’t the most complex protagonist. She’s shy around her crush, longtime friend Neil; she’s got a best friend who’s ride-or-die; and her problems about her future are pretty first-world (oh man, which great college should I go to?!). I’m sure we’d get along fine.

Ally after learning her life is a lie is suffering from shell shock. She’s been betrayed, and everything is so out of control that everything that comes after is just one more thing happening TO her. So it’s not the most conducive time to form a friendship. I felt more protective of her than anything. I wanted to whisk Ally away to a therapist ASAP so she could unload her feelings, because the more she bottled up, the more she retreated from the world. She had some good friends around her, but there’s only so much one seventeen-year-old can do for another in this situation.

Swoonworthy Scale: 3

Neil and Ally’s clumsy but sweet coming together is low down on everyone’s priority list (except Neil’s, probably), but it does provide some relief from the heaviness of the rest of the book. It’s on the “realistic” spectrum of YA romances, which means it’s ripe with awkwardness and more cute than swoony. Go ahead and picture a young Domhnall Gleeson as Neil (he’s described as tall, lanky, and the only red-head in the family). You’re welcome.

Talky Talk: Lightweight

If you’re looking for a contemporary on a weighty topic that gets dark but not TOO dark and that can be finished in an afternoon, then Past Perfect Life is the right book for you. It held my interest during the read, but it’s not one I’m going to think back on much after this review. The subject matter was interesting and is what drew me to the novel in the first place, but there wasn’t enough depth and breadth from the characters’ emotions to make me care about them in anything but a cursory kind of way. Ally felt stuck in a situation without a lot of options and her default behavior was to react, not act, and so it unfortunately led to what I felt was a very passive story.

Bonus Factor: Wisconsin

When Ally is strong-armed into moving to Florida with her mother, she is overwhelmed by the outdoor malls, the eighty-degree December weather, and the Starbucks on every corner (we’ve got more than just those things, Ally, I promise.). She misses the seasons, the cheese curds (we do also have Culver’s now; you don’t have to miss your custard!), the Packers, and her small-town living. I have zero interest in living in the Midwest, but it doesn’t sound awful.

Bonus Factor: Awesome Stepdads

First, gotta give a shout-out to Sheriff Gleason, who is the steadiest influence in Ally’s Wisconsin life as her world gets blown apart. He gives Ally a place to stay and tries to help her talk about her feelings (even though she won’t).

Then we’ve got Craig, who’s the real MVP of the book. He’s considerate of the complete weirdness surrounding this situation; is one of the only adults who thinks about Ally’s feelings and tries to honor her old rituals with her dad; and attempts to appeal to Ally’s mother when she acts a bit nutso. You’re a good egg, Craig.

Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grownups

I have a lot of sympathy for Paula, Ally’s mom. I really do. I’m not a mom, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like to lose a child. I know the experience colored her entire life for fifteen long, agonizing years. But putting all that aside, Paula’s general impulses and prickly personality make her THAT mom. The one who won’t be real with you even when you try and wants you to be her carbon copy image. Her actions are there to amp up the drama, and, combined with Ally’s PTSD, it made for a frustrating pressure-cooker of a situation.

Relationship Status: Onlooker

I heard about your hardships on the news, Book. I genuinely feel for you—this is an impossible situation—but aside from feeling abstract sympathy for your predicament, there’s not much more of a connection between us.

Ally starts the story with this cute life in a small town. She and her dad don’t have money, but they share daily rituals that show how close they are and how much they love each other. Taco Tuesday, movie night, Packers games. Things like that. The Gleason family makes up the larger part of Ally’s inner circle. I think those characters had the most spark and variety in them. The banter between Rob and the rest of the group made those scenes a lot of fun to read.

I felt like the story stalled out a little bit around the 3/4 mark. Ally’s kind of just trying to get by and biding her time until she comes up with another idea. I think that was a necessary moment in the story, but I felt like it dragged on longer than it needed to.

Other than that, PAST PERFECT LIFE is a pretty smooth read. I’m a sucker for a story that touches on themes about the importance of family and community, so this book definitely scratched that itch for me.

Overall, I’d say PAST PERFECT LIFE is perfect for fans of IN ANOTHER LIFE by C. C. Hunter or WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE by Trish Doller.

I have read any enjoyed Elizabeth’s previous books and I loved the sound of this one.

I liked Ally well enough. She’s had a huge things revealed to her and she’s handling it the best she can. I loved her friends and how supportive they were. The Florida family meant well and I did like how they strived to learn who Ally was. Her mom was sort of a struggle to read, but I could understand how she felt.

Plot wise, I was expecting a little more of a mystery type thing. Everything is revealed pretty quickly and while the aftermath is what the entire book is about, it felt like all telling. Scenes did get repetitive and characters did seem flat.

Overall, it was a quick read, with characters I liked, but wish I could have gotten to know a bit better.

**Huge thanks to Bloomsbury for providing the arc free of charge**

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this recent release (it came out this past Tuesday!). I had a couple issues with a character (I won’t spoil it with who) and some details, but it was an overall engaging read, and I raced through it and will definitely be buying it for my library. Ally has grown up with her dad all over the country, but they have been in a small town in Wisconsin for several years now. She has a tight-knit group of friends who are like family (well, most of them are related to each other), she is the top student in her class, and she is applying for tons of college scholarships since her dad does not make a lot of money in construction. When a college application comes back saying her social security number is invalid, her life spins out of control in ways she never imagined. Recommended for grades 7+.

Show of hands, who used to love the Face on the Milk Carton series? Where Janie finds a picture of herself on a milk carton at lunch one day in school, and sets off a chain of events that changes not only her life but the lives of everyone who knows her? This book sounded similar, and that’s 100% what made me request it. I was not disappointed. I loved that the author wrote about all the issues that surround something like this. Like the complicated relationship Ally has with her father. She’s only ever known him to be a wonderful father, caring and selfless. So once she learns that he kidnapped her as a child, she doesn’t know how to reconcile that. She’s furious and confused, but she still loves him. She still remembers what a great dad he was. The confusion she feels there was really well explored. There’s the way her mom insists on calling her Amanda, even though keeping the name she knows is the only thing Ally really asks of her. Did this book need a romance? Of course not, but I loved it. It was sweet, and something that started to develop right before everything exploded. It’s not going to be your biggest concern, but as a teenager? Not being able to see that through the way you wanted to feels huge, and that disappointment is crushing. But Neil, Ally’s friends, and Baxter are A++++, and will keep on surprising you.

“I try not to think about anything. The past is too painful, the present too confusing, and the future too scary.”

I felt so awful for Ally. I can't imagine how it would feel to learn that everything you thought you knew about your life was a lie. Then, as an added bonus, you would have to go live with strangers in an entirely different state. 

And Ally does her best. She doesn't continually ask her mom to call her Ally instead of Amanda. She doesn't try and run away. She just quietly becomes increasingly unhappy.

On paper, her new life seems better. Her stepdad is super nice and she has a half-sister. All of a sudden, she has this huge extended family. But again, they're complete strangers. Her school is also a lot better but it's hard to make friends because how do you figure out and stick to a cover story so no one figures out you're THAT KID.

This is a real departure from Elizabeth Eulberg's usual books (it's just as well-written and fun to read, but it's not as light as her other books---this is not to say it's dark or uncomfortable to read; it's just comparatively dark) but I think it's her best yet. Recommended.

Past Perfect Life is the first book I have read by Elizabeth Eulberg. I was drawn to it after reading my friend Stephanie's review. I also liked the comparison to Robin Benway's Far From the Tree, which I adored. I probably would have compared it to Benways' Emmy & Oliver as well. I'm really glad I had the chance to read it because it was one of those books that immediately grabbed my attention and had me not wanting to put it down. The writing was that good! I loved the story and all of the characters.

Ally was easy to relate to. I can only imagine what it would be like to find out the life you were living was real, but also a lie. The problems she had accepting all of the changes was understandable. I liked the way Ally coped with everything and all of the choices she made.

One of my favorite things about this book were the side characters. Ally had a really amazing group of friends who were more like family. I loved her relationships with each and every one of them, especially Neil. Their new-found romance was adorable. I also really loved Ally's new relationships. Her step-father was so understanding and cool.

Ally's relationships with her parents was so interesting to me. I could easily put myself in both of their places. As a parent, it was hard to look at Ally's dad in a negative light even though I didn't condone what he had done. I found myself frustrated with her mom while understanding her actions. I felt so torn over everything.

There was only one thing keeping me from giving this book 5 stars: the ending. Everything wrapped up so quickly. It was too quickly for my taste. I was left with so many unanswered questions. I needed at least an epilogue. Don't let detour you from reading Past Perfect Life, though. It was so very good and definitely worth a read. I'm looking forward to reading more of Elizabeth Eulberg's books.