I really loved the different aspects of relationship dynamics and diverse LGBTQIA+ representation in this book but ultimately, the story itself just didn’t connect with me personally as much as I would have liked. I think it will work for a lot of people. I fully understand that this was just a case of a wrong fit for me. I loved the central romance by the end but it took a long time for me to fully get on board with it and I would have preferred to be on their side much earlier on. My favorite thing in this book was the discussion near the end about biphobia and specifically internalized biphobia. This was an incredible scene and I truly loved that section, especially having read the authors post on goodreads about how this book came about. I wish I had loved this more because I really wanted to but I still recommend it to teen readers and fans of ya romance. Oh and there’s a character with the same name as me in this book and that always makes me happy.

OMG THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING.

I really loved the advise column, the trip to Disneyland, how the relationship grew and the exploration about friendships.This book was a delight.

I am going to be skipping reading this one. I dont really enjoy the formatting but i absolutly love this cover!.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book had me hooked from the first page! That hasn't happened in a while and it was refreshing to find it in this fun, light YA title. Although it was predictable from the beginning, I was invested in how the author would make it happen. I love how everything happened and how the main character apologized (and actually meant it) and rectified her actions to show this. I look forward to reading other titles by this author!

I LOVED THISSS
I wanted to read this solely because I loved the other book I read by Sophie Gonzales, even though I wasn't sure if I would 100% love this storyline. I was pleasantly surprised!
I really loved Darcy and Brougham, their friendship, and later on the relationship. I loved the discussion of bisexuality, asexuality, and the pining aspect. it was fun, sweet, a lil hard-hitting. definitely an author I'll continue reading from!

Cute romcom that gives voice to bisexual romantic leads. This book is more than cotton candy, it takes on LGBTQIA issues, especially as it relates to being bisexual.

I really enjoyed this YA novel about a bisexual teenage girl running an anonymous advice locker. Darcy Phillips has been running an advice line out of a locker for the last three years of high school. Darcy has been in love with her best friend, Brooke, but has yet to reveal her true feelings. Darcy is discovered at the locker one day by Alexander Brougham, a hot Australian swimmer trying to win back his ex-girlfriend. So, he hires Darcy to help.

As Darcy begins to work with Brougham, her guilt, feelings, and anonymity for the locker start to get in the way of her choices and relationships. How long can she keep a secret from her best friend and what happens if it gets revealed?

I really liked how this story felt so inclusive. It had that typical rom com teen ya love stuff we all miss and wish we had in high school and heck, even today. The character relationships were intertwined and not too deep with just enough meat to really make a teen fall for this book. I liked the banter between Darcy and her sister as well as Darcy and Brougham. I also love how the author showed the growth of the different characters. I will say that Brooke was never on my favorites list, but I think I would not have wanted a friend like her.

This was great on audio as well!

This was an ok book but the main character annoyed me too much with her jealousy. She was jealous and made answers on her letters based on her personal jealousy which I didn’t like.

Unfortuneately I just didn't mesh with this book and decided to DNF it.
I just wans't for me, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to love it.

Really liked this book! I thought it wasn't going to be my type of book but the blurb was interesting so I gave it a shot. It definitely did not dissappoint.

Sophie Gonzalez has crafted yet another hit with Perfect on Paper. Darcy knows exactly what to say to her classmates when the come to Locker 89 for advice. (She truly does! I learned a thing or two reading!) But it's easier said than done, in her case.

Darcy struggles internally between her feelings for her best friend Brooke and her growing feelings(?) for Brougham, who hired her to be his dating coach. Darcy openly identifies as bi, but what would her friends think of her if she dated a guy? Would she still be queer enough for them?

Seeing these internal struggles play out in YA is crucial for readers who may be having the same thoughts and experiences. Gonzalez managed to weave a great deal of educational information and support into this book without making it seem preachy or too much.

Perfect on Paper is so cute. Between the trips to Disneyland and other hijinks, I've been recommending it all over the place.

I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It tackled some very important issues in the LGBTQ community and I loved learning more about the different sexuality’s.

4.5 STARS

YES YES YES

SO MUCH YES!

I loved this book!



Remember that Meg Cabot book that featured an ASK ANNIE series? I think it was Teen Idol, Darcy is basically a more mature version of the advice columnist in Teen Idol. This book was just so much FUN! But it also dealt with some issues (bi-phobia and erasure of bi identity). The protagonist is a teen and I loved how it focused on how people who give advice don't always have their shit together. Basically some of my favourite tropes.

I just loved it. It's all about the YEARNING!

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales, 304 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2021. $19. LGBTQIA
Language: R (168 swears, 67 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Darcy, a junior, is the only person who knows the secret behind locker 89 because she’s the mastermind. Students drop off letters with relationship issues and the fee, and Darcy responds with advice guaranteed to help -- or your money back. Well, Darcy was the only one who knew before Brougham caught her and demanded her help for his silence.
Darcy’s story is a lot of fun to read for both the fictional drama and misunderstandings as well as for the non-fiction relationship theories and advice she gives throughout the book. While the drama can be over-the-top and the misunderstandings can be a bit obvious to the readers, Darcy’s experiences of making mistakes and trying to fix them feel completely relatable. I’m already making adjustments to my to-read list so that I can reread Perfect on Paper. The mature content is for mention of sex, underage drinking, alcohol abuse, and drug use.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rating: 8/10

I loved this book with all its genuine moments and solid LGBTQIA+ representation. Darcy Phillips secretly runs the school’s locker 89 advice service. Students place a letter with a $10 payment requesting guidance on their romantic relationships. What could go wrong with advising high schoolers? Darcy is challenged when her own romantic feelings get involved when her best friend and crush Brooke asks for advice about another female student. One day Darcy's secret is discovered by Alexander Brougham and he requests her personal services to help him get his ex-girlfriend back. As the story develops, Darcy begins to question herself as bi and seeks support from the schools the Queer and Questioning Club.

I loved all the characters of this book. I just wanted to keep listening. Please check this out if you want an enjoyable YA romance full of queer representation and advocation. I would love to see this book picked up for a Netflix movie.

Thank you, Wednesday Books, for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect on Paper is a wonderful easy read. Set amongst teens within school, Sophie Gonzales delves into first romances and the struggles of teens working out who they are, Darcy, daughter of one of the teachers, is a scholarship student. She isn’t like all the other kids, she isn’t rich and without the uniform to hide behind everyone would know that she wasn’t one of them.

Darcy carves a place in school with agony aunt antics and her participation in the Queer and Questioning group. She wishes her agony aunt status to remain anonymous but that cannot last forever,

I believed this story and the characters Gonzales created. Perfect on Paper made me reminisce about my time at the end of school, the relationships with friends, the struggles and the uncertainty of who I was and how I was perceived.

This is a must read for young adults and for those that enjoy a momentary flash back to their youth.

Okay, so first off, I want to start by thanking the publisher for sending me a free digital copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm not gonna lie; I put off reading this book for a really long time because I was scared I was going to like it too much and binge-read it in one day. I was RIGHT because that's EXACTLY what happened. I picked up this book yesterday and could not put it down!!!

So let's start by talking about my favorite parts of this book:

1) THE REPRESENTATION IS FANTASTIC!!! I saw me, my friends, and my family represented in this book, and it was so freaking amazing to see!! I honestly don't think I've ever related to a main character as much as I related to Darcy; her relationship with her sister, her struggles with her divorced parents, her relationship with her mom, going to a private school with a bunch of rich people, her evolving relationship with her best friend, her working through her bisexual identity and dealing with biphobia, having a crush on her close friend, and just her overall desire to help people. Reading about her figuring out her bisexual identity as it pertained to the other relationships in her life and how people perceived her (i.e., crushes, potential romantic partners, friends, parents) was just so wonderful to read about. I felt so SEEN! I wish with all my heart that I had been able to read this book when I was in high school because it would've meant the world to me then & it means the world to me now. It's definitely a new favorite of mine!

2) The romance was so freaking cute while still being realistic! The relationships and the ways they come together felt so natural! I think it was a fun blend of making me feel like I'm going to die alone because they were so cute together and actually feeling like a real relationship. The love interests weren't perfect people who handled every situation perfectly, and I loved it! The banter between Darcy and Brougham, while they were working together, was just so fun to read! Also, not to spoil anything, but if you like the song Fearless by Taylor Swift, then you're gonna love the romance in this book!!

3) The conflicts in the novel were extremely well written, and all of the characters were fully fleshed out and imperfect in their decisions and reactions to things that happened, and I loved it. There was a conflict I normally would've been uncomfortable reading and probably would've stopped reading the book over if it had been another book (I hate awkward situations). Still, it was so well-written and fleshed out that I was addicted and couldn't put the book down because I fully believed the author would write it and resolve it well. Also!!! When characters made mistakes, they knew they did, apologized, struggled to fix them, and worked to make things better, and it just felt so real.

4) The ending! The book ended in a perfect place because it was wrapped up well, but I felt like I knew where the characters were headed. I felt very warm and fuzzy inside when I finished this book.

I did say I would start with my favorite parts of the book, which does imply that there were things I didn't like. I don't actually have any critiques, outside of the fact that this book did not exist when I was in high school. It makes my heart happy that younger people will get to grow up reading this book.

I put this book in my cart online immediately after reading it because I wanted to have my own copy to re-read, and I will be checking it out after finishing this review. This book is a new comfort read for me, and I can't WAIT to annotate my own copy!!

If you like the movie "The Half of It" on Netflix or the book Amelia Westlake Was Never Here, you'll like the plot and relationships of this book. Happy reading! :)

"You are queer, because you are, and who you fall for or date or kiss does not alter that. No one else can change you." - Sophie Gonzales

Perfect on Paper is a wonderful romantic comedy with fantastic queer representation and diversity. This was the kind of read that feels like a pajama party. There’s drama and misunderstanding, but overall full of positivity and authenticity. The perfect blend of feel-good fluff and reality. I loved it.