This is a fabulous, powerful, heartfelt, emotional, heart wrenching story about finding your voice, your identity, exploring friendship and love. It's about that gap between perfect and real, about that bridge between perfect and real we all know exists but we are scared to cross.

I absolutely adored this book. Being set in a theatre puts this right in my happy place, but then seeing this character come into his own and stand up for who he is just made my heart sing.

It took me about 100 pages to really get on board with this book, and by on-board I meant I felt like I wanted Dean to find happiness and see where things ended up, but I was not gripped. It wasn't gripping. The writing is not interesting enough to grip someone.

Between Perfect and Real is a necessary read for those who are struggling with how to be themselves. Dean knows that he is a trans guy but allows everyone to label him as a lesbian. Being cast in the role of Romeo for his school's play allows him to explore his masculine side as he becomes more comfortable with who he truly is. Although the writing is very good, I found that I had a hard time connecting with the main character.

Ten years ago, I'd have devoured this and I think fans of LGBTQ contemporaries will adore it.
I'm much less interested in this type of story - the character focused, internal journey types - but I still appreciated this one and am glad the teens of today get these stories. Basing it on that, and reviewing it as my 17 year old self, it's a really good book, well written, fast paced and will be exactly what many readers are looking for, or don't even realise they needed.

Such a moving debut novel about a trans teen getting the role of Romeo in a school play. I loved reading about Dean, and seeing him so passionate about the play and surrounded by other queer people!

I think this would be a good read for all YA readers. The characters are relatable, the plot is simple without being boring, and the pacing was steady. A classic coming-of-age story about someone just trying to find themselves and be accepted for who they are.

I didn’t love this one, but I just realized it may be because this is where the story starts. Chapter 1 is just one line, “I think I might be trans.”

We don’t get to see any of the journey that led him to the realization that he is trans and the reader is dropped into this world where he starts to come out, his girlfriend outs him, and he faces a transphobic bully—all while navigating his Senior year of high school.

Thankfully he was supportive friends and finds a support group for trans people which help make the whole experience more bearable.

Between Perfect and Real is a moving story of gender euphoria, coming into yourself and finding your place in the world. Following a trans boy cast as a “non traditional” Romeo in his school’s theatre performance, Stoeve’s debut takes readers through the highs and lows of coming out as trans while exploring privilege, community and gender.

I really enjoyed this book! Dean had such a strong voice and it was so easy to connect with him and empathise with what he was going through. I really loved his development, as he went from being unsure and full of self doubt to really coming into himself and learning to trust himself. I also loved his relationship with his friends, especially Ronnie, who was just the sweetest! This book also explored some more difficult relationships and the struggles Dean went through as not everyone in his life was accepting which wasn’t always easy to read but read very authentically. Theatre has never been something I personally enjoy but Dean’s narration made his love of it so clear and I really enjoyed reading about why it meant so much to him and the role it played in his self discovery.

Something I really appreciated in this book was the discussions surrounding privilege and, in particular, showing cis queer people as being just as capable of transphobia and getting things wrong as non-LGBTQ+ people. This is such an important narrative to explore and I felt that Stoeve handled it really well. Additionally, I loved the emphasis placed on online communities and resources for learning about the transgender experience as this is such a key part in people discovering their LGBTQ+ identities (it certainly was for me!) and felt very authentic to include. Another thing I loved was the acknowledgement of the need for trans spaces and community while coming into and accepting this identity, and the friends Dean found there.

My only faults of the book were that there were a lot of characters and I found it quite difficult to keep track of them all in the beginning. I also thought that the ending was quite abrupt and quick and would have loved to spend a bit more time on it. I would also say that the characterisation of Zoe, Dean’s girlfriend, made me a bit uncomfortable. It felt like the narrative surrounding her fell a bit into the 'lesbians are TERFs' idea as she was the only transphobic queer person, and that she was demonised for breaking up with him because he's trans, rather than because she's a lesbian and not attracted to men. This is not to excuse the horrible transphobic things she says, rather that I wish the narrative did more to disentangle this from her identity as a lesbian.

Between Perfect and Real is an incredible coming of age story that I’m sure is going to become an important book for so many trans readers. Dean’s journey of finding himself and coming into his identity is at once universally relatable and deeply personal and one that I highly recommend!

I've not found many stories about trans characters that I've been able to recommend to the school library. This is the first!

This story of Dean's transition is a great coming of age novel that encompasses all the usual challenges of high school with the added challenge of transitioning.

I will be recommending this novel to students.

Thank you NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I really enjoyed Between Perfect and Real, as it was such a hard hitting YA book, and I love reading books like that sometimes. I think this book was written incredibly well and the writing makes you connect with Dean's character and really understand what he is going through. This book was definitely a heavier read but I think it was done so well.

This was such a good book! I loved reading Dean’s story and I know that so many people will see themselves in his character. Can’t wait to share this with students.

“It isn’t my job to make her feel better about she’s hurt me, and it isn’t my job to keep quiet so she can be comfortable.”

For the first time since, I don't even remember when, I can rate a book.It just doesn't feel right to me.
Between perfect and real is a really important book that explores the mind, the reflections and the evolution of transidentity in a really smart way.
“Not that I hate my body. There are just parts of it that aren't what they should be.”

Dean knew from the moment he's watched Youtube videos of transgender guys that he was trans too. So when he was cast as a nontraditionnal Romeo, he start questioning himself about a lot of things. I really loved how this book explore every inevitable topic when it comes to genre: dead-name, relationship both familial and love, transphobia, or dysphoria for example.

Honestly I didn't expected this book to be this well thought and emotional. It's a book I sure will recommand in the future.

<i>Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

3.5 stars

This was a powerful, important read about identity, family, friendship, and acceptance. This was a great example of how impactful young adult fiction can be. Even though there are plenty of serious conversations and confusing, painful moments, I appreciated that there was a lighter side to this book. The balance made it real without being hopeless. I did at times, however, not feel fully invested in the story. It was one of those books that was fast-paced and yet still took me forever to finish. Not entirely sure why. But regardless, I do think many people will enjoy this one and it accomplished what it was intending to accomplish!

📖My Thoughts📖


Wow. This book kind of left me speechless. The raw emotions that flooded from this book really hit me hard. I wanted to cry for Dean. Be there for and support Dean. It was almost like I felt every emotion he was going through. That’s how descriptive and raw this book was. I’ve read LGBTQ+ books before this one, but this one is one of the first I’ve read in which the MC had already come out prior to and then realizing something still didn’t feel right. I really enjoyed watching Dean, as hard as it was with all the pain he endured throughout his journey, growing and developing as a character. I saw him as a very strong character. This was a very quick yet powerful book to read that even offered some understanding of the emotions a person feels while going through this journey. Though the main theme of this book is geared towards an individual that has realized he’s transgender and becoming comfortable with being who he is, I think it own can also say it’s for anyone in general just learning to be comfortable in their own body. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it.
Thank you Netgalley, ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books and Ray Stoeve for the opportunity to read and review this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this ARC

Loved the amount of diversity in this novel . Realistic coming of age story featuring a trans mc

I think the title explains this book to a t. It's between perfect and real. A true queen voice that needs to be heard

This was a great book with fantastic trans rep throughout. It was a very refreshing and diverse read, that was beautifully told and I would recommend as covers very important topics.

While this book was heavy at times to read as a trans person, ultimately I loved the fearlessness this book had when discussing big topics around identity and love and self acceptance.