This story of a fanfic writer whose stories come to life is so entertaining, and it was a lot of fun to see so many different tropes throughout the book. While the concept is interesting, I wasn't a fan of the format with the back and forth between past and present, which I didn't feel was very effective, and some parts of the book were a miss for me. I feel like the story feels a bit juvenile at times, and the execution could have been better. That said, I still enjoyed this one, and I look forward to the author's next books!

Readers are invited to experience a delightful queer romance, blending the magic of fandom with the complexities of teenage relationships. In ”The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist" by Sophie Gonzales, a dash of whimsy and a sprinkle of heart create a story that will resonate with fans of love, friendship, and the unexpected.

Meet Ivy. She’s an ardent fan of the television show Hot, Magical, and Deadly (H-MAD). Her obsession with the show borders on the fanatical, and her crush on Mackenzie, her ex–best friend, only adds to the drama. When Ivy accidentally manifests Weston Razorbrook, the dreamy main character from H-MAD, into her bedroom during a thunderstorm, her life takes an unexpected turn. But here's the twist: Weston is straight out of Ivy's romantic fan-fiction, complete with all the tropes she adores. Unfortunately, real life doesn't always follow the script, and Ivy soon discovers that the turbulent man from her stories isn't as dreamy as she imagined.

Meet Mackenzie. She’s the former best friend of Ivy, who turned reluctant partner in managing the magical mess. As they navigate the chaos of Weston's presence, Ivy grapples with her feelings for him, despite Mack's insistence that Weston should vanish back into the fictional world. The tension between Ivy and Mack is palpable, and their dynamic shifts from friends to enemies and, perhaps, to something more.

Gonzales's portrayal of queer protagonists is refreshing. Ivy's white identity and Mack's Black identity add depth to their interactions, highlighting the complexities of friendship, attraction, and self-discovery. While the romance blooms against the backdrop of fandom magic, the story occasionally feels superficial. The plot-driven narrative could have benefited from deeper character development and a more vivid setting. Ivy's reactions to Weston's sudden appearance sometimes strain believability, but the charm of the premise keeps readers engaged.

At its core, The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist celebrates the messiness of love. You know: the imperfect, the unexpected, and the magical. Gonzales weaves humour, heart, and a touch of whimsy into a tale reminding us that even when our fantasies collide with reality, there's beauty in the chaos.

The novel's LGBTQ+ representation is commendable, and Gonzales deftly explores themes of identity, friendship, and the blurred lines between fiction and reality. Whether you're a seasoned fanfic writer or simply someone who believes in the magic of unexpected connections, this book will leave you with a smile.

This is a cute, if lightly developed, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance offering a delightful climb through fandom, friendship, and the messy magic of love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martin's Press for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute romance! The idea of a fantasy character coming to life is somewhat exciting but also terrifying! I enjoyed reading about the characters and would be interested to see the author continue writing about other characters from the story, maybe one about Henry?!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for the ARC!

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist, a story of a fanfic writer, who accidentally brings to life her "Perfect" person, Weston Razorbrook, to find the love she was looking for was always closer than she'd thought.

The story of friendship, the importance of mutual understanding, love and support.

Really loved the characters and their ARC's, Ivy, Henry and Mack's personalities shine throughout the book and we get to see more & more of them with each chapter. I didn't care about Weston that much by like 60%, he was just there wreaking havoc and making Ivy's life hard.

Liked the humor, the representation and how well the emotions were described. I connected to our characters despite not experiencing anything like that before.

Overall, 4.75 stars. Good writing, will definitely be reading more by Sophie Gonzales in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so fun! I didn't read the summary bc I auto request all Sophie Gonzales' books so I was a bit surprised at the fanfiction element but I really liked it. I loved the friends to enemies to lovers and I especially loved the aroace best friend. Please give me more aspec characters and aspec normative language in all queer books!

🦇 The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❓ #QOTD Name one favorite and one "ugh, no" trope OR what fictional character would you love to date IRL? ❓

🦇 What if your favorite TV character appeared in your bed one day and claimed to be your soulmate? When Ivy Winslow wakes up with the house to herself for a week while her parents are away, she doesn't expect to find the very hot fictional character from her favorite show in her bedroom. To figure out why her fanfic brought him to life, Ivy must team up with her current best friend Henry and former best friend/crush Mack. Can Ivy and Mack deal with the fallout of their friendship, or will they realize there was something bigger behind their fight all along?

💜 The strongest aspect of this story was the satire on overused media tropes (both from a television and writing standpoint). Weston starts off all heart-eyed, head-over-heels for Ivy, and it appears sweet and innocent. Once the bigger tropes come into play, readers see how they'd never work in real life. Even the "only one bed" trope we all know and love becomes frustrating (hello, boundaries?). "Touch her and you die" almost became a thing. The fanfic fusion into YA aspect if fun and playful, though I do wish we'd seen a few more parallels between Ivy's writing and Weston's actions. This is definitely a book fanfic writers will adore; a great example of messy wish fulfillment. Beyond that, the writing is effortlessly queer, as queer characters SHOULD be.

💙 Suspension of disbelief, especially when used in an otherwise contemporary setting, is crucial for a story that contains magical realism. For it to work, however, your characters have to act reasonably. Ivy just seems too naive. It takes her WAY too long to realize that Weston wasn't pulled from her favorite TV show, but from her fan fiction writing. Her reactions are a little too silly. Even her word choice makes her seem younger than she is. I understand differentiating Ivy's fanfic writing by adding grammar and spelling errors, but she's a student. It shouldn't have been THAT cringy to read. Usually, Sophie Gonzales writes young adults with a level of maturity and emotional intelligence. Ivy is less mature than expected (and yes, you can have a mature character who struggles with confidence and independence AND anxiety), which makes it difficult to connect with her. One of the benefits of reading YA is universal experiences (as adults, we've been there, we get it, so we can connect to it), but I couldn't connect to Ivy (and I was an anxiety-ridden fanfic writer who obsessed over every fandom, so I SHOULD have!).

💙 Ivy's lack of chemistry (even from a friendship standpoint) with Mack is concerning. There are versions of healthy co-dependency between friends, but these two don't have it. The flashbacks should have given us more of a reason to love these two together than Ivy coming out to Mack and having a crush on her (after that, we immediately see the flaws in their friendship, which completely lacks communication and therefore feels toxic). Perhaps it would have worked better without the romantic aspect; if we'd focused on Ivy and Mack restoring their friendship.

🦇 Recommended to fans of Rainbow Rowell.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🌬️ Bi, AroAce, & Lesbian Rep
🌬️ Sapphic Romance
🌬️ Young Adult Fantasy Fiction
🌬️ Friends-to-Enemies-to-Lovers
🌬️ Multiple Timelines
🌬️ Magical Realism

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for sending me this ARC in exchange for a review.

I love fan fiction.
I love the unrealistic nonsense that can happen in fan fiction.
I love the way people can conjure up such ridiculous scenarios.

This book really made me think about all the fan fiction I've read, and what kind of hilarity and mayhem would ensue if one were to play out in real life.
The way Ivy slowly realises that sometimes what you write about doesn't translate too well to reality is very funny. I feel like I could just tell how exasperated she was, inadvertently with herself, and the secondhand embarrassment from her imagined scenarios playing out in real life, in front of witnesses.

So many elements in this book about what it's like to be such a passionate fan were very real for me. I remember my first convention, and the excitement around the whole experience. I remember bonding with like minded people for the first time, and the unbreakable connections and relationships that evolved because of that shared interest. I remember that feeling of real acceptance for the first time, no judgement, just pure acceptance.

On the other side, I also remember my first friendship ending because she moved on while I didn't. Unlike Ivy and Mack, we've never made up.
I am always so impressed with Sophie's writing, but particularly when the relationship is so fragile. I love that Ivy and Mack made up in such a way that showed they both still really cared for each other, even after falling out. I really enjoyed the teenage self discovery in this book and the dual timeline flickering between past and present so the reader gets an even deeper look at how when you're a teenager everything is a big deal, and nobody is coping well with it.

For me, being so embedded in fan culture, the relationship kind of took a back seat. I loved how they developed their relationship, but I definitely related more to being a head over heels fan of something, and how it consumes your whole life.

My favourite quote has got to be, "I want him to know I'm one of his rational, loyal, thoughtful fans, not an obsessive, impulsive, fame-hungry one." because, as I regularly say to one of my favourite musicians, every time we meet "I'm not a creepy stalker, I'm a regular stalker" so that one sentence in particular had me laughing ridiculously to myself on the bus.
I really am not a creepy stalker, we just happen to share quite a lot of mutual friends. I like to reiterate the point so that he really knows for sure, haha.

Written in past and present time lines a fanfic writer brings her favorite TV character to life, leading to unexpected chaos in this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers.
Ivy’s week alone turns into a situation when Weston, the dreamy lead from her fantasy show, appears in her bedroom, claiming to be her soulmate.
I think the fanfic come to life was a great way of showing what we all feel. Personally, enemies to lovers is my favorite trope. But IRL I would cry and hate it!
Overall, this was a fun, quick, effortlessly queer novel.

Oh my gosh this cute lil YA romance had me cracking up. It was so funny and cute. It follows Ivy, who is a fanfiction writer as she writes about her favorite character Weston. She accidentally makes him real, like he shows up in her house. It’s up to her best friend Henry and her former friend Mack to figure out what to do with him.

Things I loved about this book:
It was just so funny. Full of wit and charm.
Ivy was a great lead character. She was sweet, a little prickly, but also really self-aware and fun.
Henry was fantastic. I loved his sarcasm and his personality was awesome.
Mack was a fun love interest/frenemy.
Weston going through the romance tropes each day took me out 😅.
That ending part before the actual end was sad and a little scary to be honest!
Super sweet ending!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am withholding my review of this book until the SMP boycott is resolved. This boycott in no way has affected my thoughts about this book and is not reflected in my rating of this title.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read.

I was more affected by this book than I though I would be. I figured it'd be a cute YA story about a fanfic character coming to life and the ensuing shenanigans, but it was so much more than that. There was aro/ace and sapphic rep which didn't shy away from the hard details. The use of past and present storytelling device was a brilliant touch as it elevated the magical elements of this story. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

A billion stars for Sophie's writing. Sophie is one of my autobuy/autorequest authors. I've enjoyed every single book she's written or cowritten. The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist was no exception.

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist is basically a love letter to fanfiction and stan culture. The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist is the story of a fanfic writer, Ivy, who accidentally brings her favorite tv character to life. When Ivy has the house to herself for a week all she wants to do is binge-watch her favorite tv show, H-MAD, with her bff Henry while trying to avoid her former bff, neighbor, and crush Mack. Ivy, who still feels alone, wishes her favorite actor, Weston, the fictional mc of H-MAD, would just show up and be there for her. And then he does, claiming to be her soulmate. But it turns out that the tropes she adores in her stories are slightly less romantic in reality. To figure out why Weston is here and what to do with him, Ivy decides to ask Henry... and Mack for help. And now she's not sure if reality has been better than fiction all along.

I don't know if I'm outgrowing YA, I know I'm not exactly the target audience anymore, but these characters annoyed me at times. I love tropes. Give me all the tropes. But the miscommunication trope has got to be the worst. It's a typical teenage reaction to act out instead of communicating, but I can't get over how fast Ivy forgives and forgets how much Mack hurt her. Yeah, Mack had her reasons, but she acts like Ivy owed her instead of admitting she hurt Ivy. Idk. It's all too much highschooly toxic drama for me. Ivy and Mack's chemistry was not it. And I know it sounds like I really didn't enjoy the book but I did. I couldn't put it down. The audiobook, narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker, was a lot of fun. I laughed out loud quite a few times. Some parts were entirely too relatable. Definitely pick this one up if you love tropes, fanfiction, and Queer contemporary stories.

I can't thank Wednesday books enough for always letting me read Sophie's books early for review. Go read them all but I especially recommend Sophie's debut The Law of Inertia. It is one of my all-time favorite books.

This is a cute YA rom com, about a girl, Ivy, whose fanfiction crush comes to life.. And with the help of her aro/ace best friend, Henry and her ex best friend, nemesis and crush Mack, tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Each chapter has a past and present section the helps you to understand the falling out between the two girls.

I really like the characters, especially Henry. As someone on the Ace spectrum myself, I love any and all aro or ace representation.

While I usually love magical realism stories like this, something about the ending to this one fell a bit flat to me. Overall, it was a good story, with good characters, it was just missing a little something for me.

My wife made the mistake of trying to text me a somewhat serious conversational topic while I was in the last 20 minutes of this book. Though, to be quite frank, I was just as useless after I had finished this book as I was while reading it. She kept trying to talk to me about things we have to do tomorrow and I kept going, “Oh yeah sure right. SO THIS BOOK I JUST READ.” And I just kept gushing about it and was unable to talk about anything else.

This was AMAZING. TRULY. I adore this book. Ivy is so relatable, smart and yet stupid in that way teenagers are, but also just so charming and funny. I laughed OUT LOUD (actually! Out loud!) pretty much throughout this book. I loved how Sophie Gonzales uses all these tropes we love in fiction and points out how ridiculous (or downright awful) they’d be in real life.

The characters are all great. Ivy, Henry and Mack are fantastic together, and I loved watching them struggle through their differences to come together as a team, and as friends. The storyline where you watch Ivy and Mack’s friendship devolve in the past broke my heart, but Sophie Gonzales put me back together again by building a truly beautiful love story between them.

I’ve said this before, but now, past me is wrong. THIS is Sophie Gonzales’ funniest book, but also, it is a masterpiece.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Wednesday Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ivy and Mack are messy and fun and ahhhhh, I loved the fanfic!!!!

I loved their story and can’t get enough of Sophie Gonzales.

The perfect YA book concept doesn’t exi–

Okay, that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but you get my point. The premise for The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist sounded so wild and fun, I had to check it out. Protagonist Ivy finds that her favorite fictional hero Weston Razorbrook has come to life — but something’s off. It’s not just the character but the fanfic version of the character Ivy wrote. He’s literally made for Ivy, yet it doesn’t take too long for Ivy to realize he may not be exactly what she wants.

Needless to say, having a character like Weston in the house isn’t easy, and Ivy recruits her best friend Henry and ex-best friend/crush Mack to help. In the TV show Weston’s from, he has magical powers (think Avatar: The Last Airbender mixed with The Mortal Instruments), but Ivy’s Weston is magical in how freaking hilarious he is. I mean, he’s written by a teenage girl, so he’s ridiculously cringey. And I loved it. What I loved even more, though, was how the trio of friends reacted to the cringiness and how they scrambled to take care of him.

Meanwhile, Ivy’s feelings for Mack resurface, making for a sweet mended friendship and cute sapphic romance. There actually isn’t too much romance going on, which I was fine with, since the book is more about Ivy and her journey. She’s a super flawed protagonist, and she knows it. I related to her anxiety and insecurities so much, and I understood how it made her sink into fantasy. It’s comfortable in fantasy, but as she learns, her reality is the place to be.

Sophie Gonzales has done it again. I shouldn't be surprised because this did sound right up my alley, but it definitely delivered. I had so much fun reading this book, I can't even begin to describe it. This book was also just such an addicting read, and I had a hard time putting this book down.
I really liked the main story. I thought having the fanfic version of your favourite character coming to live is just such a fun concept, and I LOVE how Sophie Gonzales decided to execute it. It felt very realistic, and I also love how it's obvious throughout the book that the main character used fanfic solely as an espcape from her biggest insecurities. Ivy's character growth throughout this book was also just really well done, and I loved reading from her perspective.
Although I do have to say that Henry absolutely stole the show in this book for me. He's Ivy's best friend, and he so fucking funny and relatable. Every scene he was in was an instant favourite. I also really loved the friendship between him and Ivy. They just had this sweet connection, and I truly think they were the definition of platonic soulmates.
That brings us to Mack, and that aspect on this book has left me with some mixed emotions. I do love a friends to enemies to lovers storyline, but I just had a hard time understanding their friendship. We do get some flashbacks to the past, and I really liked those aspects of the book. However, all I could see in those parts is that this was just such a toxic friendship. Ivy had such an unhealthy codependency on Mack, and Mack barely seemd to tolerate Ivy until she became friends with Henry, and all of the sudden Mack gets really possesive over her. So yeah, it's extremely toxic, and I just didn't understand why they were friends to begin with. That connection just didn't seem there, and it was even more obvious because there is just such a strong connection between Ivy and Henry. It also annoyed me so much because it doesn't actually get adressed in the book. So yeah, I never understood their friendship. However, I do think the hate to love aspect was decently done in the story. It isn't the main focus of the book, and I do wish we got a little more of it in the book just for me to be completely sold on it, but I didn't completely hate it.
So yeah, I did thouroughly enjoy this book. I do think the main focus of this book was extremely well done, but it's just the romance I guess that I just don't know how to feel about it. I would definitely recommend this though because it was just so much fun, and also just extremely funny.

I recently finished reading this book and it had me laughing out loud. I thought the character development was well done and enjoyable, and the plot was cute and heartwarming. The fanfiction character coming to life was a unique concept, and the execution was fantastic. The book accurately demonstrates how romantic storylines in media are not always accurate portrayals of real life, but with a humorous tone. In general, the book was well-written and entertaining. It was the perfect mix of humor, emotions, satire, and silliness, and definitely lifted my spirits. Reading this book was a delightful and fun palate cleanser from some of the darker material I've been reading lately.

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t exist is a cute story of Ivy writing fan-fic of her favorite guy & realizing that sometimes reality is better than fiction.

I love Sophie Gonzales' books and am always thrilled to read a new one. The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist is funny, charming, and effortlessly queer, as Gonzales' work always is, but goes in a quirky new direction with a fantastical element: lead character Ivy is a fanfiction writer who finds the subject of her fics, teen fantasy drama love interest Weston, has magically appeared in her bed. As someone who grew up in online fandom and has read fanfiction for years, I love the fanfiction focus and the unique way Gonzales utilized it, and overall this is a really fun book.

However, this wasn't my favorite Sophie Gonzales book, largely because I usually find her work to have a more realistic level of teenage maturity and emotional intelligence than many YA writers, which I found missing here. The voice felt sillier and more immature, which put me off the book a bit, especially in the beginning. I love how her voice usually captures how sharp and smart teenagers can be, and how her characters usually feel like very real teens.