Absolutely loved this book! I read it in one sitting! Thus has become a one click author for me! Thanks to the publisher

3.5 stars

Transparently, it took me a little bit to get into this one, but staying the course paid off. This has some great messaging in the end.

Ivy, the m.c., is home alone for a week, which is super convenient when Weston, the focus of her fanfic!, appears in her bed one morning. There's clearly something magical happening in terms of the sudden appearance of a whole person (and shocking disappearance/reappearance of his new outfits, not to mention his intriguing use of mind control), but the romantic possibilities between them? Well, those are anything but magical. The shocking changes in Ivy's environment give her a great opportunity to assess her relationships - platonic and otherwise - and to come to the titular conclusion that 'the perfect guy doesn't exist,' even when you create him yourself!

I have mixed feelings about this one. While I loved the fanfic element and the messaging toward the end, this had - for me - a slow burn in the beginning and some generally creepy stuff relating to a guy suddenly appearing in Ivy's space. Readers really need to suspend disbelief - that's a central theme - and I had a hard time doing that at certain points.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite, but I enjoyed the read (listen) enough. I will recommend it to students who are looking for a nice fanfic infusion in their YA!

I am withholding my review until the SMP boycott is resolved.

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

3.5 rounded up.

A fun YA queer romcom with a paranormal twist. Bisexual fanfic writer Ivy is home alone and lonely while her parents are on vacation, somehow one night she manifests one of her favorite fictional characters who suddenly becomes a big headache in her life. With the help of her best friend Henry and her ex-friend and former love interest, Mack, Ivy has to figure out how to get rid of this unwanted and increasingly troublesome 'guest.' Full of antics and a bit of second chance romance, this was an entertaining read and great on audio too. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is a book for fan fiction lovers. Such a good idea. It was a quick cheese romcom. It wasn’t my favorite by the author but I was still entertained.

i'm definitely too old to be reading this book, the characters felt very immature. lack of communication is prevalent

This is a YA romance where a young fanfic writer somehow writes her favorite tv character into real life. The story alternates between the past, showing how Ivy and her best friend and neighbor (and crush) Mack fell out, and then the present, where Ivy is dealing with a magical entity who is living out Ivy's fanfic plots. As you might be able to guess, Mack is roped into helping Ivy and Ivy's (new) bestie Henry figure out what is going on, and it turns out that Ivy and Mack might not hate each other as much as they thought... This was definitely a fun, light-hearted romp, but I didn't feel like there was much substance to the main characters or credible ties between any of them. I have a feeling this is one of those YA novels that I would have enjoyed more as a young adult than I did as a 50-year-old. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for a digital review copy.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books in exchange for my honest review.

As a queer, coming-of-age, friends-to enemies-to-lovers story this works pretty well. As a fanfic fantasy, not so much. I found myself invested in Ivy and Mack and Henry’s dynamic and totally checked out for most of the stuff involving Weston and anything to do with H-MAD. It felt more juvenile than I was expecting, and a lot of the humor missed the mark for me. My biggest issue was with the alternating flashback chapters, which gave me some major emotional whiplash — I think there is a way to integrate dual timelines while still allowing the falling out and re-building of this friendship to feel less jarring. Still a fun, original, and quick read that will probably work well for its target audience.

What I liked: I enjoyed the stark difference between the two lead characters. I thought the twist of Weston’s personality and storyline changing by the day was a fun addition! I wasn’t sure that this premise would have enough meat on its bones for a whole book but I was pleasantly surprised!

What I didn’t like: I found myself distracted quite a bit. This was written on the younger side of even YA and I had a hard time becoming fully invested due to some of the extra-teenage emotional processing.

Cute book, fun and great characters. The romance was alright, not my favorite but I liked the characters so I wasn't super upset. I'd rate this 4 stars

Holding my review until the SMP boycott is resolved.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I usually love Sophie Gonzales, so I was disappointed to find that I didn't enjoy this book. It was a bit too much in terms of childish angst and drama. I don't even think teenage me would have found it bearable!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I think at another time in my life, I would have really enjoyed this one. It was just a little bit too much magical realism for me in this one to really enjoy. Perfect for teens and YAs who love things that are a little goofy.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to review. All opinions are my own.

When Ivy's parents go away, her plans for having the house to herself include watching her favorite fantasy TV show with her new best friend, Henry. She is a huge fan of one of the characters, and even writes fictional stories about him in her life. But things become complicated when Ivy accidentally brings to life one of her fanfiction characters, Weston. He's everything she could ever want in a boyfriend: incredibly attractive, knows everything about her, and claims to be her soulmate.

With Weston now in Ivy's life, she realizes that some of the tropes that she has always romanticized and imagined are not as great as she'd thought they'd be. She recruits Henry, and her former best friend, Mack, to help her figure out what's going on. Ivy and Mack had a falling out last year, and have been distant around each other ever since. Being around Mack again makes Ivy wonder if Weston really is the perfect person for her.

I am giving this book 4.25 stars. I flew through this book and truly loved it. It was such a great plot that most of us readers can relate to, because fictional characters are so compelling. I also think a lot of young adult readers would enjoy the plot and subject of this book, because of how relatable and cute it is. It's also so funny and sarcastic, Gonzales makes this feel like a true sitcom. All the characters were so likable, and it was a fun read.

I think anyone who enjoys reading or writing fanfiction would love this book. If you love rom-com books that feel like your favorite sitcoms and are hilarious, this one is for you.

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales will be released on March 26.

First, I want to thank Netgalley for this ARC.
Ivy is super sweet and likable, and her insecurities feel real and relatable. I loved the premise. Weston, the fictional character that comes to life is really too good to be true and as the story unfolds, it's clear that even perfection has its flaws, However, the romance aspect of the book didn't pull me in, as I didn't felt much chemistry between Ivy and her love interest. The double standards were a constant reminder of why the relationship didn't work when they were friends so I couldn't imagine it growing into something else.
Overall I thought the book was good and funny, just not for me.

This is the first book I've ever read by Sophie Gonzales and trust me, it wouldn't be the last because I'm about to buy her entire backlist and pull off the longest reading marathon known to the human race.

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist is a hilarious young adult/coming of age story that features relatable and quirky main characters—Ivy, Mack, Henry and Weston. Plus, this awesome story is a friends-to-enemies and an enemies-to-lovers romance and I was here for all the angst, drama and the witty banter.

Ivy and Mack used to be best friends but they had a huge misunderstanding that completely wrecked their friendship and Ivy found comfort in writing fan-fiction about her favorite show HMAD (Hot, Magic and Deadly). I wanted to read this story from the moment I heard that it has a 16 year-old fan-fiction writer who accidentally brings her main character (Weston) to life. I really enjoy reading fan-fiction and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to read this awesome story and meet these wonderful characters. Besides, there were lots of face-palm worthy moments between Ivy and Mack and Henry's snappy wisecracks made me laugh out loudly in very public places and I'm pretty sure my sanity was up for debate in the minds of the people who were blatantly staring at me.

This story is brilliant in every sense of the word because it has a dual time line that goes from the past to present in each chapter and I could clearly see how Ivy and Mack's friendship went downhill. The author clearly shows how important it is to have supportive friends who you can be yourself with and share similar interests. If I could give this book ten stars I would because it is a well-written and highly entertaining novel and I loved every word of it!

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist is a cute YA romance with a twist. When Ivy inadvertently brings to life a fan fiction character based on her favorite show H-MAD, her life goes completely off the rails. Conveniently her parents are out of town for a week so she has until then to figure this out. With her ex-best friend, who lives across the street, and current bestie Henry, the three must keep Weston contained while he seems to be playing out different versions of the fan fiction Ivy had written for them. I loved all of the fun chaos that Weston created in Ivy's life. At the heart was a sweet story of crushes and her realization of who and what she wants. This YA sapphic romance is endearing and delightful.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the gifted advanced reader copy.

💜🩵 The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist ARC Review 🩵💜

Thank you so much to Sophie Gonzales and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist is a standalone queer, contemporary fantasy novel. For the first time ever, Ivy is home alone for a week while her parents are traveling. She plans to relax, write fanfic and binge her favorite show. But when her favorite character comes to life, are all her romantic dreams coming true??

This was such a fun read! I really enjoyed Ivy and her growth throughout this story. The rest of the characters are well developed and I really enjoyed the world building. I personally would have liked to see more interactions between Ivy and Mack, but that’s absolutely a “me” issue and not a book issue

Overall this was a four star read. I liked the characters and the story - it was fun and unique! This story had a romantic subplot but no on page spice, so one flame for smut

If you’re a fan of queer romance with all the fanfic tropes, then absolutely pick this one up!

Please note: review will be posted to Amazon upon publication

A fanfiction writer brings her favorite character to life and begins to realize that he isn't as perfect as she thought he was.

I wanted to love this, but I just did not. The writing was more juvenile than I expected. It was less fun fanfiction romp and more annoying second-hand embarrassment.

I enjoyed the other books I have read from this author but this book really fell flat for me. The characters didn't have much personality and the conflict wasn't very interesting. I really wanted to like it but it just didn't wow me. I think if it were marketed as a middle grade book it might be better. It was a very quick and easy read and I didn't find it dragging or going slowly which I liked. I also wish we found out more about WHY and HOW Weston was there. I was frustrated that the majority of the conflicts were "solved" by Weston's magic, it didn't leave many problems for them to solve/navigate.