Book 16 of 2024 - ☑️! Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books & Sophie Gonzales for the ARC of The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales in exchange for my honest review.

This is my 2nd Sophie Gonzales book (If This Gets Out was the first book of hers that I read, and thought it was really well-written). I tend to be more picky about YA novels, and while I liked If This Gets Out a bit better, The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist was an enjoyable read. This friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, magical realism, multiple timelne YA Romance follows Ivy Winslow - a teenager obsessed with the fictional TV show H-MAD, who loves hanging out with her best friend (and equally H-MAD obsessed) Henry and who skillfully avoids her former best friend and crush turned enemy, Mack. When Ivy’s parents go out of town, Ivy must deal with her TV show crush, Weston, come to life from the way she depicted him in fan-fiction, when her parents go out of town. Bonus points for representation in the book - both race/ethnicity and LGBTQIA+.

I know this won’t be my last Sophie Gonzales book. 3/5 🌟 overall, and since this was a YA book, a 🌶️ rating is not applicable. 📺 🪄💻 #NetGalley #ThePerfectGuyDoesntExist

In The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist by Sophie Gonzales, fanfic writer Ivy Winslow has the house to herself for a week while her parents are away. Her plans to hang out with Henry, her best friend, and binge-watch her favorite fantasy TV show while avoiding Mack, her former best friend-turned-enemy, go awry when Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous, fictional main character of H-MAD, in her bedroom, claiming that he’s her soul mate.

Gonzales’ writing is lively, crisp, and vibrant, with detailed descriptions. She develops her complex, fascinating, messy, and conflicted characters through funny, snarky, emotional, sweet, witty banter and interactions. I love that you never know exactly where her characters will be at the story’s conclusion. You hope, but you don’t know for sure because she throws surprising twists and turns into the story—she takes the time to develop efficiently—that makes you doubt that the characters will get the happy ending you want for them.

Somehow, Ivy’s fanfic writing brings Weston from her stories to life. But after spending time with him, Ivy discovers that the qualities and tropes she swoons over in her stories are not quite so romantic in reality. Even worse, having her fanfic/TV crush come to life causes her incredibly frustrating real-world problems. To figure out why Weston is here and how to either get him back to where he belongs or help him settle into life in the real world, Ivy teams up with Henry and Mack, grudgingly, after avoiding her is more challenging than she thought it would be. Now that Mack is in her life again, Ivy must reconsider whether Weston—this “perfect guy” she created—is the one who’s perfect for her or if she’s been blind to the person who is genuinely ideal for her all this time.

Gonzales explores Ivy and Mack’s and Ivy and Henry’s relationships by alternating between the present and flashbacks. She smoothly manages these transitions without affecting the novel’s pacing and tone, which is surprisingly a bit dark at times but works for the story. I love Ivy’s relationship with Henry and how they could be honest with each other as friends should be, but people find it difficult to achieve most of the time. I wish we could have seen more of Ivy and Mack’s friendship before the fractures started to show. Their relationship is primarily antagonistic or in the early stages of falling apart. We don’t get to see much of the happy, healthy, deep friendship we presume they used to share—a crucial part of the story that was missing. But sometimes, seeing people at their worst and how they interact tells you more about who they are and whether they can make it through the good and bad times. Gonzales’ character interactions are one of the best parts of her writing and books. More interactions between Mack and Ivy would have improved the development and exploration of their friendship/relationship. It was missing for me in the novel.

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist is nothing like I expected, which shouldn’t surprise me because Gonzales always gives me an entertaining read— unlike anything I’ve read or thought it would be. However, my expectations for this one were so high, and I wanted something more romance-focused throughout the book. Give Gonzales all the kudos for writing the story she needed and wanted to tell, even though it may not have been the story I was hoping for or expected. That said, I did mostly enjoy the journey her multilayered story and flawed, hot-mess characters took me on. A thoughtful, funny, suspenseful, sweet, witty, angsty, and fast-paced YA romance, The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist is an entertaining read that explores friendship, unrequited love, first love, fandom culture, sexual identity, coming out, belonging, romantic escape, and writing.

3.5 stars

An advanced review copy was provided by Wednesday Books via Netgalley for review.

I am participating in the St. Martin's Press boycott. I will not be publicly reviewing this title until St. Martin's Press addresses reader concerns.

- THE PERFECT GUY DOESN’T EXIST is a very fun read. This book revels in romance tropes and is very silly while also touching on some tough friendship feelings.
- I love a prickly girl character, and both Ivy and Mack bring that vibe while they try to sort out how they feel about each other.
- Something about the dual timeline structure made it feel like arguments got rehashed a few times too many. But aside from that, I had a great time with this book.

What would you do if your absolute favourite fandom character suddenly appeared in your life? The one you write your own fanfic about? Like honest to gosh, in the flesh, appeared in your house? Might that be an ideal situation, or might it actually turn into a bit of a nightmare? That's the situation Ivy finds herself navigating in Sophie Gonzales' entertaining novel.

The premise here is great. So many of us have that character that we are completely convinced would be the "perfect" partner for us. And if you have ever written fan-fic, you know that the temptation to dream about "what if..." the line between worlds got blurred is a big one. The characters are well-drawn, although I feel like we could get to know Mack, Ivy's long-time crush and former bestie turned enemy, better. Henry, Ivy's new best friend, who shares her addiction to their favourite show, was probably my favourite character here. The high school scenes are realistic, as is Ivy's total eventual horror at the chaos she has unwittingly unleashed on her life by manifesting the appearance of her favourite character into her own everyday world.

And yet, for whatever reason, this didn't come together for me. I adored Sophie Gonzales' "Never Ever Getting Back Together" , mostly because of the fabulous snark. I think I might have needed more snark in this one. For me, the appearance of the fictional character came across as creepy, rather than funny.
3.5 stars from me. Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the e-arc.

This was a really interesting read! Not only will this book make you ponder what it would be like if your perfect person, the way you wrote them, existed…but what it would be like if other pieces of your life were taken away because of it!

From someone who delved into writing fanfiction once upon a time, this book gave me plenty of reminders of how little pieces of ourselves go into the characters someone else created. Ivy wakes up one morning to find out that Weston, the fictional main character of H-MAD is now alive…and he’s everything she ever dreamed of. Or did she? We get some back and forth of how she met her current best friend Henry, and how she seemingly lost her former best friend Mack. Weston is the catalyst that could bring them all together, or make Mack and Henry completely forget Ivy.

I liked that Ivy had to start making realizations about herself. It showed growth, and acknowledgement that she internalized some things.

Honestly if you write FF yourself, I’d highly recommend reading this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book if you like fan fic this is for you. It was so cute and I loved it

3.5-3.75 stars

I’ve really been enjoying pretty much everything I’ve read from this author. This book pulled me in pretty quickly, but it got weird (and then weirder) quite fast as well. I definitely appreciated the exploration of all kind of relationships, fandom, fan fiction, story tropes, etc. (as well as the humour that went along with many of those pieces), but ultimately, I’m not sure I was totally sold on the magic realism elements of the story. Regardless, I still quite enjoyed it, and it was fun to read something that I can’t quite compare to anything else I’ve read recently.

Sophia Gonzales is fast becoming one of my faves for her wit and humor. Ivy’s fanfic writing and unintended consequences had me rolling. It was so good and captured the inner workings of a teenage mind so well while also poking fun at just about every romance trope in the book! Perfectly ridiculous, perfectly angst-ridden, and perfectly sweet in the end. I loved the diverse rep and positive messaging. I am 100% putting this one on my teen daughter’s suggested reading list.

3.5 Stars rounded up

This was super cute, and I loved all the fanfic tropes coming to life in pretty funny ways. Overall a sweet friends to lovers YA contemporary with a side of fun fantasy.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Sophie Gonzales, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's spring break and Ivy has the whole house to herself since her parents are off on a trip! She cannot wait to relax, hangout with her best frined Henry, and watch her favorite TV show. Things start getting weird when the fictional character from her show, Weston, comes to life. Ivy also soon realizes that the storyline Weston is following is from her fanfiction. Ivy soon realizes that Weston's actions may not be as romantic as she thinks and his actions start causing real problems. Ivy starts to wonder what is the "perfect guy".

A fun and funny YA read with realistic characters!

I love Sophie Gonzales’ books! They are great YA novels. My cousin recommended them to me and I’ve enjoyed all that I’ve read so far.

Overall: ★★★
Plot: ★★★.5
Characters: ★★
Enjoyment: ★★★

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist is the Pleasantville-adjacent story of Ivy Winslow who manages to conjure up who she believes is the perfect guy—straight from her fanfiction. 



While I enjoyed the novel’s overall premise (huge Pleasantville fan here) I felt as though the story fell short for me. There were times where I didn’t believe the conflict between Ivy and her Mack, her friend turned crush turned enemy turned romantic love interest. 



The story is told in alternate timelines of past and present, in the present Ivy is navigating having a living being dreamt straight from her fanfiction stories, and in the past the reader uncovers the true feelings and reasons for the massive friendship breakup between her and Mack.

I found myself skipping over the chapters with the timeline set in the past, the conflict and reveal didn’t feel “ah ha!” Enough to warrant an entire timeline dedicated to the fallout. I was far more interested in the present day and what was happening then. 



Overall, not a huge fan, however I did finish it, which speaks volumes to me as someone who won’t get to the end unless the story catches my interest. I really, desperately, wanted to see how the story ended, Sophie Gonzales is phenomenal at ensnaring her readers that way.

For anyone that loves a fictional character, wouldn't you love for them to come to life? And if they say they love you and just want to make you happy, even better! That's what happens to Ivy and everything seems amazing, until things get complicated and she has to decide what (or who) she really wants.

This was cute and I enjoyed the funny references to popular romance tropes, like enemies to lovers and one bed. The story doesn't take itself too seriously and is easy to get through in one or two sittings.

I did think Ivy was pretty immature, she truly didn't see how mean she was being to Mack and thought she was the victim in this. I also thought some things were pretty obvious, but Ivy was determined not to see herself at fault and it took too long to get there. Maybe the characters should have been aged down a little because it felt more like junior high drama.

While this wasn't my favorite of Gonzales' books, I think people will enjoy the fandom aspects and humorous bits sprinkled in.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Rating: 4/5
I received eARC for my honest opinion.

This is a YA romcom and it’s all fun and goofy with an important lesson that is learned. How to open and be your true self, even if that means you might lose the people you love the most. It’s also a story about growth, learning when you’re wrong and why you might be and what you could have done instead, but at that age it’s all a learning experience.

This book does have a little bit of magic in it and all I will say is that when Ivy goes to bed one night during a thunderstorm, she wakes up to find that her crush from a TV show is in her bedroom, and he is a very fictional character. West Weston! Ivy tries to figure out what to do and how did he make it here. She gets her friend Henry involved with what to do with West, but she soon finds out that she will need more than just Henry to help her, she will need her ex-best friend Mack to help as well. The only thing about having Mack around is that she is finding out that she still has feelings for her too.

I loved everything about this book, the setting, the plot, the characters, and the development. I love that in this book you can see yourself in moments from the past with fights with your best friends in high school, and of course it’s always over things that were blown up for no reason at all. I loved that I could feel all the emotions that the friends had, and that was all due to the great writing of Gonzales. I enjoyed that this book was about friendships more than it was about romance, but no worries it does have romance in it but it’s more about mending friendship and having the chance to have a romantic relationship with the one that has stolen your heart. I found Ivy’s character to be easy to connect with and relate with. With Mack, it was more like a flashback feeling of past friendships and something that I hated that my friends would do. Henry, I just adored him, and I laughed out loud at some of the things that he would say. West, omg! I loved his character so much in the book, I know that I have dreamed up a fictional character a time or two in, but I don’t know what I would have done if they would have come alive.

This was my first Sophie Gonzales book, and it will not be my last one, I love her writing style, the pace of her books and how she brings out the characters.

I love fanfiction and if you do too, you can relate to Ivy a lot in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA books, with a small amount of romance, a lot about friendships, magical realism, and LGBTQ.

I want to thank NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the opportunity to review this book.

I really enjoyed this! It was every “what if…” come to life. Imagine your fanfic comes to life and at first it’s great, but then you don’t know what’s real and what’s not. It’s such a great concept. I was a little annoyed at a certain point, which took it down a Star, but other than that, I really enjoyed it!

Listen... I know that I wasn't the target audience for this book, so therefore my opinion isn't the main one you should listen to. However... gosh was this book frustrating and just way too strange for me to fully enjoy.

Now, I definitely remember the days of being a teenager and how we would always blow everything out of proportion, so I understand where the fight between Ivy and Mack came from (miscommunication makes the most sense in YA books - change my mind). All of their personal grievances and crushes are not where my issue came from.

My biggest issue was the fact that Ivy was so dedicated to keeping Weston around even though the entire time she knew him, she seemed irritated by him. There was not a single moment that they were together other than when he was blatantly complimenting/flirting with her that she seemed to have any true feelings for him that were positive. Otherwise, she just seemed stressed out or annoyed by him. SO WHY WAS SHE SO DETERMINED TO KEEP HIM AROUND AT FIRST?

While I know this story was supposed to be unbelievable, it was truly SO unbelievable at times that it really took me out of the story and made for a subpar listening experience. There are way better YA books out there, so I'd say keep this one at the bottom of your TBR.

P.S. WHY ARE TEENS TALKING ABOUT OMEGAVERSE!?!?!?!

Sophie Gonzales has provided us with a fun and twisty YA fanfic mash-up and it was intriguing from beginning to end. You will grow to enjoy reading the story of the characters and following along. Great read, and very enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend if you enjoy YA and fanfic reads!

This was a cute YA romance book about fanfic writing come to life. Personally, as a 32 year old woman, I was not the target audience for this book but I still enjoyed it! I thought the character of Weston was funny and went through common romcom tropes. I think if you like YA and rom com you would enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for a copy of this work. All opinions are that of my own!

Overall this is a very cute YA! I will say, it took a WHILE for me to get into the story, but I believe that was due to the fact that I am not a huge YA reader.

I loved the alternating timeline and the friends-to enemies-to lovers! I definitely wasn't expecting the story to play out the way that it did, which I absolutely loved! I also loved the concept of this book and I feel that young teens can really connect with and enjoy this story.

It was funny, it was cute, and it was interesting. Truly a good book!