| SUMMARY |
Tegan is dead. She is sixteen years old and she is dead. When she wakes up in heaven, everything is wrong: the angel in charge of creating her personal heaven out of her happiest memory has recreated the motel where she spent the worst weekend of her short life. So she makes a complaint to the angel’s manager, and suddenly they have one month to prove that Tegan is ready for happiness and Zelda, her angel, didn’t make a mistake. The consequences they could otherwise face are unthinkable.

| MY THOUGHTS |
It’s so hard to organize my thoughts on this because it was so good I just want to shove it in everyone’s face and force feed it to them. First, you have to know that this is a book that made me both cry and laugh, which is a hard feat.

The book reads as pretty young YA. It can be immature at times (the amount of time the word “butt” is said in this book…), but it also deals with pretty serious topics, and I think anyone could get something out of it.

I really liked the premise and I think it was extremely well done. The way heaven (or just the afterlife in general) was represented was very original. In The Worst Perfect Moment, heaven is a bureaucracy, and it isn’t necessarily better than the ones on earth. Mistakes happen, everything is slow, there are angels with preconceived ideas, and to be honest most of them do not understand what it’s like to be human, or what is really needed to achieve happiness. I found that interesting and it added a lot to this story.

In the end, I enjoyed the plot, but what really made this book great is the characters. They were all really well made, they were complex people and extremely realistic. First I’m going to talk about the two main characters, and then I want to fangirl on their relationship 😊

Tegan: Tegan is my pookie <3 I want to give her a hug and a forehead kiss. She has been through so much, and she is such a people pleaser, it was heartbreaking. I could definitely see parts of myself in her, especially her need to be seen, to be loved, for someone to pick her. She was pretty immature sometimes, but considering all that she’s been through, it’s more than ok. She has so much emotions, but they scare her, so she bottles them up and tries to pretend them away. Also I’m not an expert but I’m pretty sure she has OCD. Overall I think she was my favourite character.

Zelda: oh my goddddd zeldaaaa <3 she was so funny and cute and weird and bubbly, but she also has been through a lot, and she tries her best to prove that she can do this, that she didn’t make a mistake, that she is good at her job. She does a great work of helping Tegan through it all. She is an angel akdksjajdjdalaks (literally tho. she has a wings and all and it is SO cute)

Their relationship was so cute, they were enemies to lovers in the best/cutest way possible, and their banter was just perfect. Especially Zelda, my girl is an underrated pro at flirting omggg. They are there for each other through their hardest moments, and even when they aren’t on the best terms, they care about each other so much it makes my heart flutter. They simply had the best fluff.

I also really loved the portrayals of Tegan’s love for her sister and dad. These three have been through it, but they stick together and I loved seeing the flashbacks of interactions between them. Especially with her little sister, she was so cute I wanted to give her the biggest hug every single time I saw her name.

Favourite quote: The scariest thing is that when I brush aside the guilt and shame, I’m left with one single fact: I like Zelda. I don’t want her to go because I like her.
She makes me laugh. She confuses me in the best way. She keeps me on my toes, like a never ending turn on Dance Dance Revolution. She surprises me. She makes my heart feel too big for my chest. She makes me feel sort of okay about being dead. She makes me feel like hope isn’t such a sucky emotion after all.
She can’t leave.

I have a million and one feelings about this book. All of them are good. Stellar even. I cried a lot. Books don't often make me cry, but this one made me cry in that achey chest pain sort of way, not the gutteral sobbing way, but the way that you've realized something deeply profound and suddenly find you can't stop the tears from coming. This book was messy, it was gritty, but it was funny, and it was loving, and it was pain.

Teagan was a very messy kid. As much as she tried to act like she was an adult, and could handle anything, she was anything but. She loved stuffed animals, her little sister, and she constantly talked in her head to her favorite teacher about her feelings. At heart she was just a scared child who didn't want to face the fact that she might not have been good enough for anyone in her life. That she may not have been enough to make them stay, for them to love her.

But then a stubborn, sarcastic, idiotic but loveable angel showed her that she was worthy. That she could be picked first. And she realized that there were people in her life, before she died, that would always pick her first. That had picked her first. Even through their own grief and troubles, there was someone who would love her no matter what.

Her heaven may not have been perfect, but she came to realize in the end that it was hers, and she didn't want to be scrubbed of all the emotions she was so lucky to be able to feel.

It's something so raw and human to be able to live, to be able to feel. To be able to recognize the ways we feel and how others make us feel. To be dead and have to come to terms not only with that, but with feelings we ran from our whole lives... would be devastating.

I'd read this book again and again with no hesitation.

This was a very bittersweet read. It shows how complex emotions and humans are. I think it does a really good job of showing how every moment is complicated and can be happy and sad at the same time. I feel like both of the main characters show a lot of really great growth over the course of the book. I love them both and I’m actually obsessed with Zelda. This is a great read about grief and how to appreciate the moments you have and what is right in front of you. I like how the book ended with Teagan talking about how important people are to making each moment perfect. I hope one day she gets to see her dad and Quinn again.

This novel was excellent. Simply fantastic. It grabbed me right at the start and kept me turning pages until it was done (literally one sitting). It was clever and original, but most of all it was fun. This novel made me happy, sad, and happy-sad at different points throughout. It reads like a YA novel but I think anyone would enjoy reading it.


Highlights:
-The overall premise was original and a neat take on what heaven/afterlife could be like. Personally, it was somewhat of a psychological horror novel at times (I mean that is a good way), but results may vary.
-The writing was very well done, clever, and delightful. There were some great narrative devices used throughout and the story was well constructed. At times while reading I was frustrated (not usually good!), but so was the MC so it was like we were experiencing the story together.
-I liked the banter (and chemistry) between the characters. It wasn’t the most mature, but neither was the MC so it made sense and worked well.
-Characters, and character development! This was essentially the point of the novel so it makes sense, but it was still satisfying! The reader gets to follow the main character closely and experience every step of their journey.
-This novel made me stop and think, which isn’t that common. This book had a great underlying message that was cleverly executed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

wow, this was incredibe! it was honestly so perfect. i love the writting style, even though it was confusing at time. i completely adore the charactors, they were so vivid. this story was amazing, i loved every bit of it!