Perfect on Paper Book Review

Hi friends! I am super excited about finally posting my Perfect on Paper Book Review. I’ve been sitting on this review since I finished the book in January. Perfect on Paper publishes today, so for once I’m caught up on an ARC. Let’s hop in!

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Title: Perfect on Paper

Author: Sophie Gonzales

Rating: 5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary, Romance

Content Warnings: Bi-phobia, internalised bi-phobia

Format: eARC

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Date Published: March 9th 2021

Goodreads Description:

Darcy Phillips:

• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

I received a review copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Perfect on Paper Book Review

Sophie Gonzales has done it again. I will admit I was a bit hesitant to get into this book, because of how much I loved Only Mostly Devastated (Gonzales’ first book). The first two chapters made me a little nervous, but after that, I couldn’t put the book down.

Perfect on Paper follows Darcy, a highschool junior who runs an “agony aunt” service out of a locker at her school. Enter a boy who blackmails her into helping him get his ex-girlfriend back, and shenanigans ensue.

This book was really cute. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and sometimes that’s needed. I had a hard time warming up to Darcy in the beginning, but she soon won me over. She’s by no means unlikable, I just think she was a little naive. Brougham was a really fun character as well. His backstory made my heart hurt and he’s really one of the sweetest Jock’s you’ll ever meet.

Perfect on Paper Book Review

The friendships in this book are really great, especially between Darcy and Brooke. Things aren’t always easy and relationships are messy. Friend breakups are the worst and I’m glad we got to see characters dealing with relationships that weren’t romantic.

My one complaint about this book is the use of the miscommunication trope. It’s by no means a big plot point in the book, so I can forgive it for that. But honestly, we should all just learn how to communicate.

The thing that made this book really stand out was the way it handled biphobia and internalised biphobia. People seem to think that when a bisexual person is in a straight-presenting relationship, they aren’t bi anymore. Well here’s some news: they are still bi even if they’re not in a same-sex relationship. I would have liked more than one conversation on the topic, but the conversation we got was handled very well.

We don’t get a lot of books that deal explicitly with biphobia, so remember; you are valid, even if you are bi and not in a same-sex relationship. You are still queer. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Let me know your thoughts on Perfect on Paper Book Review!.

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