Almost Perfect On Paper
Sophie Gonzales' latest novel, Perfect On Paper, is a sweet rom-com YA book for those looking to fluff up their TBR this Pride.
This Pride month, I will be featuring LGBT+ novels—both old and new—in the newsletter. For today’s issue, we have new release Perfect On Paper by Sophie Gonzales.
Everyone in school knows about locker eighty-nine: the locker on the bottom right, at the end of the hall near the science labs.
One of my secret guilty pressures is reading advice columns. Whether they are published in the form of Reddit forums, Dear Prudence articles or Modern Love podcasts, I love them all. Sure, that may not sound like a sinful guilt pleasure, by most measures it’s relatively harmless, but the truth is I read them because I enjoy knowing somebody’s life is worth than mine.
So meet Darcy Phillips, a bisexual teenager, who has been secretly running a love advice service out of an unused locker for most of her high school career. When Darcy’s secret gets discovered by the new transfer student, Alexander Bougham, she has to help him get his ex back or risk her identity being revealed.
And since Darcy has been using her relationship advice service to (mayhaps unethically) keep an eye on her best friend/crush, she really can’t have afford to have anything leak out.
The shining star of the novel here, in my personal opinion, was Darcy’s love advice, Darcy’s advice to other lovestruck teenagers was published alongside the chapters; I really liked how her advice was based off relationship theories like love languages and attachment styles. It felt really realistic, especially since Darcy admits she never had a real relationship before. The advice didn’t come off too teenager-y; even though I wasn’t the direct recipient of her advice, I can vouch that her advice was solid and applicable no matter your age group.
As LGBT+ fiction goes, Perfect On Paper is definitely on the lighter end of the spectrum, compared to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or They Both Die At The End. No one meets an untimely end here and the stakes are relatively low (speaking as someone who hasn’t been a 17 year old for five years).
I also really appreciated the representation of bisexual characters in this novel. I related to Darcy as a female-aligned person dating a straight cis man. The scenes affirming Darcy’s sexual as a bisexual person were a little campy but still touching and I found myself smiling as I read it.
My only quibble is that I found the way some of the arcs were resolved slightly lacking. The storylines felt a little rushed especially towards the end, and I would’ve liked an additional chapter or two to really flesh out the other characters.
Unfortunately for me, I had the ending of Perfect On Paper spoiled for me even before I even had a chance to read it. I won’t do you the same disservice (obviously) but I don’t think the spoiler took anything away from the plot.
Regardless, Gonzales’ novel is a light and easy read for this Pride Month. Darcy is a likeable character even despite her flaws, and despite her less-than-stellar plan to woo her best friend, I still found myself rooting for her throughout. So if you’re looking for some LGBT+ fiction that is sweet and not too heavy on darker themes, Perfect On Paper is definitely a novel you should put on your TBR list.
Rating: 4/5