Perfect On Paper Review

Title: Perfect on Paper
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Style: Young Adult Romance,  Contemporary, Queer
Rating: 4/5

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.  Perfect on Paper releases March 9th!

Darcy Phillip is a sixteen year old bi-sexual junior who is in love with her best friend Brooke.  Darcy is also the mastermind behind locker 89, an advice column started by Darcy as a freshman.  Classmates write anonymous letters to locker 89 in hopes of getting some relationship advice.  Darcy is discovered by Alexander Brougham who decides to blackmail into helping win back his girlfriend Winona. Darcy wants to keep the locker a secret otherwise her past might catch up to her and Brooke's friendship could be lost.  Darcy just has to help sexy, entitled, and arrogant Brougham and the locker secret will be kept safe.  Theres nothing that can go wrong with this plan.  

Representation matters and this book has a whole lot of that.  I found myself reflecting on my high school experience while reading this book. I appreciated that the characters had somewhere to go to feel safe and open about who they are. While I am a 36 (almost 37) year old cis heterosexual female, I do not recall my high school having an outlet for those looking for a safe space to talk about their sexual identity.  My hope is that this book reflects many schools though out the world.  Gonzales knows her target audience and writes it well.  The characters are spot on with how high schoolers would act, feel, think and react. The experiences they face are authentic and real. The advice column added a nice touch too.  I felt like Gonzales kept me in check with my assumptions on the gender of those seeking advice as my mind often went to a M/F relationship which I need to change. Overall this is a really cute and quick read that I feel every high schooler should read.