[Skye’s Review:] Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Perfect On Paper
by Sophie Gonzales
Pages: 304
Published by Wednesday Books
Release Date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQ+, YA
Source: Publisher
Format Read: ARC, eBook
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon

In Sophie Gonzales' Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

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 this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Everyone needs to go and buy this book RIGHT NOW. If you’re on a budget, then you need to go and request it from your library. You need to get your hands on this book ASAP. Meet Perfect on Paper, one of, in my opinion, the best books of 2021 and a new personal favorite book of mine. 

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. I knew this book had 5-star potential from the very first page–and I wasn’t wrong. There was never a dull moment in this book. I was riveted from the start. In fact, it was exceedingly difficult to put this book down. I may or may not have stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this book. No regrets. 

Darcy, our main character, was the perfect combination of sweet and dramatic. I adored her. Her humor and sarcasm were endlessly entertaining. I laughed so many times while reading this book. Cue Alexander Brougham, our love interest, and my new book boyfriend. I LOVE MY LITTLE AUSTRALIAN CINNAMON ROLL SO MUCH. If you couldn’t tell, I’m really passionate about this book and the characters. I have no shame. In addition to these two main leads, we have a great cast of side characters. My favorites were Finn, Brougham’s best friend, and Ainsley, Darcy’s sister. They cracked me up. I need Netflix to make this book a movie stat.

Now, if you know me even the slightest bit, you know that I live for witty banter. Let me tell you, this book had that in spades. Darcy and Brougham have some of the funniest, most entertaining banter I’ve ever read. And that’s saying a lot coming from me. Just saying. 

Sophie Gonzales incorporated a lot of LGBTQ+ representation in this book, and she wrote it very well. For example, Darcy is bi, her sister is trans, her best friend is lesbian, and Brougham’s best friend is gay. One thing I really loved was that Darcy’s high school has a Queer and Questioning Club which is meant to serve as a support group for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community and provide them with a safe space. In this club, they can talk about any problems, questions, or concerns they have and get feedback from each other. It’s a space that allows them to feel heard and accepted at all times. If you haven’t read the author’s review on Goodreads, you should go do that. She talks about biphobia, which is addressed in this book, and why she decided to write this book as a m/f romance instead of a f/f romance. 

If you couldn’t tell, I really loved this book. I cannot say enough good things about it. I can’t wait until it releases so I can get my physical copy. I know this will be a book I reread anytime I need a happy read. I encourage everyone to read Perfect on Paper! 

TWs: biphobia, internalized biphobia, divorce, alcohol, drugs, and toxic parents