Perfect On Paper by Sophie Gonzales ARC Review

In 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?

Released March 9th, 2021

*I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review! Thanks to Wednesday Books for the opportunity! *

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Perfect On Paper has been one of my most anticipated releases this year because I absolutely adored Only Mostly Devastated. First of all, I just love Sophie Gonzales. I love her witty writing style, I love her characters, and I love the stories she chooses to tell, but what I love most about her books is the way she captures the complexities of human emotion and relationships. Her characters are so dimensional and their emotions are complicated- which makes them relatable and truthful. It is so easy to connect to them, even when they are going through something you personally have never experienced. This book explores all types of relationships from romantic connections to friendships to families, and shows how these characters learn and grow from their mistakes and experiences. It has a ton of different kinds of LGBTQ+ representation, none of which felt contrived, and I so appreciate that all of the characters were multi-faceted individuals who both fully embraced and yet were not entirely defined by their sexual/gender identities. The bi-rep in this book is especially amazing, and really explores the intricacies of what it means to be bi-sexual. All of this is wrapped up in a super cute rom-com that is both hilarious and poignant with a fun plot and a sweet romance. What more could you need?