Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales: An Absolute Delight

What: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Who: Hodder Children’s Books

When: March 11th 2021

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Hachette Australia for review.

Everyone in school knows about Locker 89. If you slip a letter in outlining your relationship woes, along with a fiver, an anonymous source will email you with the best advice you’ve ever gotten.

Darcy Phillips, a quiet, sweet junior, is safe in the knowledge no one knows she’s the genius behind locker 89. Until Brougham, a senior, catches her.

The deal Brougham offers is tempting: in exchange for his silence–and a generous coach’s fee to sweeten the deal–Darcy can become Brougham’s personal dating coach to help him get his ex-girlfriend back.

And as for Darcy, well, she has a fairly good reason to want to keep her anonymity. Because she has another secret. Not too long ago, she abused locker 89 to sabotage the budding romance of her best friend, Brooke. Brooke, who Darcy’s been in love with for a year now.

Yeah. Brooke can’t find out about that. No matter what.

Perfect on Paper was an absolute delight. I loved the story, I loved the humour, I loved the main character, and I loved the romance. I feel like even though this book is set in America with an American main character it still felt very Australian. I don’t know why but it did. Maybe it’s because I know the author is Australian but it also just had this certain vibe.

Anyway! Perfect on Paper follows sixteen year old Darcy who runs an advice business out of locker number 89 at her school. Basically, other school students send in letters asking for relationship advice (with a tip), and Darcy replies. She’s actually pretty great at it, which is why Australian transfer Alexander Brougham asks for her help in winning back his ex-girlfriend. Cue hate to love romance!!

One of the things I loved best about Perfect on Paper was the fact that the main relationship is f/m. This isn’t to say that I don’t love bi books where the character ends up with someone who shares their gender because I do. But I also feel there is a dearth of bi stories where the character ends up with someone who doesn’t share their gender, especially if that gender means that biphobic folks think they’re in a “straight” relationship. The conversation in this book regarding that problematic way of thinking was absolutely on point. It touched on biphobia in the queer community, and also internalised biphobia regarding whether or not you can belong in a queer space if you’re a girl in relationship with a guy (or vice versa).

These conversations are so important, and the fact that this one happens in a book written for teens is just so amazing. So that bi teens can see themselves in Darcy and also feel validation around similar feelings that they might have had. And also for the folks who are contributing to that harmful biphobic narrative (whether they meant to or not). I was just living for it, and I’ll never be over books having conversations teens might not have anywhere else. This is why fiction is so important!!!

That’s not the only thing I loved about Perfect on Paper, though. I loved the humour, and I loved the exploration of different types of relationships. I also loved how Darcy learned that being honest with people is important, in more ways than one. It’s important to own up to your mistakes, it’s important to tell someone how you feel about them, and it’s also important to tell people when you feel like they’re not treating you right. Sometimes they’re not doing it on purpose, and staying silent is never going to give them the message you want that silence to send. This book.

I sped through Perfect on Paper in about two days because it was incredibly addictive, and I have a feeling I might re-read it in the future so I can be all knowing instead of willingly going along with what Darcy thinks of a certain someone when she first meets him. If you’re looking for a laugh out loud rom-com with a queer leading lady that isn’t afraid to talk about important topics then I can’t recommend Perfect on Paper enough.

© 2021, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

trigger warning