Review: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
Perfect on Paper is a YA novel about Darcy, a girl who operates an advice business out of an empty locker at her high school. Darcy is completely anonymous in this role until Brogham, an Australian boy who was recently dumped by a girl he still likes, catches her getting the letters out of the locker. From here, the two strike a deal where Darcy will coach Brogham to winning his ex back. Darcy and Brogham spend more time together as Brooke, Darcy's best friend and longtime secret crush, falls for another girl.
I bought this book because people were terribly biphobic to the author on Twitter. I picked it up on a whim; I don't read a lot of YA contemporary's expecting to have a nice read and be able to give this book a nice review and move on. I did not anticipate loving this book so much.
The book begins by firmly rooting the reader in Darcy's life; we meet her family and friends and see the upheaval that Brogham finding out her secret brings. But watching how her familial relationships and friendships change over the course of the book was just as interesting as the romantic relationship in the novel. I loved her sister Ainsley, a college student living at home to save money who also makes youtube videos about clothing alterations (a genre of youtube I love to watch). And I particularly loved the casual trans representation done with Ainsley, especially the modeling of how to tell stories from pre-coming out as trans with the correct name and pronouns. Also, she was just a fun excellent big sister character.
Darcy's mom is a science teacher at her school, and the reason Darcy is at school after hours able to pick up the locker letters unnoticed. He parents are divorced, and she spends the weekend with her dad every other week and overall has a decent relationship with her parents but wishes they had more time to spend with her, though she isn't going to tell you that. I really liked that the tension in Darcy's relationships with adults didn't stem from her queerness.
Brooke has been Darcy's best friend for years, and Darcy is hiding that she is behind the advice coming from the locker and that she gave Brooke bad advice through the locker because she likes Brooke. Despite these secrets, Brooke is her closest friend, and Darcy flounders as Brooke begins to express interest in a girl that isn't Darcy.
Finally, Brogham is from Australia, as is the author, has a tense home life, is on the swim team, and wants relationship coaching. This is obviously where a lot of the plot is spent, so I don't want to say much more and spoil the surprises.
My experience reading this book was really interesting because I read the first few chapters thinking I was going to have a fine time reading and end up giving this book a solid four and recommend it as a fun read. I certainly did have fun while reading, but as time went on, I began to think that this book was surely one of my favorites. I really love this book.
This book spends a lot of time focused on how internalized biphobia, and biphobia coming from external sources, really harms bi folks. As Darcy starts to realize that she likes Brogham, she feels less like she belongs in queer spaces, a feeling that isn't helped by a friend telling her she is lucky she can just choose a boy and not have to face any judgment for being with a girl. I really loved the way the author wrote the romance with a bi character and a straight character; Gonzales clearly wanted to talk about bi-erasure from queer spaces and did so really excellently.
This book handles many other serious topics, including the unethical nature of Darcy using her locker business information against people she knows in her life really well. Darcy is certainly not a character without flaws, and we get to actively see her grapple with knowing she is doing something wrong. We also see her and others, anxiety being treated with kindness and care and not derision.
This isn't a boring after-school special, though. The plot is fun and full of teen drama, and the writing style is wonderfully easy to read. I absolutely flew through this book and was delighted to do so. I loved the balance of fun and serious; I thought the voice was really strong, very occasionally the Americans would use words that read to me as words more likely for an Australian to say, but by in large, the author did an excellent job writing an American high school (though it seems unlikely to me that the student body wouldn't have had a GSA and would have filled that hole with a club that wasn't affiliated with that organization, thought this really isn't a big deal issue and I liked their club name).
I loved this book and will be delighted to continue to read this author's work.
I gave this book five stars. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read a really excellent YA contemporary, who wants to read more queer fiction, or folks who specifically want to read more about bisexual characters figuring out where they fit in queer community.
