Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

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 cried a little during the scene about internalized biphobia.

As much as I hate calling books that, this book is so important. I absolutely adored Darcy as a main character. She did make many mistakes which will make you cringe but that just makes her all the more human and endearing.
In fact, it's hard to think of a character I didn't like in this, which is so rare. The romance was so fucking precious it made me feel like a giggly teenager (...which I am). I also loved all the amazing queer rep in this! We have people from various indentities which made my heart go soft.
The way this book handled biphobia (both internalized and very much not) in a subtle way was truly commendable. Also, I'm in love with Brougham.
I loved the Locker 89™ advice sections at the beginning of most chapters. It was enlightening, even for me.
And the way that “You're queer” scene had me crying in the club? Pitiful, really.
This book was also really funny. I was cracking up at multiple points.
Though I have to nitpick about how many times a guy-is-drunk-and-needs-to-be-taken-care-of situation happened. Which is twice, but it's still weird that it happened twice.
And it did take me some time to get invested in everything and guage how I was feeling, but once I was in I was in.
Overall: I would totally recommend this book to everyone!!!

4.5 Perfect on Paper is a sweet and smart romance with a nuanced bi main character and an awesome focus on consent culture and healthy relationship advice that feels organic and not preachy. Supporting characters are in the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and a Queer and Questioning club is part of the plot, helping to answer questions for readers like aro/ace distinctions, etc. Parents are included in the story and are also given nuance and teens make realistic decisions. Strong recommend, this has wide appeal.