Published: 9 March 2021 (print)/11 March 2021 (audio) 
Publisher: Wednesday Books/Hodder Children’s Books
Pages: 352/8 hrs and 58 mins
Narrator: Barrie Kreinik
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
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?
One thing I’ve discovered is I enjoy books set in US high schools if they are written by an Australian. I picked this up for my #AussieYAChallenge but was incredibly confused with the American narrator. But it ended up ok because it’s a good story and does have decent Australian representation in it.
The US school system is a baffling thing anyway but I liked that it didn’t feel so engrained in the school. We get story outside of school a lot which helped balance it. I also enjoyed how even though it followed the US style YA story of having these school wide social media/student organised systems in the form of Darcy’s advice business, it wasn’t weird and unsettling. It was something I had seen with One of Us is Lying, and a few others – a public forum, app, or secrets blog that ruled the school, caused drama, or blackmailed people. This is more like Dear Wendy which technically was university and more public, but the premise was the same: a write in advice service.
The secret locker business was interesting, and the way Darcy explains it was set up is reasonable, as is the eventually outcome of the whole endeavour. Darcy has an interest in helping people and makes sure she does her research and isn’t doing it for gossip or nefarious purposes. But like all things, it’s the invested interest and biases than can get you into trouble.
The hired for advice thing was well played out, and I liked how the relationship between Brougham and Darcy evolved. The blurb is slightly misleading, but from Darcy’s perspective it is not entirely untrue. While there is drama I enjoyed the personal nature of it and it never felt unrealistic. The often overdone, overreaction unreality was missing and it was refreshing to see.
I enjoyed the queer aspect where the bisexual representation was handled well, as well as the exploration of other issues in the school club discussions. It isn’t a side plot per se, Gonzales interweaves everything to be connected somehow, but it’s another aspect of Darcy’s character and it’s a great way to show her growth as well as tie it into the conflicts of the story.
Even with the US setting Gonzales brought the Aussie writing style that made it feel natural. With this also came the benefit of having an Australian character that didn’t sound like a painful stereotype or an American in disguise. Brougham got to actually be a full character and not a background voice of cliché phrases. Gonzales does sneak in a few slang words and some unspoken things which any good Aussie could pick up on, and while it felt a little like a nod to the Aussie reader or a brief education, it still felt ok and within the narrative. I never felt like we stopped the story to have a wedged in “Australian moment”, instead it was a fun meeting of cultures.
Kreinik is a good narrator and the voice of Darcy suited her well. There was no bad Aussie accent either which was so good and a nice change. Overall I was pleasantly surprised considering I was a little reluctant going in.
You can purchase Perfect on Paper via the following
Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
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