Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Mr. Perfect on Paper

An interesting premise but not handled well for me. Thanks to HarperCollins Canada for an ARC to review.

This one started out fun but I didn’t really like the main character. And as fun as the set-up seemed, it was odd that they were trying to make this literal millionaire relatable.

One point I was hopeful about is the inclusion of anxiety. Dara is very open about having generalized anxiety disorder and she is constantly managing it throughout the book. But each time she introduces it to people, she gives them dictionary definition and she does this very often. So much so that we got basically the exact same paragraph every few pages.

I would also be curious about Jewish readers’ thoughts on this one. All of Dara’s dates have to do with significant Jewish holidays and as someone who’s not Jewish I learned a lot about these holidays and traditions, which I really appreciated. However at times it felt like Dara looked down on people who were “bad” Jewish people, ie they didn’t follow all the traditions, and it was very uncomfortable.

Some spoilery thoughts on the ending.

I didn’t enjoy the ending much as it felt like the author had written herself into a corner. The main premise of the story is meant to be that Dara has a idea of who her perfect match is but attraction has different plans. And yet rather than just relying on this “perfect on paper” vs attraction, the author introduces a very significant flaw to Mr. Perfect, relevant to the paragraph above. And then they continue to refer to him as literally perfect! He was not perfect at all and this flaw made me really distrust him and dislike the match, which I suppose made the revelation for Dara much easier.

Content Warnings

rowan_reviews's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dara is a powerful, high-earning executive who also has Generalized Anxiety Disorder, runs a Jewish dating app & is single. Coming from a line of matchmakers, and her bubbe's health failing, can she find Mr. Perfect?

Cute, and sweet, and relatable, and uplifting. How love changes us, how it makes us brave and more ourselves.

I loved it.

Content Warnings