Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - Perfect on Paper

This is such a cute book! I found the characters all very different but charming in their own ways. The character development was great! I loved the progression of the relationships. It was cozy, heartwarming and silly but also dealt with some pretty heavy stuff. Highly recommend!

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tinysierra's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The premise was fun! It was a cute queer bisexual centered story. I love the discussions about attachment styles, setting boundaries and communicating needs.

I loved that there was brief but casual asexual rep in the side characters. Darcy gets a letter from an asexual student asking for advice about their relationship. Darcy’s response is spot on. It was really nice to see. There were other queer characters as well.

Along the way we get to see problems/tensions with the main character’s parents relationships and how it affects the children/main characters as well.

If you like this book, I recommend Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See or Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao

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bookishmelissaa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

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this_momma_is_booked's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

4.0

This was such a cute and quick YA romance listen. I loved the premise of it because it felt very 90s, in a way. In a world that is so technologically driven, I appreciate the fact that people were handwriting letters and dropping them off in a mysterious locker. I also felt that the conflicts in this book were not only age appropriate but also entirely reasonable - unlike so many other YA books, the characters were average teens and reacted as such. I loved the secondary plot point of Darcy learning to express her fears (not having her sexuality taking seriously if she dates men) and realizing that, ultimately, others' opinions of her don't matter as much as her opinion of herself.

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dwoht's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

good bisexual representation!

i started reading this thinking it's the typical best friends to lovers story, turns out i was wrong but it's a good kind of wrong because i like the two main characters. they're cute and they complement each other well.

i know darcy will be revealed as the locker 89 but i still dreaded it and when it finally happened i felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed! i closed the book for a few minutes to recover.

darcy was held accountable for her actions of course and she's also self aware and tried to correct her mistakes as best as she can. darcy is relatable as all of the characters combined, but darcy is something. she's endearing. (maybe because i see a bit of myself in her lol)

it also reminds me of sex education's first season where they also do the relationship advice thingy which is cool.

i enjoyed this book despite the second hand embarassments that i felt. it's a great read, can't complain much.

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literarylocd's review against another edition

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funny 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

4.0

Darcy, I like you a lot, but you don’t have the range

I don’t know why but that quote made me laugh out loud.

I enjoyed this book. A lot of parts felt very “white girl entitled” but it made sense for the main character. I think despite being marketed to the YA audience, the book covers important topics such as sexual and gender identity, toxic family relationships, friendships and biphobia.

I liked that

Darcy actually faced consequences for her actions. Around the 25% mark it became obvious that she’d probably be found out as locker 89 and her advice did have real life implications (for better or worse). She wasn’t absolved of guilt immediately and had to learn and understand that she was wrong

I appreciated the conversation the QQQ had about biphobia (both internalised and perpetuated by both the straight and queer community). However, I HATED

the “turning straight or lesbian” comment made by her father. like ew. And then at the end, he’s all cool with her dating a boy (don’t wanna unpack that) but they spoke about him being either “disappointed” by it or “getting used to it”. I need everybody involved to be so serious with me. It would not have been hard to include a comment or note about him apologising to Darcy for his previous comments and the rest of it could’ve been left out. Her father is biphobic and will probably always be biphobic but the ending with him felt like the author was saying ‘oh well, he’s cool’.

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jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.25

I loved this book. Frenemies to lovers kinda vibe between the two main characters.
We have bisexuals, lesbians, gay men and even aroace rep which is so rare it feels in literature.

We follow growth and destruction of different relationships at points with all sorts of twists. With a happy ending overall this really just kept me enthralled and I loved the characters so much despite their faults

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tuliptohru's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

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