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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales is a laugh-out-loud unconditional love story that alternates between past events and a magically bizarre present. It pokes fun at fanfiction tropes while also dealing with deeper issues of self discovery, friendship, and what love is.
Having read plenty of fanfiction as well as dabbled in writing my own, I connected to Ivy and her desire to play out her personal fantasies by adding herself as the original character love interest to a fictional character. There were even many times when I imagined my fictional love interest appearing in real life. Though, I never imagined things going the way they do for her and Weston.
I found her reactions, internal comments, and portrayal of the events from her perspective hilarious. I can't remember the last time I laughed that much and often while reading a book. Her parents and the reactions of other characters only added to the humor.
I also love a good friends-to-lovers trope, though the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers was a new twist for me. It's also interesting how the story unfolds in "Then" and "Now" alternating chapters. It leaves a lot of mystery of how she got to the present that is revealed throughout the story. It also means that a fight gets resolved before it begins, which surprisingly worked.
The emotions were completely believable, even with the humor. The way Ivy reacts to her feelings of jealousy and the way she perceives her own actions and justifies them in her head are very relatable, as is her need to not feel alone while also wanting independence. She doesn't want to be a background character but to be the center of someone's life. To be loved, adored even. But can reality even provide that?
Since the summary only hints at this, I won't spoil it, but I'll say that the fictional Weston isn't just there as some new love interest or comic relief, but has a deeper purpose in the story, including in Ivy's acceptance of her feelings.
The thing that surprised me the most was that the story went into really deep issues. I'm not just talking about self discovery and this sense of ownership friends can have over one another. I'm talking getting everything you want and even concepts like creation and free will.
Yeah, heavy topics, so having that during the part of the book where the humor is less common was hard, but it was still interesting. It made it a bit jarring to go back to humor at the end. Also, I think some of it went over my head or maybe there just wasn't a specific explanation given for some things.
The story also has a lot of queer rep with the MCs, with Ivy coming to terms with being bi, Mack being lesbian, and Henry aroace. I'm not sure why this isn't revealed in the description, but it adds more depth to a surprisingly layer story. And, although I wish we got a bit more of the actual romance, I'm not sure there would have been room with everything.
So, if you're up for a mix of humor, heart, and some deep self evaluations intermixed with fantasy elements, this is definitely worth a read.
Having read plenty of fanfiction as well as dabbled in writing my own, I connected to Ivy and her desire to play out her personal fantasies by adding herself as the original character love interest to a fictional character. There were even many times when I imagined my fictional love interest appearing in real life. Though, I never imagined things going the way they do for her and Weston.
I found her reactions, internal comments, and portrayal of the events from her perspective hilarious. I can't remember the last time I laughed that much and often while reading a book. Her parents and the reactions of other characters only added to the humor.
I also love a good friends-to-lovers trope, though the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers was a new twist for me. It's also interesting how the story unfolds in "Then" and "Now" alternating chapters. It leaves a lot of mystery of how she got to the present that is revealed throughout the story. It also means that a fight gets resolved before it begins, which surprisingly worked.
The emotions were completely believable, even with the humor. The way Ivy reacts to her feelings of jealousy and the way she perceives her own actions and justifies them in her head are very relatable, as is her need to not feel alone while also wanting independence. She doesn't want to be a background character but to be the center of someone's life. To be loved, adored even. But can reality even provide that?
Since the summary only hints at this, I won't spoil it, but I'll say that the fictional Weston isn't just there as some new love interest or comic relief, but has a deeper purpose in the story, including in Ivy's acceptance of her feelings.
The thing that surprised me the most was that the story went into really deep issues. I'm not just talking about self discovery and this sense of ownership friends can have over one another. I'm talking getting everything you want and even concepts like creation and free will.
Yeah, heavy topics, so having that during the part of the book where the humor is less common was hard, but it was still interesting. It made it a bit jarring to go back to humor at the end. Also, I think some of it went over my head or maybe there just wasn't a specific explanation given for some things.
The story also has a lot of queer rep with the MCs, with Ivy coming to terms with being bi, Mack being lesbian, and Henry aroace. I'm not sure why this isn't revealed in the description, but it adds more depth to a surprisingly layer story. And, although I wish we got a bit more of the actual romance, I'm not sure there would have been room with everything.
So, if you're up for a mix of humor, heart, and some deep self evaluations intermixed with fantasy elements, this is definitely worth a read.
I had high hopes for this one, but as I listened it kept going downhill. Great narrator, though!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It started off pretty cringe but the more I got into it, the funnier it got. I think we’ve all imagined what it would be like to meet our favourite character in real life and this is what happens in this book. This book makes some funny comments about certain tropes that we often think are really sweet but if they were to happen in real life they wouldn’t be so sweet. It also says a lot about finding the “perfect person” and how we often think it’s someone who agrees with everything we do but that’s not the case at all. Despite all these good elements to the story, I still struggled to look past the cringe elements. I hated some of the dialogue and plot and the fights between Mack and Ivy just seemed so childish. I guess that is to be expected with a YA. The ending wasn’t my favourite thing in the world even though I was happy that Ivy and Mack got together.
This one was okay, it was really the end that I didn’t love. The concept is pretty cool and makes sense but at the end it got kind of creepy before it finally got better. I did like that the main character really had to figure out what she truly wanted to fix everything.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
everything about weston becoming real,especially the first time he shows up being IN IVY’S BED WITH HER, is giving me very deep ick and i am not putting myself through a whole book of this
emotional
lighthearted
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