A review by scott_thelibrarian
No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore

4.0

I truly love Steven's work. He creates such realistic characters in every story. This book felt different than his other two books. I could feel anger, sadness, grief, fear, and so many other emotions emitting from his words. The entire story as a whole is a raw, heartbreaking tale of three siblings trying to navigate through the stages of their own grief after losing their father and in the wake of that, each other. The two narrating siblings are flawed and imperfect. They are frustrating and annoying, but these are not negative or bad things because they are hurting. They don't know how to process their sadness and anger, so at times, they can make bad decisions or blame others for their heartache because they are too scared to face the real reason for their grief. Some may look at this story as an angsty teen drama, but I don't. I see it as a masterclass in how teens might process their feelings when they don't truly don't understand where those feelings come from or what those feelings mean. Steven is a phenomenal author, and I plan to read everything he writes. I highly recommend this book!