A review by wordsareworlds
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I enjoyed this book, with a few reservations that keep it from being a stellar read for me. I saw a review before I started that called it a good "beginners" queer book, and while I didn't get it at the time, they're right. There's a lot of telling, some showing, and then that showing is augmented with some more telling. The core messages were great and I loved the relationship, but there were definitely times I felt like I was reading the novel equivalent of an after school special (not because of content, but delivery). The writing felt repetitive at times - the word "bluestocking" was used 53 times in the book, including in the phrase "changing lives in their beautiful bluestocking way." Which seems fine by itself, but as the only personality descriptor for a group of women who appeared repeatedly throughout the book I was fed up.

I did adore the romantic relationship and the conflicts felt grounded. Both Tommy and Philippa recognized what what they needed to do to move forward together and did it, so I 100% believe in their HEA. I also loved reading about a heroine who is large but the only references to her size are positive ones. Tommy loves Philippa's curves, and thinks about them in an adoring, sexy way. I wish we got more of that in other books. That being said, the scene where Tommy is transforming into the old man costume and the later scene where Philippa dons a hasty "man" outfit were gender essentialist about physicality. The second scene isn't bad by itself, but after the first scene I couldn't overlook the way it was stated Philippa could never look like a man because of her body shape. 

The last confrontation with Philippa's parents came very close to spoiling the whole end of the book for me.
After such strong language about their desires destroying her happiness, the extreme actions her mother took throughout the whole book, and the bitter feelings between her mother and father I didn't believe for a moment they would react the way it was written. And then Philippa's positive feelings towards them and promise to visit felt like an absolution they hadn't earned, and an opening for further emotional abuse in the future.
 

CN
emotional abuse from parents, societal homophobia, grief, explicit sex
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