Challenge Corner discussion

"Perfectly wonderful.” ―Becky Albertalli, New York Times–bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

In Sophie Gonzales' Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she's not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.

Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

Starting now!

12% - (view spoiler)[ I really hope she'll end up with Brooke but I'm scared she might fall in love with Brougham instead.. (hide spoiler)]

25%- (view spoiler)[Raina is into Brooke and Brooke probably will fall for her :( I bet she'll also find out what Darcy did... (hide spoiler)]

50% - (view spoiler)[ I don't really want to read about her best friend anymore. I just want to focus on her and Brougham. I loved when they were alone at Disney; it was pretty cute (hide spoiler)]
71% - (view spoiler)[ I knew it was going to happen but ugh I hate it. (hide spoiler)]
100% - (view spoiler)[I LOVED this book. It was so sweet when they finally talked. The rep was also really good. (hide spoiler)]

I adored this!!
26% (view spoiler)[ I like that Darcy takes her job seriously and researches things instead of winging it. I'm not surprised that she used her position to sabotage Brooke's potential relationship, but that was pretty terrible. (hide spoiler)]
53% (view spoiler)[ Oh Darcy. She likes Brooke so much but keeps doing things the wrong way. Also I just need Darcy and Brougham to get together! (hide spoiler)]
79% (view spoiler)[ When Brougham told Darcy their kiss meant nothing, I almost cried. So sad! And Brooke has every right to be livid but telling everyone at school was kind of harsh (hide spoiler)]
Finished (view spoiler)[ I'm glad she worked it out with Brooke and she is with Alex now. Also the bisexual conversation was so well written (hide spoiler)]

Kelly wrote: "12% - [spoilers removed]"

Yeah I wondered at first too

Kelly wrote: "50% - [spoilers removed]
71% - [spoilers removed]
100% - [spoilers removed]"

Yes Disney was great! I thought the rep was amazing

I'm so glad you loved it! I was hesitating between four and five stars :)

Aly wrote: "79% [spoilers removed]"

Yeah (view spoiler)[ I kind of hated Brooke after that because of it (hide spoiler)]

I really liked her other book too

Starting this now!

Ch 6: (view spoiler)[Oh shit.. well that was awkward learning about Brooke and Jaz. Also free food? Sign me up for a trip to Disneyland as well. Hot damn. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 12: (view spoiler)[Well I'm glad she finally told someone the truth.. even if she should've told Brooke herself first. Also awkward that she told Ray's truth to Brooker... all kinds of messed up right now. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 18: (view spoiler)[Aw poor Brougham! I'm glad that Darcy is there for him right now and they are back to being friends. (hide spoiler)]
Finished: (view spoiler)[Her and Alex are adorable! I love them together. Although I would've loved Darcy with anyone really. (hide spoiler)]

@ Finished LOL I agree. I'm just happy she's happy

Aly wrote: "@ Finished LOL I agree. I'm just happy she's happy"

She was just easy to really like lol so anyone would've been a good addition to her.

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RESTARTING DECEMBER 28TH 2020
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through Chapter 6 / 26%

(view spoiler)[ super cute so far although i agree with Alaina, it was super awkward to learn about the friend and her previous sabotage. glad she's handling this one...a little better

and although I'm super impressed with her relationship knowledge
she seems really confused on what to do with her own love life/advice

also I'm not sure what's going on with this guy...does he really like this girl he's trying to get back? he's so dodgey.. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 12 (view spoiler)[ i agree, I'm glad she told someone but it's awful that she's getting access to this information and sharing it. murky for sure

sad about him and his parents though. awful. the arguing and cheating and.....ugh. sounds awful to live with (hide spoiler)]

oof Rough(view spoiler)[ night at prom. I'm a little worried about who or what he might have punched
glad they are friends again. sucks the whole scene with the locker. that was crappy (hide spoiler)]

I'm done too(view spoiler)[ and I agree! Adorable, i'm so glad she ended up NOT with Brooke (it seemed like a doomed relationship but an okay friendship) but with Brougham instead!! They were so cute! (hide spoiler)]

Idk why this thing stuck out to me but I hyperfocused on this

1% (view spoiler)[ How would an admin not assign that locker at all? If they forgot the combination, they can hire someone to break the lock and install a new one. It'd be expensive if it's one of those locks installed into the door, but still. (hide spoiler)]

16% I got the answer to my question. (view spoiler)[ Darcy just removed the existence of locker 89 from the analog system the school uses. It's been like 6 years since I was in high school, but I do remember some stuff being only recorded on paper, so that makes sense. (hide spoiler)]

25% (view spoiler)[ I expected something like Darcy saying something to sabotage a potential relationship for Brooke but still... reading the letters she wrote to Brooke and Jaz made me feel so bad for them. I'm not sure if/how Brooke could forgive her. (hide spoiler)]

31% (view spoiler)[ I like how Brougham questions Darcy about her advice. I don't think it's necessarily to undermine her because she does give good advice, but because he sees it from a different perspective and he wants her to acknowledge her assumptions. I agree that not contacting someone can be taken as not interested, moving on, and moving on but interested in rekindling a relationship. You'd need to know quite a bit about the individual's history to be able to accurately guess who they'd react.

I also liked that Brougham was the one in the relationship wanting more communication. It's interesting to see Darcy pull back the layers behind him and being surprised by what she's finding. (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "Idk why this thing stuck out to me but I hyperfocused on this

1% [spoilers removed]"

I know right? (view spoiler)[ I guess they go in to it a little about how she got access to the admin info and just made sure to kick it but you'd think SOMEONE would notice right?
I don't know about her school, but my kid's school - you had to PAY for a locker because there were so many kids, not every kid could have a locker.... (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "31% [spoilers removed
..."

Yay! it sounds like you're liking it! (view spoiler)[ I agree, getting to see her advice was fascinating because it WAS really good advice
but man, I can't imagine being in her shoes - I don't know if I could assume so many things and dole out advice... (hide spoiler)]

Trisha wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "31% [spoilers removed
..."

Yay! it sounds like you're liking it! I agree, getting to see her advice was fascinating because it WAS really good advice
but man, I can't imagine be..."

I really am! I easily got sucked in, especially with the initial kind-of-blackmailing. The characters are a lot of fun and there's some great rep here.

52% (view spoiler)[ I'd be Brougham in this situation too. Darcy's good at advice when it comes to other's lives but she's pretty clueless when it comes to the things she shouldn't if she wants to win over Brooke. Lying and sabotaging a potential relationship isn't a good place to start something new. (hide spoiler)]

73% (view spoiler)[ Yikes! Brooke had every right to be mad and even get her back, but I don't know if that was the way to go. That escalated quickly. (hide spoiler)]

Finished% (view spoiler)[ Aww! I loved this one. I like that Brougham wasn't a jerk like Will from Only Mostly Devastated. Brougham and Darcy understand each other really well and have a great dynamic. (hide spoiler)]