Author: Jenna Guillaume Genre: YA Romance Pages: 336 Publisher: PanMacmillan Released: 11 August 2020 The day I created a boy started out like any other. Katie didn't mean to create a boy. A boy like a long-lost Hemsworth brother: six-foot tall with floppy hair and eyes like the sky on a clear summer's day; whose lips taste like cookie-dough and whose skin smells like springtime. A boy who is completely devoted to Katie. He was meant to be perfect. But he was never meant to exist. I was kindly sent a copy of this book from Pan Macmillan Australia in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Sometimes, you just have to mould your perfect guy out of clay...
At sixteen, Katie is embarrassed about never having been kissed. One things for sure, she knows she wants her first kiss to be absolutely perfect with the absolutely perfect guy, like her crush Declan Bell Jones, who would never be interested in someone like her. One Friday night with her bestie Libby, Katie, a budding artist and writer, sculpts her perfect guy, listing off to Libby everything her perfect guy would be and have, while Libby, a budding scientists, whips up a concoction of random kitchen ingredients. It's a funny ritual that shouldn't have resulted in actually turning that clay sculpture into a real guy, but it does. Now Katie has her perfect guy, aptly named Guy, and can finally experience her first perfect kiss. But, as Libby and Katie's neighbour Theo have been saying, perfect just doesn't exist. And as Katie gets wrapped up in her first relationship, she comes to realise that creating the perfect guy isn't all its cracked up to be.. This was a really sweet coming of age story! AND, it's set in Australia too, which is always bonus points in my book - the cultural references that Jenna so easily slips into the story were really icing on top of the cake. I also really enjoyed the narration, which saw Katie and Libby break the narrative to chat about how they were retelling the story. It was fun, and the whole book gave off major teen comedy film vibes, so Netflix, please get on it and make this our 2021/22 film obsession! I will say, it took me a bit to get into this book. I think it was a mix of not having read YA for a while (literally since Jenna's first book last year), and that although it's a romance (which is my go-to genre), it's got that fantastical element of 'creating a guy'. Plus, I think I was getting PTSD flashbacks to highschool with all the cringe, second-hand embarrassment moments that Jenna put Katie through. But, once I did get into it, I did really enjoy it, particularly as Katie started to realise that 'perfect' didn't really exist. The only downside was that we only saw the relationship that I was shipping from the get-go for just a couple of pages at the end - I'm going to need Jenna to give us some bonus chapters or something because I need more of that cuteness! See, I'm a sucker for the cute romances! I said this in my review for Jenna's debut What I Like About Me, but this is totally a book my teenage self really would have loved and needed to read! It's certainly a must for all teens to read, so if you're a teen or know a book-loving teen, pick this book up ASAP! |
I'VE MOVED! |