decent easy read.

3.5 stars.
This is by no means a perfect book. I have my issues with it. But it also has its ups, that I loved. So my rating reflects that. It was a good book, but not great. I know some people love it and some don't. I find myself leaning towards liking it.
Everything mental health related was done very well in my opinion. It felt realistic. I also enjoyed Pea's relationship with her family and friend Jae.
I have two problems that stuck out the most.
One, I did not feel a thing for Ben and Pea. Yes, they were good together technically, and Ben is a sweetheart. But, I felt not spark between those two. The fact it all supposedly happened within week also bothered me. People do not fall in love that fast.
Two, I felt a HUGE disconnect from Pea throughout the majority of the book. I don't know if that had to do with the way it was written, or if it was just me, but I had no emotions while reading her prospective.
Overall, it was enjoyable to me, but not a perfect book. If you are looking for a mental health book, I would suggest this if you could get past the two main problems. Again, everything mental health related was done well in my opinion.
Let me know what you think of Sad Perfect in the comments. I would love to hear other's thoughts!

Review originally published at love literature art and reason book review blog.

Sad Perfect was spectacular, emotional, and completely addicting.

I sat down to read it one evening, fretting a little about the deadline because the book came later than expected due to some snow in my area and I don’t like deadlines. However, I didn’t need to worry because I devoured the whole thing in one sitting. I didn’t even have time to grab a bookmark. Everything I needed to do I was going to do “after this chapter” and I just kept going until the book was over. It was that engrossing.

My favorite thing about the book was that it was a contemporary romance and a contemporary “issue” novel at the same time without being too much of either one. It was perfectly balanced. It was hard hitting in terms of the issue it dealt with, but it wasn’t a dark and torture-filled novel that makes you want to either crawl into ball of negativity or roll your eyes at the dramatics. And it was definitely a romance between Pea and Ben, full of the sweet moments I love in a good YA contemporary romance, but it wasn’t just a fluffy and cute contemporary romance, either. I loved the balance and how the book wasn’t inherently dark or, the opposite: light with the main issue totally glossed over. Ben didn’t waltz in and save her from her demons magically, but he wasn’t a dark and negative influence either, and I feel like either situation could’ve happened in an “issue” book. Sad Perfect was balanced in a great way, as the title kind of makes it seem.

The book was written in second person, which could be off putting to some but I think it worked very well. Second person is not a popular POV, nor one that you’d typically expect. It made me a bit apprehensive at first, but I think it only took a couple of paragraphs to get into the groove. I think second person narration works when it’s executed well and the author certainly did a wonderful job. The POV sucked me in and might even have had something to do with how compelling the story ended up being in the end. In some ways, it was even more engrossing than first person POV. The book was tough to put down: so tough that I didn’t even actually successfully put it down. I tried once to go do the dishes and then decided I could just read another chapter and we all know how that went… I read all of the chapters!

I highly recommend Sad Perfect.

For contemporary romance fans, it’s satisfying and full of those amazing moments and interactions between two people who are so connected and in sync with one another.

For fans of books dealing with major disorders or teen struggles, the book does a great job of taking you through what it’s like to deal with a disorder.

It was educational. I didn’t know that there was an eating disorder that wasn’t somehow connected to body image. I also admit that I totally judge people for being picky eaters and I got schooled about a real problem I never knew about. I’d heard of people not liking textures, especially in the autism spectrum, but this disorder, ARFID, was something I’d never heard of. I felt that it was introduced and described in a way that was easy to understand and I felt like I was getting a firsthand account of what it was like to live with it through Pea.

On top of the actual disorder, Pea also dealt with a couple other issues, some related to the disorder and some just a part of being a normal teen. Because of her weird eating habits, the family dynamics were also impacted. I enjoyed exploring all of that through the book. Even if you aren’t struggling with anything in particular or looking for a book to explore a specific topic, it was also a book about a teenager dealing with parents and siblings, rumors, social media, friends, and new love.

Sad Perfect is the kind of YA contemporary that works for everyone, no matter what aspect of contemporary novels draw you in.

I cannot gush enough about how much I enjoyed Sad Perfect. I sat down and opened the book just expecting to get a feel for what the book would be like and figure out if I could meet my reading deadline and if it was something I’d like and.. next thing I knew I was finished reading and totally amazed. I love when a book makes me lose myself a little bit and get sucked into the pages.

I feel lucky and honored to have gotten an early copy (in hardcover, even!) because I would’ve bought the book (it was on my radar already) and then probably let it sit for ages because that’s who I am as a person these days with a never ending TBR. The blog tour forced me to pick it up the day it arrived in the mail and I loved it. I needed a book to sweep me out of my life for a few hours. It came at the perfect time and it was so good. Buy this book! Do not let it sit on your bookshelf. It’s a quick and engrossing book that you won’t regret picking up.

This book is extremely harmful for people with eating disorders. Multiple people with eating disorders have spoken up about how the book is triggering for them. See this review here for details. Also, the author apparently didn't do any research for the story, which is really unacceptable when it comes to a topic like eating disorders.

honestly i give it a 4/5 it was good going through mental challenges but not too much of them. i didn’t really like how they romanticized anorexia and self harm ..

After reading:
This book felt very... extreme. It was hard to read from the protagonist's perspective, particularly because it's framed in the infrequently-used 2nd person POV. YOU are "Pea" (which is only a nickname, really).

As a result, you get put into a frame-of-mind that seems a little unrealistic. You face some sort of monster. You get involved with an obsessive and extreme relationship (which is really glorified and consistently portrayed as good). You experience the horrors of mental institutions (but at the same time, it seems like they do the trick).

I had trouble identifying with such an extreme form of ARFID after all. I'm a notorious picky eater, probably to a greater extent than the protagonist here (I don't eat vegetables at all, alongside many other foods). The story tries to explain away these characteristics — supposedly, a near-miscarriage and high mouth-sensitivity make it hard to eat. What if there isn't a reason behind this disorder? Why does everything need to be explained away? Moreover, how can you suddenly just decide to eat? It's hard to grasp that idea; that you can suddenly be willing to try new food.

Furthermore, I had trouble understanding the link between ARFID and the manic self-harm and depression. In fact, I don't think they were related at all, in this case. As a result, I felt like this story undervalued the impact of ARFID by clumping it together with the protagonist's other issues.

Regarding Ben — he's almost too perfect for his own good. You end up too attached to this guy, and while it's good to illustrate a support system, I also think this kind of all-consuming attachment was no different from Alex and ultimately is unhealthy. I wish Pea reduced her reliance on him by the end. Because... what IF feelings change? What if something happens to Ben? I feel like there would be dramatic and dangerous repercussions.

Finally, the mental institution gave me a lot of food for thought. On one hand, the story really draws attention to how poorly these systems may be run. By lumping all sorts of problems together, you end up being unable to effectively treat many different ailments. With "tough love" policies, you make living in these situations unbearable. But at the same time, your stint at the institution seems to be just the trigger for you to personally become motivated to get better. So in that case, is an authoritarian, hardline system the only one that can possibly make self-inflicted sufferers "get better"? I don't think so, and the other troubled teens draw attention to that: they often relapse, they get away with unhealthy things right under the leadership's noses, and they get pushed over the edge. Treating mental health has a long way to go.

The only good takeaway from this story was that I definitely don't have ARFID as severe as this protagonist. Thank goodness, I guess?

---
Before reading:
I've never heard of ARFID before, but after a quick 10-second Google search, I... think I might have this? I'm an adult, and I can't bring myself to eat vegetables. I ate a carrot once when I was 8 and threw up. The thing is, I really don't think my "selective eating choices" impact much of my life otherwise.

In any case, I'm very intrigued by this book and will definitely give it a try in February. I'm a little nervous, especially since it is written in second person. I'm not sure if it will be a good or bad thing if it hits close to home.

Trigger warning for this book for those of you who are in recovery from an ED and a slight trigger warning for self-harm as well.

First of all, I'm sorry for those of you who were harmed by this book but please stop linking to a review who isn't even there anymore.

I really liked this book especially because I never heard of ARFID before. I can't really speak for the eating disorder rep because I never suffered from an eating disorder. But I think, it was a very interesting read and I liked that Pea really wants to get better. The whole book is written in second person but even when I never read a book in second person I got used to it very fast. But the dialogue fell a little bit flat for me but it didn't bother me so much because I really liked the writing style overall.
If you don't like instant love stories then you maybe shouldn't read this book because Ben and Pea fall in love REALLY fast. I read this book because of the ED aspect so it didn't bother me really.

So, I really liked this book but I wouldn't read it if you are in recovery right now because I can imagine that it could be triggering. And I would put a slight trigger warning for self-harm on this as well because even when it is not a huge aspect of this book it happens, just to let you know.

Full disclosure: I don't know that much about ARFID. I love that Sad Perfect seeks to explore it, because I suspect that the vast majority of readers are in that sort of benign-ignorance category. But I don't much like the way the story plays out.

Three things, I guess: First, I'm not sure we ever really see inside Pea's head or understand the distress that comes with ARFID. While I'm not making light of the disorder (and I'm approaching this from the perspective of someone who doesn't have ARFID but has a ridiculously hard time trying unknown foods), if I just went by what I see from Pea, I'd call her a picky eater. I don't really see her anxiety. I don't really see what's going on inside.

Second: The story takes an unexpected turn into depression and self-harm. Not that they can't co-occur with an eating disorder, but in this particular story it feels a lot like a distraction from the main story—like the book decided there wasn't enough drama, so they'd have to throw Pea in a psych ward for something else. It pulled me away from the less YA-standard stuff and into a somewhat messy rendition of an already well-trod story.

Third, and most frustrating:

"Ben makes me happy," you say [to your parents]. "And he didn't change me. He and Jae are the only ones who understand me. You guys don't understand everything that I'm going through, everything I'm dealing with. I know I made some mistakes and I'm willing to admit to them, but we've all made mistakes."

You're being really open with your parents and you're not sure what to make of it. You guess it's a start. And it seems like they're listening to you. (296–297)

Nope. HARD nope. I really can't stand the boy-as-saviour plot line that so often infects YA lit: this idea that now that Pea's found a loverboy, nobody else can understand her (including her parents, who have been working to understand and help her deal with ARFID). It's not an unrealistic way for somebody to think, but I hate that it goes unchallenged. What happens when they break up, hmm? Or have a fight? Twu wuv is not a treatment for mental or physical illness.

So...it has possibility. I'd happily read something else about ARFID. But this ended up being something of a disappointment.