The Flipside of Perfect by Liz Reinhardt
“Last summer he told me that he loves Excel. Who in their right mind loves Excel?”
AJ is a buttoned-up, responsible student attending a high-achieving high school in Michigan. She lives with her mother, stepfather and two younger half sisters.
Della spends every summer with her father in Florida. A free-spirited wild child, she spends as much time as possible on the beach with her friends and older siblings.
But there’s a catch: AJ and Della are the same person. Adelaide Beloise Jepsen to be exact, and she does everything she can to keep her school and summer lives separate.
When her middle sister crashes her carefree summer getaway, Adelaide’s plans fall apart. In order to help her sister, save her unexpected friendship with a guy who might just be perfect for her, and discover the truth about her own past, Adelaide will have to reconcile the two sides of herself and face the fact that it’s perfectly okay not to be perfect all the time.
At its core, The Flipside of Perfect is all about family. The biological kind, and the kind that we choose for ourselves. AJ’s family is insane. There’s nothing wrong with them; she just has two full fledged families.
AJ is a buttoned-up, responsible student attending a high-achieving high school in Michigan. She lives with her mother, stepfather and two younger half sisters.
Della spends every summer with her father in Florida. A free-spirited wild child, she spends as much time as possible on the beach with her friends and older siblings.
But there’s a catch: AJ and Della are the same person. Adelaide Beloise Jepsen to be exact, and she does everything she can to keep her school and summer lives separate.
When her middle sister crashes her carefree summer getaway, Adelaide’s plans fall apart. In order to help her sister, save her unexpected friendship with a guy who might just be perfect for her, and discover the truth about her own past, Adelaide will have to reconcile the two sides of herself and face the fact that it’s perfectly okay not to be perfect all the time.
And while this is initially something exciting for her, it begins to trap her as she grows older. She begins to realize that, maybe, she isn’t even fully AJ or Della. She suddenly comes to the realization that enacting two different personas that are poles apart is preventing her from ever being comfortably herself.
The drama builds slowly, but my god is there a lot of it. The plot keeps getting tighter, and the non-linear storyline helps keep it from getting too boring. Though I’ve read a lot of books about characters that go off with one of their divorced parents for a summer of reinvention, this one felt different because of the generous plethora of characters. From all of AJ’s siblings to her parents to her many friends, everyone in this book adds flavor to the story. Everyone has their own personality, and they all help AJ grow in one way or another.
Also, twins are my literal weakness and AJ is sandwiched between twins. Her older siblings, who live with her dad, are fraternal twins. Meanwhile, her younger sisters, who live with her mom and stepfather, are “Irish twins” which apparently means that they were born less than a year apart.
Overall, The Flipside of Perfect has a sweet plot chock full of drama and lovable characters. Watching AJ wrestle with her challenges is hooking, and the decisions she makes are ultimately liberating and surprising.
The drama builds slowly, but my god is there a lot of it. The plot keeps getting tighter, and the non-linear storyline helps keep it from getting too boring. Though I’ve read a lot of books about characters that go off with one of their divorced parents for a summer of reinvention, this one felt different because of the generous plethora of characters. From all of AJ’s siblings to her parents to her many friends, everyone in this book adds flavor to the story. Everyone has their own personality, and they all help AJ grow in one way or another.
Also, twins are my literal weakness and AJ is sandwiched between twins. Her older siblings, who live with her dad, are fraternal twins. Meanwhile, her younger sisters, who live with her mom and stepfather, are “Irish twins” which apparently means that they were born less than a year apart.
Overall, The Flipside of Perfect has a sweet plot chock full of drama and lovable characters. Watching AJ wrestle with her challenges is hooking, and the decisions she makes are ultimately liberating and surprising.
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