After falling in love with Leila Sales’ hilarious and well-written debut novel, Mostly Good Girls, last year, I was beyond excited to get started on Past Perfect. Luckily, it lived up to all my expectations and I adored this sophomore novel 100%! There are definitely not enough young adult characters who have summer jobs and I loved how this book basically centered around Chelsea’s work at the Essex Historical Colonial Village.This was not an ordinary summer job, though.
Chelsea’s summer is already not what she had been expecting. Forone, she is back working as a reenactor at the local colonial village that her parents are also employed at. Luckily, her best friend is also working there which makes things better, until she discovers her ex-boyfriend Ezra has also been hired at the village. Chelsea’s summer is just going to become more and more complicated from there, especially when she falls for the wrong guy and begins to learn a lot more about herself and her friends.
Past Perfect was the humorous and realistic contemporary read I had been craving and I couldn’t have started it at a better time. Chelsea was an extremely likable main character and I liked how large of a role her friends and family played in the book. Plus, anyone who likes ice cream is awesome in my opinion! Chelsea’s best friend, Fiona, played a key role in the book and I adored her dramatic and feisty personality. There were so many characters that I loved in this book,and some that I didn’t, but every one of them was well developed and added something to the story.
The plot was wonderfully inventive and entertaining and I had a hard time putting this down because I just had to know what was going to happen. While there was romance (and an awesome one at that), this wasn’t the main focus of the book, which I liked. Chelsea’s whole life didn’t revolve around guys and I felt this was very realistic andI’m glad we got to see more of her friends and family.
Historical buffs rejoice- there was a lot of intriguing information included in this book, but not enough to scare off non-history lovers. I loved learning more about the time period and what it was like to be a reenactor. There was much more going on with the teen reenactors than met the eye and I loved, loved, loved this aspect of the book. It made for many more humorous events and added to the excitement factor.
Leila Sales’ really knows how to make me laugh, andI thought Past Perfect was just as fun and entertaining as Mostly Good Girls. Thisdefinitely makes the list of my favorite 2011 releases and I am dying to know what Leila will write next!
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
October 4, 2011/Simon Pulse/322 Pages/Young Adult
Source: Publisher/Author
Other books by this author: Mostly Good Girls
I'm glad you liked it so much, I think I liked it a little less but I still thought it was an awesome read.
ReplyDeletecool review, wondr if i will like it
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