The Flipside of Perfect

November 1, 2020

Gr 10 Up-Seventeen-year-old Adelaide Josephine Jepsen Beloise is better known as AJ or Della, depending on where she is and who she's with. In Michigan with her mom, she's AJ, the privileged, overachieving oldest of the Jepsen Triple Threat sisters. In Florida with her dad, she's Della, the spoiled, laid-back baby of the Beloise family. When AJ's little sister, Marnie, has nowhere else to turn, she crash-lands into Della's summer family, and Della's perfectly divided life becomes irrevocably tangled. But in the disorder, Della finds love, happiness, and the strength to be herself. Can this new Della go back to AJ's old life? Though AJ/Della's split life is initially confusing, Reinhardt creates an engaging picture of both selves, and readers will will sympathize with AJ and Della alike. AJ and Della's families love her and one another other very much, and the slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance is filled with heart. Tough issues, such as teen pregnancy, cyberbulling, class differences, and alcoholism, are all addressed without being didactic. The white cast of characters are real, full of life, and flawed, which is why it's disappointing that the only LGBTQ character in the story, Marnie, is characterized frequently as a hot mess (unrelated to her sexuality) and whose only romantic relationship in the story ends in betrayal. Readers looking for similar coming-of-age stories would be better served by Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun or Rebecca Barrow's This Is What It Feels Like. Those seeking more diverse and nuanced romance should seek out Reinhardt's Rebels Like Us. VERDICT A sweet coming-of-age story and a tender romance marred by problematic representation.-Mimi Powell, Lib. Systs. and Svcs., Kissimmee, FL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2021
During the school year in Michigan, she's "prim and proper AJ"; during summers in Florida, she's "free and wild Della." Nowhere does she feel completely herself. In chapters alternating between her disparate lives, the protagonist, a rising high school senior, describes one of her selves as hyperorganized, driven, and perfectionist. Living with her lifestyle-blogger mother, she attends a prestigious private school and has irksome responsibility for her younger half sisters. Time spent at her father's bait shop, in contrast, is laid-back, involving relaxation at the beach and babying by her adoring older stepsiblings. But when her rebellious half sister precipitates a crisis, her two identities collide. Both worlds are limned in leisurely detail: the stifling pressure of expectations, the shallow cruelties of her school friends, and the cheerful tackiness of the rural ocean town. Yet the narrator never quite clarifies why she feels she needs to keep everything so cartoonishly separated. Continually bemoaning her self-imposed dilemma while remaining oblivious to the struggles of those she claims to love, she's realistically imperfect but may be a difficult character to root for. Ultimately, she has many dramatic experiences, but actual character growth feels lacking. Refreshingly, characters display a wide variety of spiritual beliefs, from atheist to devout, presented as a normal part of their lives. Main characters are cued as White; one of AJ/Della's sisters is queer. Fairy-tale solutions make readers less invested in the narrator's newfound balance and maturity. (Fiction. 12-18)

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