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Perfect Girl

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Ruthie's life is far from perfect with a mom who doesn't understand her, her lack of a father, and a peculiar renter. Then she realizes that she is in love with her best friend, Perry. This revelation is only met with desperation when the perfect girl shows up at school, and has eyes for only Perry. But Ruthie has something that the perfect girl doesn't: a New York City aunt who is famous for being the Love Goddess. With Aunt Marty on her side, Ruthie may just have a fighting chance after all.

Achingly funny and sweet, Perfect Girl is a treat to read. By no means does Ruthie have a "normal" life, but her thoughts, emotions, and actions are those that all of us recognize. Hogan's eye for teens is dead on, and her characters are humorous, yet very human. The book deals with more than just self image issues, giving it a degree of reality that will engage scores of readers. You'll be delighted that you picked up Perfect Girl as Ruthie discovers that before you can become the Goddess of Love, you have to learn how to be the Goddess of Loving Yourself.

http://thecompulsivereader.blogspot.com/

Ruthie has almost survived her freshman year of high school and all of the sudden she feels more lost and confused than ever. She's realized that she is desperately in love with her childhood best friend, Perry. To make things worse, a new girl has started school and Ruthie is convinced she is perfect, and convinced that Perry will think so, too. In desperation, she calls her aunt, who just so happens to be a relationship columnist, and begs her for her secrets to attract boys.

As Ruthie gets closer to her aunt and the story unfolds, it becomes clear that some things are not always what they seem and that even people who appear to have it all together often do not. Ruthie learns several important lessons about the value of family and the variety of relationships of all different types. Along the way, Ruthie also gains more self-confidence and maybe even a few helpful secrets to help her attract boys.

Although parts of the dialogue in this book feel a little forced and don't completely reflect teenage interaction, it is well-written and very enjoyable. Readers will likely appreciate the realistic and contemporary events that fill the story, including a humorous shopping trip that ends in gushing about Ipex bras from Victoria's Secret. Hogan is very effective about getting her messages across without seeming preachy or overbearing, which is refreshing. In the end, PERFECT GIRL comes together nicely, and readers will likely be satisfied even if it does not exactly reflect what they initially hoped for.

Reviewed by: Allison M. Rotonda

Perfect Girl by Mary Hogan is a fun short novel, but also has lessons to teach. Ruthie Bayer wants to be the perfect girl, expecially when her best friend/new crush Perry Gould falls for a perfect girl. Ruthie doesn't know what to do so she calls upon her aunt Marty, New York's love goddess, for advice. Her aunt immediately comes down to Delaware to help Ruthie win Perry's heart.

This book is about more than winning his heart though. It's about Ruthie's family drama when her aunt comes to town, the secrets that spill out which have been hidden for years, emotions and how the world changes when they are played out, and finally what it means to be the perfect girl. Perfect Girl has more emotion packed into it's 196 pages than most 500 page books. No one can go wrong by picking up a copy of Perfect Girl.

Ruthie Bayer's life in Odessa is as plain as can be. There's nothing really going on, and she's had the same friends for most of her life. The problem is, Perry looks way better to her now and she wants to be more than "just friends."

Everything appears to be smooth sailing for her freshman year until the new girl, Jenna Wilson, comes to town. Perry seems very interested in her. Who wouldn't? She's the perfect girl: perfect hair, nails, clothes --- even the way she walks. But Ruthie is not having it and pulls out all the stops by calling her Aunt Marty, an advice columnist on men in New York City.

That would be fine, except for the fact that her mother and aunt don't get along. Where Marty is cool, her mother is anal. Where Marty understands, her mother doesn't even try. Things become quite sticky when Marty shows up and transforms their house into a completely different place. Although Ruthie loves the fact that Marty is in town, her mom has become even more withdrawn and just plain old mean. Ruthie believes she's just jealous of Marty, who is gorgeous, rich, has a beautiful penthouse in New York and an adoring husband.

As Marty helps Ruthie put her plan into place to catch the boy of her dreams and become the perfect girl for him, there are a lot of past issues within their family that come to the surface. Although Ruthie and her friends adore Marty, it becomes obvious that even "perfect" people have their flaws, hurts and disappointments in life. Ruthie's plan does succeed, but she soon realizes that what she thought she felt really wasn't true love.

Mary Hogan delivers in this concise story of finding out who you really are, understanding the folks around you and learning to accept things as they come. PERFECT GIRL is a testament of truthfulness and familial love that will leave you smiling at the end. Life is what you make it; after all, nobody's perfect.

--- Reviewed by Belinda Williams