Sad Perfect

Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot, 320 pages

Pea’s life is pretty hard.  She has an eating disorder and has been so depressed she needs medication.  Her brother ignores her, her father only cares about sports, and her mom is so emotional about everything that it drives Pea crazy.  When Pea meets Ben, she finally thinks that her life is falling into place.  Then her mom decides to send her to therapy for her eating disorder.  Pea is relieved but scared.  Therapy is hard and she doesn’t feel like she can ever really get better.  She wants to get better, both for herself, and because she doesn’t want to screw up her relationship with Ben.  I liked the story.  It was pretty compelling.  The characters felt a little flat to me though and although the story itself was good enough that I wanted to finish, it felt predictable.  Maybe because it was first person from the point of view of a 16 year old, but it all seemed very shallow.  There just wasn’t a lot of depth to the story and I think there should have been.  I might give it to girls who are reluctant readers but are looking for realistic, hopeful fiction.