Book review: A Place Called Perfect

Book review of A Place Called Perfect

This is my book review of A Place called Perfect by Helena Duggan. I picked up the book because the cover reminded me of The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bell, and I liked that series. Even though this book is for children/tweens, I wanted to read it because it looked fun and interesting.

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A Place called Perfect

“Violet never wanted to move to Perfect. Who wants to live in a town where everyone has to wear glasses to stop them going blind? And who wants to be neat and tidy and perfectly behaved all the time?

Violet quickly discovers there’s something weird going on in the town – she keeps hearing voices and her mam is acting strange and her dad has disappeared.

When she meets Boy she realizes that her dad is not the only person to have vanished… and that the mysterious Watchers are guarding a perfectly creepy secret!”

This text is kindly borrowed from the back of the book.

A perfect new home with secrets

As we are following Violet through moving into her new home in Perfect with her parents, we gradually find out more about the town along with her. Her dad got a great job there. The founders of an important business in the town, comes to greet Violet and her family. They even serve them their favorite tea. Apparently, everyone in the town needs to wear glasses, due to something in the air. So they all get fitted for special glasses in town.

When Violet starts in her new school, something seems odd to her. A lot of things acutally. Because everything and everyone in Perfect is, well, perfect. Soon enough, mysteries start piling up and one day she meets Boy, who lives in quite a different part of town.

I really enjoyed how this tiny universe is set up and Violet is a thrill to follow around. Smart, clever but still a kid. The feel of the book reminded me a lot of The Uncommoners, and I was happy to have picked it up.

A perfect book?

Well, for a childrens fiction book, I think this one is a homerun – I was thoroughly entertained. The slow unraveling of secrets and characters are well done. The writing I found to be solid and easy to follow, and I expect it to be a great book for kids who like imaginative and playful mysteries. There is such a rich gallery of subplots and backstories, that tie in well with each other. Even though it might be easy enough for adult readers to guess, it’s still full of excitement, action and suspense!

The plot and idea itself felt original to me and yet had traits similar to Coraline and The Uncommoners. It’s creepy but with a child’s eyes. There is so much to dive into in Perfect, and I would love to read more of it. Lucky for me, it’s a series of three books (as of right now).

I will most definitely be ordering and reading the last of the series, I need to find out what happens to Violet, Boy and their friends. And why Perfect is such a weird town.

Have you read the book A place called perfect?

Or are you considering it, after reading this review? Let me know in the comments if you’re into magical tween fiction too!

If you’re curious and want to browse through other book reviews on this page, feel free to have a look at my collection of book reviews right here>>