Messy Perfect

Perfect for fans of Mason Deaver and Becky Albertalli, this tender, raucous novel follows a rule-following, perfectionist teen who starts an underground GSA club at her conservative Catholic high school, from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens . Cassie Perera is a star student in St. Luke''s junior class. But the new school year brings an unwelcome surprise--the return to St. Luke''s of Cassie''s former friend, Ben, who left a few years ago after a homophobic bullying incident Cassie knows she didn''t do enough to prevent. Still harboring guilt from her inaction, Cassie decides, in her usual, overzealous way, to team up with the neighboring public school to found an underground Gender and Sexuality Alliance--as a complicated strategy for making things up to Ben. Secretly, Cassie is also tempted by the possibility of opening up about her own sexuality for the first time. As Cassie''s new friends urge her out of her comfort zone, she unlocks a kind of joy and freedom she''s never felt before--even as she struggles to balance these experiences with her typical tightrope of being the perfect daughter, student, and Catholic. Cassie''s perfectly curated life unravels into turmoil, but can she embrace the mess enough to piece together something new?

Product details

• Authors: Tanya Boteju
• Publisher: Quill Tree Books
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 13 to 99
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.03.2025
• EAN: 9780063358492
• ISBN: 978-0-06-335849-2
• No. of pages: 400
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 215 mm x 10 mm
• Subjects: Children's and young people's books > Young people's books from 12 years of age; Canada, Children’s / Teenage fiction: School stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: LGBTQ+, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Places and peoples, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Girls and women, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Girls & Women *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Social Themes / Friendship *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Social Themes / Bullying *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: School & Education / General *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Coming of Age *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Diversity & Multicultural *, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Romance / LGBTQ+, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Social Themes / Religion & Faith *, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Friendship stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Romance and love stories, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: LGBTQ+ / General, YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Places / Canada