Past Perfect

May 24, 2011 Flannery rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People Who Wish They Owned A Petticoat

Shelves: arc-galley-or-first-reads, read-in-2011, young-adult-teen, reviewed-2011, wishlist-for-books-to-keep

True confession: I love reenactors. People who wear oldey-timey outfits for work? You’re awesome. Does your job require you to shun modern technology and to feign ignorance when someone asks you where the bathroom is? You deserve a medal. This is the first YA book I’ve ever read in which the main character works at a colonial village. (My only other experience with reenactors in a book is from Choke) There’s just something about how people having jobs at places like Sturbridge Village and Coloni...more True confession: I love reenactors. People who wear oldey-timey outfits for work? You’re awesome. Does your job require you to shun modern technology and to feign ignorance when someone asks you where the bathroom is? You deserve a medal. This is the first YA book I’ve ever read in which the main character works at a colonial village. (My only other experience with reenactors in a book is from Choke) There’s just something about how people having jobs at places like Sturbridge Village and Colonial Williamsburg that entertains me. They have to act oldey-timey all day, but you know that at the end of the day they are getting in their Toyota Corollas, lighting up a cigarette, and blasting Journey on their ride home to a house with indoor plumbing and an icemaker. (or whatever modern cars, music, technology, and vices they enjoy) This author is hilarious. Seriously. And snarky. I had a love connection with this book from page one.

Chelsea Glaser, or “Elizabeth Connelly” when she is working, has been employed practically from the womb at Essex, a colonial village. Both of her parents (the silversmith and the silversmith’s wife) work there and she’s grown up knowing the life of a reenactor. Every summer, the middle school/high school employees at Essex have a war with the employees at the Civil War ReenactmentLand that is conveniently (or not?) located across the street. In addition to the drama of the war, Chelsea’s ex-boyfriend Ezra is also working at Essex for the summer and the boy she finds herself attracted to is a *gasp* Civil Warrior. (I loved that term, by the by) It’s funny to me that a relationship that is not the only focus of a novel can be more riveting than many contemporary YA romances where the whole plot revolves around the two lovebirds. I actually enjoyed the progression of Dan and Chelsea’s relationship—it felt natural and their conversations felt real…and hilarious.

This book somewhat obviously talks a lot about history and how we interpret events of the past. I was just talking to a friend the other day about this. It’s like we have our own memory erasers that just remove all the horrid bits and we just prance around on merry go rounds and sing Kumbaya together in the fields full of puppies in our memories. For example, I once drove from New Orleans to Sacramento in a 15-passenger van with 11 other people. Did it suck a lot of the time? Definitely. But I remember it with a grin on my face because I collected bandannas with my friend Josh at every roadside stop, we listened to some great tunes, and they let me plan the route so we stopped at ridiculous places like a deserted ghost town and to see the huge dinosaurs from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. I love all those people like family even though I definitely wanted to murder each of them at some point during our year of living and working together. I do have a point here—I loved Chelsea’s reevaluation of her relationship with Ezra. Her box of happy relationship memories wasn't what she thought it was upon closer examination. We remember things the way we want to remember them, and when we reinsert the intentionally forgotten parts, people, places, memories might not wow us as much. I went on loads of car trips with my family as a kid and I got carsick every time. You know what I remember most though? Sitting backwards in our Volvo station wagon and listening to Cat Stevens’ greatest hits CD. I think I wouldn’t look at my childhood so fondly if I had to remember all the places I’d yakked over the years.

In the same vein, I also loved how Leila Sales talked about how we are living in the past and the present at the same time. We are still every version of ourselves that we have ever been in the past; all it takes is one sensory experience to take us back. Like when you think you are over someone and then you walk by a random person on the street wearing their cologne. Or when you remember a joke that you shared with someone but you are 3000 miles away from them and haven’t seen them in 5 years. As a total history nerd, I also enjoyed the random historical facts that were interspersed in the text and the discussion of one-sided history textbooks and the countless jokes about historical anachronisms in reenactions.

If you have a snarky sense of humor, enjoy reenactors (or reading about them), were a theater geek, or are just looking for a fun/ny read, I’d totally recommend this. I keep thinking that I should caveat it as not being especially thought-provoking but I actually thought about a lot of things while I read it. (It was, like, totally deep, maaaan) It is somewhere above 4 stars but below 5 stars for me but my eyes are shutting with exhaustion and I liked it enough to round up. Oh man, I need to go to bed.

Thanks S & S Galley Grab for satiating my need for hilarity and fun times in colonial America!

ETA: This cover makes absolutely no sense. I hope they change it before the actual release date. Also, I changed my rating to 4 stars.(less)

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May 30, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Tatiana by: Flannery

Shelves: 2011, ala-ya-2012, ya

Who knew people obsessed with historical reenacting were so awesome?

(Somehow, they don't appear to be particularly cool in these pictures, do they?)

And yet, this book and its characters are A TON OF FUN!

After discovering the sheer awesomeness of Dungeons & Dragons' enthusiasts in Into the Wild Nerd Yonder and stage crew fanatics in Pink, learning about this new type of nerdery was a special, unexpected treat. Seriously, who would want to hang out with popular (=boring) people after getting t...more

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May 25, 2011 Nomes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, read-it-in-a-page-flipping-frenzy, crushing-on-the-writing, faves-of-2011, you-make-me-laugh-so, my-kind-of-awesome, i-had-no-idea-i-would-love-this-so, love-the-premise, rainy-day-comfort-reads, swoon-worthy-crushes, you-make-me-smile, favourites, covers-i-love, kindle

Reading Past Perfect was reminiscent of the time I read Psych Major Syndrome. I just didn’t want to stop reading it. Not because it’s an adrenalin-fuelled, tension-filled, mind-blowing plot but because I was just having such a good time reading it that it felt like a crime to stop. So I read Past Perfect until 3am and grinned and sighed my way through it.

The first reason I fell in love with this book was because is gorgeously funny. The prose is a dream: insightful and sharp and snarky, slightly...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: guilty-pleasures, history-smishtory, oh-how-we-laugh, ya, you-got-a-friend-in-me, for-review, e, own

3.5 stars... rounded up.

“What can I say; I have a thing for guys in period dress, okay? That’s just who I am.”

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
This book was like the younger tag-along sibling of Jellicoe Road and Frankie Landau-Banks. Very cute, a bit silly, surprisingly funny, sometimes annoying but ultimately, wholly charming.

High Points.
Chelsea. Fiona. Ice cream connoisseurs. History. Original and hilarious setting. “Pony tails are just a deal breaker to me.” YES. Essex Village. Renactmentland...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Catie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Catie by: Flannery

Shelves: read-in-2011, ya, for-review

3 1/2 stars

For most of my life I’ve hated learning about history. It’s always seemed so subjective and so obviously tainted by the spin of those who have written it. I remember my high school history classes being taught by the bitterest of the teachers. I’m pretty sure they resented forcing us to memorize oversimplified propaganda as much as we resented the idea that little nuggets like “Lincoln freed the slaves” and “the first settlers arrived in 1620” (never mind all those pesky people who ha...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Lisa O. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, ebook, ya-lit

As far as YA chick lit goes, Past Perfect is a really fun book.

Chelsea, 16, comes from a family of historical re-enactors,. She lives in the town of Essex, where this kind of practice seems to be the bread and butter of the population. In fact, not only Essex has a Colonial time reenactment village, but a Civil war one as well. And they're bitter, bitter enemies. So when summer begins and Chelsea, as every year before, starts to work in the village, the time for war between the factions is on.
T...more As far as YA chick lit goes, Past Perfect is a really fun book.

Chelsea, 16, comes from a family of historical re-enactors,. She lives in the town of Essex, where this kind of practice seems to be the bread and butter of the population. In fact, not only Essex has a Colonial time reenactment village, but a Civil war one as well. And they're bitter, bitter enemies. So when summer begins and Chelsea, as every year before, starts to work in the village, the time for war between the factions is on.
Torn between her unwillingness to let go of her past - namely, her former boyfriend - and her unsettling attraction to a rival re-enactor who could finally signify her moving forward, Chelsea, through a trial and error process, will be forced to put her memories and herself under scrutiny and realize what is the value of honesty and friendship.

First of all, the main idea of the book is stunningly good. Historical reenactment, how original. Well, at least for me. You see, I come from a country which holds a certain importance on the historical global scene, what with us having been here practically forever and having gone through numerous empires, barbaric hordes, a variety of popes, republics and so on and so forth.
Yet, NEVER in my life have I had the pleasure to witness a reenactment. I don't think we have them here or if we do they're very much under the radar, mine at least. I really liked that.

Secondly, the idea that our memories work selectively according to what we actually want to remember or not of an event really appealed to me. I've done (and do) that, sadly, a lot of times, just like Chelsea did with Ezra. Maybe the majority of us do it automatically, in a effort to romanticize our lives. Considering the sheer number of books I read in a year to my "escapist syndrome", I certainly have a tendency to do it.
It is exciting when you're telling someone about your recent trip to Burma or to Ushuaia, skipping the part where you got gastroenteritis or puri-puri ate you alive on a beach in Cuba, it is a bit more pathetic and not very healthy when you're talking about a relationship with your former or - even worse - present boyfriend.

Chelsea, like some other female characters that I've encountered lately (Ava in Pink for example, is not a very likable character. I really could not understand her adoration to Ezra, why she idolizes him. I did not like how she dealt with being left out of the flock. And when she finally pulls the wool away from her eyes, I did not think she deserved people forgiving her.

Yet, the book is so funny and the dialogue so brilliant that the story just sucks you in and keeps you laughing till the very last page. Chelsea, despite her feeble personality in relation to other kids her age, has an honest voice and her relationship with her father is really hilarious. The trampoline scene in the back of her yard was one of the best of the books, in my opinion.

So, if you're looking for a fresh, funny, unpretentious read spiked by historical reenactment, Past Perfect is definitely a good choice. Just make sure to tear off the completely unrelated cover first.(less)

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Oct 17, 2011 oliviasbooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to oliviasbooks by: Flannery

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, ya-contemporary, love-triangle, laugh-a-little, chick-lit, love-story-romance, read-2011, swapped-or-given-away

Hmmm.

- I liked "Past Perfect" and I think it was a really cute and enjoyable, well-tied story.
- I liked both the 16-years-old heroine, Chelsea, and her love interest.
- I even came to like Chelsea's best friend Fiona as the story progressed. She redeemed herself in my eyes at the end.
- I liked the trampoline scene. It was sufficiently romantic.
- I didn't like Chelsea's parents at all, but I think normal, but rather unlikable parents are something which can happen to anyone in real life. For inst...more Hmmm.

- I liked "Past Perfect" and I think it was a really cute and enjoyable, well-tied story.
- I liked both the 16-years-old heroine, Chelsea, and her love interest.
- I even came to like Chelsea's best friend Fiona as the story progressed. She redeemed herself in my eyes at the end.
- I liked the trampoline scene. It was sufficiently romantic.
- I didn't like Chelsea's parents at all, but I think normal, but rather unlikable parents are something which can happen to anyone in real life. For instance, I can totally relate to that forever talking, but unobservant Dad.
- I like the title. Although the cover has no connection to the plot whatsoever - apart from the chalk-board rain, which reminds of the make-believe-lives of the colonial times reenactors - the book's title is pretty perfect for the story for several reasons:
* Both the people working for the Essex Colonial Times Village and the staff at the Civil War Reenactmentland are required to represent "their" own era as a rather faultless one. Paying Tourists shall be sprinkled with interesting tidbits about American history, but they are not to be weighed down by dark and ugly pieces of their ancestors' lives during their family holdiday trip. Slavery is something not existing at Essex and African-Americans seeking a job as historical interpreters are assigned historical middle-class jobs and inserted into normal fake-families like everyone else of the crew.
* For the reenactors the past never turns into past perfect, because their days are like those in the film "Ground Hog Day": Everything that ever happened within a certain time span on the grounds - or even far from them - is treated as something that has happened just now, because the tourists want the illusion of the past being present.
* Chelsea's problems at accepting the present and the future are anchored to her way of memorizing the past: Our definition of what happened to us, the essence of what we determine the true past to be depends on what we choose to remember. Do we remember the happy moments and filter out the ugly scratches? Do we see mainly the sunless days and bury the picture of raindrops gleaming in the rain in inaccessible archives of our brain? Are we able to mix and match so our past resembles that of others? Is a perfect memory of anything possible at all? Were our feelings of yesterday real although we don't feel them anymore today? (view spoiler)
- I was a bit annoyed by the War game between the teenage summer staff of the Essex village and the underage Civil War crew. Although I didn't mind a similar plot element in "Jellicoe Road" at all, I thought that the sincerity of the whole hateful set-up in "Past Perfect" was more than a bit childish and forced and strange for a bunch of high schoolers, who partly were about to start college. Especially the forbidden-love-element felt absolutely unbelievable to me.
- Each historical interpreter was handed one costume including undergarments for one long and hot summer? Really? Boy, those kids must stink. I wonder how the mentioned vistors can be hungry all the time.
- I do love ice-cream, too. I can eat it all year round, I can fit a big helping into my stomach when everything else threatens to burst through my belly-button, I never tire of it's cold creaminess and I would like to be an connoisseur, too.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Ariana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-galley

To make it clear, it's a little bit more than 3.5 stars :)
AND I think I'm becoming more and more exigent when it comes to the books I read, and I'm also becoming lazy when it comes to my reviews.
This is no exception.
So here come some random thoughts:

When I think about PAST PERFECT I think about myself in high school. It's not that I miss being in high school, but I miss some parts of it, and you'll get some glimpses of that inside this review too.

#1 The cover
I really love it - it's beautiful,...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Choco rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Reasons for my rating (not a review!):
I can see why this is compared to Psych Major Syndrome. Although the settings differ, some of the issues the main characters go through are very similar. Problems I had with each book were similar too. There were some differences, which made rating difficult. I enjoyed the sense of humour in this A LOT more (actually LOVED it), and overall this is better written. However, there isn't nearly as much swooning happening in this one when there was more...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ebooks, contemporary, 2011, galley-grab, ya

Original post at One More Page

Oh how this cover lies. This cover has absolutely nothing to do with the story, no matter how cute it looks. I know covers are really for sales, and I may be able to forgive this if the book gets more sales because of the cover. Still, I can't see any connection.

But anyway, in Past Perfect , Chelsea is stuck in the past -- literally and figuratively. Chelsea is back to work for the summer in the Essex Historical Colonial Village, where she dresses up as a colonial w...more Original post at One More Page

Oh how this cover lies. This cover has absolutely nothing to do with the story, no matter how cute it looks. I know covers are really for sales, and I may be able to forgive this if the book gets more sales because of the cover. Still, I can't see any connection.

But anyway, in Past Perfect , Chelsea is stuck in the past -- literally and figuratively. Chelsea is back to work for the summer in the Essex Historical Colonial Village, where she dresses up as a colonial woman named Elizabeth Connelly, and it was really the last place she wanted to be. She wanted to get out even more when she finds that her ex-boyfriend and first love, Ezra, is also working in Essex. And she's far from getting over him. But when Chelsea falls for a guy from the Civil War Reenactmentland next door who has been at war with Essex for as long as they can remember, it makes Chelsea's summer a little more complicated than what she expected.

Past Perfect is my first Leila Sales read, but I've been curious about her other book, Mostly Good Girls , because of the good reviews it has been getting. I was really glad that Galley Grab had this up in their list. :) I love that the book is set in a historical village -- I'm not too fond of history back in school, but if I had the chance to visit places like this, I probably would like it a lot more! I'm not sure if we have a historical village here in the Philippines. I think the closest we have of one is in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, but I don't think it's even close to what Chelsea had at Essex.

Chelsea is a real darling in this novel, and she's someone I would like to be friends with. She's funny, witty and honest -- far from perfect as she makes some pretty stupid decisions in the book, but all in good faith and she learned from it in the end. I liked how even if she didn't really like working in Essex, she still considers her friends there as family, at least even for the summer. I wasn't able to get any summer jobs when I was in school because summer was really just for lazing around or attending YFC activities, but I also do know the feeling of having a "summer family". I also really liked Fiona, Chelsea's best friend. She seems like a really good friend and one of those who will definitely have your back even if she seems flighty at first. The supporting characters were also quite stellar, and I think the thing that made them so fun was the war. I don't think I could ever be a part of a war like that. I have no competitive bone in my body. I loved reading about the strategies and the intimidation and such, though. :D

I also liked how the idea of moving on is tackled in this book. It's true: sometimes we tend to idolize certain experiences or people because they're the only things we can hold onto when it's all over, but when you really think about it, these moments in history aren't always the shining, shimmering, splendid moments we thought they were. We tend to wear rose-colored glasses over some things and people, and when it's time to move on, we need to remove it and see things as they really are and not as what we want it. I liked how this lesson was juxtaposed with the actual historical setting that the characters worked in. It made what Chelsea learned more resonant somehow.

I didn't exactly fall head over heels in love with this book, because the "I could relate to this!" factor was kind of low. However, it is a very fun novel, and I can't think of anything that I disliked about this. Now to get myself a copy of Mostly Good Girls . :)(less)

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Dec 05, 2011 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: swoony-reads, you-make-me-smile, aussie-book-swap

When I found out about this book I added it to my wishlist straightaway, knowing I had to check it out. This is my first book by Leila Sales and all I can say, is that if her other books are as good as this, I’ll definitely be reading them!

Chelsea was at times a little self-centered but was always a quirky, fun loving, relatable character. All the characters were true to life and acted like real teens with faults and imperfections, which was refreshing to read. Even though Dan was the enemy, he...more

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Aug 26, 2011 April rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ereader, ya, for-review

Can I get a what what for all my history nerds in the house? Y’all, Past Perfect, Leila Sales’ sophomore novel is off the hook with awesomeness. Every summer, Chelsea and her parents work as reenactors, or historical interpreters at Essex Village, a tourist attraction where it’s always 1774, baby. This summer, Chelsea doesn’t want to work at Essex. Instead, she wants to work at the mall and become an ice cream expert with her BFF Fiona. Life, however, has other plans and Chelsea ends up at Essex...more

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May 26, 2011 Vinaya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Vinaya by: Flannery

Shelves: arc-galley, books-i-ought-to-love-but-dont, fluff-fluffy-fluffest, not-for-me, mixed-vibes, ya-fiction

Dear Leila Sales,

It's not you, it's me.

Okay, maybe it is you, just a little bit.

There are characters that I love to love, and characters that I love to hate. Characters that I merely despise, however, are rarely to my taste. Take Eona, for example. God, that girl frustrated me, annoyed me, made me want to scream at her and shake her till she saw sense, but I still loved the book.

Chelsea, the heroine of this book, inspired no such emotion in me. I like a little bit of perspective even in my esca...more

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Dec 01, 2012 ALPHAreader rated it 2 of 5 stars

Chelsea Glaser is Elizabeth Connelly. Well, she’s Elizabeth every summer when she and her family work at their Colonial re-enactment job at Essex Historical Colonial Village. For as long as Chelsea can remember she has been daughter to the local blacksmith – donning full Colonial attire and ferreting questions from tourists; things like “aren’t you hot in that outfit?” and “where are the toilets?”

But this year is Chelsea’s summer as a senior, and she doesn’t want to spend it the same way she ha...more

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May 26, 2011 Lamia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, stand-alone, realistic-fiction, kindle, 2011

This was a weird little coming of age story. Funny, quirky and different. The plot is quite original (a reenactment village? Where did she even get that idea?) and I really liked how the whole thing turned out.

If you're looking for something short and sweet, this is it. Don't let the history part of the plot fool you: this story is anything but boring.

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Nov 15, 2011 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

GrowingUp YA

I stumbled upon Past Perfect at a Young Adult book panel in downtown NYC. Leila Sales was one of the panelists and after hearing her read an excerpt of the book, I bought a digital copy (on the spot!) for my Kindle.

And I am so happy I did!!

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book. First of all, I loved that the majority of the book takes place at Essex Colonial Village. The setting was just so different and charming, that I couldn't help but fall in love with it all. And don't...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Eunice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, chick-lit, contemporary, ya-romance, young-adult

4 of 5 stars

Past Perfect was a fun and delightful read. I didn't expect that I's be able to enjoy this book so much. I found myself staying awake until 3 am just to finish this book even when I have a 7:30 am class tomorrow (Luckily, class got suspended today! ~~I was literally dragging myself to take a bath this morning when it was announced that there were no classes today.~~ Hurrah!). I laughed, swooned, and grin like a mad man on all the cute and funny stuffs in this book. This book also offered...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Penelope rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cute-reads

The first thing I loved about this book was the setting. It was SO nice to get out of a high school, or boarding school for once! This book takes place in the summer at a living history colonial village, where the younger employees are at war with the employees at the Civil War reenactment camp across the street. The war is similar to the one found in Jellicoe Road, but without the harrowing family drama, and with a big helping of humor. This book was nothing but adorable fun.

I felt real emotion...more The first thing I loved about this book was the setting. It was SO nice to get out of a high school, or boarding school for once! This book takes place in the summer at a living history colonial village, where the younger employees are at war with the employees at the Civil War reenactment camp across the street. The war is similar to the one found in Jellicoe Road, but without the harrowing family drama, and with a big helping of humor. This book was nothing but adorable fun.

I felt real emotions from Chelsea, the main character. She is just getting over her first heartbreak, and is learning the hard way that when you love someone, it's easy to overlook their flaws. She obsesses over her ex, and while it got annoying, I can't help but remember that the way I acted after my first heartbreak was pretty close to the same. The book brings up some good points about relationships, like the ease of getting into emotionally abusive relationships, and how we make of history what we want, allowing us to forget the bad times and just remember the good.

The way history is represented in this book, almost makes me want to go be a part of it all. Chelsea felt deeply about history, and so did many of the other characters, including the parents. There were parts that were a little over the top, especially with the war; they all took it so seriously, and actually spoke in war terms. Even the parents felt so strongly about their respective places of work, that they would talk about the other places, and claim they didn't know history as well. But I guess this is to be expected if you work in historical reenactment; it's all about representing an authentic picture of the past, and when someone isn't as authentic as they should be, I can see how it could be offensive. Their insult for those who don't take authenticity to heart is "Farb," (a shortened version of "Far be it from authentic") and is my new favorite insult. I simply MUST find something that it applies to, so I can use it!

As a whole, the book is cute, light, and fun, and I laughed so many times. I learned what it is like to work in a living history village, and I even learned a new fact or two about history. I was as interested in the way of live at the village, as I was in the rest of the story, and Leila Sales satisfied my interest in both. Her descriptions of the colonial village, and of how it felt to work at one were superb. I felt like I was there. I also enjoyed the sweet summer romance, and the lasting friendships.

*I was provided with an eCopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review was originally published on my blog, The Reading Fever.(less)

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Aug 31, 2011 Carla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Summer loving, had me a blast……in full on revolutionary gear. Gonna party like it’s 1774 baby!! Okay so Chelsea and her crazy pants parents (who are AWESOME, can I get a what what for parents who actually *don’t* suck?!) spend their summers working as re-enactors at Essex Village. But this year Chelsea wants to be a normal teen and like sell t-shirts at the gap, or even better, work at an ice cream store where she can continue her goal to become an ice cream expert. But her BFF Fiona is like WHA...more Summer loving, had me a blast……in full on revolutionary gear. Gonna party like it’s 1774 baby!! Okay so Chelsea and her crazy pants parents (who are AWESOME, can I get a what what for parents who actually *don’t* suck?!) spend their summers working as re-enactors at Essex Village. But this year Chelsea wants to be a normal teen and like sell t-shirts at the gap, or even better, work at an ice cream store where she can continue her goal to become an ice cream expert. But her BFF Fiona is like WHAT? NO! and so they go work at Essex together. Which would totes be fine, but Ezra, the guy who dumped Chelsea (for like NO reason because she is AWESOME) is working their too which kinda sucks. Throw in a war against the Civil War re-enactors that put up shop down the road and well, this summer, things are CRAZY and so past perfect (I know, I know, I slay myself sometimes too. And by sometimes I obvs mean all the time).

Honestly you guys…..it’s books like Past perfect that make me SO happy that I’m literate. Because as much as it would blow not being able to read, it would blow more not being able to read THIS book.

Chelsea. Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea….I LOVE HER!!!! If we hung out she’d teach me about the Revolutionary war and stuff over ice cream, because I LOVE ICE CREAM. Fiona would come too because she rocks my face off. We would talk about Ezra, even though Chelsea is so totally too good for him!! Also we would discuss war tactics and how we could use my British accent to go spy on their asses! Like Harriett! If me and Chelsea lived in 1774, I would totes go traitor for her…………without a doubt.

You guys, Leila is so funny it’s not even LEGAL. Like outrageously funny, in a way that’s not forced, she just IS and it shows in her writing. Everything flows from one thing to the next so seamlessly it’s insane, from the whimsical to the hilarious to the heartfelt and insightful. If her writing was ice cream, it would be a solid 10. Because damn is she CLEVER. It’s the quiet funnies that creep up on you, which snap to whip –smart one liners, to the snarky inner monologue and it all just WORKS, because she knows what she’s doing with her words. She never tries to over saturate the pages with gags that make you want to vom, because she’s funny without having to try, and let me tell you it makes ALL the difference.

Also, the war? COULD YOU GET A BETTER PLOT LINE? I THINK NOT. You guys, ever since Jellicoe Road and the war between the townies, boardies and cadets I have been like WHY is there hardly any turf wars in books because IT’S THE BEST THING EVER. And it involves history. SOLD. Any book that lets me live vicariously through people at war, planning strategies and pranks to make total farb’s of them, is like bookgasm worthy. AND I BOOKGASMED MORE THAN ONCE.

I can’t go without the obligatory sexytimes talk. This has that whole will they won’t they, should they shouldn’t they vibe ALL OVER IT. The slow burn baby, it’s back with a vengeance to make your pants melt and your knees weak. JUST SAYIN. And having this all in the wondrous setting of Essex was like KAPOW IN MY PANTS. Because it was like going to summer camp with the cool kids.

Ladies and gents, Sales has done it again. If I wasn’t a major fan girl already because of the amaze that is Mostly Good Girls, then this would’ve sealed the deal. WITH SUPER STRONG GLUE. She is a genius at contemporary literature with relatable spunky smart characters. She is a genius at the funnies and the themes and dialogue and relateableness. Basically, she is a genius full stop.(less)

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Jul 04, 2011 Aleeeeeza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, arc-netgalley-galleygrab

*4.25 stars*

I don’t know how many of y’all have seen the movie Sweet Home Alabama, but it is one of my All. Time. Favorites. I love that movie so much I could see it again and again and again and again and never get bored. Yep, I love it that much. The movie takes place in Alabama (as you could probably guess), and there’s this one scene where the main character’s very Southern parents are reenacting a scene from the Civil War in which they dress up like Confederate soldiers and then pretend to...more *4.25 stars*

I don’t know how many of y’all have seen the movie Sweet Home Alabama, but it is one of my All. Time. Favorites. I love that movie so much I could see it again and again and again and again and never get bored. Yep, I love it that much. The movie takes place in Alabama (as you could probably guess), and there’s this one scene where the main character’s very Southern parents are reenacting a scene from the Civil War in which they dress up like Confederate soldiers and then pretend to be enmeshed in a battle on a hillside, then also pretend to die and just lie on the ground for a long while. It’s hilarious, really, and that scene is quite possibly my favorite one in the movie. Among fifty-three others.

Anyway, reenacting has always intrigued me. Why people find the past fascinating enough to literally reenact it. That’s why Past Perfect intrigued me, which is about Chelsea, a girl who’s recently broken up with her boyfriend, and goes to work with her friend at Essex, a place for tourists where they dress up as people in the Revolutionary War era and bring the past alive. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, okay, maybe not, but trust me, it is VERY cool.

Some of my goodreads friends had gotten access to this book a long time before its release, and they ALL loved it. (Well, except one of them—you know who you are!) And because they are awesome, one of them gave me the GalleyGrab link for it and I began it as soon as I could. I can safely say that I’m DEFINITELY on the side of the majority that adored it. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t; it’s just that cute. I liked the book from the very first line to the last.

I think it’s partly due to the fact that I instantly connected with the main character, Chelsea. Her voice and her personality are adorable. She’s realistic enough that she makes dubious choices in the book, but wise enough to learn from them. And she’s charming enough that you can empathize with her throughout the book as she fumbles her way through her romantic dilemmas. And can I just say this book has one of the most ADORABLE romances of all time? The cuteness factor pretty much killed me, it really did. But there’s heartbreak and I felt that, too, strongly enough to literally hurt. And when a book is able to do that to me, it’s instantly one of my favorites, like this one.

Of course, I have to mention Chelsea’s dad. Her dad…oh man, he was CLASSIC. I just loved their relationship. And the dad’s personality! You really have to read the book to understand it, but I was grinning every time he came up in a scene. He’s just that awesome. I loved him, basically. I don’t think I’d want him for a dad, necessarily, but he’s still pretty fantastic.

I also should mention all the Reenactment stuff. I NEED to visit a Reenactment village or whatever you call it ASAP. Because after this book, I think everyone would want to! It was, simply put, F-U-N. The whole war between the Revolutionary Warriors and Civil Warriors was also loads of fun. It was actually one of the best parts of the book! In fact, all the parts of this book are pretty awesome, so that might not be saying a lot…but I definitely loved it a lot.

So on an ending note I’ll say that book is kind of like Anna and the French Kiss, in the sense that I was smiling all throughout it and by the end practically glowing. Also like Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton, for that ‘awww’ factor. You get to learn some fun historical facts, too, along the way! And lots of other insightful things, too, that I won’t mention here, but that were…well, very insightful!

The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because there were parts in which I was kind of, just a little bit, not that invested. But it’s still good enough for it become one of my all-time-favorites, just like Sweet Home Alabama. Both have the same effect on me: I want to read this book all over again, too! So you should most certainly pick up a copy of it. (And watch the Sweet Home Alabama, too, if you can.)(less)

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Oct 30, 2011 Janina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, contemporary, let-me-down, read-in-2011, just-plain-boring, nothing-special, given-away

Another disappointment. Really, I had immensely high expectations for this book, but overall, it was just so ... bland. Chelsea's problems seemed insignificant, I really didn't understand how she got so worked up about minor things (view spoiler).

I used to love these kind of contemporary novels - not actual "issue" books, but lighthearted without being trite...more

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Dec 24, 2011 K rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

This was quick and fun and, more importantly, likeable.

In Chelsea’s small Virginia town there are two big tourist draws and the employees’ rivalry between them is fierce. At one, Reenactmentland, the Civil War era is played out as living history. At the other, Essex, they play out the Revolutionary War era. And they’re across the street from each other. So, yeah—it’s nerd realness up in that part of town. Despite claims that she hates it, Chelsea ends up back at Essex for the summer. She’s even...more

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May 07, 2013 Tarryn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-lit

2.5 stars. I've been brushing up on my quasi-reality-based, non-apocolyptic YA fiction lately, and decided to read Past Perfect back to back with Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink. Two YA novels about girls who are involved with historical reenactment? What are the odds! I went through a period in my own young adulthood where the historical reenactment biz would have been right up my alley, so I was totally intrigued to see how both these writers put the setting to use.

While I felt like Chelsea, the her...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Nic rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Kind of a high 3.5, really. I like the historical reenactment details, and I like the way a lot of the emotional content rings true. I'm less keen on how incredibly snarky and judgey the main character is.

I'm also a bit bothered by the fact that Chelsea never gives a better explanation to Dan of why she betrayed him. I know you're never supposed to say, "I'm sorry, but . . ." My parents always told me that the "but" undoes the whole rest of the apology. But I still think you're allowed to inform...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Angelicalkiwi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

This book was a fun, light read that had me smiling most of the way through. I liked Chelsea--I felt like I understood her and what she was going through. Her commentary was sarcastic, witty and amusing. Fiona was a great friend too--being ice cream connoisseurs and having this great friendship. I loved Dan because he was totally hot...and clever and smart and charming. Like perfect. In a band! And he reads. What. Yeah. The colonial reenactment setting was unique, as far as I've read. I had fun...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read Lelia Sales’s first novel, “Mostly Good Girls,” and found it absolutely hilarious, but the novel was not enough to make Sales one of my authors to watch. When I saw that she had another book out, I decided not to buy it. Then, I read an interview Terra Elan McVoy had done with Sales about the similarities between the books the two authors had recently released. Since I enjoyed “Being Friends with Boys,” I decided that I might as well buy “Past Perfect,” and I am glad I did.

Chelsea has spe...more I read Lelia Sales’s first novel, “Mostly Good Girls,” and found it absolutely hilarious, but the novel was not enough to make Sales one of my authors to watch. When I saw that she had another book out, I decided not to buy it. Then, I read an interview Terra Elan McVoy had done with Sales about the similarities between the books the two authors had recently released. Since I enjoyed “Being Friends with Boys,” I decided that I might as well buy “Past Perfect,” and I am glad I did.

Chelsea has spent her summers working alongside her parents at Essex Historical Colonial Village for as long as she can remember. The summer before her senior year of high school, Chelsea wants out. Yet despite her desires to work in the mall with her best friend, Fiona, the two friends end up at Essex wearing period clothing in almost one hundred degree weather. This is not how Chelsea wants to spend her summer. The fact that she’s back at Essex yet again becomes even more of a problem when she learns that Ezra, the boy who broke her heart that she still hasn’t been able to get over, is working at Essex for the summer, too.

Chelsea thought that she would be able to easily get over Ezra over the summer because she would not see him at school every day. But now that she sees him at work every day and at night when Essex Historical Colonial Village is waging war against Civil War Reenactmentland, the historical site located just across the street from Essex, getting over Ezra becomes a bit more complicated. I think it was one of Lauren Barnholdt’s characters who said, “The only way to get over someone is to get under someone else.” This seems to work for Chelsea as she falls for Dan. The only problem is that Dan, who works on Civil War Reenactmentland, is the enemy. Is being with Dan worth losing all of her friends and the respect of her parents?

The narrator of “Mostly Good Girls” goes to an all-girls school, and so did Lelia Sales. Her first novel is full of strong female characters yet severely lacking in male characters that are anything but minor and flat. Despite the fact that Sales never dated in high school, she does an excellent job of creating male characters in “Past Perfect.” The three male characters who stand out the most are Dan, Ezra, and Bryan. Dan, Chelsea’s new love interest, in perhaps the most developed. Like Chelsea, he has spent all of his summers on a historical site. Like Chelsea, the site is close to his heart, but he is ready to move on. Dan would rather be spending the summer on tour with his band, but he stayed home to please his recently divorced mother and help out with his younger sister. His family issues become a key twist in the novel, and I thought it was rather clever to use the problems of a secondary character to advance the plot. Ezra, the exboyfriend Chelsea is having trouble getting over, is a static but far from well-developed character. Since we always see Ezra through Chelsea’s eyes, it is easy to understand why she fell for him. He has a way of making her feel like the most beautiful, smart, and important girl in the world. The only problem is that he does this only when he wants to, which isn’t that often. The levels of Ezra are revealed as Chelsea’s best friend, Fiona, constantly disses him and Chelsea finally realizes that her best friend might just be right. Bryan, the history nerd who has had a crush on Chelsea for as long as she can remember, serves as the comic relief character in the story. He is always telling Chelsea random historical facts. He is the type of guy who thinks he is cool but is far from it. But even Bryan gets his moment at the end of the novel, which I felt helped bring a conclusion to the story.

There is one thing about this book that I just do not care for, and that is the cover. I know we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but we all do. I generally do not like book covers with models on them, but most of them work. They do so by focusing in on a certain part of the body or by making the background compliment the model. Unfortunately, the cover of “Past Perfect” does neither of these things, resulting in a dislike of the cover that probably influenced my decision to not buy the book when it was first released. Now that I have read the book, I like the cover even less. The setting of “Past Perfect” is the over ninety degrees and humid days of summer in Virginia. Chelsea spends the majority of her time in period clothing. She is only able to cool off during breaks when she can dip her feet in the nearby stream or escape to the air conditioned upstairs of her parent’s shop. I do not remember rain ever being mentioned in the novel, so why does the cover feature a model wearing a raincoat surrounded by white chalk-drawn rain on a blackboard background? The covers of novels are supposed to have at least something to do with them, but this one does not.

So if you are the type of person who buys books based almost solely on their covers, buy this if you want a tale of love and friendship in the heat of summer. Do not buy this if you want a story about a girl who sticks her tongue out to taste the rain.(less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Zoe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, ya, squeaky-clean

The premise in this book is unusual. In fact, it’s a contemporary star-crossed romance. Chelsea’s parents work at a remake of a 1700s colonial American town. The employees go by old-fashioned names, and they dress up and talk old-fashioned and generally reenact the whole era. They’re real sticklers for keeping it authentic. No modern appliances, no modern language, no modern anything. Chelsea knows everything there is to know about the place and I liked her dry tone as she described what it was...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Beth G. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fiction, books-for-teens, library-books, romance, 5-star

There are only three types of kids who get summer jobs at Colonial Essex Village instead of just working at the mall, like the normal people do.

Synopsis:
Chelsea Glaser has spent every summer since she was six years old acting the part of Elizabeth Connelly, Virginia colonist eternally stuck in 1774. This summer, all Chelsea wants is to get a job at an air conditioned shop at the mall, but her best friend talks her into another summer at Essex. Unfortunately for Chelsea, the boy who broke her he...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Lesley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

3.5 stars: Started out 4.5 stars and gradually lost its twinkle. What started out great: wonderful writing, very funny dialogue (made me laugh out loud for the first time in a while), great setting (historical reenactments), a Romeo & Juliet love story. What a recipe for success! And then...Two big problems. First, I needed to believe more fully in the importance of the War between the two reenactment sites. There was a lot of telling, instead of showing us pranks. I wanted lots of clever wa...more 3.5 stars: Started out 4.5 stars and gradually lost its twinkle. What started out great: wonderful writing, very funny dialogue (made me laugh out loud for the first time in a while), great setting (historical reenactments), a Romeo & Juliet love story. What a recipe for success! And then...Two big problems. First, I needed to believe more fully in the importance of the War between the two reenactment sites. There was a lot of telling, instead of showing us pranks. I wanted lots of clever ways of getting at each other--instead there were a few, but then there was actual physical violence and a fairly major attack of a different kind that goes way beyond summer hijinks. If the War was really that important, I needed to know why.

The other big problem for me: An unreliable narrator. The main theme is a great one to explore: remembering only the good things about the person you loved until you realize he was actually a pretty big jerk. This is totally believable, although it can make the character hard to put up with. The unreliable part: we're so much in Chelsea's mind, we don't know the truth until she does. The revelations could have been spread out over the course of the book instead of happening all in one night--more effective for us as readers and for Chelsea, especially since it might have kept her from turning into a completely unlikeable character by the end. Once I knew she was unreliable, I wondered about other things she said she felt. (view spoiler) I kind of feel about this book the way Chelsea felt about Ezra: I wanted it to be my bookfriend because it had so many great things going for it, but in the end I had to admit it had too many faults.

Also, not only is the cover image the least related to the story ever, but they passed up a great chance to use historical costumes in a fun way.(less)

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Jan 04, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: My parents were both teachers, and I spent WAY more time touring reconstructed villages than the average child, so the fact that Chelsea and her parents work in Essex, a colonial era village, amused me greatly. Chelsea has worked with her parents as long as she can remember, and she would much rather spend the summer working at a mall store with her friend Fiona. When Fiona decides to work at Essex, Chelsea is stuck, but at least gets to work at the graveyard instead of in her parent...more

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