Past Perfect

Buy your copy from Amazon

Book Details

Author: Leila Sales

Hardcover: 320 pages

Publisher: Simon Pulse (October 4, 2011)

Language: English

Book Summary

All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….

Book Review

Past Perfect is my first Leila Sales’ novel and although the cover wasn’t that interesting – the rest of the book was. I so love every bit of it. Primarily, the setting! I haven’t read a book which featured a reenactment village, it is quite unique. Especially when they have to stay in characters and how they would take their jobs seriously. The struggle between the two opposing village of different time periods for bragging rights is insanely hilarious. Especially when it is just the teens who are fighting the ‘war’ and their parents have no idea about it.

The characters are amazing, starting with Chelsea, our narrator. She’s witty, funny and interesting as well as she could be pensive with her thoughts – these characteristics made her more real to me. I love the way she grew throughout the book as well as the development of her relationships with the rest of the characters in the story.

Past Perfect is a sweet, romantic and definitely entertaining. This book is a breath of fresh air after several dark YA novels that deals with issues of today. It’s not that I don’t like those types of YA novels, but it is nice to read something light and fun-filled book for a change. Past perfect is a lesson in history, friendship, romance, sprinkled with fun. 

@ Cha þ

Favorite Quotes

• What really happened doesn't matter. What matters is how we agree to remember it
• 'If there's one common thread throughout all of history, it's that people have always fallen for the wrong people.'
• 'I think love without heartbreak is a myth. A pretty myth, but the kind of myth that ultimately makes us feel worse about ourselves because we're somehow not able to make it come true.'
• When you die, you just die. No ghost, no reincarnation, no heaven. People want to believe that their souls live on or whatever, but that's only because they can't handle the idea of the world going on without them. 
• I have a theory that the first person you fall for creates a model for how you approach relationships going forward. 
• But you can have love without heartbreak. Why didn't I get to have that kind?

Reviewed by