Let’s be honest: everyone knows Cait, a.k.a. PaperFury, a.k.a. C.G. Drews (she needs a lot of aliases because only boring people have just one). But did you know she did this really crazy thing called writing a book?

It’s basically pulling a story out of thin air. Almost like magic, but with 100% less glitz and glamor, 500% more caffeinated drinks, and all the cake. All. Of. It.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is the story of an adorable but socially awkward ball of sarcasm with music in his bones and his meet-cute with a girl who is probably training her army of critters to take over the world. Allegedly. Also featuring the world’s deadliest future-chef (if the food doesn’t get you, her pink knives of fury will) and a really scary German character who yells a lot.

Aaaand, unfortunately, it’s not this one.

What ensues is really a thinly-veiled attempt to rein in my inner fangirl. Already, I can tell you, this was one of my top reads for 2018, easily. I just could not put the dang thing down. Which was fine, because I really didn’t want to anyway.

Content warning for child abuse (physical and emotional), persistent and descriptive throughout. It’s kind of a big plot point.

 

❧ The writing is so gorgeous and also super quotable.

I knew from the first sentence that I was going to love this writing style, and I absolutely do. It’s very easy to read, easy to follow, but it’s also super descriptive and deep and replete with beautiful figures of speech that turn the mundane into something extraordinary and interesting.

❧ These characters! Oh my gosh these characters. I loved them all so much (except the Maestro, obviously, but I feel like that’s a given).

They all have such personality, and they’re all very unique, yet they each still were endearing. What I’m saying is they were all basically their own form of crazy, and I’m all for that.

Since I have no actual words to describe these characters, and in celebration of the fact that there is so much food in this book, I’m just going to compare them to food, yeah?

This is totally not a cop-out for describing them and definitely not because I happen to be hungry right now.

✦  Beck = Truffle. He’s all hard and dark on the exterior, but if you bite him, he’s all soft and melty in the center. I mean … what? Something like that.
✦  August = Lemon Piccata Whitefish. She’s all zesty and fresh, but also, if you’re not careful, very likely to choke you and/or cause internal bleeding.
✦  Joey = Fried Puffer Fish. Might be delicious. Might also poison you. Maybe both. Who knows?!
✦  Maestro = Baked Alaska.Because she’s got layers. Also because she’s horribly frigid and may or may not set you on fire. Jury’s still out on that one.
✦  August’s Parents = Friendly’s sundaes (shown below).This is really specific, but I also couldn’t think of anything more perfect. They’re sweet and adorable and potentially a bad idea after a long meal, but hey, life is short and you’re going in anyway.

 

❧ I can’t believe I’m saying it, but even though there were no knives or attempts at homicide … I’m so in love with this romance? Weird.

I mean, I guess you can call it that? It’s really August hounding after Beck, who just spews sarcasm at her and feels conflicted, and wow, this pretty much defines my entire courtship, too. Okay.

A Thousand Perfect Notes completely skirts the “quirky female must fix broken male” narrative by going the much healthier (in my opinion) route of girl supports guy in whatever way he needs and guy decides the course of his own life, thank you.

I don’t like the narrative that women have to fix men, or vice versa. I’m not sure if that was obvious enough. August and Beck are both strong characters in and of themselves, and their dynamic was just pure gold.

❧ Mr. Boyne got faaaar too little screentime for what is clearly the best teacher ever. Of all time.

Sure, sure, he’s a side character, blah, blah. But you can’t just introduce a character who’s basically everything we all ever wanted in a high school teacher and then just tear him away from us again. What kind of cruel person does that?!

❧ A Thousand Perfect Notes is character driven, so don’t go into it expecting a whirlwind plot. Even so, it proffered all these adorable little characters for me to love, and then broke my heart into a thousand pieces.

You know, as you do. I cared about these characters and their outcome. I cared that they were suffering.

Even though their stories were extraordinary, Beck and August were relatable on so many levels and really embody the teenage struggle, in general, of finding yourself amid the expectations.

Character-driven stories are hit or miss for me, because I sometimes have trouble connecting to the characters, which is … problematic? But that was so not an issue here. Beck’s sarcasm was beautiful. No, really, he’s a pro, and I can relate to his cynicism on a spiritual level. Then, August? August is a perfect match for him, and there were so many facets to her character. Also, I can relate to owning a small zoo. Possibly also for world domination purposes.

❧ The cake is a lie. Mostly.

I mean, you knew there’d be cake, right? I’m 95% sure that Cait would spontaneously combust if there wasn’t cake somewhere, even if just mentioned in passing. That other 5% is wiggle room just in case something worse would happen, like the destruction of the planet or something. Just saying.

Lucky for us, we don’t have to test this theory, because A Thousand Perfect Notes has cake. Huzzah! Unfortunately, it’s healthy cake.

Confession: I am extremely cakeist.

I mean, the characters seem to like it, so that’s the important thing. It still left me a bit apprehensive, because if she can do that to cake, what will she do to these darling characters?! (Hint: I was right to be concerned.)

Have you read A Thousand Perfect Notes yet? More importantly, if you could describe yourself with food, what dish would you be?!