Past Perfect (edition 2011)

Chelsea has been working as a historical reenactor with her parents for years. This summer, she’d be happy to work at the mall with her best friend and finally get over her ex-boyfriend Ezra. But when her best friend insists on working at Essex Historical Colonial Village with Chelsea, she feels stuck. When she shows up for work and finds out that Ezra is also working there, she feels horrified. Between struggling with her feelings for Ezra and for a new boy (who might also be her enemy?), Chelsea’s summer is anything but carefree.

This is a written version of a romantic comedy if ever there was one. Sales’s sophomore novel doesn’t quite hold up to her first one, but it’s still a light, fluffy, mostly satisfying read for those looking for a little escapism. Sales is a good writer, and her humor is what carries this novel.

Because of the novel’s unique setting, Sales is able to get away with some cliches that wouldn’t work for most contemporary YA novels. These cliches and tropes seem almost fresh because of the setting, and the funny, almost over-the-top events that happen to Chelsea and her co-workers help to lessen the trite feeling of the meet-cute and otherwise predictable plot points. The problem is that much of the novel’s conflict is based on a petty dispute between two different re-enactment companies, and it feels too petty at times to sustain any real sense of tension.

There’s also the problem of Chelsea, who is, frankly kind of annoying. She’s immature (and she’s supposed to be) and she mopes for a very long time over a boy the readers don’t know much about and therefore have very little stake in. More than once, it felt as though Chelsea made decisions to further the plot instead of furthering her own character. While Sales was able to create realistic, flawed characters in Mostly Good Girls, her protagonist in this story feels too much like an everygirl and sort of fades into the background. As a result, I had a hard time connecting to her.

That’s not to say that the novel isn’t without merit. It’s still a fun look into the world of historical re-enactment. It’s clear that Sales has a respect for the business of history, and the scenes where the characters were at work were some of the strongest and most entertaining. It’s just that the overarching conflict never felt like much of a conflict, and without that added tension, the story never quite came together. There are charming bits, but the story feels like it’s missing something.

Past Perfect by Leila Sales. Simon Pulse: 2011. Electronic galley accepted for review via publisher. ( )

Not your typical teen romance novel. About dueling reenactment parks with detailed characters whom I loved getting know. If you have any love for historical events and realistic love stories, then this is your next read. ( )

As expected, PP was a fun read. Chelsea, our main character, was funny and made some fun observations about her life in the reenactment village and her life outside of the workplace.

The only thing that particularly bothered me was the book’s unevenness. In some scenes, Chelsea hated working at Essex, and in the next she loved it. Similarly, some scenes that were dramatic…weren’t terribly dramatic (or shouldn’t have been) to me.

Those issues aside, I enjoyed PP. It would be a great summer read on a road trip with your family. The romance was cute and there were some super funny scenes. I found Chelsea’s interactions with her ex well-done, interesting and realistic.

Like I mentioned above, however, the highlight of this entire book is the crossroad of teenager meets reenactment camps/villages. The details were awesome and, as expected, the combination of the two usually led to pretty hilarious or crazy circumstances. Definitely a good read for any teen who has been dragged to one-to-many historical sites. ( )

As someone who wants to work in an archive and preferably in a museum archive I think it is safe to say that I am a total history nerd. Take away the living museum and reenactment stuff and you have a basic girl meets boy and there are obstacles thrown in their way plotline. But the fact they work at something like Colonial Williamsburg makes it awesome.

Chelsea herself is a fairly likable character and Dan is too. Could they be a little more fleshed out? Yes. I read a lot of YA Lit last year and swore off the genre for a little while so for me to read this in two days and like it says a lot of positive things. ( )

Anyway, back to the book. Generally, I really enjoyed this. It was fun and cute, keeping things light but with a pretty good message on the interpretation of historical events, be they last week or 300 years ago. The ending, which focused on these aspects, was definitely awesome.

The premise, a completely original one so far as I know, amuses the heck out of me. Rival historical reenactors and a forbidden romance between the two camps sounds rife with humorous possibility. At the same time, though, it was rather difficult to take any of the drama seriously because of the inherent absurdity. Also, a lot of what they did was super not okay. I just kept wanting to shake the characters and tell them to get a grip.

Chelsea was sort of an indifferent main character. She wasn't particularly bright and tended towards moping, not to mention wishing for the past. Ezra is so obviously a skeeze, but she just won't see it. Dan was definitely my favorite character. None of the kids are particularly well-defined or deep, but they do come off as fairly realistic teenagers, if exceedingly petty.

So yeah, a fun read, if not quite what I was hoping for (something a bit more comedic). I am definitely looking forward to trying Sales' Mostly Good Girls, which I just happen to own. On a side note, what does the cover have to do with anything? ( )