Past Perfect Life

Sometimes there is nothing like a good YA novel. Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg hits it right on the mark. In the spirit of two of my favorite YA novelists, Julie Buxbaum and Robin Benway, who coincidently are Eulberg's blurbers, this book works on many levels. It has an intriguing story line, believable characters, and honest emotion and authenticity.

Almost 18 year old high school senior Ally Smith has a good life with her father in a small town in Wisconsin. She is a top student, planning for college, and has good and loyal friends. But her world is turned up side down when she discovers she was a missing child for 15 years. So, who is she really and how can she determine her true identity when she is thrust into a "new" show more family with her mother (who she had been told was dead), her step father and half sister while over 1,000 miles away from the place she considers home, her school, her friends and her budding relationship with a special boy?

Eulberg does an excellent job exploring Ally's search for herself under very trying circumstances in a realistic and sensitive way. It will make you think about the meaning of family in all its complexities. I cried a lot at the end. show less

"I've realized that life isn't only about significant moments. It's lived and changed by the tiny moments we experience every day. The person I am right now is because of those moments. And I won't let one significant thing change that." - Ally/Amanda

This ripped from the headlines story is one I've wondered about before - how would you feel if you found out that you're really someone else and the people who raised you aren't exactly who you thought them to be? Granted, the story might not be original but the author goes further by delving into the aftermath from different perspectives. Ally, how she is torn by her feelings of anger and love for her dad and her confusion and ambivalence towards a mother she doesn't know. Daniel, what show more motivated him to do something that would eventually cause Ally so much pain. And Paula, how losing a child changed and haunted her. I felt Ally's confusion, anger, and pain. I felt compassion towards Daniel, and Paula, she irritated me at times. But this book makes one realize that, yes, love can make us do stupid things but it can also heal us.

Now if only there was really a place called Valley Falls in Wisconsin. I'd love to be friends with the Gleasons.

4 out of 5 stars. Thanks to LibraryThing and Bloomsbury Publishing for my copy. show less

Ally enjoys her small-town Wisconsin life with her dad and a large group of friends who are mostly related to each other. She doesn't have any other family, but these people have made up for that. Until one day a secret is revealed that casts her whole world into doubt and she must grapple with the consequences of a decision her father made 15 years before and who she really is.
It was difficult to write that brief description without spoilers! Ally is a great character, well-drawn, relatable and down-to-earth. She and her friends don't engage in the annoying 'teen speak' that some writers try to use to make their young characters seem more 'authentic', but it never really works. The book is gripping and Ally's responses to what's show more happening to her seem very genuine. The only complaint I would have is that the final chapter wasn't terribly believable, but I can't get more into that without more spoilers, so I'll just leave it vague.
I did like the book enough to pass it on to the 14-year-old daughter of a friend and I believe she liked it as well. show less

This is a YA novel about a young woman who discovers that she is not who she thought she was. Allison Smith has been raised by her father, Jeff, since her mother died when Ally was a toddler. She doesn't remember her mother, and her dad is her best friend. They share many rituals such as Tuesday night Tacos and various movie nights. Ally is a good student, popular, and developing her first serious crush on a boy. Her life is happy...but so normal that she struggles with college applications that ask her to describe a significant event in her life that shaped who she is.

But her college applications also pose bigger challenges as her social security number proves invalid, leading to the arrest of her father for fraud and other charges. show more Suddenly, Ally's life is shattered by a secret from her past. Her name isn't Ally. Her birthday isn't in December...so she's not yet 18 and is still a minor. She finds herself living with her legal guardian....with a family she never knew she had.

This is the story of Ally coming to grip with the fact that her past perfect life was mostly a lie, meeting new relatives, trying to decide what is really important to her and seeking the courage to be who she is.

I found the characters a bit under-developed for my taste and the dialogue occasionally didn't ring true. But, as a YA novel, these things aren't as important as the story itself and the issues it explores. show less

Ally Smith and her dad moved to Valley Falls, Wisconsin eight years ago, where they were welcomed with open arms by the large Gleason clan, who basically run the place. The mayor, sheriff, and elementary school principal are Gleasons, and many of the important businesses in town are owned by family members. Ally’s best friend, Marian, is a member of this large extended family and so is Neil, the boy she has a crush on.

Now, in her senior year of high school, Ally is preparing university and scholarship applications. She is ambivalent about going away to college; her dad has always been the most important person in her life, and when she leaves home, she does not want to be far from him. Ally needs a scholarship because Mr. Smith is a show more construction worker and money is tight. When she struggles to come up with content for an essay on the most significant event in her life (a requirement for one of the scholarship applications), her friend Marian suggests that Ally write about her mother, who died fifteen years before. Ally approaches her dad, hoping to gain information about a woman she cannot remember, but he doesn’t want to talk.

Up until this point in the novel, Ally presents as the classic all-American girl—hardworking, conscientious, an excellent student, caring, a good listener, and so on. After several chapters I wondered if there was going to be anything more to this book than the girl’s bland niceness, her worries about an academic rival at school, and her swoony feelings for Neil Gleason. Then, at about the one-fifth mark, there is a sensational development in Ally’s life and an abrupt change of tone in the novel. The transformation of good, sweet Ally into a cynical girl (who suddenly swears and is full of sarcastic asides) is a bit clumsy and not entirely convincing.

I do not want to get too specific about plot details here, but here’s the gist of things: Ally’s applications to three colleges are rejected because of an invalid social security number. In short order, the police and the FBI show up at the Smiths’ home. A tip, likely from one of the colleges, leads to Ally’s dad being charged with social security fraud, among other (more serious) crimes. Ally’s dad is not who or what he has represented himself to be. For that matter, Ally is not the person she’s always understood herself to be either.

Written in the first person from the point of view of her teenage protagonist, Eulberg’s young adult novel explores how a young woman processes life-changing new information about herself. It also shows how she attempts to cope with her new circumstances, including national media attention, moving to a different state, and living with relatives she did not know she had. Since her father has been taken into custody and Ally is still a minor, she must abide by the decisions of her legal guardian, someone she has only recently met. Almost eighteen years old, Ally tries to adjust to the changes imposed on her, but in spite of her newly affluent life, she finds her situation increasingly intolerable. Valley Falls, Wisconsin is her true home and the Gleasons her real extended family.

There is some mildly “profane” language as Ally initially negotiates overwhelming feelings of anger, betrayal, and hurt—nothing too gritty that girls aged 13 and up couldn’t cope with. There is also some melodrama: fainting and intermittent sobbing. To some extent, this is chick lit for teens: directly told, fairly undemanding, and diverting—a feel-good story in which a girl realizes what really matters to her and is prepared to fight for it . . . oh, and gets her guy, too. All’s well that ends well, as they say. Although the characters are pretty two-dimensional, the dialogue reads like a made-for-TV movie, and the plot after the big reveal is somewhat predictable, the book is readable, and I can imagine several young girls I know enjoying it.

Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a copy of the book for review purposes. show less

Ally Smith has lived most of her life in small Valley Falls, Wisconsin. Cheese, the Packers and special traditions with her widowed father make up her peaceful, normal life. As a senior, Ally is struggling with the essays for her UW applications but when she finally hits submit, her world is upended when her social security number is rejected. This was an emotionally packed book and the author made it, if not easy but certainly believable, to see all the various sides of the story.

Ally Smith has a happy life in Wisconsin with her dad and her friends. Her only worry is her college applications, but that’s normal. But when Ally officially filed them, they send up a red flag due to her social security number. It seems that Ally Smith isn’t Ally Smith. Her real name is Amanda, and now her happy life is no more. Is her whole life a lie? And what’s going to happen now?

If you’re looking for a captivating and emotional read, look no further than PAST PERFECT LIFE! I won this book via a LibraryThing giveaway, and it was so enjoyable! I found this to be a totally mesmerizing book. If I could have, I would have stayed up all night and read it in one sitting (believe me, I tried. Darn responsibilities.). Ally’s show more voice was unique, sweet, and just so well-done. The book has a teen style, but this Mama couldn’t stop reading. I loved that it was character-driven yet there was almost a tinge of mystery. It’s emotional, funny, romantic, and completely compelling! Highly recommend! 4 stars.

Thanks to LibraryThing and Bloomsbury YA for my copy. show less