Planning Perfect by Haley Neil
CW: Medical Content, Caffeine Abuse, Borderline Absent Father, Toxic Parental Relationships, Injury, Racism, Acephobia, Anxiety/Panic Attack Described, Anxiety, Mental Illness, Self Esteem Issues, Miscommunication, Friendship Fight
4/5
I wanted to read Planning Perfect because it's a Jewish and asexual love story by an author I'm already familiar with, Haley Neil. The very cute cover also helped. A lovely dress, all elements are nicely balanced, and there's a peek at the apple orchard the book is set at. Everything about how this book is presented screams wholesome and cute for the bubbly queers. Yet, this might be the most stressful rom-com I have ever read. It could probably be described as a mental health story with a side of rom-com tropes. Despite the stress, it's a good book.
Felicity Becker, the star of Planning Perfect, has a wedding to plan! Her long-distance best friend and crush, Nancy, offers up her family's Vermont apple orchard for the wedding. Felicity wants to be an event planner when she grows up, so her grandmother invites someone with an internship to offer as a guest to the wedding. Felicity will have to figure out how to get it all done by the end of summer. Her mom is worried about the stress it could cause, her best friend from home isn't talking to her, and she's worried about how being ace will affect her relationship with Nancy. It's a lot, but with some help, she might be able to get through the summer in one piece.
Although never diagnosed, it's clear to me that Felicity is neurodivergent, she probably has OCD. She catastrophizes often, is obsessively worried about how she is perceived, berates herself when she messes up an interaction, needs everything to be perfect, and doesn't notice when she's steamrolling. It was stressful to watch her spiral and disappointing that there was no diagnosis. It was hard to read the book at times because of the tension. Neil put some effort into balancing the mental health content with the wholesome, sweet, funny, and fun parts. However, I believe it was her intention for us to be able to empathize with Felicity, to feel how she felt, and to see the world from her point of view. The book was in first person, after all. Nancy's character helped with forcing Felicity to slow down and showing the audience Vermont. The parents often provided the funny. Still, breaks were necessary for this novel.
The Jewish representation in Planning Perfect was great! Different characters had different relationships to their religion, a point that truly matters to who they are and how they behaved during the story. Felicity's grandmother is VERY traditional and it's even explained why. She pushes this on her daughter and granddaughter. It made her daughter very lax and landed Felicity somewhere in the middle. There are non-Jewish characters that occasionally will need something explained, but most of the Jewish stuff is just treated as part of everyday life. I always love that! A book that can reach a non-Jewish audience but is written for the Jewish one.
As I mentioned, an important part of why I decided to read Planning Perfect is the asexual representation. Felicity knows very strongly that she is bi, but in the biromantic way, not the bisexual way. She joined her school's GSA and started to learn about the asexual spectrum. Things started to click for her about why she never found anyone "hot" and why her crushes felt different from those of her friends. Although my journey was sparked because of Tumblr and roughly two years later, I related very strongly to how Felicity figured it all out. Especially that she doesn't 100% have it figured out. She hasn't had any romantic relationships to help her explore that part of her identity. It can be hard to know the specifics without testing things out. Not that it's necessary to be more specific than "on the asexual spectrum". I greatly appreciate Neil for adding this story to the other asexual fiction out there. Representation matters!
If you're looking for a queer summer rom-com starring a type-a Jewish girl, look no further than Haley Neil's Planning Perfect! Just make sure you're ready for the realities of mental illness. A summer wedding for the coolest mom and step-dad around is absolutely a reason to celebrate! You're invited… to read about it!
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