Penny was perfectly content with her life. She loved her hometown and spending time with her bestie and her boyfriend. Her future was predetermined, and she was ok with that. However, after Penny was accepted into a competitive acting camp, her little world began to grow, and she started to see that there were a lot of different opportunities out there, and that she may want to explore them.
I'm a girl from small-town Florida - we stay here.
This Tiny Perfect World was a very thoughtful and honest look at one girl's struggle and doubt about her future. I think many people will be able to relate to this story on some level, because so many young people (and older people too) reach a point in their lives, where they are faced with some exciting and scary choices, and will have to determine what they want from life.
Penny always thought she wanted to stay in her hometown, inherit her mother's diner, and marry her childhood sweetheart, but her summer in a new environment really opened her eyes. She began questioning what she wanted and what she thought was possible. Gibaldi did an incredible job conveying Penny's struggle to the reader. I felt her fear of losing the things she knew and loved, but also her excitement for the things she could have.
Gibaldi assembled a fine cast of characters to accompany Penny on her journey. I thought her theatre friends, Sam and Chase, were great windows into her new possibilities. I found them fun, likable, and felt that they pushed Penny in all the right ways. Her best friend, Faye, was always there for her, and I really appreciated the way she supported Penny. I have to say, Dad was a stand out, and he and Penny shared some really special moments on-page. His love for his daughter was crystal clear, and he did what any good parent would do. He tried to advise and guide his daughter, but allowed her to make her own choices.
There was a lot of fun built into this book. I had lived in Florida for several years, and visited central Florida often, so I was a fan of the setting. The trips to downtown Orlando, as well as our days at camp, created a nice backdrop for the story to unfold in. I even had fun while Faye and Logan were babysitting.
Although this book had an fairly wide open ending, I was ok with it. The ending seemed appropriate for this story. Penny was still figuring things out. She was 17, and her ending didn't happen yet, therefore, it made sense that the book left room for her to continue growing and searching for her happily ever after. Although the ending was not all tied up, we do get some idea of where Penny stood on certain aspects of her past and future life, and I really was pleased with the direction Gibaldi went with that.
Finished? No. Partway there, yes, but not finished. Never finished. When you're finished, you have nothing left to learn.
Overall: A very real and believable story of one small-town girl's struggle with the life she knows and what surprises await her outside of the home she knows and loves.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review
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