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Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

Young adult

Past Perfect Life

by Elizabeth Eulberg

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Quick take

Think you know your family? Allison thought life with Dad was perfect—until she discovered his shocking past.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, Fast_Read

    Fast read

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Suburban

    Suburban drama

Synopsis

Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is—spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn’t be? In a few short months, everything’s going to change, big time.

But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she’s not Allison Smith. And Ally’s—make that Amanda’s—ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?

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Check out a preview of Past Perfect Life.

Past Perfect Life

Chapter One

Describe a significant event in your life and how it has influenced you.

Seriously? I can't believe that years of hard work, studying, and planning has come down to having to answer these kinds of questions.

Okay. I can do this. I've written fifteen hundred words on how prehistoric drawings influenced how we communicate today. I can certainly wrangle up something about myself to persuade a scholarship committee to give me money.

No pressure or anything.

What do they even mean by "significant"? I'm seventeen. Getting a huge pimple right before class photos is a major life event. Being called on it in class when you don't know the answer is a big deal. Let's be real: when our small town got a second screen added to the movie theater, it was front-page news for weeks. So my idea of significant might be a tad underwhelming to anyone else.

I get they probably mean something truly momentous. That right there is the problem. I have a pretty quiet life. I do really well in school and stay out of trouble. My life is the opposite of significant. It's ... my life.

I live in the tiny town of Valley Falls, Wisconsin. Nothing here really changes, and I like that. Dad and I had lived in five different cities before we finally settled here eight years ago. It's a great life, but that doesn't help me answer this essay question.

Has my existence truly been unremarkable?

Seventeen years and nothing to show for it.

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Why I love it

When it comes to reading YA contemporary, I crave something cute, but with substance. And on this, I know that Elizabeth Eulberg is always going to deliver. Her well-developed characters, relatable emotions, and sweet romances draw me right into a book’s world—and make it so I never want to leave.

Ally is a small-town girl with a devoted father and a small but wonderful group of friends. Her biggest problem? She’s got nothing noteworthy to include in her college application essays—that is, until an application detects an invalid social security number, and Ally discovers that she’s not who she thought she was. Soon her world is turned upside down as she comes to terms with the lies of her past and her new normal.

Ally’s emotional journey, told through Eulberg’s completely addictive writing, compelled me to keep turning the pages. I was moved by her deep friendships, developing romance, and the challenges her family faced. I didn’t mean to finish this book in one day, but that’s exactly what happened. I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t think you’ll be able to either.

Member ratings (495)

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Young adult
View all
The Wild Huntress
Ruthless Vows
What the River Knows
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Dragonfruit
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love
Check & Mate
Divine Rivals
Foul Lady Fortune
Anna K Away
I Must Betray You
A Wilderness of Stars
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Bloodmarked
Instructions for Dancing
The Boy in the Red Dress
Color Me In
Not So Pure and Simple
Throw Like a Girl
Frankly in Love
The Queen of Nothing
Wayward Son
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
Anna K
Patron Saints of Nothing
The Kingdom of Back
Yes No Maybe So
Permanent Record
Full Disclosure
Oasis
Where the World Ends
I Have No Secrets
Song of the Crimson Flower
When the Stars Lead to You
All the Bright Places
Saving Zoë
Symptoms of a Heartbreak
All of Us with Wings
The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World
Past Perfect Life
There's Something About Sweetie
Again, But Better
Sky Without Stars
How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom
Night Music
Shout
The Deceivers
Top Ten
A Million Junes
And We're Off
Salt to the Sea