By now, we should all know that nobody’s life is perfect, no matter how much it looks like it on social media. But it can be hard to feel like you measure up when your newsfeed is full of everyone else’s best life.

Prue is about to turn 30 and her life is not where she thought it would – or should – be.

She lives in her brother Ben’s expensive house, has quit vet school and works as a telephone counsellor to lonely people. She also hasn’t met anyone since her fiance ended their engagement two years ago, and has a fractious relationship with her mother, who seems to have more time for Ben than Prue.

When Prue attends a wedding as her best friend Delia’s plus-one, she hooks up with someone and thinks her life may finally be on an upward trajectory. But things turn out to be more complicated. Has Prue been chasing the dream of perfection too hard? And has her focus on her own problems blinded her to the fact that everyone else is struggling too?

With engaging characters, witty dialogue and a sharply observed take on modern life, Perfect-Ish is an entertaining read, with a deeper message about how your perfect life will look very different to everyone else’s – and sometimes perfect-ish is good enough.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and raised in Brisbane, Jessica Seaborn is an Australian author now living in Sydney. She works as a television and film publicist at Stan, and prior to this worked for SBS, Allen & Unwin and HarperCollins.

Her debut novel, PERFECT-ish, published with Penguin Random House Australia, is an anti-romcom about turning 30, and understanding the difference between seeming to having the perfect lift and pursuing your own perfect(ish) life.

Jess’ writing has been published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Body+Soul and Feminartsy. In 2020, she was accepted into Curtis Brown Creative, where she completed the first draft of PERFECT-ish.

She lives in Western Sydney with her partner and a 50kg bull mastiff named Boof.

Visit Jessica Seaborn’s website