The Worst Perfect Moment

Starred review from March 4, 2024
Sixteen-year-old Tegan Masters believes that a critical mistake has been made: she’s dead and, instead of going to heaven, she arrives at the Marybelle Motor Lodge in Wildwood, N.J., the location of her worst memory. According to Zelda—the cute but snarky angel who has reengineered the lodge down to the last detail, including the slimy mushrooms and the hidden foosballs—this is the place of Tegan’s happiest memory and where she will spend the rest of eternity. After Tegan files a complaint, the bureaucratic powers-that-be decree that Tegan and Zelda have one month to build their cases. Either Zelda must prove that her calculations were correct and Tegan is, in fact, where she belongs, or Tegan must persuade the powers that she’s not in heaven, but hell. As the duo traverse Tegan’s memories—depicted in third-
person POV chapters—she confronts sweet and bitter recollections. Via Tegan’s prickly yet endearing first-person narration, Plozza (Meet Me at the Moon Tree) strikes an expert balance between poignancy and irreverence, tackling topics such as death, parental abandonment, and self-worth in this queer romantic comedy that’s as tender as a bruise. Tegan and Zelda cue as white.
Ages 14–up. Agent: Katelyn Detweiler, Jill Grinberg Literary.

March 15, 2024
Now that she's dead, a queer 16-year-old girl must pass a major test to get into heaven. Tegan Masters is dead. She wakes up in what could possibly be the most depressing motel in all of New Jersey: Wildwood's Marybelle Motor Lodge. It's where Dad took Tegan and little sister Quinn in the wake of their mother's leaving two years earlier. According to Zelda, the teenage angel behind the motel desk, they're standing in heaven--"an exact replica of your happiest memory on Earth." But according to Tegan, it's actually her worst. And so, Tegan has gone to Upper Management to complain. If heaven is supposed to represent happiness, why is she here? Upper Management, having already had some issues with Zelda's methodology, poses a challenge. If Tegan is right, and there's a better representation of happiness from her life, then Zelda will be terminated--but if Zelda is right, and she chose Tegan's happiest memory, Tegan will be sent to purgatory. So begins an emotional and epic this-is-your-life trip, with Zelda trying to prove her case. What neither girl expects is the sweetness of catching feelings for the other. A fresh take on a possible afterlife, this narrative is filled with depth and wit, despite its dark tone. Its realistic depiction of a girl's reservoir of coping mechanisms for dealing with those who have let her down is exceptionally well written. Major characters are cued white. A worthy read about a short life brimming with possibility. (Paranormal romance. 14-18)

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April 15, 2024
Grades 9-12 When 16-year-old Tegan Masters finds herself dead and stuck in a heaven crafted out of her worst memory, she is determined to pass the blame on to the angel who messed up her afterlife. Complaining to her assigned angel, Zelda, Tegan is taken her on a tour of her memories to determine whether a mistake has been made or if Tegan is in denial. The last thing Tegan wants to see is her upsetting past, but she has to find meaning in her lived experience or spend a thousand years in purgatory. Tegan is forced to reckon with the life she lived and define what happiness means to her--and she might, meanwhile, have a few pointers for the angels on how to redesign Heaven. By combining childhood heartache, teenage angst, and queer romance, Plozza balances out the exuberance of being alive and the devastation that Tegan only feels after she's gone. A take on life after death that will leave readers entranced, frustrated, and on the edge of their seats.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 19, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Tegan is dead, and her heaven is all wrong. She's filed a complaint with the manager. Her assigned angel, Zelda, did all the research and constructed Tegan's heaven as a perfect clone of her "happiest memory." According to all calculations, that memory is the Marybelle Motor Lodge, a broken-down motel complete with the tampon that floated in the pool when Tegan actually stayed there with her dad and sister in the aftermath of her mother leaving. There's no way Zelda could be wrong, and she'll prove it in the manager's challenge, or they'll both face consequences. Brimming with snark, angst, and self-discovery, this unique representation of the afterlife is as engaging as it is insightful. VERDICT This appealing and amusing speculative queer romcom about the bureaucracy of heavens is perfect for fans of the TV show The Good Place and authors like Adam Silvera.-Kayla Chamberlain

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 5, 2024
The Worst Perfect Moment is a dark comedy about finding yourself and finding the good in the bad. After dying in an accident, 16-year-old Tegan is ushered by Zelda, a cute but sassy angel, into a personalised heaven based on Tegan’s happiest memory. The problem is, Tegan’s heaven is the crappy motel where she had the worst weekend of her life. When Tegan complains there’s been a mistake, she is forced to confront her memories from an entirely new perspective. This novel marks Shivaun Plozza’s first foray into speculative fiction for a young adult audience. Known for her dry humour and emotional rawness in previous works such as Frankie and Tin Heart, Plozza does not disappoint in these aspects in this new work. However, some of her signature Australian grit and charm feel Americanised and sanitised here, including the sapphic romance, which comes across as awkwardly chaste. The novel unfolds at a slow pace as Tegan wallows in a Groundhog Day-style loop of self-pity at the motel. Though the setting is limited, it is rich in character and detail (most notably, the waterlogged tampon floating in the pool). The ennui of the afterlife is disrupted when Zelda reappears to fulfil the Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl trope and drag Tegan into her memories. These are the moments when The Worst Perfect Moment shines, as Tegan confronts the joys and sorrows of her previous life. Best suited for readers aged 12 to 14 who enjoy dark humour and slow-burning paranormal romance, this novel will resonate with fans of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series and Sarah J Maas’s The Assassin’s Blade.