It’s another summer at Essex Historical Colonial Village for Chelsea, but unlike the last ten years of being forced to be a part of this reenactment because of her parents, she’s excited this year to have best friend Fiona along for the ride. But as much as she’s excited about that, Chelsea’s still down in the dumps about the breakup she had with boyfriend Ezra. She wants to get over him, and while she thinks that it’s possible to do so this summer with her best friend, when she discovers that Ezra is also working the summer at Essex, Chelsea becomes less and less sure of herself and her ability to move onward and upward.

Add to that a war between Chelsea’s historical reenactment village and the neighboring Civil War reenactment site, an unraveling of secrets about that neighboring site, a boy taking a shine to Chelsea who isn’t Ezra, and a quest to become an ice cream connoisseur, and you have a story that is much more than a simple breakup recovery plot line.

Sales’s trademark humor, present in her debut novel Mostly Good Girls, permeates her second novel, despite this book being an entirely different story than her first. The writing is easy to read and fall into. Sales builds Chelsea’s world immediately, and the reader never falls out of it, despite being a little bit of a strange and quirky one — how often do you read about teens who spend their summers working in historical reenactment sites and not just that, but they enjoy being members of living history? More than that, though, I felt that the discussions of history and the experience of working in such a historical world were authentic to the teens. Never once did the kids feel like they were stereotypes, and I think part of why this happens is because Chelsea cuts these ideas off from the start. She makes clear that yes, there are stereotypical teens who want to work in these places, but she emphasizes that she is not one of them . . . and by doing that, we see that no one else she introduces us to is one of them either, thereby leaving the reader to see that there aren’t stereotypes here.

I bring that up because that’s one of the strengths of Sales’s writing — her character development. Chelsea is a fully fleshed character, and she’s immediately engaging from the onset of the story. She’s a bit sarcastic and extremely stubborn, despite thinking that she’s anything but. While this fleshes her out as a character, it was what struck me as why I never felt myself liking or connecting to Chelsea. She’s stubborn about moving forward, but more than that, she’s too stubborn to even give readers an opportunity to understand why she is stubborn. We’re tossed into her post-Ezra world without really learning why Ezra was such a fantastic boyfriend for her and why she would fall into such deep mourning over the loss of her relationship. I found her to be a bit of a drag because of this. I needed more from her about why he mattered and why she needed to get over him. I didn’t find myself sympathizing with Chelsea’s break up, nor did I find myself rooting for her when she has the chance to move on with another guy.

I emphasize her because one of the strengths of this book is that the secondary characters, including Chelsea’s best friend Fiona, not only stand on their own, but they’re important in developing our understanding for Chelsea herself. We learn through an argument between Fiona and Chelsea why Ezra was such an important relationship for her, and we learn through the budding relationship Chelsea has with another guy during the summer why she’s a little gun shy about being with someone new. More than fleshing out the teen characters, though, Sales also does a good job of developing good parents. This is one of those rare young adult novels that features married parents who are happy, and they have a good relationship with their daughter. There’s a moment in the book between Chelsea and her father that will stick with me for a long time because it really highlights how true and honest a parent-child relationship can be done, and it seems so rare to read such a well-done moment. I think many readers will appreciate this relationship because it is memorable and it ultimately guides Chelsea in changing her attitude and the course of her summer.

The mechanics of the writing are solid, with believable dialog and the character relationships are, as I’ve alluded to, authentic. My one reservation in this, though, is that I think some scenes did drag a little bit — there were moments, especially when it came to character conversations, that dialog went on a little too long and there was too little action and movement. I think this can be explained a bit through Chelsea’s stubbornness and unwillingness to act, and I think that contributed a bit to why I didn’t care for her as a character. It was tough for me to hold my interest in her growth through the story against the characteristics that made me dislike her as a character, but fortunately, Sales’s writing helped keep me engaged.

One of the things that stood out for me in the writing was the setting, as it was entirely unique and yet easy to buy into. I’m not a huge history person, but I found myself loving the historical references and setting (within the present, that is). It was quirky enough without trying too hard to be so.

Past Perfect will appeal to a wide range of contemporary ya fiction readers, and one of the biggest strengths of this book, I think, is how it’s a safe one to hand to your younger teen readers as much as your older ones. There are no language nor situational issues to consider, though I think the discussion of the importance of relationships might resonate more with older teens than younger. Fans of Sarah Dessen will likely appreciate this story of growth and self discovery, as will those who like Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han, and Sales’s first novel. I’m a little at odds with the cover on this book, and while it’s not something I like to bring up within a review, I think it’s worth mentioning — I see the cover as both a strength and as completely misleading. It doesn’t fit into the story at all, but it does offer a peak into the tone of the novel, and it has a certain level of appeal to it that a cover that might feature, say, a historical site, would.

Review copy received from the publisher. Past Perfect is available now.