The Worst Perfect Moment (Shivaun Plozza, Walker)

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.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Jordi Kerr is a freelance reviewer and youth literature advocate, and a support worker for the LGBTIQA+ community. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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