A Novel of Mystery, Love, and of Chocolate That Defies Description
"An Otherwise Perfect Plan" is a contemporary coming-of-age story told by a quirky teenage girl who fills it with sarcasm, hyperbole, and wild flights of fancy—including a paleolithic “Shark Tank” with the planners of Stonehenge—all as her way of trying to make sense of a life with a single mom working two soul-crushing jobs, dysfunctional high school teachers, and her own wild emotions with a mind of their own.
Life hasn’t been easy for Gwen Pendergrass as a free-lunch student living with her mom in a one-bedroom apartment whose tiny, Marquis de Sade-inspired kitchen seems intent on inflicting grave bodily harm. The only thing making life palatable is Peter, a loner like herself who also goes to her high school, and who shares her love of books, banter, and endless reflection on the absurdities of the universe.
When Gwen’s mom receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get back the life she’d given up when she’d dropped out of college due Gwen’s unplanned birth, Gwen is beyond ecstatic… up until her mom says she has to reject the offer, because they can’t afford to take advantage of it.
Gwen cannot, will not, let this happen, no matter the cost. She intercepts the rejection letter her mom was mailing, then ropes Peter into a Hail Mary of a scheme to find her father, undeterred by knowing utterly nothing about him—not even his name!—her only clue: a strip of photographs of him and her mom, taken in a photo booth somewhere in Las Vegas the weekend of her conception to go on.
While she receives surprising help from unexpected allies, before she knows it, her white lies, scheming, and emotional roller coaster start to make a mess of everything, and it quickly becomes a race to find her dad before her mom catches on, her head explodes, or it all spirals completely out of control.
