You Asked for Perfect

Ariel Stone is the picture of the perfect college applicant: first-chair violinist, devoted community volunteer, and his class's expected valedictorian. He makes an impossible schedule look effortless — until a failed AP Calculus quiz cracks the facade. Suddenly there are bloody fingers from a punishing new violin solo, more work and less sleep, and a spiral of panic and exhaustion he can't admit to anyone.

Forced to find a tutor before his grade slips further, Ariel turns to Amir, a former academic rival — and finds himself falling for him just as college deadlines close in. Adding a first real relationship to an already overloaded life may be exactly what pushes Ariel past his breaking point.

Laura Silverman writes a warm, incisive story about the crushing academic pressure placed on high-achieving teens and how easily the adults around them overlook it. Her narrator is Jewish and bisexual, and the novel explores both with honesty and care.