I enjoyed this sweet YA queer romance. It was part coming-of-age, with Kat becoming comfortable enough to explore her sexuality, and part self-discovery with Piper learning more about herself. I appreciated the sex-positive messages and the fact that there was no deception with Kat's employment (some storylines would have definitely used Kat being paid as a conflict between the characters). It was an easy and quick read - I would definitely recommend it!

Kat and Piper are doing their very bests to get to know themselves and how they feel about each other. Piper wants to be a professional horse rider and has been out as a lesbian for awhile and has come to stay with her grandmother for the summer to learn from an Olympian. Her grandmother hires Kat to help teach Piper to drive and the two become fast friends. Kat starts to realize that she is also into girls and that she might have feelings for Piper who is still stuck on her ex girlfriend.

I enjoyed reading this book and found most of the characters to be really likeable and easy to relate to. Both of the main characters went through major growth in this book and learned so much about themselves which is what made it so enjoyable to read.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This was a fun little YA contemporary; perfect for a lazy Sunday read. Piper and Kat were great MCs, and I really loved seeing their story unfold. I did feel like the plot was a little shallow - we didn't really go too deep into anything serious, and stuff was resolved with a minimum amount of angst or anguish - but it was fun and that made it very readable. As a "horse girl" I do wish that aspect of Piper's personality was a little more built up; here's someone upending their whole life to become an Olympic level rider, but her attachment to the sport, and to the horses themselves, was super vague and brushed over. But I also acknowledge that non-"horse girls" probably wouldn't care about that aspect, so it def doesn't deter from the mass appeal factor.

All in all, well done.

This book is a pure delight. Kat and Piper are compelling leads and I loved both of their voices in this story. It was a perfect, sweet escape from 2020 and I couldn't wait to get back to it.
Loved it.

The Key to You and Me is an adorable YA romance! This book also deals heavily with someone navigating their sexuality, all of the hopes and fears. But all in all this slow burn romance was enjoyable and an easy read! There were some moments that felt a little cheesy but it is a YA book so I won't hold it against it. If you're looking for a cute and simple read, this is a decent one!

A very fun and cute YA book. I know nothing about horses, so it was also nice to get a little education about that world as well. I liked the changing POVs, but it was a bit confusing at times.

I’m not sure where to start. Kat starts out being okay with her cousin being gay but is so worried about the concerns of other people in their small town that she's afraid to explore her own preferences. Then comes Piper, a girl who is so comfortable knowing who she is and what she wants that when at a bonfire with Kat and her cousin she has no qualms about admitting to being gay in front of everyone. This book is heavy in self-discovery centering around sexual identity and being comfortable in one’s own skin. I love how this book normalizes this as Kat works towards discovering what she wants and who she is and finding her own confidence in it. However, I’d like to have caution and there to be a fact check on 'gayness based on finger length' as suggested by an article a character supposedly read. This, if untrue, might cause young readers to go around and measure and make false assumptions about their peers based on this. This little thought a character had was inconsequential and had nothing to do with the progression of the storyline so I don’t know why it was included.

I thought this was a sweet self-discovery book. It read smoothly and I felt like I could be friends with these characters. The only time I felt abrasive towards the story was towards the end and that had to do with my personal preferences. Other then that, I thought this was a great ya story about sexual identity and self-discovery.

A slow-burn romance with highly relatable main characters.
In Massachusetts, Piper Kitts loves riding horses, just like her grandmother, but her parents don't always understand her dreams. When her girlfriend, Judith, breaks up with her and her trainer has to take the summer off while recovering for surgery, she temporarily moves in with her grandmother in North Carolina to train with former Olympic rider Dilara Schober. However, it turns out she doesn't get to do very much riding. She's essentially a glorified farmhand, and Dilara is harshly critical every time she actually does get on a horse.
Kat Pearson has only recently realized that she likes girls, but doesn't feel ready to tell anyone. She feels like everyone around her in Harmon, North Carolina, has a goal to leave as soon as possible: her mother, who divorced her father and moved to Texas years ago, her younger sister, Emma, who dreams of attending a dance school in Dallas and moving in with Mom, and her cousin, Elliott, who's off to college in the fall. She makes money by doing small favors for her dad's salon, but when Piper arrives in town, Kat is presented with an opportunity: teach Piper how to drive and get paid by Piper's wealthy grandmother. It's not exactly legal, but it all works out. Right? Except that neither of them imagined the crushes they'd have this summer on each other.
Piper's parents have been pressuring her to get her license ever since she turned sixteen, but she's never felt ready. A car accident she was in as a child has made her refuse to ever get on the road. I related so much to this. In my state, kids can start drivers' ed and get their permits as soon as they turned fifteen, so for years I watched everyone else in my grade start driving before me. I only recently finally started, just like Piper. I didn't really have a specific reason why, I just really didn't think I was ready to drive.
I also used to ride horses, even though I was much younger than Piper when I did it, so I kept imagining my old barn during every training scene. I liked that she found friends in the other trainees, many of whom were queer as well.
The romance between the narrators doesn't actually happen until the very end of the book, which I think was more realistic than if it had started right after they met. At first, Piper starts posting pictures of herself and Kat to make Judith jealous, even though she doesn't know if Kat likes girls at all. About halfway through the book, Kat is introduced to Piper's riding friend Lou, who she kisses at a party, and they seem to continuously flirt with each other even though Kat states multiple times that she's more interested in Piper. I don't know why that went on for so long, but as long as there's a happy ending, I'm okay with it.
When Kat does come out, she's met with all positive reactions, and thankfully she's not outed. Elliot is also in the closet at the beginning of the book, and he spends a lot of it debating whether or not it would be worth it to come out to his parents, as he is adopted and they expect him to be the perfect son. His situation, while somewhat different from Kat's, is also realistic. Kat's coming-out contradicts the "small town, small minds" trope and I'm SO HERE FOR IT.