COOL FOR THE SUMMER had me at "Bisexual Grease" and followed through with a story about finding yourself *and* getting the girl. A fun, fast paced read that will make the perfect queer summer story for anyone looking for one.

Cool for the Summer centers around one big conflict: Larissa spends the summer hooking up with a girl for the first time, and comes home to her longtime crush Chase finally being interested in her. It’s perfect timing, because she left her summer fling behind in North Carolina. Except... her fling shows up as the new student in school. Very Grease but bi and with more turmoil.

The representation is pretty okay in this story - lots of side characters of varying inclusivity. Larissa and her girl love interest, Jasmine, are both Jewish, although Larissa is more like Russian Jewish and Jasmine’s family was from somewhere else. Other than that, though, the main cast of characters were almost all white and straight. Her set of friends from the beach were way more diverse but you only see them in flashbacks.

This book pretty much focuses on the love interest drama and the love interest drama only. There’s not really any secondary plot lines or any other inner conflict in Larissa. It kinda felt like a short story that just got stretched out.

The pacing was weird because of that. There were so many little peaks and valleys in their relationship, but they really didn’t go much of anywhere until the very end of the book.

I did like the mom’s reaction to finding out Larissa was interested in a girl, and I liked the way Larissa and Chase’s storyline ended. The tough talks in this story were pretty well done.

I just didn’t get much from this book and thought it count have benefitted from having a little more going on. I get that teens can get super infatuated and let love consume their lives lol especially with two love interests! So it’s definitely not unrealistic. It just wasn’t what I was looking for.

I’m so glad this book exists, though, and I’m really happy about what it will do for teens who may be unsure of their sexuality, or even teens who are 100% sure of their sexuality. I’ll be recommending it at work.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I started it and finished it in about 4 hours. I wanted to reread it as soon as I finished! I loved the kind of raunchy voice, and how genuine and sincere and relatable Larissa was. I loved the back and forth chronology, and how even the side characters didn't feel 2D. I thought Adler did an incredible job making the book feel so natural—it flowed so well that it felt like it'd been written like that, perfectly, without any editing or revision required (although I know that wasn;t the case!!). I've always been a huge Dahlia Adler fan, but this is easily now my favorite.

Dahlia Adler writes a book that would easily fly off the shelves in my classroom library. Cool for the Summer is a deep dive into young adult fiction, and Adler writes in the voice of youth in a believable way -- and with character development and plot movement that works well. I would gladly share this book with young adults, and recommend it for those of us in the YA appreciation crowd.

Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life.

Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.


- What a lovely, lovely read this was!

This is a terrific book. I like how the writer deals with the confusing feelings of the characters and the peer pressures of high school. It's done in a sensitive yet realistic way. The book is also entertaining and fun. Enjoyed it a lot.

(Thanks to NetGalley for providing access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review)

Whew, this was a super-fun read. Just to put this at the top, while this is something like a 4-star to my preferences, for an ARC that I'm considering for library purchase I'm reviewing from our students' perspective, and I'm gonna recommend the HECK out of this. 5/5. (But if you're combing my reviews because we have similar taste in, say, fantasy... actually, you should probably still check this one out. Because all of my fantasy five stars go to Jacqueline Carey these days).

I'll leave the synopsizing to others, but here's what I loved about the book:

***The main character, Larissa, has a strong, consistent, entertaining voice. She's popular, but somewhat grounded about it, and her narration is funny and insightful. Most importantly, she stays clear of 'mean girls' tropes, I don't really love in a narrator. I was a dork in high school, but in my experience the actually-truly-popular kids were popular because they were easy-going and kind to everyone. Larissa gets full marks here.
***Larissa's experience of bisexuality is overpoweringly relatable. Keeping this spoiler-free: it is evident from the book that Larissa experiences genuine attraction to people of more than one gender, but experiences all of the pressures of compulsory heterosexuality. It's handled really well, with a lot of nuance that feels true.
***shout-out to Kiki! Larissa and Shannon might be best friends, but Kiki comes through for Larissa hard. Gotta love a goth who podcasts! All of the side characters are so rich-- even Gia, who is kinda one-note, is a pitch-perfect rendition of a girl we all knew in high school.
***Excellent representation, but closest to my heart, Jews on different ends of the Jewishness spectrum vibing and not judging each other's expression of faith. While I'm a borderline secular Jew, it has always made my week to be invited to a more observant family's Shabbat or Seder. <3 <3 <3

There was one thing that didn't quite do it for me personally: the crux of the book was slightly ridiculous. HOWEVER, I thought about it a bit, and you know, teenagers are slightly ridiculous. While to my EXTREMELY sophisticated romance novel taste (BIG /s in case it wasn't obvious), the grand gesture fell flat, it is exactly the kind of fumbling romantic gesture teens make. TBQH it might have made me cringe because it was a little too close to something I did actually do. This didn't quite work for me, but putting myself in my teen's shoes, I think it would feel about right.

Thanks to YALSA for having Dahlia on a panel, so I got to hear about this fabulous book! I'll be pushing this at every teen I can for their summer reading next May.

**I received an ARC from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved reading this book. The characters, the story, the plot...all amazing! And oh...The drama and high school angst!! Lara has had the biggest crush on Chase since the start of high school 3 years ago, but he never noticed her...till now. You'd think that'd be prefect because that's what Lara is thinking since Chase is talking to her on the first day of school. Perfect! That is till a girl named Jasmine shows up at her school. Who's Jasmine? A girl Lara spent the summer with that was perfect, romantic, and a bit confusing. And Jasmine has spotted her... What happens this year? Who does Lara choose? You'll have to read to find out! It'll be worth it!

While this book didn't live up to my expectations, I definitely would love to put this in the hands of teens. i think it's a really great beautiful exploration of sexuality and questioning identity.

I was really excited to read this book, but unfortunately it just didn't live up to my personal expectations. i still definitely recommend checking it out though.

Hands down. I loved this book. I enjoyed each of the characters. I liked the genuine, motivational writing style. And I liked the idea of self discovery, pure emotional, inspirational outcome! Of course I liked the bisexual love triangle theme between Lara, Jasmine and Chase!

The only thing bothered me was the beginning point. I didn’t get exactly why Chase fell for Lara because they haven’t shared a deep bond, never talked before. Out of nowhere he started to flirt with her and of course Lara’s reaction was realistic. She had a crush on that guy for such a long time now she realized her feelings were not unrequited! Everything seemed so bright and hopeful but when she saw the girl she’d spent summer: her heart started singing “ Summer loving had me a blast. Summer loving happened so fast.”
So I want to scream her to tell me more she got friendly down the sand.

After my tribute to Grease: I must add I wish Lara and Chase knew each before, maybe they could be close friends and finally friends to lovers dynamics may work better with their insta beginning ( not for Lara but absolutely it was instant love for Chase)

But I liked how author executed the triangle idea and ending of the book was hopeful, heartwarming, sweet, inspirational!

Overall: I’m giving my entertaining, sweet, cute, lovable, poignant four young adult stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I came into reading this book with stratospheric expectations. Unreasonably high. I never dreamed it would live up to those expectations and hopes let alone exceed them. But here we are. I love this book. I love Jasmine and Larissa and every bit of the heart pinching romance and the hard decisions of finding out the thing you always wanted isn't actually what you want any more.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from NetGalley and I will be posting an in-depth review in May! This is a good summer read.