What a amazing book! I feel in love with this one. The story is spectacular, all the characters are super vivid. I recommend with my heart.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy for an honest review.
Cool for the Summer was my most anticipated book of 2021 and I really enjoyed it. I thought this book was the perfect read for the summer. I enjoyed the issues this book had such as sexuality and friendship. The main character is bisexual and enjoyed that as well as I identify as bisexual and love seeing myself represented in books. Cool for the Summer was a fun YA romance and would love to see it adapted for a movie.

I DNF" ed this one!! I went through the first half not liking any of the characters. I kept checking how far into it I was and seeing the percentage go up and being shocked that no character grew on me. Some of the writing choices... were questionable, and I was not enjoying the read at all, so I decided to put it down. I love the cover, and I really appreciate some of the things discussed, but it just wasn't for me.

Super fun YA that takes you through everyone’s fantasy of becoming popular and having the hottest guy in school, but asks what if what you want instead is the hottest girl in school?

5 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

First of all this cover is so cute and a perfect representation for the story, honestly one of the best portrayal’s for a bisexual teen. Lara is excited about her long time crush Chase is showing an interest in her, but then Jasmine who she was in involved during the summer is now attending her school. And yes Demi Lovato’s song not only refers to the title, but also has an important influence over the story. I loved to see Lara clearly having feelings towards both characters even though she hasn’t yet come out and kind of comes to terms with her sexuality. As well I get some Jewish representation from Jasmine, albeit a little stereotypical (a bit of a rich girl but also a free spirit). One aspects of the story that I struggled with was Lara’s friend group, they were a bit controlling (not intentionally I think) and always telling her what they think she is like. Throughout the story she does get closer with on of the girls she wasn’t with previously. One of the cutest aspects is her close relationship with her mother, who actually works for Jasmine’s dad (and how the two met). The ending was definitely something I was worried about and how it would be dealt with. But I was very satisfied with how it was handled and I want to get my hands on a physical copy of this book.

I really enjoyed reading this fun contemporary book and i especially liked the author’s writing style. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this author

COOL FOR THE SUMMER by Dahlia Adler
(I read an ARC of the book.)

NUTSHELL: A girl spends a summer falling in love with a second girl, only to return to a school where she finally get the boy she has been crushing on forever...and where the second girl shows up out of the blue.


REMINDS ME OF: Every girl-gets-the-dream-guy-but-realizes-wants-her-neighbor plot ever... mixed with the song by Demi Lovato of the same title.


PLUS SIDE:
+ Very quick read, and interesting enough that the pace seems to move quickly over all.
+ The dialogue was interesting and fun and seemed real enough to not pull me out of it.
+ All the characters were a perfect puzzle piece that helped pull the narrative together, even down to the sleuth friend who figures out what is going on between the main couples before they even do.
+ Some really funny asides and one-liners!
+ Just-steamy-enough descriptions of various scenes of hooking up, including LGBTQ+ ones!

NEGATIVE SIDE:
- The CONSTANT miscommunication was a little frusturating, but I can see it actually occuring in this situation.

FAVORITE WORDS:

["Chase is going to die," Kiki confirms. Impending death is her greatest compliment, and I smile even wider.]

[Well, I guess The Guy has arrived.]

["But just because you're telling a good story doesn't mean it's the right story. And I think it's really important to tell the right story."]

This book is a great coming-of-age story that shows someone discovering who they truly are. I loved reading it and watching the main character learn more about herself and her identity over the course of the story, and it's easily one of my favorite YA books of this year.

Loved this summer contemporary romance. This book was a delight. The audiobook was excellent. Loved the representation.

4.75/5 stars

I loved this book so much. I don't even have good words for how much I loved it, it just...was everything.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½⭐️ (4.5 stars)

OMG, you guys-

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK! Like, literally, SO MUCH.

Look, I may be biased because I am also a bi-Jewish girl, and so definitely saw myself in the leads and related to them immensely. But what’s wrong with that?! I’ve hardly have ever felt as seen in a book as I did while reading this one.

Both Lara and Jasmine were very easy to root for. My heart went out to both of them! I have definitely been where each of them were at different points in my life, and so it was impossible not to be hit with all those emotions again as I read this novel.

I found the struggles Lara faces in this book to be deeply relatable coming from someone who is also bi, and didn’t fully realize my queerness for a long time, and even when I did, struggled with identifying as queer myself for many years because I also liked boys as well as girls and consequently, wasn’t sure where I fit. This internal grappling is something I think the novel captures very well.

It’s hard not to gush about this book because I’m wracking my brain as I write this, but I can’t think of a single other novel that has tackled all that before (I’m sure others have, but I just haven’t had the chance to read them!), so I really appreciate what Adler did here?

Queer people who can also “fit” into the heteronormative mold are still valid and still queer. And that may seem obvious with hindsight, but as a queer teen, I really struggled to accept that for myself. So I really admire that this novel puts girls like that at the helm of its story.

Overall, this book is exactly what it advertises itself as: a cute, sweet, indulgent sapphic romance. While I felt a lot of emotions while reading it, the book itself is not super heavy. I’m so glad I read it in the summer because it really is the perfect summer read. I highly recommend it if you’re in the mood for something easy, breezy, and nostalgic.

My only note is that I would have liked for the background characters to be slightly more fleshed out for this novel to be absolutely perfect – specifically Lara’s friends. I feel like that was a little bit of a missed opportunity! Meanwhile, I understand why Chase’s character felt one dimension, and I think that made sense given where the story took Lara and his relationship.

The only other comment I’ll make is to address this: I’ve seen lots of people say things like miscommunication and love triangles are overdone in romance novels – two literary devices this book makes heavy use of. And usually, I’d agree, but in this situation, I’d say: 1) miscommunication is super realistic in a scenario like this, and 2) straight love triangles are definitely super overdone, but I’d argue that I’ve almost never seen a bi love triangle done like this before. The idea of which excited me to no end. And the execution? Perfection. *chef’s kiss*

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler was a great YA story about high school, relationships, emotions, uncertainty, and finding one’s self. Will definitely read more by this author. #NetGalley

Grease inspired rom com with a twist of personal discovery. I quite liked the story line and characters, it was definitely more on the YA side with a few cliches but also got quite steamy. Interesting read!

4.5 bumped up to 5/5⭐ for Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler. Thank you so much to Wednesday Books and MacMillan Audio for audio & digital egalleys for review. I am going to preface this review by saying that this was a total emotional/heart read for me that lived up to my eager anticipation. Thus, I may not have read this book with the most critical of eyes and recommend checking out other reviews as well! Overall, I freaking loved this book!! Our main character Lara wormed her way into my heart immediately and I was thrilled to have a bi(curious) MC!! The romance definitely had me shipping characters so hard, and is based around a love triangle that I thought was pretty good. The way this was told in a dual storyline was a fantastic choice and very effective! I could tell pretty early on which character Lara would end up choosing, but that in no way took away from the story experience for me. I thought it was quite valuable in the overall experience of Lara falling for a girl and questioning her sexuality. Her relationship with Jasmine had its messiness, miscommunication, and angst, but I do feel it represents the complexity and reality of teen relationships between two people who are still figuring out themselves and growing up. Mind you, it is dramatized for effect in the book but it didn't personally take me out of the story. In terms of diversity, there are a variety of characters representing different sexualities, genders, ethnicities, and experiences on-page. However, reading other people's reviews, there are varying opinions as to the depth and nuance of these representations. Definitely check out own-voices reviews if you would like to learn more. If you're looking for something fun to read next summer (or even now if you're wanting an escape from the cooler weather) I'd highly recommend checking out this Grease inspired story!

I've only read one of Dahlia Adler's books before, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and this was the same.
This book is an easy-going summer read.
Lara's story is a cute romcom where she's torn between a girl and a guy. She's confident in her self and her sexuality, which is always wonderful to read.
I'd definitely read this again!

I absolutely ADORED this book, Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler. It’s got bi/bi questioning representation, a love triangle, high school/summer love, and is honestly just a super cute, fun and real read! My favorite quick summer queer romance read this far!

This is the kind of book and representation I know that I would’ve appreciated growing up, and that I’m so grateful that today’s teens and young adults have access to. Representation is so important and books that work to show happy love stories while also working to dispel certain stereotypes about bisexuality in this case, are even more so.

I was so grateful to be able to read an early copy of this title. It is so rare to find a GOOD WELL-WRITTEN LGBT teen romance! I was drawn to this story from the very beginning and I genuinely enjoyed my time reading it. I smiled so much and felt myself getting those little butterflies in my tummy when something cute happened! This was my first book by Dahlia Adler, but will not be my last. I have already picked up a physical copy of this book for my shelf! 4 stars!

Nah no thanks. That throwaway biphobic line did NOT need to be there and the nonbinary side, side character felt reduced to a flag.

Also this was just 250 pages of jealousy and complaining the person you 'moved on from' was maybe dating someone else (when you yourself had done the same thing) and blaming them for lack of communication when again, you yourself had done the same thing bye

Full Review:

This book was just not it. I listened to an audiobook, but I probably would've been too frustrated to finish it had I been reading it physically. I really do think we need more books about characters who are questioning their identity, even if they don't come out with a label at the end or even if they just find out they're straight or cis, because the act of questioning itself needs to be more normalized, but I just don't think this book was that good as a whole, regardless of the gap it fills.

Beyond the throwaway biphobic line that just pissed me off (there was literally no reason for it to be there, the story would've been the same without it, and now I just had to hear that bullshit again read out loud to me), this book was just quite boring, and when it wasn't boring, it was just annoying. The MC is just, so hypocritical the entire book, and everything that frustrates her about the girl she's into, is exactly the same things she's doing. She just had no self-awareness, and it just grew more and more frustrating as the book went on.

I also just really disliked the MC's friends too, and spent the entire book hoping she'd find better friends. But since none of the side characters are really fleshed out, it felt like this was just pushed to the side and not really resolved. That was overall the case with most side characters, to the extent where it just felt like it was the MC, and either Jasmine or Chase depending on where in the story/timeline we were.

Overall, this book just wasn't it for me, though maybe it'll work out well for others! I can see this possibly being nice for those who are going through the MC's struggles, but hopefully we get some more books to fill this gap as well.

(This review is based on an advanced review copy provided by NetGalley.)

I've read a couple of Dahlia Adler's other books and enjoyed them but didn't feel strongly about them, but this book makes it clear that she has leveled up as a writer. My reading has slowed down lately, but this book went down so easily. I have once again destroyed my sleep schedule by staying up to read this. A beach read about compulsory heterosexuality! First you think it's this fun summery book about a party girl (who is also a bookworm), and then it makes you cry with how tender and kind it is.

Recommended for fans of Hot Dog Girl.

Rep: Main character is Jewish (but "not remotely affiliated") and questioning (likes boys and at least one girl, doesn't choose a label but implies she may choose one eventually). Love interest explicitly identifies as bi. Side characters include a Black aroace girl, a bi Vietnamese-American girl and her pansexual nonbinary partner/enbyfriend.

Content notes: There is no cheating/infidelity. m/f and f/f sex scenes, ~PG-13.

Oh beautiful cover, I wanted to love you. I guess this one just didn't work for me. I just didn't feel the chemistry. I wanted to get on board, get so excited for it all to work out, but I just never connected. It was cute but just not for me.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>