Fun summer read especially for fans of beach reads and fans of romance. It is a gay centric love story with plenty of funny and spicy moments.

Very slow in the beginning and the writing style was not for me. Didn’t seem very believable in my opinion.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I wanted to like this book as it seemed like a fun summery romance, however, I ended up disliking the main character so much that I couldn't finish it.

a high school senior who aspires to be a screenwriter must decide not only where to apply to college but also between a past boyfriend and a potential new love. this book was sweet & summery, and read really quickly. wasn't as keen on the script interhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5317431309ludes between chapters, but i still enjoyed the overall story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This was a fun summer-y read, that I recommend to all seniors getting ready to start their life in university. It's witty, drama-filled, and has some great character development. However, at times the writing felt a bit cringy, and there was some unnecessary drama that made the story feel a bit juvenile. Nevertheless, it's a great read for YA lovers!

A YA romance book for rom-com lovers!

Harry wants to be a screenwriter, wants to head to college and do it for a living, and wants to forget about boys to make this happen. And he’s doing a great job at it! That is, of course, until the boy who broke his heart comes back into his life… at the same time that a new boy in town charms him and sweeps him off his feet.

This was a very charming read, and Harry felt like a teen who thinks he knows what he wants, only to second guess everything. Does he make messy and bad decisions? Of course. What teenager doesn’t?

A great summer read with great characters.

I really adored everything about this story! I loved Harry and Logan was such a sweetheart. I wanted Grant to get out of the way, but I also didn't hate him, which was interesting, because I usually hate the ex. But this was a grand summer romance and I loved Harry's dreams and everything about this lovely romance!

This was a fun summer romance. It was cute and fun and I appreciated the Mamma Mia references (though I wanted more!)

I will say, I found myself skimming a lot, and I totally did not like Grant at all (and couldn't really get with the idea of Harry giving him a second chance).

If You Change Your Mind was the perfect summer read! The characters felt so realistic to me and I really fell in love with each of them. I loved all of the rom-com references. This book was just a fun time!

An absolutely adorable summer rom-com read. If you like love triangles this is definitely a book you wanna pick up. It was such a vibe to read just chillin outside

3 stars

I mean, it was.....fine. Not ground breaking and definitely not a new all time favorite. Something was just missing. Everyone felt flat and very meh. Harry's whole personality was just loving movies but that was it, nothing more to him. There wasn't any high stakes but it was a cute, simple summer read.

This was a fun summer read, but there really wasn't a will-they-won't-they factor. We knew who the main character was going to choose from the start. There weren't really any elements of Mamma Mia to justify the title.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an eARC of this book.

This was really cute! A fun summer romance with lots of self-doubt, confusion about the future, and messy teenagers. This was definitely a story about teenagers who are entering their last year of high school and trying to figure out the rest of their lives. Harry is determined to avoid romance this summer, but of course his plans don’t exactly go as he thought they would.

I thought this was a really fun story about summer time and teenage life. The teens were a bit messy, as most teens are. Things were a bigger deal than they probably needed to be, but I think that’s pretty realistic to teens in general. I also thought it was really realistic and relatable to have Harry and his friends be thinking about college, being unsure about their future, and wanting to also have fun and not think about it at all.

I don’t think there was a lot that made this book something I will go back to over and over again, but I thought it was really fun and I think teens will find it really relatable when the characters are trying to figure themselves out and making choices about romance, school, and friendship.

This was a fun, beachy read! I loved the setting and the summery feel…what a great way to start the summer!

There were a couple things keeping me from giving this an all-out 5 stars. For one, the main character had 2 siblings, and the way they were written, it was really hard for me to tell them apart, and to tell how old they were. The older one I think was 15, but at times seemed felt much younger. And the younger sister was 5, but the way she talked and acted felt much older at times. This is a minor complaint, but one that did bug me as I was reading.

The other thing that annoyed me at times was the attitude of the main character, Harry. He had a tendency to jump to conclusions, then get bent out of shape. Case in point: he invites Logan to a party after meeting him, which is nice. But then he immediately starts to awkwardly push him towards his friend Penny out of nowhere. Then when Logan isn’t instantly swooning over her, Harry gets super pissy and in Logan’s face about it. It was just weird and didn’t feel natural or normal/appropriate. Also, Harry got SUPER panicked about Penny MAYBE applying to USC (like that would automatically kill his chances?), but then after a few freak outs, it’s completely dropped and we never hear her name again. I guess what I’m getting at, is that Penny felt like a huge plot device, and when she was no longer needed, we never saw her again. Like when some random character is introduced n an 80’s sitcom, then goes up the stairs when their story line is done and never cones back down.

ANYWAY. That’s an awful lot of complaining for a book I’m giving 4 stars to. Despite those issues, I STILL really enjoyed this book! It as fun, entertaining, and just what I was looking for. I enjoyed the love triangle (quadrangle?) and how it was resolved. I’d love to see a book where the two boys Harry doesn’t chose find their own true loves (maybe each other? Or two separate spin off books where they each get their own stories?).

Overall, a really fun, sweet read!! I will be following this author to see what they do next!

What a cute summer read! The love triangle keeps you on your toes, hoping the MC makes the right decision. The pop culture references were a unique stamp of the writer, especially loved all the Taylor Swift songs and the choice he made.

Oh no! I absolutely hate that I didn’t enjoy this book. I follow this author on Instagram and feel like I’ve seen the journey of this book from start to finish. However, the writing just was not there. Plus, I did not like several of the characters. They weren’t enjoyable to read about. This book does exude summer, which made me want to go out and enjoy summer more. Overall, I was so disappointed.

<i>"This thing between us is over, it has been -- it already was. And these past few weeks have been us grasping at things from the past -- memories and things that are familiar to us because the truth is, growing up is scary. It means a lot of unknowns and leaving things behind, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to be around someone who feels familiar and makes you feel loved. It just does't mean we should be *together.* We're so young, and we have so much ahead of us. Too much to be clinging to the past already."</i>

TL;DR: A perfectly *fine,* fluffy, Vanilla queer YA romance that is a Win for representation and normalizing queer relationships -- but which falls short in the lack of stakes driving the narrative and flat characters. This will be a perfect read for some readers -- I'm just not one of them.
<b><i>I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</b></i>

Vibes: A queer <i>Bridget Jones' Diary</i> + "Summer Lovin" from <i>Grease</i> with a healthy dose of TJ Klune's The Extraordinaries

Genre: True YA Contemporary Queer Romance
*Definitely True YA as Weber captures the angst of first love / teen crushes

Romance Meter: ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙
All romance, all the time.
And a Love Triangle. A messy one at that. *sigh*
Actually -- maybe a Love Square? IDK -- everyone seemed to have an inexplicable thing for Harry

Character MVP: ...
Probably Foster. I agree that Kensy is a better nickname than Harry, and he seemed like a genuinely cool and even-keeled dude not prone to emotional drama.

Verdict: Okay, so listen. *Any* book that came after <i>I Kissed Shara Wheeler</i> was always going to not measure up -- but this one had the unfortunate coincidence of *also* being a queer rom-com steeped in classic rom com references and tropes. And...it just fell short for me.

Don't get me wrong -- it was a fun, fluffy, book version of classic RomComs which have (also inexplicably) fallen somewhat out of favor recently.

There was lots of happy queer characters -- at least, "happy" in the sense that nobody was secretly closeted, and nobody had traumatic coming out experiences, and there was no horrific homophobic characters. So, from a representation standpoint, this book is a win.

Also a win in the "summer vibes" category. Lots of beachy scenes, with talk of poolside afternoons, mornings surfing, ice cream and carnivals -- all very light and fluffy.

And the biggest strength, for me, was Weber perfectly capturing that feeling of reuniting with your ex, specifically your first love, and wondering if you still love them and if you can make things work. (You probably can't, but you're really tempted to for awhile.) That part rang nostalgically, emotionally true.

But there were just some things I couldn't get past:

✖️ -- For about 80% of the book, I had no idea how old Harry's sisters actually were. (I know they're 5 and 15, but honestly? I couldn't tell. I have a 6 year old kid, and she does not act like Lottie. Not that all 6 year olds act the same but I thought they were maybe 8 and 12.)

✖️ -- There were like 4 guys who were attracted to Harry, and I'm not sure why. The characters were a bit flat & stock, IMO. Like, Grant is the Daniel Cleaver douchey-hot guy (and I didn't understand his motivations at all), and Logan is the Mark Darcy sweet-and-quiet guy. And Harry has "his screenplay." That's his whole personality.

✖️ -- Also, characters come and go rather conveniently; like the girl who wanted to go to USC (I don't remember her name) and not Harvard. She was there, served her plot point, and then disappeared. Same with Foster-the-Fling; he popped up a couple of times, and then vanished. Even poor Agnes got a few-line dismissal at the end. Same with the grandmother who randomly pops up. The lens is very narrow -- which *is* consistent with an adolescent perspective -- but it just felt a little loose character wise.

✖️ -- And if the characters were flat, then the plot needs to be there. And, it wasn't, IMO. There was less of a bell-curve to the story and more of a straight line -- things just kinda happened, and there weren't really any stakes; there wasn't tension and what was there, was all centered around the romance square.

✖️ -- This is also very much a "things-could-have-been-avoided-had-they-just-had-a-conversation" book. Which, while a common trope in YA, just irks me a bit these days.

This last one is spoilery, so, be warned.

✖️ -- The ending really kinda irked me.
Hear me out.
Harry's "revelation" at the end is that he's been selfish and mean by putting his dreams and screenplay first. So -- being the impulsive adolescent he is -- he throws everything out at once, with this grand declaration that he won't put his dreams -- which might not even come true! -- over his friends and family. (And he apparently doesn't know what he's passionate about, even though screenwriting is like his entire personality. He loves movies, he's *clearly* passionate about movies. It's like the Biggest thing communicated to the reader -- how can he *not* know what he's passionate about...?)

Now, there's a lesson in there about appreciating where you come from, about seeing the beauty in your (beachside, clearly wealthy) hometown. That's not the problem.

The problem, for me, was that Harry makes *such* a big deal about how LITTLE he's worked on his screenplay. Like, the entire "conflict" of the story hinges on Harry procrastinating and continually doing things with his friends and family instead of working on his screenplay. (Which apparently only takes him, like, a few hours to get done when he sits down to it. Because writing is just that easy. Most of that writing happens off-page, so, you know.)

So, the screenplay clearly hasn't taken over his life, although Harry is a bit insufferable about his desire to get out of his hometown and out to California.

But...he's 17. About to be a high school senior. He SHOULD be focused on what he wants to do with his life, and thinking about his future. There's NOTHING wrong with that. If he wants to be a screenwriter --as he makes VERY clear -- then, YES. USC is absolutely a strong dream to have! And a valid one! The opportunities it affords from geographical proximity alone...and you don't let your 5 y/o sister and your Spring Break Fling guide your decisions.

And given the strength of the relationships depicted in the book -- he's really close with his sisters and his mom and his BFF -- there's very little reason to believe that (1) when he says he wants to get out of his hometown where he's lived his entire life he means he wants to get away from his family and friends and (2) that he wouldn't maintain those relationships from California. He definitely wouldn't "lose" them completely.

The big "dramatic" moment at the end landed really flat for me, because it seemed artificially constructed for the climax and inconsistent with the characterization.

Ugh. I feel like King Triton telling Ariel she's 16 and doesn't know what love is.

I really enjoyed this book.
The story was well developed, it flowed well and made sense. The characters, especially Harry, were really well done. The emotional roller coaster Harry went through was so true and real. The author did such a good job that I really became vested in all of the characters lives.
I also liked how organically the summer time frame passed. I felt the time ticking away while also feeling the lazy days of summer.
Perfect summer (or anytime) reading.
Enjoy!

A cute, LGBTQ+ summer read. Sadly not my favorite of the year, but it was enjoyable. It had a strong plot and the characters were typical teenagers, which is always nice to read.