Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Going Bicoastal (ingeniously pitching as Biding Doors, incredible) by Dahlia Adler follows Natalya as her life diverges down two paths: either spend the summer with her mom in California or stay in New York with her dad. The options each lead to their own love interests, but some things remain the same between the two choices.

This was a really fun exploration of a formative time in a teen girl's life. I found the love interests charming and Natalya's journey was fun to read. This didn't quite click for me the way other Dahlia Adler books have, but it was fun enough. Adler's books are always a good time!

It's not very often we get to explore two sides of the same decision. With a life full of what ifs, Dahlia Adler lets us into a world where it's possible to explore both sides of a single, life changing decision. Natalya Fox has two choices for her summer, spend it in New York with her dad, her friends, and finally track down the elusive redhead she keeps bumping into all over the Upper West Side, or spend the summer interning at her mother's marketing firm in Los Angeles flirting with the hot, new intern who also happens to have a lot of connections in the LA food truck scene. Both options provide their own unique challenges and adventures, giving Natalya a summer to remember before her senior year of high school. But ultimately some lessons and life experiences can't be altered by a single decision. Some adventures are simply fate.

This book gave me the vibes of the musical If/Then. it explores both sides of the choice Natalya must make at the beginning and we see how her life could have been different between each alternating chapter. I loved the stories, the adventures, and the romances that came with each side of the coin. And as a queer New York Jew, I felt a certain kinship with Natalya, even if I'm not quite as observant as she is. And watching her relationships with both Elly and Adam grow was wonderful. Ultimately, each story becomes a little more separate than I would have liked, making it feel a bit like two novellas interwoven together into one longer novel. I would have loved to have seen a little more overlap beside the same conversations happening in each unique universe (which did get a little confusing at the beginning as I thought there was a misprint because I'd definitely read that conversation before). However, both stories were enjoyable to read and we follow Natalya as she spent one fateful summer figuring out who she is, what she wants out of her future, and what she deserves no matter what universe she found herself in.

Queer sliding doors. Need I say more?? This started a little slow for me, but I really liked both storylines, loved the touchpoints between them, and really enjoyed how the author handled the ending. Solid, amazing bi rep!!!

This was a really fun novel to read. I really enjoyed the dual timeline aspect and seeing how her summer would unfold depending on which path she chose. I liked that even though she took different paths, some things were just destined to be. My favorite aspect though was the ending, which became a sort of choose-your-own-adventure type ending. The story indicates which chapter you should go to for which character ending you want. I didn't feel a stronger connection to either love interest because I liked them both for different reasons so I read both! There was also a sneaky little easter egg for home field advantage which is also by Dahlia Adler.

content warning: mentions of past self harm/scars

Nat has to make the biggest choice of her life so far: what does she do for the summer? Does she stay in NYC with her dad and her friends (and maybe get the courage to talk to the hot redhead -the girl she’s been crushing on forever?)? Or does she go to LA to live with her mom, take an internship and try to fix the relationship she has with her mom? In this book, told in alternating realities, we see what happens in each scenario and how it plays out.

I love books that explore the idea of how one decision might change things. I especially appreciated how some pieces didn’t change based on Nat’s decision while others did. I flew through this book and wanted to see how it worked out. The choose your own adventure detail at the end was perfect and such a great way to wrap it up. As with all of Dahlia Adler’s books, there are great details about the Jewish faith that I learned from and I also appreciated the bisexual representation.

I started on audio and at first struggled to tell which reality/city we were in for each chapter. While the narrator was great, I could have used some clear differentiation at the beginning of each chapter in the audio. When I switched to the physical book, it was much easier for me since there were skyline illustrations at the beginning of each chapter that told you which city/reality Nat was in.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, OrangeSky Audio, and NetGalley for the advance copies.

Going Bicoastal is a parallel timeline, queer, Jewish YA coming of age romance that’s super fun. I adored Cool for the Summer so I was excited to read this and didn’t look up the book, so I wasn’t aware of the different timeline aspect before I started reading. I’m glad I didn’t know because that would have given me second thoughts and it works so well in this book. The small overlapping details between both are knit together so well that the story keeps moving so satisfyingly - it’s expertly done. The ending was such a nice touch too.

The whole book also has chaotic bisexual energy. We love to see it.

These characters have great personality and depth - I felt like I really got to know and enjoy them and I’d read many of their stories.

Bonus points for all the food aspects of this book - it had my mouth watering regularly and was extra fun.

Overall this is a really light and lovely story with a unique premise that unfolds in a super engaging way. I had a hard time putting it down and would definitely recommend it!

TW: Self-harm

A YA Sliding Doors storyline featuring a bisexual teen.
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Our story begins with high school senior Natalya Fox and an important choice she has 24 hours to make: stay in NYC for the summer with her dad or go to LA and spend the summer doing an internship with her estranged mom. In this dual timeline story, we get to see Natalya choose both. If she stays she ends up finally meeting her year-long crush and dating her. If she goes she starts something new with her coworker intern. Both versions of Natalya are struggling with their future and what to do about their passion for art as a career.
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I love the Sliding Door trope as well as the diversity in characters with this book! Adler had me rooting for one love interest in one chapter then switching in the next! I was happy with the ending and would love to see how Natalya’s life plays out. I loved the Jewish representation as well!

CW: divorce, self-harm (discussed from past)

This book was really cute. I loved the sliding doors feel of it and how it was bisexual without having to choose. The author's writing style really makes me want to read more!

I absolutely adore every Dahlia Adler book I read, and this one was no different. Both of Natalya's summers felt equally fleshed out and lived in, and at no point did I feel cheated in one timeline of the book by the time that was spent in the other. Instead, they effortlessly compliment each other, and I loved seeing how events played out differently depending on if she was in LA or NYC. While I adored both love stories in this book (this is now an Adam Rose stan account), Nat's relationship with her mom and the care with which it was handled was the real standout of this book for me. I always love the Jewish rep in all of Dahlia's books, and I especially loved getting to see that side of both Los Angeles and New York City in this book.

Ahhhh. This book is so good. I loved the dual timelines and the way each romance was written made me so conflicted on who I wanted Natalya to end up with. Each timeline was distinct and separated by nicknames she went by, Nat and Tal. The original friend group appeared in both, but each event they went through was told in a different way where nothing was repetitive and everything was so well done. Tal and Ellie were so cute and really expanded each others universe. While Adam and Nat’s story was also so sweet and all about growing up and finding their dreams. Both storylines tackled the same topics but in unique and different ways. I am obsessed with this book.

I love the Jewish representation. They featured multiple different ways people express their Jewishness and how unique one’s own relationship with Judiasm is.

And again so happy to see such good queer YA in the world and how much more Jewish representation is focused on their joy and everyday lives.

Thank you St Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing me a free and early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eArc for my honest opinion.

Going Bicoastal is a cute YA rom. Tally is trying to figure out herself and what she is wanting to do after her Senior Year, her parents are divorced, one living on each coast. This book starts out with Tally having to make a choice, does she spend the summer in NYC with her dad or in LA with her Mom, who she is no longer close to?

This book a la sliding doors than breaks into two different realities depending on the choice that she has made and switches back and forth from chapter to chapter.

Overall, i enjoyed this book, though i am not the target audience with it being more of a teen audience and i am well into my 30's, I liked Tally and how she grew and created her own found family in each of the scenarios. However, since the book was split 50/50 with each reality i felt like there just wasn't enough of either story or romance to really feel invested in either romance.

3/5 stars.

A queer romance combined with a Choose Your Own Adventure style?!? Count me in! I enjoyed this sweet story and the author pulled you straight into those familiar teenage feelings while also making you fall in love with each character.

This was such a great book about a girl who has to make a choice between the two summers she can have. I have read Adler’s past books and have always enjoyed them and let me say I was not disappointed with this one. I have read a book a long time ago where it was told in an alternative timeline and I didn’t enjoy it but Adler changed that for me. I loved the two different settings which were NYC and LA and seeing how much of a part it was for the book. This book is also not mainly romantic based as the author perfectly balanced it out with Natalya’s coming-of-age story. The pacing was perfect and I loved the overall plot of the story.

The main character in this book is Natalya who has to make a choice of either being with her dad or with her mom in different cities. I love reading her character and exploring her story with her. She was a great, fun character who had such an amazing character. The side characters were well involved with the book and there are two main love interests. At first I wondered how it was going to work out but it all makes sense once you get to the end. We have Adam who meets in LA and Elly in NYC. The characters were well-written and I loved how different they were and not similar. The romance was great and very cute. I couldn’t feel the chemistry but I loved how the characters developed with each other. The tropes are lgbtq+, friends to lovers, slow burn, and rivals to lovers.

The ending was kind of ok for me and could have been better but overall the story was great. So far every book Adler has written has turned out really great and would recommend it to everyone. I did have minor issues with the book but honestly, that is just me.

*this e-arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

A queer Sliding Doors rom-com in which a girl must choose between summer in NYC with her dad (and the girl she's always wanted) or LA with her estranged mom (and the guy she never saw coming).

Confession: I usually hate Sliding Doors-type stories. Something about them, or choose your own adventure, or even anything with mirror universe doubles, makes me extremely anxious. I only read this one because I've loved all Dahlia Adler's other books. And I'm extremely glad I did, because this was great and I actually enjoyed it so much! I don't want to spoil anything, but I think it's helped by the fact that the double timelines and how they wind up are not actually stressful here at all. It's not that the characters don't deal with anything difficult, they do, but, as as it says in the marketing copy, there's more than one path to happily ever ever.

I wound up almost equally invested in both timelines, which was a nice surprise, and in a large part due to the great cast of supporting characters in both, including love interests, friends, and parents. The main character is bi and there's lots of different LGBTQIAP+ rep in her friend groups, and we also get to see the role her Judaism plays in her life - and a ton of delicious-sounding Shabbat dinners, among other mouth-watering food descriptions. Seriously, I wanted both a playlist and a cookbook to go along with this book.

This is a perfect summer read for anyone, but especially for teens (or adults!) who need some reassurance about the fact that their future doesn't necessarily hinge on every small decision and that there are multiple paths in life that can be valid and rewarding and great.

I'm a big Dahlia Adler fan and was so excited to get a copy of Going Bicoastal. I wasn't expecting this to be a Sliding Doors type narrative where two choices branch off from the main narrative and play out. Natalya Fox has to choose between spending the summer where she lives with her Dad in New York or spending the summer in LA with her dad. We readers are lucky as we don't have to choose - we get to see what happens if she stays in New York or goes to L.A. In New York she connects more with her Jewish heritage learning to cook Shabbat dinners, connects with and begins to date the red-headed girl she sees around a lot, and starts connecting more with her Mom over the phone and also planning a career in graphic design. In LA she takes an internship at her Moms company that also leads her to a graphic design goal - as well as her cute fellow intern a guy with a secret desire to go to culinary school. A nice touch is that in both scenarios she gets more in touch with her Jewish heritage, becomes closer to her Mom, and establishes some career goals. I really can't say which romantic storyline I preferred, both stories had lots of chemistry. What I thought might be an annoying gimmick at first turned out to be cute and entertaining.

This book was just so much fun! Going Bicoastal is a Sliding Doors-style romcom that follows Natalya, a bisexual Jewish girl, as she chooses to either stay in New York and finally get the girl of her dreams OR head to LA to stay with her mom for the summer, where she'll eventually meet the guy of her dreams. Both stories had me kicking my feet at the cute parts, crossing my fingers for Nat to repair her relationship with her mom, and staving off a rumbling stomach thanks to all of the delicious food descriptions. All in all, the perfect summer read!

Final rating: 4.5/5 stars, rounded up to 5!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I was totally hooked by the premise of this book - one character with two alternative story lines? So intriguing! Overall the plots for both scenarios were solid, although I did find myself more interested in one version over the other. What bothered me though was how hard the author was trying to make her characters sound 'cool.' Some of the language was too juvenile even for a YA book, especially for the events that occur throughout the story. It took quite a bit of the enjoyment out of the reading of it for me, and I found myself eye rolling far too many times.

I really enjoyed the representation of the Jewish population in this book. It was a very realistic component to the story and I appreciated how the main character held this as a part of her identity. I also thought the author did a nice job with how Natayla shares being bisexual. She didn't overly fixate on the fact, but let the stories speak for themselves in sharing her feelings, thoughts and experiences.

Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler was such a fun and delightful experience. The parallel timelines was such an interesting take along with the bisexual representation. I loved it and I cannot wait to recommend this to everybody.

Oh, this was a lot of sweet YA romance fun. At a pivotal age for makign decisions about the future, a big choice of where to spend the summer can be followed along both options (ala Sliding Doors, or a way less melancholy and less sci-fi My Real Children) to two different, sweet romances. Both summers/romantic options/outcomes were so excellent I couldn't choose between them; in my mind the big decision of where to go for the summer sprang up alternate universes, Doctor Who style, so both can continue indefinitely in alternate timelines.

Sliding Doors is one of my favorite movies. I'm definitely a person who believes that we have millions of paths to choose from and the tiniest decision can make a big change to your path. But we don't see the map or the tree we just experience the journey. So we might end up in the same spot just from different directions.
So I loved the idea of a queer YA version of this idea.
The main character Natalia is Jewish and bi. And loved how they spoke about Shabbat and how both paths she took she was learning how to cook and spend more time with her family during that time.
Also how she forms a better relationship with her mother since she lives with her father after their divorce. And the career she wanted she seemed to fall into the same type of position but on different paths in different ways.
In her LA path she is into a guy named Adam and in her NY path she finally talks to the red haired girl named Elly.
This was a sweet coming of age story told from two possible paths taken. With romance, lots of food, and family togetherness.

Thank you stmartinspress for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.