Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler is a sweet YA rom-com with a unique Sliding Doors twist. Natalya Fox has a big decision to make: spend her summer in NYC with her dad, and maybe finally talk to the girl she's been crushing on, or head to LA to fix her relationship with her estranged mother. Unable to decide, the story plays out in alternating timelines, one where Natalya pursues the girl of her dreams and one where she falls for the unexpected guy.

Adler does a great job of creating a diverse cast of characters, including different religions, sexualities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The respect shown for these different faiths and traditions adds a strong sense of community to the story. The food descriptions are also mouth-watering, making readers hungry for more.

Adam, a love interest, is funny and adorable. The stalking and pretending to like the same things as Elly, the other love interest, by Natalya could be off-putting to some readers. Additionally, there is no real conflict in the story, which leads to a lack of character development for Natalya. Everything seems to be handed to her, including people offering to buy her artwork without any marketing. Some readers may also feel that the author doesn't fully understand the concept of work-study.

Overall, Going Bicoastal is a light, enjoyable read that will appeal to fans of YA rom-coms. The Sliding Doors twist adds a fun element to the story, and the diverse cast of characters adds depth to the world. However, readers who prefer more conflict and character development may find the story lacking in those areas.

This book is a dual timeline situation. I love a good dual perspective, but I’d never read something that was a ‘what if?’ situation. It was a little challenging for me to keep all our supporting cast straight. I think the author did a great job at showing things can turn out okay in the end. It’s a great concept, and has wonderful Jewish and queer representation. It just didn’t quite hit the mark for me to be 5 star wowed. I did struggle a bit to get through this one.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC

If you're looking for a cute queer Jewish teen romance novel with a twist, then Going Bicoastal is definitely worth checking out. The book follows the story of Natalya Fox, who must choose between spending the summer in New York City with her dad and the girl of her dreams or going to LA with her estranged mom and the guy she never saw coming.

What's interesting about this book is that it explores two different timelines based on Natalya's decision, and we get to see how her life plays out in both scenarios. It's like a queer “Sliding Doors” YA rom-com, which makes for a really enjoyable read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a light and fun read. The only downside, in my opinion, was the naming of the chapters. Instead of chapter titles, it would have been cool to see some visual representation of the two different locations, like a picture of palm trees for California and the Statue of Liberty for New York.

Despite this minor issue, I'd still give Going Bicoastal a solid four stars. It's a refreshing and engaging read that offers a unique take on the classic summer romance story. So go ahead and give it a try!

Finished ✔️ Going Coastal by Dahlia Adler and enjoyed it.

4 ⭐️’s
Publish Day: June 13th, 2023
Kindle Unlimited: No

A queer sliding doors YA rom-com in which a girl must choose between summer in NYC with her dad or LA with her estranged mom.
This book shows there is more than one path to happily ever after.
This book was overall enjoyable in more ways than one.
It was beautifully and brilliantly written.
Yes, I’d recommend.

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This is a very cute fun YA romance in which our young bi protagonist has to choose between spending the summer in New York with her dad or trying something new and spending the summer in LA with her mom.

Overall, I really loved and enjoyed the two different storylines for their own reasons. They were both fun and funny which is something I look for in YA romance.

My only complaint was that at first the two storyline did kind of confuse me and at time felt repetitive. There were similar scenes that took place in both storylines which was a little “hey didn’t this happen” at times.

3.75

this book was so much fun. it was also a really short, quick read. i’m honestly team elly - even though i liked the concept of natalya going to la more and thought the plot from her going there was sooo interesting. i usually don’t like the concept of “sliding doors,” but i really enjoyed this and way more than another book i read that had the same concept. i also loved the concept of mixing bisexuality with the whole “sliding doors” concept. it’s so smart to have two paths of different love interests (in this case, a boy and a girl) with a bisexual MC. i didn’t know that this had jewish rep in it, and that was really interesting to read about.

thank you to netgalley/wednesday books for sending me an arc of this book !!

Thank you NetGalley and Dahlia Adler for letting me read this ARC!

My first 5 star read of 2023 and I don’t know how anything will top it. It just gave me all the feels and brownie points for all of the music references that just tugged at my rock-music-loving heart. I love being able to read each story independently, or going back and forth between the two.

I absolutely cannot wait for this to be released so I can add it to my collection!

A unique, fun & light-hearted new YA 'sliding doors' dual timeline romance where Natalya's life (and romantic partners) turn out completely differently depending on whether she chooses to spend the summer in New York or LA. Having enjoyed visiting both places myself, the locations and food imagery brought back memories, making me want to travel and eat some delicious food - maybe don't read whilst hungry.

I did struggle to keep up with the many side friend characters - it was too easy to keep getting the many names mixed up, or forget them entirely - Nat is clearly very popular. Overall this was a delightful, lighter, low-trauma option compared to my recent heavier reads and I wish these diverse YA books existed 20+ years ago!

This was a fun read! I’ve enjoyed all of Adler’s books and this was no different. I loved the dual perspectives and more so that they often mirrored one another. Regardless of the path Natalya chose, she was going to end up making some of the same choices in the end. I do wish we had a bit more resolution at the end in terms of what *actually* happened, but the ambiguity also worked. I appreciated the cultural sprinklings as well; characters all felt very fleshed out.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Going Bicoastal was one of the most unique books I’ve ever read! It’s an awesome YA romance that explores what happens when you make a life changing decision. Natalya, the main character, must decide whether to spend her summer in her home of New York or in LA. Both choices present new opportunities, and as readers, we’re lucky enough to see both scenarios play out!

I loved getting to see Nat in both places, experiencing new things and different romances in each. But what I thought was best was the underlying message that no matter what she chose, everything would have worked out for the best. In both places, she makes friends and strengthens her relationship with her mom. She finds someone she loves and discovers what she wants to do after high school. The message was poignant and lovely, perfect for a world where every choice can feel like it makes or breaks you.

The main character was (clearly) bisexual as well and I loved the positive representation of seeing her pursue both a girl and a boy. It was also refreshing to see how Nat’s Jewish faith played into both storylines!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of Going Bicoastal!
I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it. I had a hard time connecting with the NYC timeline and didn't really care for the Elly character. I'm not sure why, there was just something too "over the top, trendy, queer girl" about her, it didn't feel organic. The Adam character definitely felt more fleshed out, he had so much more personality, and I found myself rooting more for that storyline to be the happily ever after. I, personally, found the foodie stuff much more interesting than the music stuff, but that's just because I'm a foodie! I liked that in both locations Nat made more of an effort to reconnect with her mom.

This was such a fun read that took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I wanted a throuple to form but remember there is only one person she can choose. The characters are certainly not forgettable. I sincerely adore the main character and her interactions with both parents as well as her love interests.

wow! I absolutely loved this book. It was such a sweet, fun and lighthearted rom-com. I have always been a fan of books with a spin on parallel choices or “choose you own adventure” type stuff so I loved how that played out in this book! I really liked Natalya, the main character. My favorite love interest was Adam, but I liked Elly too. It was so cool getting to see both choices play out, but it got kinda confusing at points if you didn’t pay attention to the chapter titles. The pacing was great- it was a fast read and I was engrossed in the story the whole time. Overall, a great summer read & ya romance you should pick up!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Publishing for an advanced copy!

This is my first Dahlia Adler book, and now it will be the first of many. I adored this book from the second I started it. For one, the pacing is phenomenal. I was not bored for a minute, but fully invested in both of Natalya's storylines. The premise of this book could have fallen into cliches and predictability, but it didn't. It was so interesting to see how the plot unfolded in both stories, and see Natalya grow and love throughout the summer.

I loved Natalya as a narrator. She felt like a fully fleshed-out teenager. Confident in herself, but still insecure around her crushes; humorous and witty, committed to her friends and family, unsure about the future... It was all so great. Also, I should really emphasize how stellar the Jewish representation was. From the multiple Shabbat scenes (and the importance of Shabbat!), to the Kosher accommodations, and explanations of rituals and customs - it was all so beautiful to see.

This is the perfect summer reading, balancing between the settings of New York and LA wonderfully. Loved it!

This book takes place over one summer. Natalya has to make a decision: does she stay in New York with her dad or does she go live with her mom in Los Angeles (who she hasn’t seen in years). It alternates chapters back and forth between each place as if both of those stories happen, and at the end, you get to choose which ending you want her to have! My favorite parts of the book are that I did not mix up any of the plots or characters, and that I loved both stories almost equally. I actually didn’t really prefer one place over the other plotwise, but there were some things I didn’t like about NY.

NEW YORK: Natalya decides to stay in her hometown because she wants to eventually talk to this girl she constantly bumps into. I found this plot interesting, but the one problem I had with it was that it felt a little too much like instalove or love at first sight to me. Apparently they have seen each other so many times coincidentally and mutually found an attraction between them?? It just felt a little unrealistic to me. Besides that, it was very enjoyable! I liked the music references (even though I didn’t actually know most of them), and it was fun to read about Natalya and Elly roaming around NY.

LOS ANGELES: Natalya decides to branch out and visit her mom, where she has to work with another intern Adam. The two of them don’t get along at first, but once she visits his brother’s food truck, they start to work together better than before. Out of the two plots, this was definitely my favorite. It has nothing to do with the actual story and everything to do with my interests. I liked to read about her working at her mom’s marketing firm and her growing passion with graphic design, and I understood more of the food references than the music ones. However, it felt like Natalya and Adam went from being rivals to dating so quickly, but that’s probably due to the book being really fast paced.

I liked how there was no definite ending because I was worried that only one of these summers would be real, but instead, we got both endings! I know I’m only supposed to read one of them, but of course I had to read both! I realllllyyyy realllyyyyy recommend reading this book, and I look forward to finding Dahlia Adler’s next book on NetGalley as well :)

First off, know this book is a split timeline, a what if she goes what is she stays and it plays out like that. Don't be like me and think you are stroking out re-reading the same thing 2 times. It took me until chapter 7, SEVEN, to realize this. BUT once I found that out the book got really good. And sorry NY, I a loving her LA story so much more. This is such a fun YA read about what if you stay what if you go, with a mix of Jewish culture, and you get Going Bicoastal. It was a fun and easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I'm a big believer in not finishing books if it means avoiding a reading slump. So for that reason, I put this one down around the 61% mark.

With that said, I absolutely love the concept of this book and would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading queer YA rom-coms with low stakes.

Content warning (from the author): "there is a mention of past self-harm and scars in one scene. It's not graphic or detailed, but do proceed with caution if this is a trigger for you."

I'm not the biggest fan of the Sliding Doors concept, but I really enjoyed this book anyway! I specifically appreciated it for its good bisexual Jewish representation and as a love letter to NYC and LA.

I was immediately intrigued by the Sliding Doors concept of this novel. It helped that I have lived on both coasts, in LA and in NY, so I enjoyed the dichotomy of the two cities. As someone who continues to wonder if I should move back to where I came from, I also understood being torn and not wanting to make a choice: why can't I have both?

The romance(s) in this were sweet, perhaps less realistic than I would have liked, but I think that suited the plot as well. Each choice she had was not quite realistic (as an adult reader of YA, I recognize that titles for teens are not aimed at me and at my experience but I do try to put myself in the shoes of a younger reader) but that was not what this story was about. It was about realizing what you really want and not being afraid to make a choice. At my advanced age, I need to learn that! lol...

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy to review.

First off, this title and cover is absolutely adorable and so eye catching! Just those drew me in immediately. I had to know more about what the book was about. Then I read the book, it was such a fun ride! I loved our main character and following them was a blast.