this was such a fun YA romance with a great concept. i don't usually reread the blurb before starting a book so i wasn't sure how Adler would play out both options, but the alternate timelines was a great way to do it. i couldn't even decide which version of Natalya's summer was my favorite, which speaks to how well both of the love interests (and settings) were developed. definitely recommend this to YA lovers!

Going Bicoastal is my new favorite book from Dahlia Adler! The premise is very fun: Natalya has to decide if she’s going to stay in NYC for the summer with her dad or go to LA and spend the summer with her mom. All of her friends are in NYC, along with The Redhead, a cute punk girl that she keeps seeing everywhere. But LA would allow her to reconnect with her mom who moved away years ago. In alternating chapters you get to see what happens if she stays in New York and what happens if she goes to California.

I had an absolute blast reading this! Both storylines were so fleshed out and engaging. With a dual storyline you can sometimes run the risk of one not being as interesting as the other, but I didn’t feel like that happened here. It was fun to see the different versions of Natalya’s summer, and to see how she came to the same conclusion through different means in the separate storylines. There’s a great sapphic romance in the New York storyline as well as a very cute romance with a boy in the California chapters. I also enjoyed seeing the ways that Natalya grew closer to her mom and worked on figuring out what she wants to do for college.

Food and music are extremely important parts of the book. I loved all of the descriptions of the different meals they were eating and cooking, as well as the discussion of different bands. Natalya being Jewish is also an important part of the story. From her sharing Shabbat dinner with her love interests and explaining how being bisexual interacts with her faith. There are a lot of fun references and callbacks to other books by Dahlia Adler, which was fun to see. Also, Degrassi fans might notice who The Redhead is based on.

I highly recommend this book! Definitely check it out if you love queer contemporary YA books with a little bit of a twist.

This was perfection. I actually teared up while reading this which I didn’t expect. Dahlia Adler has a way with her words that continues to keep her seated at the top of my autobuy author list. I can’t wait to rave about it.

I absolutely loved this book. The dual time lines was so fun. I loved all the characters and side characters. this was such a fun cute read.

Natalya has to decide whether she'll spend the summer with her dad she lives with in NYC and possibly, finally talk to the cute redheaded girl she keeps staring at from afar, or take a leap for once and fly to LA to take an internship for a job she's not sure she wants and try to get to know the mother she's lost touch with.. Thankfully readers don't have to make the same choice, as they watch the outcome of Natalya's decision in alternating chapters, one following the what-if of NYC and the other following the what-if of LA. It's an exceptionally clever way to follow alternate realities (and indulge in bi crush possibilities!).This is a fun, clever read and it was fascinating to see the outcomes of the decisions play out. I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Going Bicoastal' is a wonderful queer YA romcom made up of an amazing cast of characters. Natalya Fox has to decide which of her parents she wants to spends the summer with. She can stay in New York City with her dad, and she can finally work up the courage to talk to her longtime crush. Natalya has seen 'the redhead' around town for awhile, but she hasn't been able to talk to her yet. Maybe if she stays in NYC, she can finally find out what her real name is. If Natalya goes to LA with her mom, she can work on repairing their strained relationship, and she can seek a new adventure.

The author, Dahlia Adler, did a fantastic job of creating a beautiful world in both NYC and LA. The structure of the book is that every other chapter alternated between NYC and LA. We are able to see how things would go for Natalya in both cities. In NYC, she spends time with her friends, and she meets 'the redhead', who is named Elly. In LA, Natalya has an internship with her mom, and she meets Adam at work. In both cities, Natalya discovers more about herself and what she wants in life. She also becomes closer to her mom, and she finds a connection with someone else in Adam in LA and Elly in NYC. In both cities, Natalya's Jewish background was a focus, and this was so important. I loved how Shabbat dinner was a focal point in both cities.

The book did a great job of focusing on food, and I learned so much about different types of cuisines. I felt hungry as I read through the book.

I liked the friends and relationships that she had in both cities. I was rooting for Natayla in both cities! I liked that Lara and Jasmine from 'Cool for the Summer' appeared in this book! It was so much fun to see how their relationship has grown.

I loved the structure of the book, and it was like a choose your own adventure. I would definitely recommend ths book. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book.

This book has an interesting concept - it's split in two, telling two stories simultaneously (happens at about chapter 3).
Half the book is about Natalya's choice to stay in NYC with her dad for the summer (and her crush!) and the other half about her choice to go to LA with her mom for the summer (and meets a cute coworker).

To help reduce the confusion of which place she's in - Natalya goes by Tal in New York and in LA she's Nat. I found myself enjoying the LA side more, so I could see readers liking different sides of the story more and it might make it harder to finish; however, I think most people will be interested in how the story continues.

4 stars

I loved the representation in this book. I thought the way the story was told was creative.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me and e-ARC of this book!

A dual timeline of a young teen deciding where to spend her summer either in L.A. or N.Y.C.. In both summers she must try to rekindle her relationship with her mother, and finds young love in both scenarios. Although this was a cute story, this was not for me. For me, it took time to decipher the timelines, thinking the MC chose to spend the summer with one parent than the other. I mean both scenarios it ends in a happy one, "best of both worlds". 😉 I loved how each chapter had a title 😍

But if you love dual timeline that go back in forth this is for you.

3.5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. These are my honest thoughts.

You know the Robert Frost poem that ends "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference"? The meaning of the poem is less blaze your own path and more that we justify our choices as the right ones, having no idea what the other path would have revealed.

Going Bicoastal is very low stakes and feel good. Neither decisions -- summer in New York or summer in L.A. -- are bad decisions, just different ones. In some ways, but not all, she ends up coming to the same conclusions about her life. While readers might have their preferences as to love interest or location, neither is presented as a bad fate, making this an excellent choice for readers who get the new trend of warm, cozy only set in a YA contemporary romance.

Confession: When we talk about reading diversely some people will always say, horrifyingly, that they can't relate to people who they deem different from them. I don't usually have this issue, but I do struggle with extroverts! (LOL, not so bad, right?)

Natalya is definitely an extrovert. While having shy moments, it's clear that no matter where she goes she'll make friends. Often rich friends. Whether going to see a band, or being fed at dinner parties featuring a roster of chefs, she will WILLINGLY spend a lot of time with people. I'm triple her age (I need a moment to sit with that) and I have no idea who people meet people, strike up a bond, and effortlessly become friends. Trying might kill me.

She does like to read, though, which my introverted soul does fully comprehend.

Natalya is Jewish, and the book -- in both realities -- makes clear what this means to her, that she values and thinks about traditions without being shackled to them. We read about Shabbat dinner a lot and how it varies by your families community and country of origin. I am always hyped about food descriptions, of which there are plenty.

Food is about communion, not in the Christian sense, and this very much came into play in Going Bicoastal. When you break bread with someone, especially if you personally baked the bread, you allow them into your circle, you find out more about them, you share bits of who you are right back in time to who you were. This is very apparent in the L.A. time line.

The New York time line is more about how music connects us, which is just as vital, although I ended up feeling like I knew the N.Y. love interest -- Ellie -- less. Maybe because I never felt her vulnerability as much as I did the L.A. love interest, Adam.

I'd expected more of the book to be about Natalya hashing out her issues with her mom, especially in the L.A. reality, and that didn't materialize. There just seems to be a vibe that Natalya is old enough to not dwell on the past, and mature enough to move on. Her mother, and this surprised me, didn't seem to in any substantial way change her life at the presence of her daughter. I felt this to be a missed opportunity, but the overall readership might not be invested in that so much as the romance elements and Natalya figuring out what she wants for her life.

I had a nice time with this story, and the sense that Natalya is destined to be okay no matter what.

I loved this book so much. At first I was so confused when there was two chapter 3’s but I caught on pretty quickly. I loved to see how similar yet different her time would have been had she gone either way. I feel like it really is bisexuals to a T. I loved that you weren’t made to feel as though one side was better than the other but simply enjoying both stories and even picking your preferences. I loved seeing Lara and Jasmine. I loved the representation for the Jewish community. I learnt so much from this book. Definitely would read and recommend to anyone.

Rep: bisexual Jewish mc, queer female li, queer sc

This was a nice, fun read. but not really one that stood out to me. The timelines follow two possibilities, one with Natalya staying in New York, and one with Natalya choosing to go to LA.

I preferred the LA timeline more story-wise, it was just so mouthwatering to have multiple descriptions of food from all around the world. I also loved how the author interwove Jewish culture into Natalya's daily life, which I felt stood out in both timeline, and it was really nice to learn more about it.

On the other hand, I was bored with the NY timeline. since it involved so many name-droppings of bands I don't know beyond the world-famous ones, but I guess that's more of a me problem. Rock music fans would probably enjo it more, but I'm just an occasional pop music enjoyer and certainly did not get more than half of the references.

Because this is a relatively short book with two diverging timelines, I also kind of feel the romance in both timelines were pretty rushed. The characters meet, and two or three chapters later Natalya started kissing them. There was also probably not enough space to insert more conflict, I suppose, and so this book was pretty flat on that end. Also, this definitely has no sci-fi elements, the two timelines are just two timelines.

One other thing I loved was how Natalya is really proud of her identities as Jewish and queer, which is always heartwarming to me as someone who still identifies with a certain religious belief while also being proud of my queerness. I hope more young people see that it's never another's decision to decide for you whether or not your beliefs and your queerness are mutually exclusive (spoiler: these are not mutually exclusive).

Overall, still a decent read. I picked this up on a whim, hoping for a lighthearted romcom, and it delivered just that, nothing beyond expectations.

I received this as an ARC through Net Gallery. I really enjoyed both storyline’s, however I was very confused. I’m not sure where she actually went or what actually happened as it switched between storylines with no explanation. I wish something explained what was going on. That being said, I was very interested in both storylines and enjoyed both stories very much.

This is my third Dahlia Adler read, and I have loved them all. The Jewish representation was absolutely perfect!! There were beautiful Shabbat dinners, the main character kept Kosher and there was no discrimination or hostility towards Judaism. Natalya is such a great character, she's confident in herself but unsure of her future, has an excellent set of friends and awesome parents. The alternating timelines never become confusing to the reader and the best part is that you get to choose the ending you want, which I happily did. Both her love interests are interesting, but I preferred Elly to Adam. Elly and Nat’s relationship was the shy meet cute kind of relationship. I thought that they had much more chemistry than Nat and Adam. I love that Natalya found a tight-knit group of queer friends on both coasts. I liked that there were references to both lives even though she was doing different things. For example, her doing the designs for her mom’s work in both timelines, just in different places. It was a nice touch that brought everything together. As someone who adored “Cool for the Summer”, I was so excited to see Jasmine and Lara make an appearance that showed that they were still together and thriving. I also appreciated the nod to “Home Field Advantage” with Elly’s college roommate. I can’t wait for Dahlia’s next book and I highly recommend this one and her previous works. Thank you to Dahila Adler, St. Martin’s, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Going Bicoastal was <i> so </i> much fun. It was like reading two different romance novels at once, crossed with a choose your own adventure. I read it straight through, but there's definitely a way to read it skipping every other chapter if you wanted.

Natalya is such a great character, she's confident in herself but unsure of her future, has an excellent set of friends and awesome parents. And did I mention her love interests? Elly is so effortlessly cool and honest, and Adam is deliciously angsty and the banter he has with Nat is just *chef's kiss* (Did anyone see what I did there? Heh).

Besides the absolutely delightful cast of characters, there are three other things I adored. The first was getting to explore both LA and NYC with Nat, both cities really came to life and it was nice to feel like I was exploring somewhere new. The next part I loved was seeing how things played out in both perspectives, it was neat to see how some things happened in both timelines, and how confidently happy Natalya was with <i> both</i> choices she made. And finally, the <i>food</i>. It was so cool to see the different foods in the book, especially since I hadn't known much about Shabbat before. The love of food in this book reminded me of my mom 🥺

Going Bicoastal touched on the difficulties of divorce, and how fear of the future is something that can resonate with everyone - but that all decisions can lead to good things. It was optimistic without feeling fake or forced, and it was really funny along the way. Also, these romances were SO cute.

3.5 rounded up.
I’m kinda conflicted with this. I really liked the premise.
Natalya has to decide what parent she will spend the summer with her dad in NYC and finally talk to her crush “the redhead” or take an internship with her mom in LA. The book split and every other chapter is one of the possibilities.
It took me a while to get into the formatting.
I really liked both stories. Both romances were great. I loved the Jewish cultural themes and learning about some of the Shabbat dishes they made.
I could have done without the last two chapters… (which may be controversial idk)

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

Every decision we make opens up a new set of possibilities. Bicoastal is a fun YA LGBTQ+ read that shows us both sides of the coin.
3.5 Stars

*I received an advanced reader copy from Net Galley.

Bicoastal is a mind trip. This is the first time I am reading a parallel universe story and Dahlia Adler kept me hooked in both realities.

I like Natalya and her group of friends on both coasts. Adler keeps the cast diverse whether Tal is on the east side or the west side. I liked the complete opposite paths that Tal took. It’s interesting how sometimes when you take a different path you can still end up in the same place. One choice led Tal to exciting realizations and opportunities. The other choice, I just happened to like on a personal level due to my own queerness.

The beginning paragraph of each chapter lets you know where you are as Adler immediately locates you to the reality Tal is living in. I was grateful for this as I worried, I wouldn’t be able to track it throughout the book. Adler also lets you choose the ending you want to read which I thought was really cool. I like the ladies so of course I read the reality where Tal and Elly end up together. Then, I read the ending where Adam and Tal are coupled. Both are hopeful and romantic ways to end Tal’s story.

Adler gives us two diverse sweet and sometimes a little hot romances in one story. You gotta love that - I definitely do.

This was a cute YA romance. The dual timelines never lost or confused me. I liked that Natalya was never involved in a love triangle. All the characters felt real and interesting. The two romances were supportive and never showed toxic behavior. This book is full of queer joy! I recommend checking this book out!

Thank you NetGalley for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a sucker for dual timelines.

Going Bicoastal
By Dahlia Adler
4.25⭐️
Releases June 13th

Natalya has to decide whether she is going to stay with her dad in New York or spend the summer in LA with her estranged mom. This book follows how her summer goes through both scenarios.

First, can we take a second to admire this adorable cover?

I loved this book! I enjoyed both timelines equally. It has some cute romance but tells a really great coming of age story as well. Natalya is focusing on getting out of her comfort zone in both locations.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed when we feel like we are faced with a life changing decision. I like how this book shows no matter which choice you make, you can be happy and you can grow.

Add to your TBR’s now, it will be a great summer read.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this one early in exchange for an honest review.