This was such a fun YA romance! Basically our girl Natalya has to choose whether to stay in NYC with her dad over the summer and maybe pursue this red head girl she’s been crushing on. Or move to LA to live with her mom and work an Internship at her moms company. But lucky for us Nat/Tal gets to live both realities simultaneously.

I had no idea this style of romance had a name “sliding doors romance” but I’m here for it. It was basically a choose your own adventure. And I was extremely stressed coming to the end because I had no idea which scenario I wanted to be “real”. I had one I was slightly rooting for but both paths felt right in their own special way. That ending though was *chefs kiss*

I will definitely continue to read anything by Dahlia Addler.

I liked this one, but not as much as I thought I would. It took a minute to get used to the flipping back and forth, but once I got into the rhythm I enjoyed it. I think I'd like to go back and re-read just the straight (ha) narratives at some point.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of “Going Bicoastal” by Dahlia Adler. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay I loved “Cool for the Summer” by this author. I would still highly recommend that book. This book not so much. I was really intrigued by the idea of this book and how the author would pull it off and the answer ultimately was that they didn’t? I don’t know what ending would have been satisfying but it wasn’t this. This felt like two writing exercises the author did before writing the actual book but then they just decided not to write the book and instead publish a choose your own adventure story.

I think I would have liked the story better if they had all come together at some point rather than them just being two different timelines. For such a short book, I was bored often and annoyed with the jumping back and forth and all the characters across the two stories.

I guess the problem early on was that I didn’t like Natalya. She was so judgey and it wasn’t enjoyable being in her head. She kind of gave Rachel Berry from Glee energy which wasn’t fun. I didn’t get why either potential love interest would like her. She was weirdly stalkery with the female love interest and the male love interest was basically a cardboard cutout of a person and tried to do some weird enemies to lovers but he secretly has a heart of gold? It was just too much happening. And the stories progressed in the same way so Natalya starts hooking up with the love interests really fast. I would have rather had one book that combined the storylines somehow and given Natalya more time to know the love interests.

I was bothered by how Natalya kept setting all these traps for the male love interest to make him prove he’s not homophobic. She literally outed another queer character just to see how the love interest would react. That was really not cool. She also didn’t feel the need to constantly test the female love interest in the same way which was a choice.

This book was not for me. I know I’m not the target audience. But after reading “Cool for the Summer” I had high hopes for this one and it did not deliver.

3/5 stars

I love this author and will probably read anything she writes. This book felt like the epitome of summer, it may be my favorite queer romance of the year. I loved the pining, the parallels, the premise. Both storylines were equally as fun and engaging and I truly had a blast reading this. I loved the writing - it felt fun and well thought out. The premise was fresh. Everything about this silly little book was a surprise and a delight.

3.5 stars. I loved the concept of this book and I was very excited to get to read it! I feel like I’ve seen a lot of media lately with the sliding doors concept but the bi take on it was an interesting twist. I did feel like I preferred one storyline over the other, but I find that’s usually how it goes with these kinds of stories. I especially liked the parts of the story that expanded on her relationships with her parents and her connections with Jewish culture.

4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

* Thankyou to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC

"Oh, that line absolutely killed me. I was liking the book before that, but as soon as I got to that line, I knew I was going to remember this one for a while. I love that feeling, you know? When you're still thinking about the characters after the book ends?" "My absolute favorite feeling."

This was a great book! I really enjoyed it.

I have noticed that YA romance can be really hit or miss with me lately, so I was glad that I ended up vibing so well with this one.

Seventeen year old Natalya is at a bit of a crossroads in her life. She has a restrained relationship with her mother, who lives in LA, while she lives in New York with her father. Her mother wants her to come out to LA for the summer and work an internship at her place of employment as a chance to rebuild their relationship and bond. While Natalya's whole life is in New York, and she's not sure if she's willing to try again with her mother.

That brings us to a dual storyline between Nat/Tal (LA/New York). One storyline was if she went to LA and one was if she stayed in New York. And in the end, you also get to pick your ending! I was shocked about that and was really curious about how the author was going to end it. But, I loved that I got to pick! (New York & Elly all the way!)

You get:
• LGBTQ+ representation
• Diverse characters
• Dual story lines
• Choose your ending
• YA
• Fade to black romance
• Coming of age

I highly recommend and definitely think you should check it out!

"Mom, what the fuck?" Now it's her turn to jump in a panic, and her hand flies to her chest. "I could say the same thing to you, missy. Though I would use more appropriate language."

Love a fun bisexual story and this “choose your own ending” was such a fun twist! Definitely would recommend.

This is the most bisexually structured book I’ve ever read. Natalya has to choose where to spend her summer: with her dad in NYC or with her estranged mother in LA. Oh no, forcing a bisexual to make a binary choice! But, Sliding Doors-style, we get to see the results of both: Going Bicoastal alternates chapters between NYC, where she gets to know the girl she’s been crushing on from a distance for ages, and LA, where she meets and falls for a guy at her internship.

Somehow, it felt completely natural to flip back and forth between the two, and (spoiler?) neither of them are the right choice or the wrong choice. This was surprisingly soothing to my anxious overthinker brain: whichever Natalya had picked, things would turn out okay for her. This is two YA romances in one, each with their own distinct dynamic. This is my favourite Dahlia Adler book yet, but definitely check out her others, too! And side note, you need to be following LGBTQ Reads, which is run by Dahlia Adler, because that’s how amazing she is.

This one and Imogen, Obviously both have Jewish main characters, which I’m happy to see is becoming more common in queer YA!

https://lesbrary.com/the-best-sapphic-books-of-2023-so-far/

I wrote a review for this somewhere and now I can't find it, a crime honestly.

Anyways, I loved reading Going Bicoastal and can not believe it took me so long to read it. Which is a common theme I'm noticing with many arcs that I'm reading. The idea of watching a person make various choices and seeing how their life plays out because of that choice has been something I recently discovered and really enjoyed. Netflix's "Look Both Ways" starring Lili Reinhart and Danny Ramirez was my introduction to that and I was HOOKED watching that movie. So finding out one of Dahlia Adler's new books was the same, I couldn't be more excited,

What I think was really successful for me was how I could believe either choice and subsequent reality was possible. I found myself loving both realities and hoping that both ended (that ending though!!!) positively for Natalya. I was rooting for her, her dreams, and her romance all the way through and was satisfied with both stories and their endings. I was also able to relate to the main character with her struggles with her identity and being indecisive on what choice would be the best choice for her. Senior year of high school to senior year of college is a turbulent time with the weight of knowing big decisions need to be made and not knowing which path to take.

I could say so much more (and likely will when I find the original review I wrote) but overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is my favorite of Dahlia Adler's so far, and makes me incredibly excited for both more from Adler and more of this sliding doors/alternate reality trope.

A sweet and satisfying Sliding Doors-style romance that offers nuanced Jewish and queer representation.

I loved this sliding doors romance! The NYC/LA settings were so fun and I genuinely enjoyed both versions of Nat’s life (and both love interests!). I loved seeing her learn similar lessons in both and gain confidence in herself. I absolutely loved the Jewish rep in this one as well as all the cooking/food - and I especially loved where these two things overlapped! The Shabbat dinner scenes made my heart happy and my stomach hungry. There’s so much Jewish joy present in this book, which is just what I needed. ❤️

I already knew I enjoyed Dahlia Adler books. I enjoy the premise of this book and the "what ifs" that it provides. I think because it was a kindle edition, it was harder to follow, but in a paper book, this would be a great one. I would suggest this to my students who are interested in having books about LGBTQ+ characters.

I would keep this suggestion to my older students, though.

!!! i loved this !!! 4 ⭐️

in going bicoastal, we’re following natalya in two different scenarios. in one scenario, she spends the summer in nyc with her dad and falls in love with the red-headed girl she’s had a crush on for a long time. in another scenario, she spends the summer in los angeles with her mom and falls in love with the boy working alongside her in her internship. both scenarios were so cute and i loved almost getting two stories in one! i loved getting a look into how natalya’s family practices their faith, as they’re jewish. i also loved reading a YA book about a bi main character, it’s so important to have that representation. all around a cute summery read!

This book was an absolute delight to read! Loved the dual time lines and seeing how both stories developed. I feared that it might get a little too confusing to read, but it was quite easy to follow and once I truly dove in to the books, I was completely hooked and struggled to put it down!

Okay soooo I loved this book! I loved the characters, the storyline, everything this book was a chefs kiss!!(Did I use that right?)

I was totally unaware about magical realism being in the book and I am here for it! Who wouldn't want the opportunity to live out two different scenarios across the country? This book had a of teenage angst and I loved Natalia's character. I also love me some bisexual Jewish rep (since I am one). The writing was engaging and fast paced.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

I read this book in one sitting. I was so interested in the main character Natalya and which decision she was going to make. The way that dahlia Adler wrote her staying in nyc and another timeline with her going to LA. After reading both timelines, I’m not sure which city I would have chosen. I really liked the way the author wrote an ending for each decision. And that is as a reader could choose which ending we wanted. I myself read both due to being curious.

I did not expect but I liked the two separate universes storylines! I found this to be a really cool, unconventional way of showing the depthness of a character's bisexuality of liking a woman and man at the same time without it being conflicting. I did not feel as if the male love interest was a great fit but I liked the focus on her relationship with her parents as well and the aftermath of divorce.

I had a lot of fun with this book. The format of it, seeing a Summer play out in two different places with two different love interests, might have had other readers rooting for one over the other, but given there's no choice to be made at the end, I just got to enjoy two fantastic relationships.

Unfortunately I am really struggling with YA books right now and this just isn't the right fit for me at this time. There was nothing wrong with the book and I would encourage others to read it!