🌆⛱️Book Review:
Title: Going Bicoastal
Author: Dahlia Adler
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

I really enjoyed this book! It kinda reminded me those Choose Your Adventures books from my younger years. If you had the opportunity to play out your life in two different ways to see which one you like better, would you?
Natalya Fox has 24 hours to choose between spending the summer with her father in New York City or to fly off to LA to reconnect with her estranged mother. Throughout this book, we join her on two parallel timelines as she experiences both. At times, it was just a little confusing to switch back and forth, but it was really, really good! So what does she end up choosing? You gotta read it to find out! No spoilers here!

Published: June 13th, 2023
Thank you, @netgalley and @stmartinspress, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a really fun LGBTQIA+/rom-com take on the choose your own adventure stories. It was a lot of fun!

3.5 stars

Going Bicoastal is written in a very clever way. Natalya Fox is a “rising senior” in high school living in Manhattan with her dad. Her parents are divorced and her mother lives in Los Angeles. Natalya has to decide how she’s going to spend her summer - at home in NYC with her dad, working part-time jobs like babysitting, or with her mostly-estranged mother in LA, working as an intern at her mother’s marketing firm. Adler gives us both scenarios! Every other chapter takes place in either NYC or LA. In the NYC chapters, we see Natalya finally get the courage to talk to the girl she’s had a crush on. In the LA chapters, she meets the other intern, a young man who really just wants to be a chef.

I found the bouncing back and forth a bit disconcerting at first, but I got used to it. I loved all the Jewish rep in the story, particularly the lovely and loving Friday night Shabbat dinners Natalya shared with her dad and their neighbors in NYC or the ones in LA, where her new friend/boyfriend Adam learned how to cook the traditional menu items for her and her mother/his boss.

So what does Natalya choose? Adler gives us a version of the “choose your own adventure” with this book.

Aimed at the young adult audience, I am definitely not the intended reader for this book, but I enjoyed it anyway. Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

going bicoastal is a story that shows what would happen with both choices our Main character has to make at the beginning of the story. We see her get closer to family fall in love and find herself in both situations. The main problem I had with this story I could tell the difference to much between the choices other then that I enjoy the story so with that said I would give it 4 stars

Natalya has to decide where to spend the summer before her senior year. Will she play it safe with her dad in NYC and meet the cute redhead she's been running into? Or will she go off to LA with her mom and take an internship at her company and share a desk with the other intern?

I really loved the format of this book. It was fun to see both choices for Natalya. Very choose your own adventure for the modern day.

Adler never fails to write an engaging protagonist that you can't help but root for. I also found the unique concept of the book interesting, and felt Adler executed it very well.

I thought this book was just vibes, there was no dilemma or development even. Nothing really happens except of course she gets the man and girl of her dreams in each timeline. I wanted a bit more but I’m also not too mad because it was an easy read.

Honestly I read this when I originally got the ARC i have no idea why i never sent feedback but better late than never i guess. i adore dahlia adler and was not disappointed. both storylines were captivating and written in a way that was obviously marketed toward teens but not cringey or childish (which is part of the reason i adore dahlia adler). super excited for what she writes next and sorry i’m so late with this review. thank you to netgalley and wednesday books for the arc!

I LOVE a good sliding doors-esque YA novel! This one was a lot of fun for sure, especially with the main character being bi. Honestly didn't know this was something I needed in my life, but I'm thankful Dahlia Adler gave it to me either way!!

A dual reality with a reader chooses the ending with two equally cute romances to boot! I was sold. With a great narrator who slipped into both realities seamlessly, this one was a hit from the start.

Natalya has to choose between staying with her dad in NYC for the summer, and finally talking to the girl shes been crushing on for months… or go to visit her estranged mother in LA where there may or may not be a very cute boy as her coworker. For the reader, Natalya doesn’t have to choose since the author takes us on a journey through both realities with friendship, romance, and trials for each.

I really liked the premise of this one but i couldn’t connect to one of the storylines as well. I also loved her connection with her mom while she was in LA but felt like there should have been more tension based on how the author described her and her mom’s relationship in the beginning. Overall, it was cute and definitely a fun one for teenagers!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book may have one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen and it is equally dazzling inside.

Going Bicoastal is an absolutely delightful queer rom-com with a unique format. At the beginning, our MC Natalya learns that she must choose between staying in NYC with her dad for the summer or going to stay with her mom in LA. The remainder of the book consists of chapters alternating between the two possibilities to show how each choice would play out. It's almost like a choose your own adventure story. In the NYC timeline she falls for her long time crush, Elly, but in the LA timeline she falls for her coworker, Adam.

There was so much to love about this book, but there are a few things that really stood out to me. I adored both Elly and Adam and thought both romances were so sweet and swoony. As a bisexual woman, I really appreciated the representation in Going Bicoastal and thought it was especially well-done. I also appreciated the Jewish representation and the illustrations of Natalya's culture and traditions.

If you're looking for a sweet, mostly light-hearted romance with excellent LGBTQIAP+ representation, I highly recommend Going Bicoastal.

Thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc! first and foremost, i'd like to apologize for being so late to reviewing this and didn't have the time to review this when it was released or around the time before. Truly sorry for my thatt. All that said, I really really think this was a delight. charming and fun <3 and I can't wait to read more of the author's works in the future!

A fun, quick, read! i don't think it was the BEST one but it was great and i liked it. I recommend it. :)

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Finally getting around to this arc. I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I genuinely didn’t understand the dual timelines and definitely prefer Adam over Elly because he felt more fleshed out.
I am glad we got a choose your own ending so body is disappointed.
I cannot speak to the representation in this but it felt authentic from an outsider.

Wow this was so good I basically read it in a day!! Brings me back to when I was a teen and would just sit on the couch until I finished a book.

ANYWAYS. I must like the sliding door set up more than I thought bc WOW I am obsessed with how everything worked out, like the general beats being the same but the way Nat got there was so different? Truly shows that sometimes things are just meant to be. I also liked how this wasn't tragic in any way? The other books with this set up have all been so sad and emotional, but here we just get to see Nat have a fun summer, fall in love, and reconnect with her mom.

Both love interests were so good that I truly did not care who she ended up with and like do you know how hard that is to pull off? Dahlia Adler is such a good writer.

Overall this was such a good listen (shoutout to audiobook narrator Mara Wilson) and I am obsessed. This is my second Dahlia Adler book and wow she has cemented herself as a fave.

Going Bicoastal follows Natalya Fox as she goes through a Sliding Doors sort of experience. In one part of the story she goes to LA for the summer and meets fellow intern Adam. In the other part, she stays in NYC with her father and finally meets the Redhead that's been plaguing her life for over a year.

I'm not going to lie, this story had a very interesting premise and I really like the idea of falling for both a boy and a girl in different parts of the story because bisexuals can fall for both!!!! The only downfall is the execution. I've liked the author's books before but this felt a bit like a rehash of her previous book, Cool For the Summer with the exact same protagonist vibes.

I also didn't really like the CONSTANT reference dropping especially in the NYC part. I lowkey found Elly insufferable and not because it's the sapphic love story. I actually really liked their time getting together, but Elly was meant to be the quintessential "cool girl" but really just felt annoying and judgy. While Adam and Nat had a nice little rivals-to-lovers going on, Adam was definitely the nicer love interest and I liked his and Nat's love story so much better because with Elly it felt like Nat was trying SO HARD to seem cool enough to keep Elly's attention. With Adam it was like she could just be herself.

Overall, not that exciting of a book and idk if I would read it again.

I sadly had to dnf this one.
I tried getting through it because I liked the idea of the book, but I didn‘t realise it would be jumping between basically two stories depending on what decision she would have made and I just couldn’t do it.
I don‘t really like those kind of things, so it‘s not anything specific against the book itself (although I‘m not the biggest ya fan anymore) and I‘m sure a lot of people adore it. It just wasn’t for me.

I’m not a fan of contemporary, but Dahlia Adler makes it tolerable. After reading and loving Cool For the Summer, I had high hopes for her next project… and fortunately for me, majority of those high hopes were met! Just a sweet and fun story.

Dahlia Adler's "Going Bicoastal" is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and self-discovery across the bustling cities of New York and Los Angeles. Through vivid imagery and engaging storytelling, Adler invites readers on a captivating journey with protagonist Sarah as she navigates the highs and lows of life, love, and career. With its relatable themes and heartfelt narrative, "Going Bicoastal" is a must-read for anyone seeking an uplifting and immersive reading experience.

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