Coley is your typical teenager- except she is full of secrets, like the secret of her mother who committed suicide and the secret of her sexuality. Told from a first-person point of view, the reader dives into the mind of an angsty teenager, full of hurt and betrayal and unable to trust the world around her. Biracial, low income, and a lesbian, Coley has a difficult life facing the prejudices of those around her. Coley just wants to be loved, accepted, and appreciated- is that too much to ask for? The reader is transported back to 2006, a summer full of flip-phones, AIM messaging, and Live Journal entries. There is a certain catharsis in the setting choice; while the U.S. has come far in terms of LGBTQIA+ acceptance since the early 2000s, that doesn't change how much harder it was to be queer just twenty years ago, and Kiyoko draws upon this to paint a coming of age portrait of what it was it is like to be a teenager in a world of uncertainty. Coley meets Sonya when her on and off again boyfriend, Trenton, almost runs Coley over with his van. Coley is introduced to the world of small-town cool kids- who party, drink, smoke, get piercings, and shoplift. Sonya is cool, beautiful, and expected to be perfect. Throughout the narrative, a fan of Kiyoko's music will find allusions to her other music and common lyrical themes, such as with her songs "Cliff's Edge," "Curious," "Sleepover," and of course the titular, "Girls Like Girls." Coley spends the book pining over Sonya, who isn't particularly desirable- if the book wasn't told from Coley's lovestruck point of view, it would be difficult to understand Sonya as a love interest, beyond that she's incredibly pretty. Considering Sonya seemed to be dealing with a lot of her own emotions, with divorced-once parents and a fear of upsetting the perfectionism her mother expects from her, I would have loved to see a dual point of view with Sonya. While this story is a whirlwind of emotions and struggles for Coley, it is a relief that she got the girl in the end and both Coley and Sonya better established their confidence and sexuality by the end of the story.

With a music video that felt like a cultural reset for so many, expanding on the universe of GIRLS LIKE GIRLS set a high bar for Kiyoko, and as a debut author there was a strong attempt, and some truly joyful moments, but overall a story I just wanted more from.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 30, 2023

CW: parental death, homophobia, internalized homophobia, suicide, self-hate, hate crimes, being outed, drug use, underage drinking

A dual perspective, both in first person. It’s a lot of feeling in someone’s head with their stream of consciousness, which can be exhausting. It feels like Sonya sees Coley as a project at the beginning…

Plenty of queer pining but way too much homophobia, internalized and outward. Yes, these are young people figuring it out…but this def reads queer trauma more than queer joy. Was a downer that ended abruptly with a lot unresolved.

Cute lil YA romance, I don’t know if YA is for me, but I can appreciate how these teens were realistic and not “goody two shoes” that are normally portrayed in YA books. I feel like a lot of high school aged characters are written as 12 year olds behavior wise so that was refreshing.

A book about self-discovery and figuring out who you are. I loved the journey that these two went through...this book tugged at every one of my heart strings! I loved every second of this book and really hope that Hayley writes more books like this. We need more queer fiction like this in the world!

This was a lovely debut from Hayley! I've been a fan of her music for a while so was quite excited to read this book based on one of her most popular songs. While there are some small issues with pacing and plot that are typical of a first-time author, it did not affect my enjoyment of the book! The teens in the story felt messy and real and I appreciated that. Looking forward to recommending this one, it is one of those books that I wish I had had as a teen.

**current mood:** i’m so conflictedly torn

**rating:** 4/5 *(though i would maybe/normally say it’s a bit closer to a 3.5)*

**review**: For Hayley Kiyoko’s first book, it’s not bad! I grew up with Hayley Kiyoko on screen, mostly in *Lemonade Mouth*, sparking the justified rebel in me at a young age. When *Girls Like Girls* (the song) dropped all those years ago, I was battling my own battles with what I know now as struggling to come to terms with my bisexuality and self-image.
With 2023’s *Girls Like Girls*, at least the ARC version on NetGalley, the story of Coley and Sonya is as resonant as ever, especially the “first LGBTQ relationship” vibes I got from Sonya and Coley’s “are they in a league too high for me/i’m not worthy of love” reality, as I’ve experienced both of these within the last year and a half. The story really gives us a *(10 Minute Version) (Hayley’s Version)* look at *Girls Like Girls*… but I do have to talk about my issues with the book’s pacing. I admit, the exposition was great in the end, but, as all authors find themselves doing as they start out, Kiyoko lost me for a little bit during it. Exposition **is** ***extremely*** hard to pace perfectly, and for a debut novel, it’s evident that Kiyoko did a lot of research and tried to hit the nail on the head, doing a pretty decent job! The rest of the novel does suffer from the set-up, as the ending with Coley feels slightly out of left field and abrupt, in addition to a lot of the storylines being prematurely pulled out of the oven. I don’t really mind the predictability of the story, especially as it’s definitely at least slightly skewed by my knowledge of the origin of this story, but I feel like some of the non-Coley-or-Sonya characters could have been fleshed out slightly more.
HOWEVER, despite all of these issues that come with being a beginning author, Hayley Kiyoko has delivered a heartwarming, comfortable story that I am sure many will appreciate, and find resonant, myself included!

I really wanted to love this book, it just didn't quite hit the mark for me. I've loved Hayley Kiyoko for so long so I was really hoping this would be a book I'd love but it just didn't quite work. I will say I love the concept of the book and went into it quite excited. I needed so much more depth from this book than I got, Everything felt quite rushed and there were a fair amount of scenes that just kind of felt incomplete. It also made for very strange pacing. I felt like there were so many deeper topics that were mostly brushed over and I would've loved to have more dept, like when it came to Sonya's ex who's still part of the friends group but obviously quite toxic. I didn't love how that was just brushed over and only brought up briefly once or twice. I really think this book had the potential to be great it just ended up falling flat for me.

this sucked. the kind of boring where you just fly through the pages to be done with it. didn't care about anyone but i did boo when the mc got with her li bc she was genuinely so horrid and coley (mc) was doing much better without her but like. i went into this knowing the quality of this work would be less than what i usually read so idk why i expected better.

4⭐️

<b> And one day you learn: it’s not that you’re not like other girls.
It’s just that you’ve never met a girl like you.
And then, you do. You meet <i>her</i>.
And suddenly the songs make sense.</b>

Coley is new in town and has just moved in with her dad after suffering the devastating loss of her mother. Coley’s dad, Curtis, encourages Coley to go out and make friends, so Coley rides her bike out into town and is almost hit by Trenton’s car. When she first sees Sonya climbing out of the car to check on her, her world is changed forever.

As someone who was completely obsessed with Hayley’s song and music video when it came out, I am so so happy that there is now a book to go along with it. I think anyone would love this book even if they weren’t insanely obsessed with “Girls Like Girls.” It’s such a great queer coming of age story that showcases not only having to come out to yourself, but learning how to love yourself as you are. I’m so glad we got to see Coley come into her own, while also seeing Sonya struggle with figuring herself out through her Live Journal entries. And oh my gosh, the early 2000s references are everything and I am so glad that they were included in this book. This was fun to read and so nostalgic!

<b> Am I brave enough for this?
To love myself?
To let her go and hope someday she finds her truth?
I take a deep breath.
There’s only one way to find out.
I dive in.</b>

In her debut novel, Hayley Kiyoko draws inspiration from her iconic Girls Like Girls music video released early in her music career. We follow Coley, a teenager forced to move to rural Oregon after losing her mother, and Sonya a beautiful girl that Coley wants to know more about.

I am one of many Kiyoko fans that found the Girls Like Girls music video foundational in seeing young queer representation on screen. I was very excited to dive into a full story about our protagonists. While I enjoyed the overall story, there were many narrative moments that felt more like a collection of short stories than one cohesive narrative.

Overall I think that the many sensitive topics discussed in the story were handled well, and I would still recommend this for a young adult audience.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Happy publication week to this book, & happy pride month! Girls Like Girls felt like a fitting start to June. I was so excited to read because I’m a fan of Hayley Kiyoko’s music.

SPOILERS AHEAD

While there was a lot that I liked about this book — namely 2006 as a setting, with public and private live journal posts giving us a peek into a a character’s head, and Coley’s amazing coworkers — this one wasn’t a perfect fit for me. There were a *lot* of subplots and characters that I felt didn’t get the time on the page that they needed, and the ending felt very rushed, particularly after that intense moment of violence.

Also, most of the characters, including the main character, are very terrible to one another and speak with cruelty at times, and I found that tough to read. I know that they’re all going through some tough stuff, but a lot of the dialogue and behavior felt like too much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

DNFing at 80% and honestly, I'm not sure how I made it that far. I was so excited to love this book because I loved the music video it's inspired by, but I'll just stick to the video instead. Every character was so obnoxious and the love interest treated the main character terribly. They had some nice moments together, but Sonya doing things like constantly making excuses for Trenton's terrible actions and just generally being mean because feelings are scary... I could not figure out for the life of me why Coley wanted to fight for this relationship. I couldn't root for this relationship at all.

I understand that when you're a teen, you're more willing to put up with bad behavior because you don't yet have enough world experience to realize how bad it is or that you don't have to accept it. But it was too much for me. I couldn't stand how awful Trenton was and how everyone would just make excuses for him.

TW: suicide, suicidal ideation, drugs, loss of a parent, homophobia, underage drinking

WHAT I LOVED
-navigating grief trauma and irl struggles
-lgbtq romance !! + coming of age story
-loved getting to read a book written by a queer icon
-girls like girls music video in book form !!
-quick read

WHAT I DIDNT LOVE
-plot felt juvenile and contrived
-not enough growth between characters
-most of the scenes in the book have coley having dialogue with her love interest & i thought there would have been more growth, had there been more physical separation
-ALL coley could think about was her love interest. Not one other thought went through her minds. Made coley's character feel flatter.
-i didnt feel the characters were described well in the beginning, and were introduced all at once which made figuring out the characters quite difficult
-too many overused or cheesy phrases
-i was confused how online messaging through AIM worked as I have never used AIM before!

Hayley, call me surprised. I loved the romance in this, but it some areas felt under-developed. I really want to see where she could go next though!

I hope that Trenton goes to federal prison, and that is not a spoiler, especially if you’ve seen the music video.

Even if you haven’t seen the heavily praised and worshiped music video for Girls Like Girls, this book is spectacular. I watched it once before reading and immediately upon finishing, and the attention to detail that Kiyoko had while writing this book is incredible. I felt the emotions and could see what Hayley saw in this music video. She translated their feelings and backstories so well into a written version.

I will say that I found this to be a bit heavy, and would just urge readers, especially young readers, to check TWs before reading. They did swear a lot for a YA book, but it did make sense with the story and characters. “Olive juice” made me cringe so hard but then I remembered this is set in 2006 and I realized that is absolutely a thing us kids were saying (embarrassing).

Overall, this was a good read. I was not blown away or anything, but I am happy to have read it.

Big thanks to St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Well this was underwhelming. I don't even necessarily want to say that it's bad but it was just so boring. I also didn't like the main character very much and I sure as heck didn't like her supposed love interest.

I went into this not knowing anything about it and having never seen the music video it's based on and having very little understanding of Hayley Kiyoko's music. But I knew it was really hyped up and so many people were excited for it and it's a new queer sapphic summer romance, of course I was going to read it. Sadly it just didn't do it for me.

I think one of my many issues with this is that I was not prepared for the 2006 level angst, let alone the 2006 level internalized and externalized homophobia. There's a time and place for stories about this stuff, but this one felt so run of the mill that I found myself wanting to skip ahead. I didn't, but I wanted to.

So beyond my issues with the main character, who was super overly sarcastic and blunt, the love interest who is incredibly unlikable the entire time and then performs a 180 at the end so quick you get whiplash if you weren't paying attention, and the basic and predictable plot, I had some issues with the audiobook as well.

As someone who mainly listens to audiobooks for reading, a good narration and production of an audiobook can add so much to a story. It can add dimension and personality and liveliness. But because it can do all of those things, it can also drag a story down. Bad production and narration can ruin a perfectly fine story. Maybe that's what happened here because most of these reviews are fairly middle of the road but I was genuinely annoyed when I finished this.

One of my issues is that for some reason there are multiple narrators when there absolutely do not need to be. One narrator does maybe 90% of the speaking which I'm assuming is Haley kiyoko, and then there are two or three other narrators that pop in as well. One voices for the love interest who has a AIM journal and one voices for the asshole boyfriend who legitimately only speaks for comments on the live journal. I'd be hard-pressed to say he's got 10 sentences. It felt so unnecessary to have a random male voice pop in to say horrendously terrible things. I have a couple suspicions on why there's multiple narrators and one of them is that Haley kiyoko just wasn't comfortable doing different voices for the characters but she does a fine job during her sections so I don't understand why there needed to be another narrator.

My second big issue with the audiobook was the random, and I mean random, music and sound effects. If they had happened at the end of every chapter or at predictive intervals, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but I swear there was no telling when music was just going to start playing. And I don't even think that it was the author's music, it sounded like boring basic movie plot music that they play when the characters are going through something and you need to just watch them and not listen to them speak. And then there's random sound effects like text messaging tones, at one point there is a train on the tracks and a train whistle, and I think there's a bicycle chain at some point. It was so all over the place and so unnecessary that it ripped me out of the story every single time.

I feel like this book probably has a very niche audience and that is people who grew up on this music video because honestly the only thing that I found mildly entertaining and liked about the book was the main character's gay panic which was highly relatable and hilarious, and her relationship with her dad. Hands down the best part of the book yet still underdeveloped.

3.5

Going into this, I had never heard of Hayley Kiyoko and didn’t know she was a musician. Which, unfortunately, I think shows its colors in this book.

It needs another round or two of editing/revisions. There were a few scenes that were done extremely well—creating emotions both from the characters and for myself. But, there were just as many scenes that did the opposite—creating clunky or hard to see the point type of scenes.

The characters I think is where Kiyoko definitely succeeded. They all felt realistic in their actions. Every character had flaws, quips, and their own personality. The whole time I was screaming at Sonya to fuck off and for Coley to get her shit together. Never have I read a romance where I so badly DIDN’T want the couple to get together.

I think young people who have ever struggled with accepting their sexuality will adore this book. There are various other elements that could speak to a teen’s life—sexuality, single parenting, internalized homophobia, suicide, mental health, making friends, etc. With all of the different topics covered, it didn’t feel like too much. They all felt relevant and realistic.

Overall, I believe many will love this, some for the fact that Kiyoko herself wrote this, and others who just fall in love with the story.

never thought I would ever read a book written by one of my all time fav celebrity. reading girls like girls felt so personal because I grew up with Hayley I was there when she was at disney, lemonade mouth is one of my fav movies ever and I followed her musical journey, I fell in love with her songs and she represents so much for a lot of people. I felt honoured receiving this book as an ARC and I loved it. it had all the feels, it portrayed so well the queer experience and to know it was such a close story to hayley made the reading experience so much better!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
~

We all know that Hailey Kiyoko's Girls Like Girls was a life-changing experience for any queer kid who's questioned their identity over the last decade. If you ask me, basically anything that Hailey Kiyoko does has and will continue to cement itself into the sapphic sphere for as long as she blesses media with her presence. So, when I heard she was writing a book, I was ecstatic.

The story follows Coley, who makes the move from sunny San Diego to rural Oregon and her journey over the summer as she learns to live with her estranged person and falls in love with the snarky, popular, but secretly vulnerable Sonya. Kiyoko's creativity and vibrance as a song-writer clearly shines through the medium in this book, with the highlights being the lyrical, interspersed posts from Sonya, our love interest. Admittedly, it can be extraordinarily cliché and dramatic at times, coupled with some atrocious dialogue and a bit of grating, expository set=up at the beginning. However, it's a lovely book that perfectly captures the feelings of the turbulence of teenage-hood, learning to accept yourself, and finding the first person with whom it all starts to makes sense. Coley, as the principal character does receive the bulk of the development, while so many others are left in the dust.

I'll say that it's not a bad book, but the reason I feel so frustrated is likely because of my conceptions surrounding the original music video. The book feels entirely too familiar, a dozen-times heard before with narratives revolving around tropes that have long been present. I think I just expected more, due to how Kiyoko has so often shattered boundaries and eschewed stereotype. I thought this novel was an opportunity to take that pattern and apply it to the literary world.

Despite that, I think any fan of "Lesbian Jesus" will love this book, especially the opportunities to delve deeper into the world created by the iconic music video. It's compelling and I'll say that the last 20% is brilliant, but the beginning hinders it so much with its caricatures of teenagers and hard-to-digest dialogue. I'm excited to see where Kiyoko will go next and I do hope she continues with her literary endeavors.