Seventeen-year-old Coley is forced to move to rural Oregon to live with her father after the loss of her mother. Coley feels alone and does not want to be in Oregon at all. One day, Sonya is riding her bike and is almost hit by a car, driven by one of Sonya’s friends. Sonya and Coley immediately become friends. Soon they are hanging out daily. Their friendship turns into something more, something Sonya is not ready to face, and it leaves Coley feeling more alone than ever.

I liked many parts of this book, including the LiveJournal entries and conversations through AIM. I also really liked Curtis, Coley’s dad. He tried really hard to form a bond with his daughter and I enjoyed the father/daughter relationship. Unfortunately, I just really didn’t like the character of Sonya. There were many aspects of her character that I didn’t like, and I didn’t think Coley should be with her. That said, I did still enjoy the book. I enjoyed the different portrayals of how the girls come to terms with their sexualities. For that reason, I rate the book 3/5 stars.

Read if you like:
♥️ YA Romance
🏳️‍🌈 Diverse Love Stories
🎶 Girls Like Girls Song
⏳ Self Discovery

Okay, why do I feel like this story is inspired by Hayley and Becca’s love story?!

This was such a heartwarming, cute, and emotional romance that covers so many important topics in such a great way through the YA perspective.

I truly love the inclusion of so many challenging topics for this book as I feel like it’s exactly what young people trying to figure out themselves need- to see their struggles normalized and give them courage to find themselves.

Thank you so much Wednesday Books for my ARC of this one in exchange for my thoughts!

This was a fabulous debut novel! Such great queer representation and dealt with hard topics really well

This was a ride for sure, but a (mostly) enjoyable one.

I’m going to get the bad out of the way: While the author is not unknown by any means, this is a debut and you can tell. It reads like fan fiction written in a lot of spots, and there’s a lot of unbelievable dialogue. While it was great for me personally, the dated aspects of placing this in 2006 might be a miss for some readers, especially Gen Z. Finally, the ending left me … unsatisfied. I just wanted a bit more resolution.

The good: About 30% though something clicked in the writing and I was instantly engrossed. It took a month to read the first 70 pages and an afternoon to read the next 200ish. I thought the portrayal of grieving and the resulting family dynamics was done very well. I loved the 2006 references personally, and the LiveJournal bits made me feel so nostalgic. Seeing one of my favorite music videos of all time come to life on page is also probably the biggest selling point for this book for me, as well as getting to know Coley and Sonya’s chemistry and history.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. While Hayley’s writing style leaves a little to be desired, that’s something that can easily be evolved as she writes more. The story itself was really sweet and sentimental, the characters are flawed and frustrating and endearing, and this made for a great summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Girls Like Girls takes place in 2006 and I really felt like I was transported back in time. The LiveJournal, the clothing, the music selections; it really brought me back.

Coley has moved to a new town after her mother’s suicide. Her father hasn’t been present in her life and frankly, she doesn’t know how to have a relationship with him. But she becomes attached to the first friend she makes, Sonya, pretty hard. Kind of like a barnacle.

I enjoyed how Girls Like Girls went into so many deeper themes: suicide, homophobia, internalized homophobia, and becoming your true self. But the romance felt forced. Coley and Sonya were a bit insta-lovey, but also very whiplashy. I loved Coley’s growth and watching her accept herself, but Sonya never showed much character progression. And sadly, the storyline was a bit predictable.

But hey, I’m in for this nostalgic feeling and thought Girls Like Girls was a good debut.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the review copy!

Based on the music video, Girls Like Girls follows the budding relationship between Coley and Sonya after Coley's mom dies and she has to move to rural Oregon to live with her previously absent father.

I love queer love stories. I love that queer love stories are being published more and more, because that wasn't the case when I was in high school, and it's the sort of thing that makes you wonder what might have changed if you'd had access to materials like that. In my opinion, I think we're very much in a moment where we need to be amplifying these kinds of stories.

One thing I struggled with in this book is the audience/tone. It definitely reads like a younger YA - maybe more of an early high school audience - which isn't a problem, but at the same time, the setting of 2006 and the inclusion of details like LiveJournal and AIM definitely were meant to provoke some nostalgia, which it would really only do in older readers. Obviously, young adult novels are written for young adults - but I think the setting and culture make it a little harder to relate to for current younger readers, while the writing style makes it harder for older readers (those of us who lived through LJ and AIM!) to relate.

Coley was a prickly little cactus and my heart absolutely ached for her. I found her character to be well developed and interesting. The side characters weren't quite as well developed/nuanced. However, a standout character (and relationship) was Curtis, the dad. I loved how Curtis and Coley's relationship developed and thought it was realistic and endearing. There's a scene towards the beginning of the third act between the two of them that had me genuinely crying.

I found the depiction of grief and trauma to be compelling and accurate - Coley is so hurt, and this story really follows her coming to terms with that, not just her sexuality.

The book hits all the same major plot points as the music video, but I thought the ending actually worked better in the video than it did in the book - I needed a little bit more closure to make it feel authentic.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and am glad that stories like these are being told. 3.5 stars from me!

In 2016 all our little queer hearts were palpitating over an our lesbian artist making a music video where girls kissed. Now, though, that’s not as wild of a concept. However, these book feels very stuck in such a time.

I’m not sure who this book is for exactly. It’s set in 2006, a year when many millennials were in high school. There are flip phones, AIM, and Livejournal, nostalgia bait for the same group. However, this is a YA book in the cringiest way, and I don’t really think it appeals to people in their 30s. However, I don’t think gen Z would necessarily like it either, as we’ve moved on to a lot more complex representation in media.

There are a few things done outside of the plot of the original music video, mostly to do with the main character Coley. She’s a decent kid who’s just lost her mother to suicide and has to go live with the father she doesn’t remember. I found the discussion of grief to be decently done and the father daughter relationship development was good too; he is really trying and Coley does grow and change her opinion about him. She also gets a job at a restaurant later on that gives her queer found family and nurturing attention from another adult, but she still runs back to the shitty people who hurt her and the two groups don’t interact at all. It is also the section where we get I believe the second reference in the whole book to Coley being biracial? I understand that is the author’s heritage but she really did nothing in the book to show us this part of Coley’s character.

The love interest is Sonya, a closeted girl with an abusive boyfriend and some immature friends who fuck around in Coley’s life for most of the book. The only description we get of Coley’s attraction to Sonya is physical, and the flowery metaphors and silly imagery are kind of over the top for a girl she doesn’t know. Sonya is a mean girl. I don’t have any reason to believe they’ll be a good couple. Any development she goes through is away at dance camp and just told through a few Livejournal entries. Sonya and her friends also get Coley in trouble with various situations like almost getting busted at a party where minors are drinking, and taking her shoplifting for alcohol, smoking weed, getting home done piercings, etc. The character responsible for the latter two is less a part of the friend group, and I just don’t find her necessary to the story.

The book ends exactly as the music video does, so it’s not really a spoiler. We get no additional development or information, which is pretty unsatisfying because these characters are definitely not really in a good place to ride a bicycle off into the sunset.

it took me a while to relieve finish this book, because some of the scenes are quite scattered, or just juxtaposition of scenes. I know this book was based on the author’s music video so maybe she is trying to do that kind of cut scene type.
I dislike many characters… ugh! I know they are teens and fictional but they just get on my nerves. Gosh! I guess I am that adult who hate teens now.
All in all, not bad for H. Kiyoko for writing a novel. This is her debut novel maybe her next one might be better.
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT! The winner for me here is Coley’s dad.

It's 2006 and Coley has just lost her mom to suicide. She's sent to live with her dad, who she hasn't seen or heard from since she was three. In an effort to make friends, she meets Sonya, and she swears they have a connection that's different... if she could just get Sonya to admit it out loud.

This story is very much a "coming into your own" tale, and I respect that. I requested this book because of the author, and though I enjoyed the core of what the story was, I felt like it could have been written a bit better. However, I will say that the topic of suicide was handled delicately and in a way that was realistic without being gruesome, and I really appreciated that.

CW: suicide, grief, mental illness, homophobia, violence

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books & Netgalley for allowing me to read this book

I received an ARC and I’m leaving an honest review.

Girls Like Girls isn't a perfect book. It's a little cliche and the writing style is very simple, but I still loved it.
The song and its music video were part of my queer awakening when I was 14, and this book is definitely something I wish I also had back then.

I actually thought it was going to have a lot more romance, but I'm really glad we got to also see Coley building a relationship with her father, and making a life for herself.

I honestly wasn’t expecting Sonya to be this toxic, which threw me off in the beginning because she reminded a lot of... someone from my past (bad parental relationships, internalized homophobia, manipulative behaviors...). That comparison was not fun for me...

Coley's daddy issues and their arguments made me cry my eyes out, but I wish we also knew more about the mother, about her struggles and how they ended up in that situation to begin with. It felt like her death was underdeveloped and just glossed over, even though Coley clearly still suffers from it all.

To sum it up, I think the story had a lot of potential and could have been developed a little more (same for the characters), but it was still entertaining, and my younger self is so happy I got to read it.

this book is so nearly perfect!! i really enjoyed the dialogue and writing. it wasn’t too formal, wasn’t too colloquial, just enough to have you invested and coming back for more. while the plot isn’t revolutionary by any means or grande, it is intimate and relatable and real. this book played out like a movie in my head, so vivid and tangible. the characters were annoying sometimes but that’s what made them so real. the discussion of topics in this book can be really hard but i think the way it was handled was really great. i loved Coley’s growth, i was brought to tears several times by her strength. only thing i would change is the ending, i wanted a bit more, maybe to see what happens with Sonya and her family. i understand a bit why it wasn’t included, but i think it would’ve been nice. i’m glad trenton got his comeuppance, that turd 🙄 i definitely recommended if you’re looking for a sapphic romance!

Girls like girls is a small-town sapphic coming of age story between characters Sonya and Coley.

As a companion to the music video we get a more in depth view of everything that went on between Sonya and Coley before the infamous fight scene with Trenton. I loved how realistic both Sonya and Cooley felt as teenagers trying to navigate life with complex feelings.

The book felt very insta-lovey which isn’t my favourite as well as in the end we didn’t really get to see their relationship truly blossom. I would’ve loved to have the book be a few more chapters or have an epilogue where we really get to see Sonya and Coley loving themselves and accepting their identities.

Overall I think this is a quick read and will be a big hit with a lot of people.

TW’s for parental death, suicide, homophobia, underage drinking and drug use

Final Rating: 3.75/5⭐️

DNF @ 30%

I am so sad I did not enjoy this book, as I am a big fan of Hayley Kiyoko's music, but I just don't think I am the target audience for this book. I adored the writing, however, so if you like romance novels I think you'd probably enjoy this, but I had a hard time with the plot and general cliches of the romance genre.

I absolutely adored this book! Girls Like Girls is about Coley. A girl who is forced to move in with her dad in a new town after a loss. Then she meets Sonya and Coley must figure out if friendship and love is worth putting her heart on the line. Based on the song with the same name, Hayley Kiyoko really expands on the music video. This booklet nostalgic, set in the early 2000's with a playlist to match, you were transported into a world that vibrant. full of dancing, kissing on train tracks, and riding bikes down quiet suburban streets. This was also a coming of age, of exploring sexuality and finding out the kind of person you want to be. Coley goes through a lot and i loved seeing her process her emotions and watching her be a teenager. I also really appreciate the relationship with her dad and how it felt so true to age. In my opinion there's nothing better than a book about messy teenage queers living their lives authentically and i thinkHayley Kiyoko did an amazing job of showcasing that. And i also may have cried a few tears for my younger self getting lost in Coley and Sonya's story.

DNF @ 50%

Unfortunately, this was another case of “excellent premise, poor execution.”

I adore Hayley Kiyoko, and when I read the premise for this book, I knew I wanted to read it; I was thrilled to receive an ARC on Netgalley. But almost immediately, I knew this book wasn’t going to be what I hoped.

There were a lot of flaws in the writing that began immediately and never improved, unfortunately. First of all, the main character, Coley, breaks the fourth wall immediately and talks directly to the reader, which is a big pet peeve of mine. In addition, the descriptions were full of showing instead of telling; I couldn’t tell you for certain what these characters look like, what their surroundings are like, or even much of their emotions aside from what we were bluntly told. And the dialogue was really cringey as well; even though these characters are teenagers, the way they spoke to each other just wasn’t realistic.

The characters themselves were pretty one-dimensional as well; they all seemed to be human embodiments of different stereotypes instead of full-fledged, developed human beings.

As for the plot, I was disappointed that there wasn’t much of one. Aside from struggling with her feelings Sonya, there isn’t much else going on beside a bunch of teenagers enjoying their summer. I wanted more from it; I really wanted to feel Coley dealing with the loss of her mom and the complicated emotions that come from that, but that was missing.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t end up enjoying this book, but ultimately, I couldn’t bring myself to finish it when I have a TBR pile full of books I would rather be reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Girls Like Girls was a wonderful story of what it's like to be a queer girl growing up in a conservative town. I related so much to Coley and think Kiyoko did a great job portraying the confusion and excitement that comes with your first queer crush. This book creates a space for any reader to feel safe to explore new feelings or to reflect on their own sexuality or coming out journey. I was hooked from the very beginning and only wanted the best for the characters.

I was really excited for this book, but it fell a bit flat for me. Coley knew who she was and what she wanted (kind of) which couldn't be said for the other characters. I liked that this was set in early 2000s kind of time and the nostalgia felt nice. I also liked the interspersed IM posts and I could really feel all the angst. In terms of characters is where I got lost. It felt like no one was fully developed. They also felt one-note and a little too angsty and juvenile for my liking. No one could actually talk about how they were feeling and everyone ended conversations by walking away without actually resolving anything. I also felt like the side characters were annoying. I didn't feel like anyone had any growth really, except Coley and Curtis. Overall, so many things felt rushed and unfinished and I couldn't really tell if it was meant to be a love story or something more contemporary, but to be honest it didn't really feel like either. Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-ARC to read and review!

Rainy days are for puppy snuggles and reading under a fuzzy blanket.

Thank you so much to @netgalley for this e-ARC of Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko.

What I loved:

💟 Kiyoko's writing is simply gorgeous. The flow of prose and emotional rawness to her style truly added to the experience of the reader.
💟 Coley is a really well-developed character. I could not help but root for her from the very beginning of this story.
💟 Coley's absentee and now custodial father could have been such a stereotype, and instead serves as a rock and form of support for Coley constantly throughout this story.
💟 Kiyoko does a pretty good job of demonstrating the destructive cycle victims of trauma can fall into when making relationship choices.

What I did not love (spoilers ahead):

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😢 I wanted way more of Faith and less of the secondary "almost" love interest. I think that story thread between Faith and Sonya deserved more time on the page.
😢 75% of this book (literally) is Coley having her heart ripped to pieces over and over again by Sonya and her POS friends. I was happy when the shift went to Coley working on herself. She gained healthy friendships at a job she loved, and started bonding with her dad. I felt like all of Coley's hard work was utterly wasted when she and Sonya got together at the end of this book.
😢 Listen, I will not even begin to understand what it is to live with internalized homophobia, especially as a young teen. I appreciate Kiyoko giving Sonya the space to be messy and figure her life out in her own time. However, I do not believe that having Coley go back to such a toxic relationship at the end of this book sends the desired message to young queer youth. These two girls only get together through an act of complete violence, and I still don't feel Sonya has proven to have grown at all. I worry about what would happen between them in an epilogue to this story.

Girls Like Girls comes out 05/30/23!

I think that this book was just okay. This is Hayley Kiyoko's first book, and it is based on her amazing song and music video of the same name. I love the song and the music video for 'Girls Like Girls', and I was hoping that the book would expand on the beautiful story from the music video. Instead, the book felt both too long and too short at the same time.

I was bored by parts of it, and it felt like the story was really dragging. The ending felt very rushed and very incomplete. The book could benefit from a dual narrator told in third person. It's first person narrated by Coley, but there are chapters with Sonya's live journal entries, emails, and AIM conversations between the two characters. It takes place in 2006, and I enjoyed that aspect of the book.

There were too many side characters in the story. There was the friend group, Coley's dad, Curtis, Coley's coworkers at the restaurant, and others. I didn't feel connected to any of these characters, I wanted to care about them, but because there were so many of them, it was hard to find who to really root for or care about.

I know that the story isn't labeled as a romance, but I expected more of a romance, based on the music video's love story. I think that Coley and Sonya have a toxic friendship that could lead to a toxic relationship. I think that both of them need time to work on themselves before they can be committed to anyone else. Coley is still processing her mother's death, and Sonya is trying to figure out who she is. Sonya is struggling with her feelings for Coley.

The book dealt with a lot of heavy topics, and it could benefit from some lighthearted aspects or characters. The story deals with suicide (off page), abortion, homophobia, internalized homophobia, violence, abusive ex, toxic friendships, and gaslighting.

Overall, I felt like the story was incomplete, but it also dragged at points. I think it would be better if there weren't as many side characters. I would prefer more time spent on Coley's relationship with her father, Curtis. That would be more interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book.

Hayley Kiyoko—well-known singer, "Lemonade Mouth" actress, and “Lesbian Jesus,” as her fans call her—has written her first novel! The novel, "Girls Like Girls," is inspired by her 2015 song of the same name and the song’s music video. I rated it four stars out of five.

Kiyoko’s novel, which will be published May 30, 2023, is a young adult romance set in the early 2000s. In the wake of her mother’s suicide, Coley has just moved to rural Oregon to live with her previously absent father. Soon Coley meets a group of popular teens, including Sonya, who takes a liking to Coley. As the summer stretches on, Coley and Sonya grow close and soon fall for one another, but their burgeoning relationship is met with constant turmoil. Meanwhile, Coley struggles to grieve her mother and reconnect with her father, who she resents for not being there when she was growing up.

It’s always a little nerve wracking reading a book by a celebrity, as you never know what the quality will be. Writing a book is very different from writing a song, and I feared I’d be disappointed in Kiyoko’s debut. I’m very happy to say that Girls Like Girls did not disappoint! This was a great debut and shows that Kiyoko is a genuinely skilled writer who won’t need to rely on her celebrity status for her book to succeed.

While the whole book is well-crafted, I greatly appreciated when Kiyoko’s lyrical abilities shined through in the text. I have a number of quotes highlighted because of how beautiful and relatable they were, from both the romantic and the intensely sad parts of the book. Kiyoko knows how to make you feel!

One of the biggest strengths of "Girls Like Girls" is its pacing (the aspect that is often hardest for new novel writers to grasp, in my opinion). The novel takes place over the course of the summer, which I felt was both an appropriate amount of time to show a developing relationship and its struggles as well as the healing process after a tragedy. Coley’s bond with her father slowly strengthens, and her ability to cope with her mother’s death progresses at a believable pace. I also simply liked that those plotlines were of equal importance to the romantic plot. Within the romance, there was a realistic progression, obstacles that made sense for both the time period and for any relationship, and enough weight was given to the aftermath of the conflicts that arose. All this made for a really solid book!

My primary criticism is, unfortunately, the ending. Without spoiling anything, I think the book took a very conventional route, I just don’t think it actually made the most sense given the characters' emotional journeys. I’m sure many people will be satisfied by it, but it didn’t resonate as much for me as I think a different conclusion would have.

As the book was inspired by a music video, I’ll address the similarities and differences. First, the atmosphere and setting are very similar. The house, pool party, and bike scenes exist in both versions of the story. There are some specific details from the video that show up in the book, too, such as the main character’s choker. Both the music video and the book feature a more reserved main character and her outgoing, popular love interest, as well as an abrasive, pushy boy antagonist. The explosive conflict at the end of the music video happens in the book as well, about equally far into the plot, which is perhaps the one aspect I don’t think was given sufficient time and space to explore its consequences. That, in addition to the part of the ending I alluded to earlier, are the reasons I dropped the book from five stars to four.

The primary difference is that the book fleshes the characters' worlds—both the literal world of their town and their inner world—out much more. It introduces new characters such as the love interest/Sonya’s other friends, the protagonist/Coley’s father, a handful of girls Sonya goes to dance camp with, and various people from around the town that Coley meets, including coworkers. Overall the book is populated with characters who feel real, and who could easily be main characters of their own stories. Another difference is that Coley is Asian while Sonya is white, which is inverted from their actresses in the music video. As Coley is the main character, this allowed Kiyoko to center and go more in depth on her and her protagonist’s identity.

I really enjoyed Kiyoko’s debut and I will absolutely read anything else she may write. Potential readers should be aware that homophobia plays a large part in the plot, which makes sense for the setting, but I understand not everyone wants to read about that. "Girls Like Girls" has other heavy topics as well, including but not limited to mental health and grief, which readers should be aware of before going into it. You do not need to be familiar with Kiyoko’s music to appreciate the book, though I must say I highly recommend her as an artist!

I’d recommend "Girls Like Girls" to anyone looking for a complex and bittersweet sapphic YA novel. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for sending me a free eARC in exchange for an honest review (and for sending it on Valentine’s Day, no less!).