I really, really enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Casey McQuiston's "I Kissed Shara Wheeler" (but maybe better?!?!). I had no idea what to expect from a pop star's first book, but it was so good. I loved the characters and even with familiar tropes and storylines, it felt fresh. It felt genuine to to that time in your life, when you make new friends and try on new versions of yourself as you try and figure out who you want to be. But most of all, Girls Like Girls made me miss LiveJournal lol.

I actually couldn’t put this one down and ended up finishing it in 24 hours. It was beautifully poetic, every line feeling like it could have been lyrics to a song.
I loved reading a YA in the time period of AIM and LiveJournal. It was such a journey to watch this character fall in love with a girl, learn how to come back to herself, start to let her dad be her dad, and heal from her grief/trauma.
10000% recommending this one.
CW for homophobic comments, death by suicide, grief, internalized homophobia, lots of drinking, and probably more.

Loved the untraditional dual perspective, it really allowed for a better understanding of the characters.

Coley has lost it all and she's heartbroken again. She's lost her mother and not ready to fall in love but she meets Sonya and questions everything. They fight their feelings and go around in circles till they can't deny it anymore. It's messy and chaotic and full of love. I was hoping for more from the story and it never delivered.

I freaking LOVED this book. My pansexual heart knew exactly how Coley felt and it killed me! The beginning was a bit slow but once the story got going I really couldn't put it down. I really hated the ended, I NEED MORE! I need the story to continue, I need to see how their friend react to everything, how school goes. I NEED MORE!

I honestly wasn’t sure what to think about the ending of this story. It seemed incomplete. I loved the book and the characters but I felt like the ending was just so rushed, like the author was saving space to turn this into another book or a trilogy. I just wish that it hadn’t felt so hurried at the end. Great story, great idea, just want a better and more complete ending to it!

It breaks my heart to say this but I really disliked this. I had high hopes and honestly was so excited to see this iconic video turned into book. But there is one factor that I cannot ignore in any book that immediately turns me off:

I do not like when the author is trying to tell me rather than showing me. And this book was a lot of telling, and very little showing.

I also believe that the characters didn’t have any likeable characteristics to them, so this was a very frustrating read for me.

However, this could perhaps appeal to a younger audience.

*
A special thanks to St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for the ARC to this book in exchange of an hinest review.

I came to this book as someone who had not seen Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls music video before, so I did not know anything about the story ahead of time. I’m a fan of Kiyoko’s girlfriend’s podcast ‘Scrubbing In’ and of YA in general, so I was intrigued to read this.

The story pulls you in pretty immediately, revealing Coley’s backstory and why she ends up in this town the summer before her senior year. I liked how all the characters in the story were flawed and often not nice people, it felt more realistic…even if you’re often rooting against the love story because of it. The complexity of emotions Coley is dealing with both with her family life and personal life really comes across, and I found myself tearing up at multiple parts. Really liked the characters of Alex and Curtis, and if a sequel is planned would love to see more of them. Agree with other readers that the ending felt rushed.

I recommend this to any fans of YA, queer fiction, and coming of age stories.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Girls like girls is the epitome of being a queer teenage girl. Coley lost her mom and is left no choice but to move in with her absentee father in a small town where she meets Sonya and her friend group. Coley who is already navigating grief now has to navigate her complex feelings for Sonya. The beginning was slightly jarring and insta lovey (which is definitely on par for being a first crush) but it does slow down a bit. Overall it was a good, albeit quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank You to Net Galley for the ARC
Girls Like Girls is the story behind the iconic music video created by Hayley Kiyoko; this novel was a shocking surprise as it is difficult to adapt a five minute video into a fleshed out story. The novel fallows two girls as they slowly fall in love and is perfect for fans of It's not like it's a secret and Paper towns; the mid way point of the book is a retelling of the music video and explores the feelings of first love and what it means to be queer. To be honest I am impressed by the ability of the author to transpose her story into a novel format and where there are some rough edges around the story but still a great first novel.

I really enjoyed this one! While it was slow to start, once things began developing between Sonya and Coley I was glued to my phone until the very end. I also really loved the nostalgic feel from the social media featured in this - it definitely brought me back to those v emotional 'first crush' days!

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!

so alot of people i know listen to hayley kiyoko so i knew of her and when i saw she was writing a novel especially a YA novel i was all in.. especially about finding yourself and living in your truth and dealing with grief and hardships i feel like alot of people can relate to so many of the things in this novel this was such an important novel from struggling to embrace your sexuality thinking of what people will say, how we want to be treated by a partner and what not to want also having to live with your father who was absent most of your life and a death bringing you together to try to patch up things that you've struggled with i can go on and on about this book but i want you all to read it first to avoid spoilers. I really loved reading about the main character and her relationships with friends and lovers etc. Also the AIM aspect and the journal and messaging chapters were my favorite because i love when that stuff is included in books its so comforting to read. This book also had people you will love and people you wont either so it was a balance between both. Younger people will see themself in this novel and i love that. I really enjoyed hayleys novel i hope she writes more novels because this one honestly was GREAT! Congratulations hayley! PS: Thank you for touching down on such important topics that will help alot of people for example, Losing a parent, Depression, Abuse, Struggling to live your truth etc.

dnf @ 30%… i really wanted to like this book :( the writing was definitely not my style. it was kinda cringey in my opinion. i think if you’re a younger reader you might love this book but it wasn’t for me. i think if it wasn’t based on the music video i would’ve been less biased on the story. i just couldn’t get into it. it had potential to be more than it was but sadly i couldn’t push through the writing. thank you for Netgalley and St. Martin's Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

ok. first off, i went into this read a bit biased, as the music video holds a special place in my heart, but i ended up disappointed :(

i found sonya extremely unlikable, defending her stupid ass "d¥ke" saying friend and always blaming other people for her issues. i get that there's a certain hatred, sadness and confusion that comes with being closeted but damn was she annoying!!!! don't get me started on other characters like blake (why would coley go to a stranger's house in the middle of nowhere) trenton or brooke. the only reasonable people were coley and her dad, whose relationship was very cute.

the romance was not bad, but you can tell you're reading about mentally unstable teenage girls : they didn't even try to understand each other, which led to lots of angst and to a weird dynamic. the yearning made up for it tho, and you can somehow understand why they act this way. their happy moments together were adorable too<3

i was really thrown off by the ending. i was expecting to see the scenes of the mv earlier in the book (i REALLY thought that would be their first kiss ?? idk) but it was condensed into 10 pages. it was SO RUSHED that i finished the book and was like oh! okay, no time to process anything

I really loved the concept of the book and was excited to read it… and then was super disappointed.

The book starts of with the main character claiming she’s not like other girls, but not in the way other girls say they’re not like other girls. All my hopes for this book kinda dropped off then and there.

The writing is pretty juvenile and the characters are unlikable, lacking depth and personality.

While the idea is there, the execution wasn’t.

As someone who the Girls Like Girls music video fundamentally changed, the book was pretty much what I expected. Coley was way more relatable than predicted, and her relationship with Sonya reminded me of Baker and Hannah from Her Name in the Sky. I liked Coley and Sonya's scenes, but I wish we got more scenes of Coley with Alex and Curtis. They were probably my favourite characters, and I liked those dynamics the best. I enjoyed the dated feel, but my biggest hang-up with this book was the writing, which was not the best and could feel juvenile. Also, the concept of lesbian Jesus being in it was so meta. I loved it.

I, like so many others who loved the Girls Like Girls music video, was excited to read a book with the extended story! 


Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think I thought it was going to be more lighthearted (that's on me and my expectations) and was not expecting how emotionally heavy this book would be. Once I re-navigated my expectations I found a book that I ultimately really liked that handled challenging topics well. 

The story is the build up to what we see in the Girls like Girls music video, we watch Coley and Sonya navigate their feelings for each other while also each navigating complicated pasts (challenging parent relationships, expectations, and ex-partners).  What I love about this book is that it doesn't shy away from tough emotions, even when its characters might prefer that. You get to see a lot of Coley's familial struggles and struggle with self-love through interactions with her dad. You get to see Sonya's emotions through private Livejournal entries (nostalgia hits hard here for millennials). You get to see them grow and face these challenges.  

Ultimately, I would have loved to see some of the story after the music video. However, I did enjoy the book. I think it did a good job telling the story. So if you are a fan of the music video, of Hayley Kiyoko, or queer YA books I’d recommend picking this book up. 

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to review this book before being published. This has been one of my most anticipated reads since it was announced, I have been itching to read it since then!

Young queers everywhere remember when they saw Hayley Kiyoko's iconic music video for 'Girls Like Girls' when it premiered 7 years ago (I know I did). After the rumor speculating that Kiyoko was going to possibly make the video into a feature film was debunked (tragically) we got the announcement for the book and I have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!

The storyline, the characters, the nostalgic feeling had my soul crying and smiling at the same time. I don't know if this will make sense but you know that feeling when someone hugs you and says "don't worry, it's going to be okay"? That is the feeling in my head when I finished this book. I do admit, I might be just a tad bit biased, but that's okay. Please read this book!

Like many other lesbians, this music video meant and continues to mean a lot to me, so I was beyond excited for the novel. But while reading, I just didn’t feel any spark here. There’s nothing wrong with the book or the writing, but I still can’t say I loved it.

Still a cool project, but sadly not as satisfying as I hoped it would be…

As a younger teen I was absolutely in love with this song and music video that followed. It made me feel all the feelings I didn't fully admit yet and gives you a voice which is something we've all most likely struggled with when it comes to topics like this. I was super excited to be given a chance to read this book after all these years of listening to it on spotify haha. Now I think this book did what it aimed to do, which was give us a deeper and more evolved background to the two girls Coley and Sonya. It was like you were looking from the sidelines and watching every moment that led up to what happens in the music video. Which I enjoyed, I've always been heavy on the lore when it comes to things. I'm a bit sad that it didn't give us any perspective on how things go AFTER the events we all know from the video. It was a little rushed on the final moments and It's probably due to us knowing it all but I was hoping for a little more there. All in all It was what I wanted and I'm still SOOOO happy that I was able to read it and experience it.