Another awesome book by Jennifer Dugan! This is quite possibly one of my favorite YA romances that I’ve read. “Summer Girls” had fun characters, fuzziest romance scenes, a plot I was truly invested in. I was hooked from the moment I started reading. The book grabs you quickly establishing who the characters are and you get to see them growth as they get out of their comfort zones. I loved the alternating POVs as they realized their feelings for one another. It always makes a romance better when you can get thoughts and feelings from both of the MCs. Cass and Birdie were so sweet together, and I loved how you could see through the cracks even when they were “enemies.” The rescue scene was so sweet, it had me swooning. I enjoyed the sweet nature of the relationship between them after they got together. I liked their banter and how soft they were with one another. Neither character was perfect and they both made mistakes when it came to their relationship. I also liked that because there wasn’t a “bad guy” in their drama. The only issue I had was the complete lack of communication between Cass and Birdie. They had multiple arguments that I thought could’ve been cleared up very quickly if they had just listened to each other, especially surrounding Birdie’s sexuality and how she was afraid to tell her parents again. The side characters were well written as well which elevates the story but they never take over and never overshadow the main characters. This will definitely be a fun summer read for fans of the author and should find new fans as well. Thanks to Jennifer Dugan, Netgalley and Penguin for an e-arc in exchange for my thoughts. I can’t wait for Jennifer’s next book!

Rated 3.5/5 on StoryGraph.
Summer Girls is a dual POV YA sapphic romance. Birdie is from a wealthy family. Her and her mom are influencers, practically every moment of Birdie's life has been posted or streamed. Her father is a successful real estate developer who she doesn't see much of because he's usually staying at their summer home. When Birdie crashes a very expensive car while streaming, it's decided that she'll have to spend the summer at the summer house with her dad while doing a strict social media detox (and other restrictions) in order to get her trust fund on her 18th birthday at the end of the summer. Birdie's dad hires Cass to keep an eye on her for the summer. Cass is his protege and heading to MIT in the fall. She has mixed feelings about Birdie's dad; on one hand he's a close family friend who her dad works for and has given her many opportunities, but on the other hand he and his company's gentrification of the island has increased prices for locals and pushed them out of their homes. Cass's father started the Affordable Housing Coalition to oppose these practices while also being friends and working for Birdie's dad. Cass does know that she can't stand Birdie. They may have been friends as kids but they haven't seen each other in years and Birdie is a typical Summer Girl, a wealthy spoiled brat who makes the locals' lives worse. Cass has sworn off anything to do with Summer Girls, but the money is too good to pass up.

My favorite part of Summer Girls was the main characters. Both Birdie and Cass felt well developed. The plot and set up was fun and had a lot of potential, but unfortunately the execution fell short for me. My biggest issue was there wasn't enough communication between characters. There were a bunch of important conversation that I felt were set up and were needed for character and relationship development. This was especially true of Birdie, because she internalized a lot of her issues. I wanted her to have conversations with her dad about how he hasn't been around and how she feels like he likes Cass more than her. The main conversation I wanted her to have with Cass was about her relationship with streaming, social media, and her mother. Because of the lack of communication, I never felt like Cass really understood Birdie. It also made their relationship feel way too fast, out of nowhere, and shallow. More communication in this book would have made it so good.

Thanks to Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I've been eying Jennifer Dugans books for years but somehow never got the time to pick one up, until now. I was really excited when I saw that I got the ARC for her new book.

Birdie and Cass know each other since their childhood but their lives couldn't be more different. Birdies mom is an influencer and never had to worry about money. Cass is the complete opposite. She's working hard, not only for her dreams but also to be able to pay for her future. She doesn't understand Birdie and thinks that she is spoiled. And maybe she is right with that, but Birdie has so much more in her life and tries to prove that not just to Cass or her dads but also to herself.

The story started interesting and I really liked the writing style right from the beginning. It was nice to follow and I couldn't put the book down. The story was from time to time kind of predictable but it was still fun to read. Sadly this wasn't the book for me. It felt a bit rushed. To me it felt like some things were missing.

My rating is more a 3.5 stars. It was diffiult for me to give a rating because of my mixed feelings about it.

It was a sweet story, perfect for the summer. And even if it wasn't the book for me, I will still recommend it to fans of sweet enemies to lovers stories and people who just want a sweet story for the warmer days.

Thank you to Netgalley for this EARC!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Having been disappointed by Jennifer Dugan’s previous YA novel, and not being able to even get into her two adult offerings, I did wonder if she was an author I still wanted to read or not. However, Summer Girls is a nice return to form with her YA style, which I very much prefer.
Cass and Birdie are two compelling leads, and very distinct from one another. Cass is much more relatable, being a year-round resident in a beach town and seeing the visitors come and go, being burned by the “summer girls” who come and visit, plus seeing the negative impact the uber-rich have on the housing market. Birdie, meanwhile, is the stereotypical, troubled “poor little rich girl,” being sent to their family’s summer home as punishment for crashing her boyfriend’s car. With these two coming from such different worlds, and being at loggerheads somewhat due to the impact the wealthy and temporary visitors like Birdie, her family, and people like them have on permanent residents like Cass and her family. These messages definitely hit home, especially in the current economic and political climate.
The interplay between them was great, and while there are some real challenges and conflicts to work through, I liked how Birdie in particular rose to the occasion and learned from Cass, and Cass came to see Birdie’s potential.
This was delightful, and as the title promises, makes for a great summer read if you love YA sapphic romance.

I loved the plot, especially the trope enemies to lovers. I always love reading young adult books, so there is no smut. The book had so much detail and setting description that I felt like I was actually IN the book. GREAT ENDING !!!! I’d love a follow up book!

I have to start by saying that Jennifer Dugan is an all time favorite of mine. I have read almost every book and have loved all of them! This one was no exception. It was the summer vibes, feel-good, sapphic book that I needed growing up. I am so glad that I got to enjoy it now as an adult! Cass and Birdie are such an unlikely pairing but in a great way. They compliment each other very nicely. I loved the deeper topics that this book touched on and the narrative of it all. I can't wait for the audiobook to come out so I can listen to this as well!

First, I'd like to thank Penguin Group and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan. This review is solely my own opinion. Jennifer Dugan's done it again! This book was such a great read. I had a hard time putting it down. The story follows Birdie, a "famous" instagrammer whose father decides that she needs a summer away from the limelight and Cass, a small town girl whose town turns into a tourist trap during the summer. Birdie and Cass used to be friends when they were younger, but Birdie, for reasons unknown to Cass, just stopped showing up for the summer. Cass is tasked with "babysitting" Birdie for this summer, and as the saying goes, old habits die hard. Cass and Birdie spend the summer trying to figure out how they fit together after years of hostility. I gave this book 4.5 stars and absolutely recommend reading it once it's released in May.

Thnaks to Netgalley and the author for the arc!!

Saddly i could not go thru this book, i think its a sweet story, might be not the right time for me and i would totally try again in the future!!

I’m not sure why exactly, but I find YA romance so purely escapist. Summer Girls was all that I hoped—a half-real, half-dreamt summery slice of pure queer teen escapism. These kids think they’re so slick but really they wear their feelings on their sleeves. Their love is big, their drama bigger, and everything all together is real and ridiculous and painful and sweet. And if I can’t help the feeling that the whole thing was a bit undercooked, somehow—well, it would be entirely dishonest to pretend that I actually cared.

Summer Girls is a fun read with a lot of conflict resolution! While it's an enjoyable read with some good humor, it's not a completely light summer romance. Instead it's structured a little differently than most YA romances in that the third act break-up occurs early on. Birdie and Cass then have a lot of self-discovery to do in the meantime. Their personal growth and relationships were the star of the show for me! Birdie especially has a good coming of age arc. I wouldn't have minded spending more time on the romance itself once they got together, but I loved the exploration of their friendships and family dynamics.

Dugan tackles some mature topics (like affordable housing, class differences, coming out, and social media use) in a way that is very approachable for younger teens. I can see this as a great choice for most students 7th grade and up who are diving into romance.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and character-driven read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am not sure why but this book did not work for me. However, as I always say when I don't like a book, just because I did not like the book, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. It also doesn't necessarily mean that I may not like another book by the same author. Or even that I may not like the book if I try it again in the future...

thank you netgalley for granting me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

summer girls by jennifer dugan totally hit me in the feels. it’s one of those books that sneaks up on you—like, you think it's just gonna be a cute summer romance, but then suddenly you're thinking about your own friendships and how messy and complicated growing up can be. the story follows two girls, birdie and cass, who were childhood friends but didn't really became close as one would hope.

what i really loved was how real everything felt. like, the characters don’t have it all together, and they say the wrong things, and make dumb choices—just like actual people. there’s this rawness in the way dugan writes about love and queerness and forgiveness that just makes you wanna hug the book and scream "same"???!!?

additionally, they’re both figuring stuff out and making mistakes along the way, and it reminded me of how hard it is to grow and change while also holding onto the people you care about. their friendship-turned-maybe-something-more is messy but honest, and i think a lot of people will see bits of themselves in both of them.

also, the summer setting made everything feel even more intense—like the kind of summer where everything shifts and nothing stays the same. the beach town vibes? perfect. i could literally feel the sand in my shoes and the weight of unresolved feelings in the air. it made me wish i had my own summer story (minus the drama maybe).

if you're into stories that are about love, identity, and trying to fix what’s been broken, this book’s for you. it’s not just a romance, it’s about healing and finding your voice again. summer girls made me think about how sometimes the people we push away are the ones we need the most—and that maybe, just maybe, it’s worth the risk to let them back in.

This book just wasn’t for me. It was well written, I just was left wanting more from the story and characters.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!!

I absolutely loved this!! Cass and Birdie are adorable together. I was so invested in the growth Birdie’s character experienced and I was beyond pleased when she finally stood up to her horrible mother!!

I can’t wait to read more from this author!!

I was nervous when first jumping into the book about the “modernness” of this book in regard to the influencer aspect of Birdie. I typically dislike books that have really specific things of modern society because it takes me out of the book and I often find it cringey. However I didn’t find this to be a problem for me with this book. I think this is because the play out of an “influencer in action” was not overdone and it was more the other things of being an influencer that was highlighted for Birdie.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the development of Birdie and Cass’s relationship, by far my favorite aspect of this book was Birdies character development. Watching her figure out what was important to her and not just what her mom wants her to do and fighting for those things was so encouraging. I found myself rooting for Birdie the entire time and was honestly proud of her at the end.

Another relationship I really enjoyed was Birdie’s friendship with Ada (this is my official request for a book about Ada). There were so many aspects and struggles in that friendship that I found relatable and I loved to seeing how they grew.

While the title made me think of that LFO song every time, this book is somehow better than that banger! Somehow this book is a redemption arc and enemies to lovers story at the same time. I cried and swooned many times while reading this. I never wanted to put it down! The summer sapphic vibes are amazing and I love the bisexual representation as well as showing how often coming out of the closet really has to happen for people.
Just amazing!

Very sweet YA book. It was a quick summery read. Nothing ground breaking but very atmospheric. I am not sure if this author writes adult novels, but if so I would be interested to read! If not, I can't see myself reaching for another Jennifer Dugan novel over all the other options out there right now.

Such a cutie story for the summer! I have loved Dugan’s YA romances because while they are so sweet and swoony, they always tackle bigger themes and foster important conversations.

I really appreciated how in Summer Girls, Dugan spends a significant amount of time discussing how toxic social media has become and how it can negatively impact our mental and emotional health and how that can creep into our relationships as well. I hope that readers will not only see this book as a fun escape and sweet romance, but will cling to the reminder to put down their phones, disconnect, stop living for ‘likes’ and be their authentic selves.

Birdie and Cass were from different worlds and I appreciated how both girls went on a journey of discovery and broadened their outlooks and how they could use their voice and privilege to make positive impacts in their communities. I was very much not on Team Birdie in the beginning as she was very much a spoiled, entitled rich girl, but as the story unfolded, my heart ached for how she was used by everyone around her, including her mom (UGH!!), to increase their own followings, brand deals, or ‘likability.’ I was so proud of Birdie by the end of the story for using her platform for social and economic justice.

DNFed at 62%. I don’t really know what to say about this book. The premise sounded really good and the cover was so cute! Unfortunately, it ended up just disappointing me.

Birdie is a rich influencer with a mom who vlogs constantly and a dad in real estate. Cass, on the other hand, comes from a working-class family living in a coastal town that is slowly becoming more expensive, due in part to Birdie’s dad’s influence.

First off, I really didn’t feel any chemistry between the main characters. Each of them just seemed one-dimensional and their relationship evolution just felt very insta-lovey. It seemed to take them all of 20 pages to go from disliking each other to kissing to dating. I kept getting further into the book thinking “Okay, so when does the attraction start building?” and a second later they got together.

Speaking of one-dimensional, Birdie’s mom was the pinnacle of that. It was hard to take her seriously at all because the only thing she cared about was vlogging, keeping views up, and making money. At least Birdie’s dad seemed more fleshed out, so that’s something.

I also didn’t really care for the CONSTANT talks and thoughts of class differences between Birdie and Cass. I understand it’s an important element of their dynamic, and I understand it needing to be brought up occasionally, but it was so constant that it just became annoying and pointless because the same thoughts would be repeated over and over again and it just became white noise. Like I can totally understand why Cass was frustrated with Birdie, but Cass also just became obnoxious and seemed to play the victim no matter the circumstance. For example, making it some big deal that she’s a scholarship kid when she goes to MIT in the fall. First of all, as a college student myself, literally no one gives a crap if you’re a scholarship kid. No one. In fact, people will probably envy you for not having to pay thousands for school. It was also strange that she’s going to MIT to study business, like, girl, go to a state school. It’s just such a dumb cliche that every main character HAS to go to some prestigious college.

Yeah, overall, not the book for me. I think I’m getting too old for these books. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute beach town romance with an opposites attract Sapphic couple.

Rich influencer girl Birdie get sent to the summer house as "punishment" and oh, no, she has to get a job and have someone watch out for her in order to earn her trust fund. Local lifeguard Cass spends her time earning money and helping out her dad's Coalition that's determined to help people not lose their homes to people like Birdie's dad.

Through the majority, I was definitely more empathetic with Cass's situation than with Birdie's. The last 20% changed it for me, though. Cass regressed multiple times and Birdie continued to grow. It felt like the third act had more to do with Cass's internal struggles than it did with Birdie doing anything specifically wrong, but Birdie was expected to apologize and do better. And then there's Birdie's dad. He's made out to be like some kind of "rich nice guy" but he gives off slimy businessman vibes, especially towards the end. He's imperfect, for sure, but it's written like that's just who he is and he's not expected to change, and I just did not vibe with that.

On the positive side, I loved Cass's friends. I really enjoyed Cass and Birdie in the first half of the book. The lifeguard incident was so well done in the way that it started to shake Birdie's world view. And that continued in the work she started doing with the Coalition. I definitely liked Birdie's growth towards the end. I feel like Jennifer Dugan has yet to put out a bad book and definitely recommend for fans of YA Sapphic romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.