Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC!!

This coming-of-age book thoroughly delves into the challenges of growing up as a queer individual. It also highlights the beauty of discovering and being a part of a supportive community. This was such a beautiful and touching story about navigating your first serious relationship while simultaneously exploring your identity. It was also great to see Hannah's relationship with her family as she struggled to build a new life while also feeling pushed and pulled by her grandmother, sister, and mother.

This coming-of-age book really explores the hardships of growing up queer, but the beauty of finding community. So much happens in such a short time, that I almost had whiplash, but it all felt realistic to their situation. This was darker than I expected because it was so incredibly raw, but I appreciated the honesty of it.

This was a deeply moving, heartbreakingly relatable story for many female readers who have struggled to place themselves in the world. Hannah is experiencing the life alternating notions of finding her identity; struggling with acceptance around her sexual orientation, pushing back on her religious views and feeling trapped in the box society has put her in, while trying to not end up like her mother. Hannah leaves home with her closest friend, leading to codependency and hard circumstances that ultimately force her to leave, finding her own path while dealing with life alternating news.
This story was so well written, emotional impactful from the start and garners the readers attention from the start. This story walks the reader along the characters journey of love, acceptance, finding their true identity and finding a found family that allows true acceptance as you are.

I think this was a well written book and had characters that had a lot to explore but for some reason I could not get into it. I found that it was hard to get into the story which caused me to not enjoy it as much as I wished I did because I do think it has a lot of potential and reasons to love it

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC!

What a sweet book! It read a bit YA for me, but a wonderful queer coming of age story. Themes of grief, identity, complex relationships, and queerness stuck out to me. It makes sense that this is a debut novel.

I wish we would’ve seen more of the unraveling of Sam and Hannah’s relationship and gotten more clarity but I do feel like at their age it made sense with their lack of emotional maturity.

I really enjoyed the plot and would love a sequel where we follow Hannah’s new life of acceptance and self discovery! The characters were all very compelling and mostly well developed.

I definitely recommend this as a quick lovely lesbian read!

(4.5/5) This is what a book should be. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of reading this and did think about it every moment that I had to put it down to do work. It was a heartbreaking tale and incredibly well done. The writing was well done and didn't detract from the story. The plotline was amazing, and I didn't feel like it was predictable or cliche in any sense. This book took me through so many ups and downs; truly an experience. My only wish was that more of the (what I assume was) Yiddish was translated so the average reader could understand instead of struggling to piece together context clues. However, this was a very interesting take on the intersection of being queer and Jewish which I loved reading about. Would highly recommend.

I honestly have no memory of reading this, it just wasn't for me since it didn't really stick out. I requested it because I absolutely adore the cover, but that's really all I can say about it.

A beautiful coming of age story that deals with difficult themes in ways that feel empowering for character development without judgement. I loved the story and was in a similar place of understanding faith after the loss of my grandmother, and this was exactly what I needed.

𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮? 𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮, 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓬𝓱 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓲𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮. 𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓘 𝓪𝓶. 𝓘’𝓶 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮.'

"𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓼𝓸 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱, 𝓘 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓾𝓹 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵"

This was soooo good!? What? I'm really getting spoiled so early in the year with such great arcs to read!

Set in 1990s San Francisco, we follow Hannah, our FMC, a queer Jewish teenager grappling with first love, family secrets, and the burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality. At only eighteen, she doesn't fully know who she is or what she wants and seeing her growth as she goes through the good and bad of self-exploration was moving.

I have this bad habit of skimming over the blurbs of arcs and it's like key words stick out to me and I forget the rest lol. I'm not sure if the synopsis to this story even hinted at the emotional rollercoaster it was going to take me on, but I'm so glad I picked this one up and I'm blown away again by another debut novel this year.

This story tackles so many different things. Being Jewish, being gay in the 90s, not being able to talk about being queer or thinking you have more than platonic feelings for your close friend. Starting a relationship and having all of these emotions and not knowing what to do with them.

It dives deeply into first love, into family issues, grief, death, life lessons - at times some pretty questionable things happen, and it gets a little dark.

This is a poignant coming-of-age story that beautifully captures the complexities of young love, friendship, and identity.

Shoshana's prose is lyrical and poetic but it's also so raw and unfiltered. The descriptions of San Francisco and New York are so descriptive and vivid that it was so easy to transport myself there and the nostalgia that just popped off the page.

I'm such a 90s girl... I was not the age of these girls during that time, but I love being transported back. The dialogue is sharp and authentic, capturing the awkwardness and intensity of teenage relationships with remarkable honesty.

What an emotional ride, there's really so much packed within these pages. Epic emotional highs and lows - this is one that will stay with me for a long time. I honestly can't recommend it enough.

💖Sapphic Romance
🍭Coming of Age
💖1990's Era
🍭New York to San Francisco Setting
💖Self Discovery
🍭Family Struggles
💖Nostalgia
🍭Lyrical Prose

Expected Release Date 06/17/25

Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the complementary advanced digital copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 🌈💐

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All I can say is wow. This book hit home for me! This book exceeded all my expectations.
Shoshana von Blanckensee's "Girls Girls Girls" is a poignant coming-of-age story that was a beautiful and touching story. It captures the complexities of young love, friendship, and identity. I enjoyed reading about our main character Hannah (queer Jewish teenager) who is exploring her lesbianism, family secrets, first true love, and Judaism. Shoshana von Blanckensee did an excellent job at setting the scene. It felt real and I cannot say enough about it! A huge thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC.

Girls Girls Girls blew me away. What an incredible debut.

From the first few pages I knew I was in for a treat. von Blackensee is a spectacular writer - lyrical without being flowery, concise without compromising on detail.

And then the story itself absorbed me completely. I want to tear up when I think about Hannah; I rarely say characters feel like friends (they're characters), but Hannah feels like a friend.

The blurb describes this as Emma Cline's The Guest meets Haley Jakobson's Old Enough. I have to say I don't really get the Cline reference (maybe the perpetually observant state of finding oneself in an unfamiliar world? if that's the case, I'd have compared it to Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu) but the Jakobson one felt spot on. Girls Girls Girls is tender and heartrending - a character-driven story that's genuinely riveting.

I work at a bookstore in San Francisco, where the story takes place, and stocking this book will be a no-brainer for us. I can't wait to rave about it. This is my favorite book of 2025 so far.

“for all the ways we lose each other, for all the ways we get lost.”

This book was so beautiful. It managed to be so many things at the same time.

It felt like my first time watching The L Word mixed with 90s nostalgia, complex family dynamics, and a deep dive into the vastness of grief.

This felt like a story that so many people could relate to; closeted kids in a small town, anyone who has a complicated relationship with their parents, anyone who has dealt with the grief of losing a beloved family member.

I also really enjoyed how the author tackled difficult issues like drug use and abuse, sex work, and the stigma surrounding those issues.

“We walked to the water and let it rush over our feet. It’s freezing but I don’t flinch. I like the icy bite of it. I want to walk in deeper, let it pummel the heartache from me.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC!

This was an amazing bildungsroman! The exposition part in the begging was a tad bit too long but once we got into the story I could not put this down. The characters are interesting even though the book is very “no plot just vibes” so they keep you reading. I appreciate the lesbian with a disapproving mom representation. I wish the book had a little bit more plot but I also understand that this is where the author wanted to take the story. I liked how the book didn’t shy away from using lesbian terminology. Overall I would recommend this if you like stories about lesbians realizing they’re lesbians and trying to decide what to do with their life now that they know they’re lesbians.

This will be a contender for one of the best books I read this year for sure. The writing is vivid and lyrical, especially in the nostalgic '90s setting. It’s edgier than typical teen books, with a tone that recalls the WLW stories I loved growing up. The Jewish family dynamic adds warmth, balancing out the intense moments.

The language, true to its time, might be jarring for some, but it feels essential to the story. Watching the main character, Hannah, make mistakes is tough but immersive. This book pulls you in emotionally and doesn’t let go. 5 stars—if you love this genre, don’t miss it.

"I want to belong so much, I end up not belonging at all"

I was not expecting the emotional rollercoaster this book brought me! This coming of age story shows the ups and downs of Hannah, suffocated in her childhood town and fleeing across the country with her first love. For a debut novel, it does a fantastic job of putting the viewers in the shoes of Hannah. We get to see a well-rounded portrayal of everything that makes her, her. Which isn't always pretty. She falls head over heels in love with the first girl she's ever crushed on, and allows herself to get swept up in the fantasy of living somewhere she can be authentically herself for the first time. She burns down bridges with loved ones in doing so and lets her girlfriend Sam take the reins of her life. All is well in her eyes, until slowly everything starts falling apart one by one and she struggles to put the pieces back together again.

This book is incredibly moving and shows how identity is so integral to a young girl living in a place where she is forced at every corner to be who she is not. Pacing was smooth and fast and I found myself bingeing most of it at once. My only issue with the novel was it's hesitancy to commit to some of the darker themes it touches on, like sex-work. It took me a little out of the story when everything was so clean-cut, but the raw vulnerability that shows up with Hannah and Bubbe's relationship definitely balances out the novel. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Shoshana von Blanckensee's "Girls Girls Girls" is a poignant coming-of-age story that beautifully captures the complexities of young love, friendship, and identity. Set in 1990s San Francisco, the novel follows Hannah, a queer Jewish teenager grappling with first love, family secrets, and the burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality.

Von Blanckensee's prose is both lyrical and raw, effortlessly transporting readers back to a specific time and place. The vibrant descriptions of San Francisco, from the fog-shrouded streets to the vibrant queer scene, evoke a strong sense of nostalgia. The dialogue is sharp and authentic, capturing the awkwardness and intensity of teenage relationships with remarkable honesty.

I must say that it took a while for me to warm up to the novel, but I voraciously devoured the second half of the book. Especially because Hannah's close and unconditional relationship with her Bubbe resonated with me deeply.

"Girls Girls Girls" is a poignant and ultimately hopeful story about different kinds of love, finding your voice, embracing your true self, and forging your own path in the world.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

this was a pretty good book. It was a coming of age book about different cultures, and queer representation. I think it was a bit more of a YA book than i thought it would be. I think the themes were good and writing was also good, but again too YA fir me

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

What an incredible debut novel from Shoshana von Blanckensee. This book is set in the mid-nineties and follows Hannah as she moves from a small town in New York to San Francisco to explore her queer identity free from the limitations of her family. At only eighteen, she doesn't fully know who she is or what she wants, and seeing her growth as she goes through the good and bad of self-exploration was moving.

I especially loved Hannah's relationship with her dear Bubbe. Their bond was so special and grounded the story. I enjoyed this book a lot and would definitely recommend it. Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'Where is home? It’s nowhere, which means it could be anywhere. It’s wherever I am. I’m home.'

I loved this book. It's definitely right up my street, lesbian coming of age that follows Hannah who is Jewish as she runs away from Long Beach, NY to San Francisco to be with Sam, her childhood sweetheart.

They quickly run into issues with finding work or somewhere to live, so they start stripping and Hannah also begins working as an escort for Chris, an older butch lesbian.

I loved seeing how Hannah grappled with her queerness and Jewishness, and her relationships with her mom, bubbe, and sister, which felt like the true heart of the story.

Parts reminded me of Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rupi Thorpe in terms of examining how sex work can be a matter of survival while not shying away from the toll it can take on the person doing it.

I especially enjoyed seeing Hannah start to make more connections in the queer community and come out of her shell a bit more. It made me a bit sad to think of cities having become even more unaffordable for queer people and queer venues like lesbian bars dying out.

This is such a good book overall, a wonderful debut, and I definitely recommend it!

Hannah and Sam are best friends in Long Beach, New York. Unbeknownst to their families, they are also secret girlfriends. They have hatched a plan to move across country to San Francisco as soon as they graduate from high school. They hope in San Francisco they will be able to live openly, free from the judgment of Hannah’s religious mother. But it means leaving Hannah’s beloved grandmother behind.

The two go through with their plan, but they find that it is not so easy to live on their own. They struggle to make money, and end up making choices they never would have expected just a few months before. Soon, the pressure of making money and building a life starts to drive Hannah and Sam apart — and Hannah must confront what life in San Francisco would look like without her best friend and first love.

This is a touching and perceptive story about simultaneously exploring your identity at the same time you are navigating your first serious relationship. I also appreciated the depiction of the relationship between Hannah and family, as Hannah both tries to carve out a new life but feels the push and pull of her grandmother, sister, and mother. The book also captures well what a slice of queer life in San Francisco was like in the ‘90s.

Highly recommended.