This was one of my most anticipated reads and it did not disappoint. I wont lie I had the idea of this book up on a pedestal in my brain, who wouldn't when they hear BISEXUAL GREASE?

That being said I did have some dislikes. The first half of this book was slow. I can't put my finger on exactly what was not gelling for me initially but it kept losing my attention. Lara's best friend was CRINGE, yes she owned up to all her faults in the end but I was not a fan. Last the whole push and pull could have been avoided with one conversation.

NOW FOR THE GOOD! I enjoyed the alternating time frame a lot. Lara and Jasmine made for a great couple and you could actually see why they liked each other. With Chase and Lara I never understood what they liked about each other. Speaking of Lara I loved the way her sexuality was handled. Sexuality is not a one size fits all and no one is obligated to a label. One of the things Lara said in the book is wouldn't she have known sooner? She hangs out with pretty girls and never liked them? This book validates coming into your sexuality later in life and I think that is important.

All in all this book is a fun queer summer read! 3.75 stars rounding up for netgalley.

Honestly just crying at how cute this was and how much the struggle to find a label that fits is.

Lara is back from a summer at the Outer Banks and she's determined to make this year hers. All things are going right when her long time crush, Chase, finally notices her. But then Lara finds out Jasmine, the girl she had a summer fling with, is also at school. Lara doesn't know what to feel and where her feelings truly lie.

A note on the Jewish rep first because I feel like Jewish characters don't get enough attention in gentile reviewers. This is from the author's review, both Lara and Jasmine are Jewish: Lara is Ashkenazi (Russian) and Jasmine is Sephardi (Syrian).

This book gave me all the feels. Between the is it only her, could I be queer etc that comes with questioning, I felt seen. Told in two timelines: flashbacks to the summer and now with Lara & Jasmine at school together. I loved seeing how events unfolded. Also Jasmine has my whole heart, I love her so much.

Also there were so many freaking cute ass scenes while Lara is at work at the bookshop/being a barista and like MY HEART. I am just a giant swoon. This book just worked so much for me, I truly loved it.
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This was a delight! I've loved Dahlia's books for years, so I was thrilled to find out she finally had another book coming out, and YA at that! It can be hard to find books with multi-gender attracted main characters that are done well, and this title will be getting added to my list. I really enjoyed reading about our MC's struggle to understand and explore her sexuality as she fell in love and fell out of a crush. The jump back and forth between present day and the past summer was compelling, and I enjoyed the way it weaved together as the book drew to a close. Such a sweet romance, and seeing it develop over the course of their summer together, and then how the two girls had to learn to cope with each other and redefine their relationship in the context of high school social circles was painful, awkward, yet completely realistic.

received an eARC of this book from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, a bi MC, senior year of high school, a love triangle, all of that sounded wonderful and like it would be to my taste. I, unfortunately, did not love this book.

I hated the friend group in this book so so much. Shannon sounded like an awful friend and reminded me a lot of the toxic friends that I’ve dropped once I realized they were awful. The description of Shannon as a gaslighting gold medalist as if that was a normal thing to say about your best friend and a totally fine trait for your closest friend to have bothered me a lot. Gia was barely in the book enough for me to form an opinion but the little she was there was enough for me to actively dislike her. Larissa, Chase, and Jasmine were all bland and felt very two-dimensional, and the entire conflict of the book could have been solved had Jasmine and Larissa just had a conversation at the beginning of the book.

I’m 20, I’m two years out of high school, I should not have found the 17/18-year-old characters absolutely frustrating and unable to be related to. I found myself desperate to finish this book because I was enjoying it so little, and struggling to finish it because it was filled with lines that made me close the file and walk away because I could not believe that the writing was that bad.

There were many times I questioned when the last time the author talked to a teenager was because I couldn’t find myself believing that a teenager would say things like that seeing as my friend group/peers are teenager, and I’m just barely not a teenager myself.

3.5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I follow Dahlia Adler on Twitter, but haven’t had the opportunity to read one of her books until now. Cool for the Summer seemed right up my alley: fun, queer summer romance with hints of Grease, and the title referencing Demi Lovato’s song about exploration with one’s sexuality? Yes, please!

Lara is a pretty good protagonist, and she was easy to empathize with. Who wouldn’t be excited that their crush noticed them? Yet, I really liked the realization that Jasmine had made an impact on her. While I did wish there had been more buildup to Chase noticing Lara, this is actually one of the better written love triangle stories, where I feel like both love interests are viable partners, even if I knew Lara felt more for Jasmine. One of the biggest failings in many love triangle books is developing one love interest to the point it’s so obvious that one’s the favorite, so the other is the afterthought.

I’ve seen some other comments in reviews talking about the inclusion of diversity in this book being not-so-great. I do agree that the execution of some of the indicators, like “my non-binary friend,” did feel a little clunky, but I applaud Adler for trying and hope this is something that can be cleaned up before the final edition. Characters from various underrepresented groups existing on the page are by no means the author filling out a “diversity checklist,” but more likely the author being aware of how diverse groups of friends can be from her own experience.

My main issue with the book stems from the timeline and presentation. The book is told out of sequence in “Then” and “Now,” and typically it is pretty good at telling you where you are, with some chapters or parts of chapters being set in one or the other. But then, there’s weird ones where there’s no indicator, so I’d assume it’s the same time as the last section in the previous chapter. But to make things more confusing, some consecutive chapters both start with “Now,” with no “Then” breaking it up. It would have been nice for there to be more consistency. It wasn’t impossible to follow without it, but it did have me scratching my head. I also was really annoyed by the fact that verb tenses didn’t change…if that was then, why are you still narrating in present tense?!

I did enjoy this book, in spite of the issues I had with it. This book is charming and fun, and I think anyone looking for a sweet queer YA contemporary will like this.

Full review to be posted soonish.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book a whole heck of a lot. The MC, Lara, was incredibly likeable, the writing was engaging and the character growth was top notch. In this teenage love triangle, it was obvious to me from the beginning who Lara would end up with, but it was still a fun journey to go on. I also loved the flashback scenes to the previous summer and the catalyst it provided to Lara's growth as the school year progressed.

Cool for the Summer is a great book that explores many great concepts in discovering sexuality, love, and friendship. I enjoy multiple timelines and amazing characters. I love books of self discovering and I wished there were books like this growing up. I know my students will enjoy reading something relatable and I can’t wait to purchase a physical copy. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to receive an early copy.

Do you ever just not want a book to end? This was that book. It was fast but so jam packed. I will say I’m a middle school teacher and there are a few graphic scenes so I wouldn’t necessarily talk this book up to them, but I have many high school students who still take book recs from me and this is right up their allies! Larissa had a summer that brought out the best her. I love that the narrative flips back and forth between the summer and the present school year. I love that she’s honestly just trying to figure herself out. I love that she writes. I love that she reads. Adler is excellent at crafting likable (yet sometimes stupid! But we all are!) characters. They’re flawed, real, and relatable. Loved this story!!

Lara returns to high school after a summer break away in the Outer Banks to her dream-come-true: Chase Harding is noticing her. She’s had a crush on him forever, and though he’s always been friendly and kind (one of the qualities she most admires about Chase), he’s never really noticed her before.

She’s thrilled. Really. She and her three best friends giggle and scheme, reveling in one of their own getting her wish.

But then Jasmine walks into her school, and Lara is taken back to summer and to the friendship—and maybe more?—she had with Jasmine.

It’s a great, compelling setup, but nevertheless, I was a little bit worried that I wouldn’t love this one. I wasn’t sure I could empathize with Lara or dig into the love triangle. But Adler masterfully shifts back and forth, unveiling both the story of Lara and Jasmine’s summer AND the journey through Lara’s year at school when she tries to navigate what happens when your dream isn’t so dreamy anymore.

I thought these characters were compellingly flawed, and I genuinely liked the complexities of Lara’s friends, of Chase, and, of course, of Jasmine. Lara’s working through of her identity is all-too-believable, and I appreciated that Adler didn’t provide easy answers to who Lara should be. Dahlia Adler’s Cool for the Summer is a strong, thoughtful YA romance that breaks the mold of anything I’ve read lately.

Are you looking for a super cute book with some bisexual vibes? Look no further! Cool for the Summer felt almost like a Sophie Gonzalez mash up (the Grease inspired "Only Mostly Devastated" mixed with the bi angst in Perfect on Paper), but with a fresh twist and some very spicy flashbacks to a summer in the Outer Banks (which I had to look up -- turns out it's some islands off NC???).

What I like most about this book is that it refuses to throw any character under the bus for the sake of the story -- and doesn't give the protagonist, Lara, an easy choice between one awful dude and one stunning girl. Instead, all the characters are fully fleshed out, likeable people, and the feelings that Lara experiences are more about her own exploration than picking between the best person in the room.

There is subtle Jewish rep, both Sephardic and Ashkenazi, which I adored, and it made me want to promptly eat all the food at the Mediterranean Exploration Company in Portland (shout out!). I wish that we had been able to spend more time with Lara's friends, who seemed to each have exactly one personality trait, and who didn't seem like the type of people that would stick together once college started.

Overall, I think readers are going to fall in love with this book, and I'm so excited by the number of YA books with bi protags that have been released in the last few years -- if only they had been around when I was a teenager! Thanks to NetGalley for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

I didn’t know this was Grease-inspired when I read it, and I’m only seeing that in other reviews. I mean, it starts with a summer romance, but it feels like a reach, and I’m glad I didn’t see that parallel before I started reading this.

I loved Jasmine; she was such a surprise. I read a lot of books that portray the rich girl as snobbish and rude, and that wasn’t Jasmine at all. I loved watching her and Lara get to know each other, and get to know themselves over the summer. If there was anything I didn’t love or understand, it was Lara’s friendship with Shannon. Shannon pretty much treated Lara like a doormat and always made fun at her expense, and Lara just put up with it.

This is one of those books you pick up and don’t want to put down because the characters and storyline are super cute and addicting, and you really want things to work out for them. I loved the inclusivity; there is a character for everyone to identify with. Lara and Jasmine were both trying to find where they fit in the world. Cool for the Summer is a book I would have read when I was younger, and I’m glad to have read it now. Thank you, St. Martin's, for sending this along!

4.5 / 5 stars

Larissa, aka Lara, has only had eyes for one person throughout her high school years: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, hot, and the football star, but he's also sweet. And suddenly, he's talking to her. Maybe even flirting? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the beginning of Lara's dream come true life. Except she's haunted by a memory. The memory of a confusing, romantic, and strangely perfect summer that she spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes more confusing and disorienting when Jasmine walks through the front doors of the school where Lara and Chase are chatting in front of the lockers. Lara's got everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she really has everything she ever wanted, why can't she stop thinking about the girl? Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It's about the things we want and the things we need. And, most importantly, it's about the people who will let us be who we really are.

Ever since I first heard about Cool for the Summer, I knew I had to read it. From the gorgeous, illustrated cover that highlights Lara's dual obsessions with Chase and Jasmine to the fact that it's the latest book from the founder of LGBTQ Reads, it became one of—if not the—most anticipated book of the year. And for me, it definitely lived up to my expectations for a cute, romantic, summery rom-com with a Bi+ love triangle, though through it all, I was definitely rooting for one of the love interests over the other. Beyond Lara and Jasmine, there are several other queer, gender diverse, and BIPOC characters in lead and secondary roles, and of course, it has own voices Bi+ and Jewish rep.

Told in dual timelines of "Now" and "Then," Adler utilizes foreshadowing perfectly in the sections of the current school year to give subtle hints about what Lara, a cultural Jewish teen of Russian descent, remembers happening between her and Jasmine over the past summer. It is a the way that Lara denies thinking about Jasmine, a Jewish teen of Syrian descent, in the present that proves that her female love interest is always on her mind. Moreover, the way she subtly remembers the sexual relationship she had with Jasmine will keep many people reading long into the night until they finally see how their summer together all played out.

But the present day timeline isn't restricted to the way Lara feels about Jasmine. In fact, a great deal of it speaks to the growing relationship between Lara and Chase as well as Lara's relationship with the girls in her friend group—Shannon, Gia, and Kiki—after they spent the entire summer apart. Lara's friends have only ever known her to be obsessing over Chase, so when he finally starts showing Lara attention, they expect that it really would be her dream come true. They initially only recognize the surface level changes she's made to her hair, but Chase recognizes that Lara is no longer in Shannon's shadow, that she has a new found confidence, which changes the way he sees her.

Yet, I, personally, didn't enjoy Lara's interactions with Chase in the first few chapters. Although Lara had had a crush on him for years, it really seemed like she didn't know him at all and that her main interest in him was for superficial reasons. While I think that this is often the case of many cis heteronormative relationships, where straight and Bi+ teen girls are typically interested in guys without knowing who they really are, it wasn't until further into the book that I understood why Lara had obsessed over him for years. Chase is so much more than the typical misogynistic jock; he's a fully fleshed out, three-dimensional character with a personality that is sweet, kind, and sex positive.

Even though Chase is a worthy love interest, I never rooted him and Lara to be the endgame romance. While he is a great guy, he is more the guy of Lara's dreams than the person who really has her confused heart. She cares for Jasmine, but their lack of communication about what their secret summer together actually meant leaves Lara feeling like she doesn't feel like she has any right to expect a relationship with her. Moreover, before Jasmine, she'd never had feelings for any other girl, which makes her feel that her experience doesn't align with the "born this way" discourse favoured by a lot of people in the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Through Lara's confusion about her sexuality, Adler demonstrates something that will be very relatable to many bisexual, pansexual, and other sexually fluid people because even if there are some characters in the book who have always known that they are attracted to more than one gender, it's just not the case for everyone. Certainly not for Lara. And therefore, it's sure to make many Bi+ people feel seen in a way that they haven't experienced before.

Cool for the Summer is sure to make many Bi+ people and those who are questioning their sexuality feel really seen even as it is an entertaining, romantic, and sex positive book.

Buy Cool for the Summer for a great price!

This book is officially my favorite LGBTQ YA book! I fell in love with protagonists Larissa and Jasmine: Larissa's mom works for Jasmine's dad and both girls end up spending a summer together. Things happen, they get to know each other, they experiment, and then it's time to resume their respective lives and go back to high school. Larissa has been crushing on QB Chase Harding. Turns out that Chase is showing interest back, like whouaww.. But the excitement is short-lived when Larissa catches glance of Jasmine at her school and this causes Larissa to questions herself; what are those feelings she is feeling? Why is Jasmine avoiding her? Was their summer meaningless to her? A fun love triangle that I fully enjoyed following. I was rather impressed by the maturity of the reflections and conversation among teenagers and teenagers with their parents. the lack of labeling, and the not obnoxious sex scenes. There was just one sex scene and it was steaming hot, and the scene made so much sense. A very smart book without LGBTQ stereotypes, what a joy!

Thank you Net Galley and Wednesday Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/ Wednesday Books for giving me this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great story for those in their teen years and coming of age. This is a story about Lara and how just one summer changed her whole life. The time line follows and then and now, which can sometimes be confusing but this was so well written that I appreciated some of the back story. Lara finds herself over one summer. she gains confidence and learns who she is and what she wants. She's spent most of her young life following the "leader" of her group and pining for the same boy since she was a child. Over the summer she spent it away from home where she made new friends and a new love interest. Once school starts again and she gets the guy she finds that that's not who she wants anymore and she starts to feel a little disconnected from her core friends group at school.
I also liked the love triangle and how you could see how Lara was conflicted about the boy she had always loved and the new and blooming feelings she had for a girl.

So, I did like this book and why I gave it a three rating is just because how things started with Chase. Knowing Lara had always held a candle to him and then all of a sudden he is interested in her when you get the feeling that he had never gave her the time of day before. I also had a hard time with the Lara/Jasmine story when Jasmine just shows up to her school. I just feel like Jasmine would have had a conversation with Lara before hand and clear up a lot of the misunderstandings the two had throughout the book. I mean I guess that would change the dynamic of the story but it didn't read as natural or realistic.

All in all this is a great teen summer read. It's not heavy and is perfect to read if you need a light story in your life.

Cool for the Summer is a cute YA summery romance that centres around Lara. Lara is torn between the guy she has had a crush on for years and a girl she met over the summer. We follow Lara as she navigates her sexuality, learns to love herself and be true to herself.

This story is told between past and present timelines, which I absolutely love in books. There is something about timelines that flip between two timeframes that have me so captivated and make me not want to put the book down. Cool for the Summer was exactly like this because I could not stop reading this book, I just had to know what happened next.

I’ve had this book recommended to me a number of times recently and I’m so glad I gave this book a go. It has such an important message about self-discovery and learning about your identity. It shows readers that not everyone instantly knows what their identity or sexuality is when they are younger. Due to the message this book gives I feel it will certainly impact a lot of readers.
Lara is such a wonderful main character. She is sarcastic, witty and just down-right hilarious. I can see so many people relating to Lara for a number of reasons. I want more books with Lara please! The secondary characters in this book are also excellent. Jasmine and Chase are both great characters. They are very different from each other but each of them have a little piece of my heart now. I wanted the best for both of them and I was rooting for them both the entire time. All the characters in this book are greatly developed and well-rounded!

I have to say, I loved how short this book was. It meant I could read it in just a couple of sittings and the story moved along very quickly. I enjoyed the writing style of this book as it lends itself to being fast-paced. Dahlia Adler writes with a sense of humour that is easy to connect to. I throughly enjoyed reading this book through Lara’s eyes with the amount of sarcasm she has and just watching her learn about herself and grown into her own skin!

Cool for the Summer is the perfect summer contemporary YA that would make the perfect coming of age film. It is quick to read, funny and extremely adorable! This book is wonderful and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an excerpt in exchange of my honest review.

This book follows Larissa who over the summer unexpectedly falls for a girl named Jasmine while away for summer vacation. She comes back to school and sees her longtime crush, one everyone knows about, Chase who inadvertently notices her and starts flirting back. The story itself makes it a cute one, especially for the YA genre. The only things that fall flat is the romantic interests. We are taken back and forth inbetween now with her and Chase and then with her and Jasmine. With Chase, it was clear that he wasn't interested in her before she changed her style and the entire relationship you could just tell it wasn't going to last long. I for one am surprised it lasted until almost the end of the book. With Jasmine, there is slightly more chemistry but with how the characterizations are done—or more like how little characterization there is with them, it makes it hard to root for one relationship over the other, makes it hard to root for one person over the other.

One thing I do think that could've been very interesting to have delved more into was the topic of compulsory heterosexuality. Even though the main character, Larissa is bisexual, there is still a internal conflict that is happening when she is with Chase. She tries to convince herself she's straight, she still likes men so what could this thing with Jasmine mean? She asks how two of her friends got together (both characters bisexual) but they always known so to Larissa her brain was like well...I don't have that experience so I'm obviously straight! For this exploration it's very brief but I do think in terms of characterization it could've been so much more interesting and had more depth!

Along with the friends Larissa had in the book, there's only one I can really get why they were friends but the other two I simply couldn't get it. In the same hand, those same friends gets one handed statements of what that friend is into or like and they keep that same characterization throughout the entire book. It's like one of those fanfictions where the fanbase for some reason declares (character) is into..I don't know like 80's music and that's just their entire character now. With one character you see a mention of her doing a podcast about mysteries and...that's the only thing you know about that character. With another character, both friends of Larissa, she only talks about her boyfriend and that's it. If the friends weren't in the book that much where those one sentence character statements is all you need, it wouldn't be that bad but they are intertwined with the book just as much as the romance was.

The book wasn't necessarily a bad book nor one I would stray away from recommending if one was looking for a cute YA romance novel but in the same hand, the characterization of essentially everyone was the biggest thing this book was missing.

I thought this was a really cute book, but it was a little on the younger YA side for me. It was a bit cheesy and predictable, but it kept me interested. I liked the characters in this book, and I thought the love triangle worked out well. I loved seeing Lara discover her sexuality and getting to date her long time crush. I think this book is great for teenagers who are starting to discover themselves and learning about their sexuality. I think this book would be a great beach read. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good YA read.

A very fun summer-y read that explores the expectations you have of yourself, and the ones you have of others.

This book had a lot of great examples of dealing with people's expectations of you as well. There was some miscommunication, some withholding of feelings, all that messy stuff, but it left me feeling really good and wholesome. It also is a great example of showing safe sex practices for teens without being weirdly graphic, which... too many authors have a hard time finding that balance, so this was a relief.

This was a delight to read, as much as it was a light read - would definitely recommend it for anyone's beach TBR because it made me want to be out sunning by a pool.

The story is told in a past and present narrative which was a really great representation of how the characters had grown into the present timeline. In the story we follow Lara, a high school senior as she tries to figure out life and what she wants out of it. The summer ends and Lara is ecstatic her crush,Chase is noticing her. At least at first but then Lara can't seem to get Jasmine and all the time they spent together in the summer off her mind. Jasmine then unexpectedly switches to Lara's school and Lara tried to navigate through all her feelings of wanting to be happy with her friends and the boy of her dreams, but she just can't forget Jasmine.

I really enjoyed this book and the idea behind self discovery. I think it was a great YA read for youth that are confused and questioning their own identity and trying to figure out their sexuality. Overall this book was an inspirational, hopeful, heartwarming, cute read.