An enjoyable F/F re-imagining of "Grease," with a wonderful through line of self-expression and self-confidence. As a bonus, the male love interest isn't villainized.

Super cute and fun! I liked it even more once I read Dahlia Adler comparing it to Taylor Swift's song betty and realized that this could be a great interpretation of the cardigan/august/betty trio that's properly queer and not just queer-baiting. Also, I loved how it had just the proper amount of angst and managed to side-step several YA romance and love triangle cliches. And sign me up for more Mizrachi love interests! The plot may have been a tad too much singularly-focused but overall I had a great time reading this.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 11, 2021

DRAMA! You can feel this LGBTQIA+ high school romance drama brewing and dripping off the pages right away! I was instantly entertained and invested. Really loved this one and think it will be a hit among teens and young adults...a great book I think many young people will identify with to help themselves or friends figure out who they are and what they want...or don’t want.

This has a very diverse cast of characters, almost to a fault. The characters are described in a way that it literally seems like they’re ticking off the boxes of a diversity checklist instead of letting it happen organically through the friendships and relationships in the book. That being said, I still love seeing the representation!

This book was absolutely everything and if it is no opted for a movie, I will riot. The love story of it all but also the ups and downs. As a North Carolinian, I was exceptionally proud of the OBX references and brief Asheville moment. Incredible.

Despite the fact that some parts of this story felt incredibly unbelievable, the feelings were spot on.
The "THEN" sections were amazing but I didn't find myself wanting to be in either timeline more than the other. I adored the characters and the end was glorious.

I loved this book! It's your typical summer romance but I love the different Demi Lovato references in here. I also loved how there is actual apologies in this book when a friend misses up rather them just reconnecting. Would read more from this author in the future.

Lara has always had a crush on Chase, football star and all around popular dude, but when she spends a summer with her mom for work she ends up falling for Jasmine and having a whirlwind romance. But when Jasmine shows up at school in the fall and treats her as if she doesn't exist, while Chase seems to see her for the first time, Lara really doesn't know what to do.

This is a really fun book about figuring things out about yourself, what friends and relationships really mean, and existing in the confusing world of high school. The story jumps back and forth between the school year and the past summer to fill in gaps between the two and did a good job of weaving the story and characters together.

My evolving relationship with this book was a little bit like Larissa/Lara's evolving relationship with Jasmine. At first, I was struggling to relate to Lara's social circle and their focus on popularity and football and cheerleading and parties and all of those things that were so, so far outside of my high school experience. I enjoyed the fast-paced, engaging plot and shifting character dynamics and the puzzle of switching back and forth between the present-day fall timeline and the flashbacks to Lara's summer on the beach with Jasmine. But something was missing, and I wasn't fully connecting with, or trusting, the narration or the arc of the story.

And then, chapter by chapter, I found myself falling, because the truth started shining through the cracks of Lara's facade, her stubborn and real instinct to keep herself on the track she always thought she'd be on - to stay the person whose biggest dream was to stand on the stage at homecoming on Chase Harding's arm. She grows as a character so much throughout this book, but at least in the present-day timeline, a lot of her growth is in coming to understand who she's already become, and that it's okay to let yourself grow out of old dreams and into new ones.

I loved that she got to be horny in a YA book, even if my high school experience (and honestly my life now too) was very much not full of parties and drinking I know that was happening, and getting to see a teenage girl have positive sexual experiences while discovering what she wants is just so good! As a new bookseller, I also loved that she works at an indie bookstore. And I loved the background aroace and nonbinary representation, as well as how those characters contributed to a message that there are many ways to come into queer identity, and all of them - no matter how "early" or "late" or clearly foreshadowed or totally surprising - are okay and valid and real.

This book was a really fun and affirming read, and I'm excited to handsell its beautiful cover to customers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC!

Growing up, I was into four things: books, summer sports, good grades, and sleep. It's hard to find the ability to relate to this book full of parties with parental consent and support. As such, this book just wasn't for me. I can't help but criticize the parents' choices, pickle chips aside.
I would recommend this read to those interested in purely character driven stories with a self-identifying theme. I can imagine the intended audience would find a lot to value and love.
The narrator's voice fit the tone quite well. She was a perfect choice and exuded privileged teen.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy and Macmillan Audio for the alc. All thoughts in this review are my own.

A spin on Grease, with the hot summer fling turning into a cold shoulder when Lara's summer love interest suddenly turns up at her high school on the first day of fall. Added in with this one though is Lara's self-searching of her sexual identity - because her summer fling was with a girl, but now her long-time football QB star crush is finally paying attention to her. So does she like girls? Boys? Just this particular girl? It feels very YA, all about the relationship angst/friend drama of the main character and not much outside of her, but I did appreciate the diversity of sexual orientation and the affirmation of exploring it for teens (definitely for older teens, with a couple of hot & heavy scenes, parties with drinking, etc.)

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler follows Lara, a teenage girl who's always crushed on a guy (Chase) until she has a whirlwind summer with Jasmine, her mom's boss's daughter. When Chase starts showing interest in Lara and Jasmine shows up at Lara's school, she's torn between two parts of herself.

I really liked this book as a journey into Lara's identity and how one summer has changed her. I think the character work here is pretty good, and all characters motives were understandable and relatable. As someone with fairly similar high school experiences, I thought this was a fun ride.

I struggled with the writing here -- there's a plot element that isn't mentioned until it becomes crucial, which seemed like a misstep given how this book is constructed. On the whole, there's a lot of plot stuff that happens and the meaning is then explained, rather than setting up the stakes/meaning before the action happens.

I think with a slightly heavier edit, this book could be really great. I enjoyed this. I'd rate it a 3.5, rounded up to 4.

A fun read, perfect for summertime. Lara's ready to leave Jasmine and their summer love behind and finally start a relationship with her longterm crush when who appears but Jasmine herself. The novel is told in a then/now fashion, with the looks back being more infrequent and brief than the present story. Some of the characters are very flat (but not Kiki, who deserves her own book!) and it does fall into some expected tropes at times, sometimes leaving me with a bit of a weird feel about them. Still, Lara's relationship with her sexuality is very honest and realistic. Great cover, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Cool for the Summer is the book I never knew I needed. This book spoke to my soul in a way that no book has for a long time. I firmly believe that is Cool for the Summer had been published 10 years ago, when I was in high school, I would have realized I was bisexual much sooner.
Cool for the Summer follows Larissa in the past and the present. It starts on her first day of her senior year in high school. She’s just had an amazing summer and really gained some confidence in herself. That confidence shows and the boy she’s been crushing on for years notices. Chase is finally noticing her and it’s like all of her fantasies are coming true, so why isn’t she happy? This is where the flashbacks come in. Over the summer, Larissa spend her time in the Outer Banks staying at her mom’s boss’s house. It’s here that she meets Jasmine. Everything gets more complicated when Jasmine shows up as a new student at Larissa’s high school.
I loved this book so much. As I said above, this book spoke to my soul in a way that hasn’t happened with any other book in a long time. Larissa is trying figure out what she’s feeling. She really likes Chase. He’s a genuinely nice guy and she doesn’t understand why she isn’t happier. She also has no idea what the problem with Jasmine is. Jasmine hasn’t really even tried to talk to her and suddenly she’s best friends with Shannon, one of Larissa’s best friends. This story did an incredible job of making me feel Larissa’s emotions and confusion. It’s written in the first person. So, we’re getting all of Larissa’s thoughts as she’s thinking them. I think telling the story this way was a really great way to get the reader to feel and experience Larissa’s emotions alongside her, which is exactly what I did.
I loved that even though Larissa felt like there wasn’t anyone she could talk to, she still had friends (Kiki) that saw through her and could see what she was going through. The best kind of friends are friends that support you and manage to say the right thing even though they don’t know exactly what the problem might be. And once Larissa didn’t finally talk to her friends and her mom, their reactions were so positive and I loved that for Larissa. I definitely shed a tear or two when she finally started talking to her loved ones about her feelings for Jasmine.
Overall, I feel like this review is absolutely incoherent but this book changed me. I wish this book existed ten years ago so that I could have had my moment of self discovery alongside Larissa. Please read this book. It’s full of diverse characters, self discovery, and friends that don’t always say the right thing at first. I’m going to go now because I feel like I’m getting more incoherent the longer I type this.

If you've always only been into guys, and then that changes, what is the experience of figuring out your sexuality like? Are you still bisexual if you haven't always known? (the answer is yes, you are still valid) These are the topics that Cool for the Summer tackles through a summery YA romance that would be the perfect beach read. It's fun, thoughtful, sexy, and honest about how confusing the process of recognizing and coming to terms with your sexuality can be. It's the sort of book that might have been really helpful when I was younger so it didn't take me to 30 to figure out I'm not as straight as I thought I was. Is some of the story silly highschool drama? Yeah, it is. But I think this book is doing important work as well.

Lara has spent years crushing on Chase, a sweet, hot football star. This year he's finally noticing her, but she's conflicted. Why? Because she secretly spent the summer hooking up with Jasmine. But it didn't actually mean anything, right? She's getting everything she ever wanted. Until Jasmine shows up at her school as a transfer student.... Lara is caught in a love triangle and must decide who she is and what she wants.

This is quite sexy for a YA book. While there isn't explicit detail the way there would be in an adult novel, there is on-page making out and sex, discussions of sex, etc. And with all of it, consent is centered as important, though there is a (pretty realistic) scene where Lara is consenting, but maybe not as into it as she's trying to tell herself to be. And I think it's useful for young people to learn to recognize when there is that disconnect. There were times I felt uncomfortable with how Lara objectifies and fantasizes about bodies in ways that reinforce traditional ideas of beauty. And that certainly happens, but I wish there had been a little more self-awareness in the text that there could be an issue with that.

I love the inclusivity, with nods to the legitimacy of people on the asexual spectrum and people with non-binary identities. Also, both Lara and Jasmine are Jewish, though Lara isn't really practicing. It's still cool to see that representation. Overall, a really solid book that I would recommend. And the audio narration is done really well! The narrator creates distinct voices for characters, making it pretty easy to figure out who was speaking. I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was such a sweet and fast-paced story. I really enjoyed the casual closeness between the main two girls and their connections. However, I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary cattiness between characters that were supposed to be friends. While I loved the bi/pan rep, I also felt like the lines between relationships were blurred in ways that seemed detrimental to the story. I liked that Lara got to explore her attraction to all genders and learn about her sexuality through different experiences, but I felt that a lot of the seemingly forced interactions took away from the end result. Still a generally fun read!

Fun, light, flirty read. <i>Cool for the Summer</i> was exactly what I needed after slogging through a dense, epic historical drama. Hadley is a popular, NYC-suburb high-schooler. Other than some frustration about her absentee dad and having less money than her peers, Hadley lives comfortably. When Hadley's mom gets called to the Outer Banks for work, Hadley goes along with her for the summer.

It turns out the boss's daughter, Jasmine, is the same age as Hadley and willing to invite her along to the summer crew's social activities. Things heat up, unexpectedly, between Jasmine and Hadley and their summer flies by. They part without much commitment to stay in touch.

Hadley returns home and assumes she'll be back to the grind, but things have changed. Everyone senses a new confidence in her, including Chase Harding, Big Man on Campus and Hadley's forever-crush. Chase asks her out and Hadley is happy about it, but not as over-the-moon as she expects. Oh, and Jasmine has transferred to her school for senior year. A la Grease the Musical, Jasmine has shown up unannounced. Hadley can't seem to get Jasmine off her mind, but Jasmine seems distant and uninterested. And by the way, does this mean Hadley is bi? She's not sure since Jasmine is the only girl she's ever been attracted to.

You can probably guess where this book goes, but in reading a book like this, that's (in my opinion) what you sign up for. It's easy reading. At times, I wish the story moved a little more quickly, but overall, it's a fun, summer read. Recommended.

3.5 stars rounded down. Thank you to the author and publisher for the NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet summer book worthy of a read. Cool for the Summer explores a classic troupe of a vacation romance and the awkwardness that ensures when your vacation persona collides with your real life. The read is simple enough the understand with some great one liners. The only issue I take is that neither relationship our main character was in felt viable. Both felt a bit wooden and stiff in an otherwise nice plot.

Larissa has always been in love with Chase Harding, the star of her high school's football team and all around nice guy. Senior year starts off with Chase finally taking an interest in Lara, taking her out on dates, and even asking her to Homecoming - all of Lara's dreams are coming true, but she just can't get the girl from the summer out of her head. This becomes even more difficult when said girl starts going to her school.
This was a sweet little summer romance story that's definitely an important representation of someone questioning their sexuality. However, that's about it.
Things I liked:
The three main characters were all likeable.
Chase was legitimately a nice guy.
There was great chemistry between Lara and Jasmine.
The parents were present and awesome.
Things I didn't like:
I almost DNF'd this book early on because of how many times the word "horny" was used. Okay, yes, we get it - raging teenage hormones. No need to keep acknowledging it, just let it happen.
This book switched back and forth between the present and Lara's summer spent in the Outer Banks, which I liked! But the transitions between the two were awkward.
This may be the high school staff member coming out in me, but protection was never mentioned once in sex scenes! You can get an STD from a blow job, kids!
If you're looking for a light and fluffy teen summer read, this would do the trick.

3.5

let's talk about that cover because WOW also BI REP????

i was honestly so excited for this book. getting an early copy of it was a dream come true but i just... felt let down?

i could relate to larissa and her constant need for others approval/opinions. the way she became more confident in herself was great, her character development was great. i really liked how it switched timelines so we could understand how things happened.

there were small details throughout that just bothered me so much and it brought my enjoyment down. she had a right to doubt chase's sudden interest, it came out of nowhere??? i'm all for quick romances but this one just felt off somehow.

oh my freaking god how I adored this book

we follow Larissa in this story of then and now

then
a summer in outer banks fooling around with Jasmine

now
Jasmine comes to Larissa’s school just as she got asked out by Chase, her all time crush

so basically, a bisexual love triangle. i loved all the characters and how wonderfully they were crafted and i hadn’t read any bisexual love triangle ever and i almost cried because i felt represented in a book. it was just amazing