COOL FOR THE SUMMER by Dahlia Adler follows high-school senior, Lara, on her journey of self-discovery and love, and the obstacles she faces along the way.

There was plenty about this book to love - the topic of self-discovery when it comes to sexuality was an especially powerful one, and one that would make me want to recommend this book to everyone. As a reader, you get to go deep into Lara’s head, which is filled with confusion and fear as she tries to figure out who she is, and Dahlia Adler did a great job writing that!

However, there was also plenty about this book that missed the mark. Lara’s best friends suck. A lot. One is mean and cruel. Another is obsessed with her own life and boyfriend, and the other is honestly not that bad, but ultimately gets clumped in with the others. The leading man, Chase, and his relationship with Lara feels forced and out of nowhere, and I wish there was a better lead-up to why he was all of a sudden into her.

There were also a few ignorant/insensitive comments that were made that were maybe meant to come off as jokey, but made me cringe a little inside.

All that being said, I loved Lara and Jasmine’s relationship, and cried so so much during this read despite my reservations. This was still a fun and cute YA romance (but be mindful of the steam)!

Publication Date: May 11, 2021

*** special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review ***

Posted to Goodreads and The StoryGraph: 03/16/21
Posted to Instagram (Bookstagram): 05/11/21

I really wish this book existed while I was in high school. I desperately needed the representation that is Larissa. She is bold, but her inner monologue reveals that she is more insecure that she appears to be. This is without a doubt the steamiest YA book I've ever read. I loved the Demi Lovato references and how it played into the plot.

After a summer whirlwind romance girl heads back to school and finally gets the guy of her dreams. But nothing is feeling right and when the girl she fell for during the summer shows up at her school feelings are conflicted.

I truly enjoyed the concept of this book, because I always love stories of self-discovery. I'm not sure whether it was the writing style or just the way that it was told, but for whatever reason, the story wasn't gripping me for around 80% of the book. I nearly DNFed it in the first half, but I always have a hard time letting go. Could I have gone without finishing it? Sure. Am I happy I continued until the end? I don't know. The ending was cute, but it was nothing that I didn't see coming from a mile away.

There were just a few things that made me uncomfortable while reading, and that was the over-sexualization of the male love interest and the unnecessary comments about race and gender identity when they didn't make a significant impact on the story. I've definitely read worse in books, but these things didn't sit well with me for the entirety of the story, and I lost focus on the big picture because of these little details.

Overall, I'd say that the story idea was a good one. It's inspiring to teens who may be going through feelings similar to Lara's for the first time, who are still learning not to care what others think as long as it makes them happy.

"Just because you're telling a good story doesn't mean it's the right story."

Cool for the summer is a light and fun read. Dahlia Adler captured all of those mixed feelings - the anger, the heartache and the warmth, of trying to figure out your feelings and the dealing with the fact you might not be straight.

Although I'm not bi, I'm a lesbian, I could identify with Lara's conflit troughout the book. Being nervous about liking a girl for the first time while being too confused to speak out loud about it. Some moments of her inner conflict made me cry. Like A LOT.

I also liked how family played such a huge part in the story. Learning about each family's tradition, and the whole cute dynamic between Lara and Anya made my heart warm.

Now to the fun part... Lara is a very horny main character and sexual content in YA usually makes me uncomfortable, but I believe in this book it was done the right way. It felt natural and completely normal teenager behavior.

Also, it was very cool seeing all the pop culture references. I absolutely loved how the title shows up along the story and how important it is for our main couple.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it; like, a bisexual protagonist who’s finally got the boy of her dreams but can’t stop thinking about the girl she met over the summer? Unfortunately, it fell incredibly flat to me. Cool for the Summer follows a journey of self-discovery.

This past summer, Lara was forced to tag along with her mother to her boss’s beach house. There, she meets her mother’s boss’s daughter, Jasmine, to whom she inexplicably becomes closer and closer over the course of the summer. Now, the school year’s just started and suddenly Lara’s crush of many years is liking her back. She’s stunned, only to turn around and see that Jasmine has transferred to her school, which doesn’t help the fact that she can’t stop thinking about her.

This book follows Lara as she realizes that she’s bisexual. She never had feelings about other girls before, but she can’t stop thinking about Jasmine despite the fact that Chase finally likes her back after six years. She also didn’t tell her friends just how she spent the summer, so keeping the fact that she even knew Jasmine before the school year, along with Chase flirting with her, confuses her even more.

I think this was certainly an interesting story and captures the complexity of realizing your sexuality. However, it really fell flat to me. Let me preface the rest of my review by saying that these are my own opinions!

All of the characters really bothered me; the book hovered on this line of really fleshing out the characterizations yet also only attaching this one trait to them and repeating it over and over again. I realize that side characters are often there just to help the protagonist understand something about themselves, but I didn’t like how Kiki’s entire character was just there to help Lara know that their friends would be okay with one of them being sapphic, especially since she’s the only person of color in their friend group. Lara also thinks some throwaway lines about her that I did not appreciate.

I would say I liked the romance but I didn’t really, mostly because it didn’t feel like there was a connection between Lara and Chase or with Jasmine. All of a sudden, Chase likes Lara because she came back from her summer “bolder” and “cooler,” which presumably is because of Jasmine, but he’s such a two-dimensional character. I guess he was supposed to be, to help Lara see that just because he’s the boy of her dreams, he’s not what she always thought, but she spends most of the book with him so it grew more obvious how there wasn’t really anything there. Also, Jasmine felt like a manic pixie dream girl and I really never felt a connection between the two of them. The fact that the past and the present chapters never really felt connected, so I felt like there was very little development in their relationship.

I could probably honestly go on, but it really boils down to the same point that I didn’t enjoy this book very much. I still gave it 3 stars though! I think a lot of my issues were just the way I interpreted a lot of it, so I don’t want to detail more of my problems with the book and possibly deter someone from reading and possibly enjoying it themselves.

Cool for the Summer had an interesting premise but overall didn’t live up to my expectations. Again, these are just my own opinions, so please give it a try if you want to read it! You may like Cool for the Summer if you want to read a contemporary with a bisexual protagonist and love interest.

The deal: It’s a YA queer love triangle romp. Lara spends the summer in the Outer Banks having a fling with a girl named Jasmine, only to come back to school in the fall and find out her quarterback crush obsession is now super into her. Oh, and surprise! Jasmine is the new girl at school. (Sidenote: I received an ARC from Netgalley.)

Is it worth it?: If this is your shit, you already know it. I continuously pick up stuff like this because I want to like it so badly. I should like it. I love King Princess and Shamir and campy queer Netflix melodramas and Big Bud Press. On paper, it’s my book ideal for escapist (without being absolutely vapid) fun. But something deep down in my irrational brain goo just keeps whispering “meh.” And that’s 100% on me.

Pairs well with: Getting frustrated all over again that Netflix canceled “I Am Not Okay With This,” Taylor Swift’s “Betty,” jeans that make your ass look cute

C

A cute, fun, summertime contemporary romance that really had me wishing for nice weather and the summer vibes. I enjoyed this book a lot, it was a fast-paced read and one I'd recommend for a YA audience for sure. Some points had me feeling a little disconnected as a almost 30 year old, but I think this book. is fantastic for the YA audience. Really enjoyable!

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler was a delight of a YA romance. The story focuses on Lara. Lara has had a longstanding crush on Chase, the popular, handsome athlete (who is not a jerk - worth noting because that's not always the case in stories like this/IRL), and he's now interested in her. This is just what Lara has wanted for years. Except Lara had a very unexpected summer of romance with Jasmine. And then, AND THEN, Jasmine shows up at her school. Now Lara has some tough choices to make to figure out what she really and truly wants. Y'all, this was a really well done account of high school. It even gave me some throwback feels of my own high school days which I don't always love, but in this case, it speaks to how well it was able to craft a real story. Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this May 2021 release!

About: The bisexual love triangle we've all been waiting for! This follows Lara who has only had eyes for Chase for years and senior year is when he finally starts to notice her but she's still haunted by the memory of the summer she spent with a girl named Jasmine who might mean more than just a friend.

Characters: We get the story from Lara's POV as she tries to come to terms with her sexuality and her character development was amazing. The story was shifting between Then (the summer spent with Jasmine) and Now (present day during her senior year) timelines so we were able to know about both her love interests which was great. I liked both Chase and Jasmine and couldn't choose a favorite. I also loved Lara's friends and how they were so unique in their own way. Also, plus points for Jewish rep.

Feelings: This book was extremely entertaining. I was so into the book that I flew through it in a day. The story was so good and I really enjoyed how the love triangle trope was used in a non-conventional way because we really need more of that. I would really like Netflix to pick this up for their next book-to-movie adaptation because it would be amazing to watch!

Recommendation: Yes! This is the love triangle that's definitely worth reading! Keep a lookout for this perfect summer read.

Cool for the Summer was a cute read with an important message. This book hooked me from the beginning and while I don't read a lot of YA books, I would definitely read more of Dahlia Adler's books. I enjoyed the storyline of Lara discovering her sexuality and liked her character and Jasmine's. Aside from Kiki, I really wasn't a fan of Lara's friends, they didn't seem that supportive and it made me question why she remained friends with them. The one thing I wish was that the ending was expanded on for a few more pages, I would have loved an epilogue that followed the characters either a few weeks or months later.

I loved the Jewish representation in the book. While subtle at times, to read about characters sitting down to enjoy Shabbat dinner made me so happy. It was nice to have diversity in many areas in this book.

This adorable queer romance has been on my most anticipated list for a long while now, and I'm so so excited that I got to read an ARC! Cool for the Summer follows Lara's senior year romance(s?) while she tries to figure out if the boy she's always wanted might be falling out of favor for the girl she just met.

I enjoyed the storytelling--alternating timelines between Lara's current year in New York and her summer in Outer Banks allow us to see the buildup of Lara and Jasmine's relationship. Their friendship turns into something more during the summer, and this extra description was central to getting me to root for their relationship to begin again in the present timeline. My favorite chapter was their weekend with Jasmine's mother--Adler's account of their dinner made me feel absolutely starving!

CFTS is also kind of a Grease retelling, which I enjoyed. There's a lot of mutual pining in the best of ways. Miscommunication tropes are so over, but CFTS genuinely has us in Lara's headspace while she's deciding how to be true to her heart. Good narration cannot be under-appreciated, so this point is just to say that I liked reading in Lara's voice. She reads like a real high schooler--there's a fair bit of friend drama, but she's got real heart underneath it all.

This is tiny ( I kind of want to get into the habit of injecting doses of non-book-media-appreciation into my reviews) but Cool for the Summer also tuned me into its namesake Demi Lovato song, which I've listened to about 50 times since finishing the book. Definitely a bi anthem, and you should listen to it while you read a particular scene in the novel (you'll know it when you read it)

I think this book will resonate with a lot of queer readers--it's so heartfelt and written with the best impact. This might sound weird, but it's just a really safe book. Cool for the Summer is a short but comforting read. Weirdly, reading it actually started a reading and reviewing slump for me. I've hardly turned a page or written a word since I finished. I'm just that stuck thinking about Lara, Jasmine, and the rest of their adventures. 5/5 stars for a beautiful novel that I can't wait to see out in the world.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this bc ooh of cool for the summer. I loved everything about this book. First the writing was so witty and funny. I thought it was totally relatable the thought process of Lara and her questioning her feeling for a girl for the first time. I thought the multiple time lines were perfect, giving away just enough to keep the story going. The friend group was great and I loved that we got to see more into the home life of some of these characters! I’m so excited to get my copy when it comes out!

A very mixed read for me, but it was a really quick read and I know that it's exactly the kind of book I'd have read on long summer days when I had no school.

I really liked Lara and her character development throughout the book. I love seeing a book where it's clear that you don't have to know if you're bi, and you might not even realise until you're older, and it doesn't make your experience any less valid. Also, Lara is such a fun character with her own interests and dreams.

I love how family is an important part of the book, and you get to see how Lara and her mum are really close and have been there for one another.

It was pretty hard to connect with Lara's friends. I either felt like I didn't know them, or I really didn't like them, in Shannon's case. Kiki was probably the most fun out of Lara's friends. I felt like, because she had her own interest, and a really fun one, she felt a little more real. I can definitely imagine her podcast! She is also the nicest out of them all, and genuinely seems like a good friend.

I have very mixed feelings about the relationships. Chase seems like a decent guy. It does feel like he very suddenly became interested in Lara, but his explanation also made sense. I love that he doesn't push her and that he respects her boundaries. But their relationship also feels a bit shallow. They're...nice, I guess. But that's all I can say. There's no strong chemistry.

I liked Lara's and Jasmine's relationship in the past, but present-day Jasmine is honestly mean. Regardless of her reasons, she did things that she knew would hurt Lara and I couldn't feel any warmth towards her, and certainly no desire for Lara and Jasmine to end up together.

So that side of it was pretty complicated, and I wouldn't exactly say I felt satisfied in the end.

All in all it's a solid summer read, and I hope a lot of teens who are unsure of their sexuality, or who haven't seen themselves in a book, will pick this up and enjoy it.

When Larissa (aka Lara) starts her senior year of high school and her all-time crush, Chase, finally notices her, she doesn't feel the joy she expected to because she just can't get Jasmine out of her mind.

"Cool for the Summer" takes us on Lara's self-discovery journey through a combination of flashbacks and present-day realizations. The pace of the story, character development, and acceptance of Lara's bisexuality was refreshing to read and it was so great to see queer joy. Adler's approach to Lara's self-discovery felt very real and gave us a nuanced view of the confusion and self-realizations that occur when we're discovering our sexual identities.

I would've given this story 5 stars if it hadn't been for the awkward descriptions of the ~ethnic~ (ie 'white or latina or both', 'east asian and hot') characters...

Overall though, this book would be a great addition for high schoolers / HS recommended reads. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

I had a lot of fun reading this book! It's not advertised as such, but it appears to be a take on Grease, since the main character (Lara) comes back from a summer away and the girl she spent her summer with (Jasmine) has moved to her town and is faced with the fact that Lara's kept the events of the summer a secret from her friends and is questioning her sexuality.

I honestly loved reading this book. Though the writing isn't anything particularly complex, that's not what a story like this is for. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about reading it, and I couldn't put it down once I was. The dialogue felt very natural, which I always love, and I loved the story jumping between the past and present timelines! It was interesting to see the contrast between the group Lara spent her summer with versus her normal group of friends. The romance in this story was absolutely adorable, and I enjoyed reading about Lara learning about her own sexuality.

I think this book is a story that a lot of people will be able to connect with, as Lara struggles with what it might mean to be bi and trying to figure out if that label is even right for her. It was a fast-paced, fun read, and I'm glad I read it!

This book is super cute YA summer read, but I think it can use some further development.

My top 5 thoughts after finishing this book:
1. I found the book to be refreshing - it's about a girl figuring out her sexuality, and while it's in the forefront of the story, its not the sole issue of the book.
2. I think the other characters could have used more development, the male love interest was bland. And maybe that was purposeful because she wasn't *really* into him, but I thought he was very one-dimensional.
3. I needed more. I disliked how short the ending was and wanted more development on navigating her relationships with really everyone in the book.
4. The resolution was not satisfying. This kind of goes with the last point, but I really was not satisfied with the resolution of the conflict here. Of either the internal conflict or the relationship conflict. It was basic/nothing new, and felt like the equivalent of a sub-par rom-com resolution.
5. I wish I had another book like this to read. Meaning that I did think it was different and only handled the issue of discovering sexuality just okay, but I liked the approach of it. Instead of it being a book about someone who has always known, or the even worse approach of a high school/college kid falling for their BFF, it was really about feeling unsure in your own body and not being sure of whether it's one person. I just think the entire book was underdeveloped which also means the handling of her sexuality was also underdeveloped, which ties back to the ending being too sudden and having a half-resolution to the conflicts.

COOL FOR THE SUMMER is too amazing for words. I am obsessed with the bisexual coming of age story within the plot, the cute romance between Jasmine and Larissa, and god, I need my own copy NOW.

A Grease twist and first love...yep, I was intrigued.

This is a fun story for all those fans of tween drama, first loves, and learning more about ones self. It runs along two time lines as the love of past days meets the current situation. The characters act just right, the dialogue fits the age group very well, the feelings are more than understandable, and the scenes are very easy to connect with. It's a lovely read, which pulls along nicely and plays with the emotions well. Oh, and it puts a whole new twist on the ideas behind love triangles.

While all of this was well done and thought out, several things didn't sit quite as well with me, which threw off the flow and made it difficult to stay concentrated. Firstly, was the sudden interest of the guy and his flirtations. After years of crushing on him, of course the MC is thrilled to death that he's flirting with her...and her reaction fit so well! But it's never clear what caused this change in him, nor is it ever explained. Then, there's the 'check-list of characters'. I call it this because it seems to be a new danger books are falling into when it comes to diversity. It's as if authors need to bring in certain types of characters to make their tales socially acceptable...but these characters don't slide in right and feel as if they really are just being marked off. This hurt the character depth for me and jerked me out of the tale more than a couple of times.

But despite these problems, it's a well done book and was quite a bit of fun as well.

I absolutely loved this book. As someone who went through a very long questioning phase, I appreciate how this book embraces that identity and sexuality can take a while to figure out. This book helped my identity feel more valid and comforted me in that others could go through the same feelings I went through. I just wish it were longer!