Cool for the Summer is the teen romcom I grew up adoring but with a modern (and very necessary!) twist! I love that young people can read this book and understand that there is no such thing as normal. Lara having feelings for two people at the same time is complicated by the fact that one is a boy and the other a girl. Very excited for people to read this book when it's out!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins for the advanced read!

Major thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication. I absolutely loved the discussion about self-discovery & identity, and how not everyone knows/realizes that they're queer when they're young, and I think this book will be really impactful and validating for other readers. There were a couple comments that rubbed me the wrong way (especially the "non-binary friend" comment, but I overall enjoyed Cool for the Summer!

Thanks NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my e-copy of Cool for the Summer!

This was very cute and I love to see a WLW plotline in YA!! But it didn’t live up to all of my expectations. I ended this book feeling warm & fuzzy inside about the romance… yet also kind of disappointed.

Through alternating timelines, we see Lara return from summer break and suddenly attract the interest of her long-time crush Chase, and flashbacks to her summer at the beach with Jasmine, her mom’s boss’s daughter. Were her and Jasmine just having fun together, or was it something more? It gets more complicated when Jasmine shows up at her school and pretends like they don’t know each other.

To start with the pros:
-Lara’s questioning of her sexuality throughout the story felt relatable & nuanced. The story highlights that not everybody knows their sexuality from a young age. I liked that it wasn’t all tidily figured out by the end of the book, and she didn’t ever label herself.
-Lara’s character really grew throughout the book. She is still a high school girl who is interested in being liked, but I loved how she worked to discover herself, and explore who she is without her tight-knit friend group. These are conversations I would have really related to in high school.
-Open discussions about sex and masturbation. Intimate scenes w two girls in YA!
-Lara works at a bookstore coffee shop and books play a relatively big role in the story.
-Jewish rep! Jasmine is Syrian-Jewish, and Lara is Russian and “technically Jewish” though “not remotely affiliated."

While the central conversations about sexuality were really well-done, lots of (mostly little) issues seemed to continue to pop up throughout the book for me:
-All of the characters except Lara, and maybe Jasmine, felt underdeveloped. We were seeing such little pieces of all the characters, and being told rather than shown when it came to Lara’s friends and their personality traits. I think this was partly due to the alternating timelines between the school year and the previous summer. Chase seemed to intentionally be kept at a distance from us, possibly to show that Lara had idolized him for so long that he had just become a vague stereotype of a perfect guy in her mind.
-Reading about ~popular kids~ is never super appealing to me. There were so many descriptions of Lara’s hair and tan and how beautiful she and her friends were. There was also some casual fatphobia about feeling like a beached whale, “genetically blessed waists,” etc..
-It felt like white characters were viewed as the norm and characters’ ethnicities were only discussed if they varied from that.
-There were a sex scene where Lara forces herself to keep going because she believes she should just “do the thing” and then emotions will follow. It made me sad that this was never really addressed after that.
-In an attempt at diversity that ended up reading more like a punchline, a minor non-binary character was kinda thrown in there and branded as a ~mysterious person~ dating Lara’s lab partner. Uh oh, Lara doesn’t know what to call them if she can’t say boyfriend or girlfriend! 🙄 Eventually calling them “dating-my-lab-partner-Jamie Taylor,” it just rubbed me the wrong way.

TW: biphobia, sexual content, underage drinking, casual fatphobia

This was a nice, quick read. Larissa is a high school girl who finally gets to date the guy of her dreams, just when the girl who she can't stop thinking about appears at her school. Although I'm not really a fan of the crowd and scene surrounding Larissa, I thought she had good character development throughout the story. Even though her feelings for Jasmine were obvious from the very beginning, her slowly accepting those feelings and figuring them out without making rash decisions, even when she was dating Chase, was well written. I also liked how the chapters alternated between "now" and "then"(her summer break) because it gave a glimpse of her relationship with Jasmine.

Despite the core message of figuring out feelings and accepting them, the book was overall okay. None of the other characters stood out. In fact, it was even stated by Larissa that Chase started to like her out of nowhere, even though she's liked him for years, and even he was aware of her crush. As someone who was her boyfriend for a good portion of the book, he was a very underdeveloped character. We really don't know much about him other than his stereotypical jock characteristics and being a loving older brother (which is was only told, not shown). I even found most of Larissa's friends kind of annoying.

Overall, it was a good short story with a good message, but it contained flat characters and a plot that got boring at times.

Overall rating: 3.5/5

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a honest review I enjoyed this one the plot the characters they were all well written and I couldn’t put it down!

This book was so much fun! It really is a perfect summertime book. The beach vibes? Immaculate. Bonfires by the water? Incredible.

Something I really appreciated about this is how messy it is. Larissa’s feelings are complicated and confused, because she’s supposed to like guy, right? I mean, she’s only been crushing on him since forever. But why can’t she stop thinking about the girl, then? I enjoyed watching Larissa figure out her heart. It’s a type of story I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of.

As well, the friendships were all really realistic I thought too! Sometimes your friends aren’t perfect, and you can feel hurt by them. But at the end of the day, they’re still your friends. I feel like that was handled really well here.

I will say, I wish it was just a tad bit longer so that some side characters, especially Chase, could have been developed slightly more. But honestly? This was a really solid, fun and cute YA contemporary that I’d highly recommend if you’re looking for a queer summer read!

This was such a sweet romance that dealt with questioning one's sexuality so beautifully. For as long as she can remember Larrissa has been in love from afar with a boy that goes to her school. Then, she meets Jasmine and the two have a summer romance that leaves her confused and newly confident for returning to school and getting the attention of the boy she's liked forever. This book showcased the complexities of female friendships and was diverse in its romantic pairings/options. I also loved the inclusion of graphic novel love from the characters. I would recommend this book to any fans of romance and especially queer love stories.

content and trigger warnings: biphobia (challenged), parental divorce, mild nsfw content, underage drinking

Cool for the Summer is a highly anticipated 2021 release for me, and Dahlia Adler did not disappoint! This was quick and overall fun book, but it was also heartfelt and packed more of an emotional punch than I was expecting. After reading this, my heart feels like a piece of chocolate with a gooey molten center. I did not think this book would cause me to cry/tear up multiple times, but I enjoyed the emotional journey.

I loved reading Lara's character arc as she explored her sexuality and came to learn more about herself over the course of the book. It brought me back to when I was in high school navigating my own sexuality and coming to terms with being bisexual. Even though I am quite different from Lara and had some difficulty connecting with her initially, I could relate to her internal struggles with self-discovery and wondering about the validity of her attraction/feelings. I wish I had had more stories like this when I was at that stage in my life, and I'm grateful Cool for the Summer will be out there for anyone going through something similar.

My main issue with the book was that Chase's interest in Lara seemed to come out of the blue, even if she had significantly changed over the summer. They'd known each other for many years prior to that, so it felt like his intense interest in her was a bit sudden. It would've made more sense to me if they'd known each other better on a platonic level before romantic feelings developed on his end. However, I adored the development of her relationship with Jasmine during the summer and how the dual timeline showed that, along with her journey of personal growth. It was also incredibly satisfying and heartwarming to see how supportive Lara's mother (and Jasmine's parents) and friends were when she decided to tell them about her feelings for Jasmine in the end.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely adored this book. I'm not normally one for dual timelines but I think this was executed perfectly. The flashbacks were perfectly placed and neither timeline dragged on so long in one place that I got bored. I also don't normally like love triangles but when chaotic bisexuals are involved, count me in. And I think this one was done well and respectfully.

The characters were very unique and well-fleshed out. I would die for these girls. I also loved Lara's relationship with her mother (we love supportive parents).

I was really looking forward to this one especially because of that cute cover with that really enticing tagline "The guy of her dreams or the girl in her heart?"

I love seeing more bisexual characters that truly fall headfirst for different sexualities. Lara was a character that was difficult to like at first because she was a bit conceited, but in the end, I think that was a part of her character growth. Her journey throughout this book made her a very well-rounded character, in my opinion.

I also love how we get to see her fall in love with Jasmine and how she acted towards her when Jasmine suddenly came to her school. Chase, on the other hand, was a bit underdeveloped. I didn't really see what made him notice Lara when school came back. I wish that was explored more?

Overall, this is a short, fun, and sweet queer YA book that explored themes of self discovery.

Larissa has spent her whole teenage life dreaming about dating Chase: handsome, football star, kind big brother, and all-around amazing guy. When she returns from a surprise summer trip to the Outer Banks in the fall with a new look and a new sense of confidence, she is surprised to find that Chase suddenly dreams of her right back. Soon, all of her hopes seem to be falling into place, but there’s just one problem: Jasmine. Larissa and Jasmine met over the summer and soon became very close friends, then more than friends. Larissa’s newfound confidence may in fact be due to Jasmine. But Larissa has only ever dreamed of Chase before, and has never had feelings for a girl...so doesn’t that mean that she is straight? When she finds out that Jasmine has moved to her town for their senior year of high school, Larissa is forced to confront her feelings for Chase, Jasmine, and most importantly -- her feelings about her own identity.

A fun, engaging romance, this book is also a clarion call for a wider variety of LGBTQ+ representation in media. When the whole world is selling only specific narratives, it can be incredibly invalidating for those of us who don’t fit into the major brands. This is a must buy for high school libraries!

A coming of age YA novel of a young woman who thinks she knows who she wants, but can’t quite forget the one who got away.

This is a Netgalley pick, and I want to thank the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book.

Lara is popular, has a great group of friends, and finally catches the eye of her crush, football star Chase Harding. Life is good.

That is until a blast-from-the-recent-past strolls through the high school’s front door- Jasmine.

I enjoyed this journey of self-discovery. The characters are complex and well-written. The story is relevant and hits all the right notes.

A fun read!

Cool For the Summer follows 2 timelines, one taking us through Larissa’s current and final year of high school, and the other that is going through her whirlwind summer. In the now. all of her dreams are coming true, she has the attention of the guy she has wanted forever, she has reinvented herself and she is full of confidence. But, she can’t stop revisiting her summer and Jasmine.
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I won’t lie, it took me a minute to get attached to the characters, but once I did this book had me hooked! Larissa’s journey of self discovery is a unique one, and it was fun and thought provoking all at the same time.
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The characters were diverse and well developed and I loved the narrative that your dreams are allowed to change and grow. And as always, LOVE a bisexual love triangle!

Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer is a perfect summer read with an unexpected love triangle. It's a book that explores themes of following the path of what's expected versus what the heart wants.

Lara has had her sights set on Chase for as long as she can remember, but after her summer fling Jasmine winds up at her school, everything gets called into question. Everything Lara knows is called into question as she is faced with exploring her sexuality and who she loves just when it seems like she has everything she ever wanted.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing a copy of this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

If you're looking for a cute summery romance that happens to feature a girl torn between the guy she's crushed on for years and the girl she met, and discovered previous unknown parts of herself with, over the summer, you should definitely pick this one up. This would be a great way to kick off the season of beach-y reads.

<i>How do you tell people who've listened to you babble about your crush on a guy for a thousand years that whoops, you spent the summer fooling around with a girl?</i>

What keeps this from being a love instead of a like is that certain parts did feel a little rushed (which makes sense as this isn't very long) and while I believed in the unexpected romance between the girls, and also could totally understand the protagonist's longtime crush on the boy, I didn't quite buy into him suddenly sitting up and noticing her after so long. And I didn't quite buy.. something else, that I realize might be a bit spoilery. This isn't going well to explain my reasons but suffice it to say some parts of how this was set up and executed was so well done, others.. less so.

<i>How do you tell your closest friends, when you only have one year left before you all head off in new directions, that they don't know you as well as they think? How do you have that conversation when it means facing that <b>you</b> didn't know yourself as well as you thought you did?</i>

Additionally, I think I only actually liked our main character? I didn't dislike the romantic interests, or anyone really, but she was the only one who felt really well rounded. I loved how she discovered a new sense of herself (beyond her sexuality) when she was put into a situation away from her home and longstanding friends. I loved how she started seeing herself from the outside and how she felt hampered by that view but would also think about the friendships and relationships had defined so much of her life. Not in a negative way, I loved the reflections she had about her very different friend group, but I really liked the introspection, of trying to figure herself out. Again, I really liked Lara.

COOL FOR THE SUMMER is a quick fun read that also has a bit of YA-appropriate steam. Between the bi-questioning, the very different kinds of love interests, and the <i>Grease</i> vibes, this is definitely worthy of being on your radar.

Review by my 12-year-old daughter:
I loved this book so much more than I thought I would! One of the main reasons why I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it is because although I like the music in "Grease," I wasn't the biggest fan of the plot, which the summary of this book reminded me of. And although throughout the book there were certain things that reminded me of "Grease," the plot of this book was pretty different.

It follows the main character Lara, who has always wanted to date a guy named Chase. But over the summer before the next school year, she is forced to go to a beach for her mom's work. There, she meets a girl named Jasmine who she starts falling for over the course of the summer. When she gets back home, she decides to put the whole summer behind her and get back to her normal life with her three best friends, Shannon, Gia, and Kiki. And to her delight, when school starts again, Chase actually seems interested in dating her. But just as she is readjusting back to her normal life, she is shocked to discover that Jasmine's custody situation with her parents has changed, and she now goes to Lara's school. But Jasmine is acting colder and much more removed than over the summer, and she seems to want to forget everything about her relationship with Lara. Now Lara is left confused. Her life is everything that she's ever dreamed of. She's dating Chase, the boy of her dreams, but she can't stop thinking about Jasmine.

There were only a few things that I didn't like about this book, and the first was how entitled the main character was in the beginning. I believe she was supposed to be so there could be character development, but in my opinion there was no reason why she should have been, and there was no strong reason why she stopped acting that way. Second, it seemed so odd that Chase asked her out. From what we knew, he had shown no interest in her before, and suddenly he was just randomly interested in her. It was sort of explained as "something happened to you over the summer and you're different now," but that reason just didn't seem like it would explain away the entire thing. And lastly, the climax wasn't extremely climactic, but that part wasn't a big deal to me.

And even though I enjoyed pretty much everything, there were a few things that stuck out that I loved. First, it's told in a then vs. now format, and I loved this because not only did it show all of the friends that she made at the beach, but also why she fell for Jasmine. If it hadn't been told this way, I don't think we would have understood why she liked Jasmine to begin with. Also, I really liked Kiki. She was always a great friend to Lara, and also had her own crime solving podcast (I honestly would have liked to hear more about the podcast, but unfortunately it wasn't that important to the story). But she was always such a good friend to Lara, like when (view spoiler) And the last thing that I extremely enjoyed was Lara's personal journey with figuring out what her relationship with Jasmine meant and how it was significant to her life, but not rushing to put a label on herself. Overall, this was a quick, cute book that I entirely recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It was definitely cute and fun at times, and I’m pretty confident that many people will enjoy reading it, but overall it wasn’t really for me.

First, there was one aspect of the book that I really really loved, and that is the discussion surrounding the way that stereotypical narratives of queer identity and self-discovery can affect queer people whose experiences differ from those narratives. Specifically in this case, the idea that all queer people must know they’re queer from a young age. Larissa, the main character, always thought she must be straight because she was very certain of her attraction to guys, and now that she’s realizing she likes a girl, she feels like she can’t possibly be queer because she doesn’t fit this narrative of knowing from a young age and being really sure of your queer identity. There were a couple really good moments and quotes that had to do with this topic and I’m really glad that it was explored in this book, as this is absolutely something many queer people experience.

Sadly, there were also many things I didn’t enjoy.

The plot relied pretty heavily on a lack of communication between Jasmine and Larissa, which isn’t anything inherently wrong, but it is something I personally dislike. There’s really a lot that could have been resolved so much more quickly if they had just talked instead of guessing how the other person felt, which was a bit frustrating to me.

There was also a lot of discussing girls and their bodies in a way that made me a bit uncomfortable. For example, Larissa’s friend group dissecting Jasmine’s wardrobe and hair after the first party where they see her, or Larissa talking about how her friend Gia will probably spend the night evaluating if Jasmine is prettier than her. There’s also a part of the story where Larissa kisses Chase in front of a lot of people, then “whistle and catcalls surrounds them” and it’s presented as a super positive thing, which I found a bit weird. I also have a couple other scenes marked down that had similar vibes to these, but I’m going to stop here for now.

I was also a bit uncomfortable with the way that a minor non-binary character was handled. They’re only mentioned a few times, but essentially this non-binary person named Jamie is dating Larissa’s lab partner, and whenever they’re mentioned instead of using the term “partner” or any other gender neutral term as an equivalent to “girlfriend” or “boyfriend”, the book is like “what do you call it when someone’s neither a girlfriend nor boyfriend? a nonbinaryfriend?” and “dating-my-lab-partner-Jamie Taylor”. This is obviously a pretty small thing, but it feels pretty disrespectful and kinda plays into how non-binary people are viewed as so extremely confusing and hard to “adapt to”. The word “partner” exists, as well as plenty of other alternatives, and if you legitimately don’t know, asking the person is always a better option than whatever this was.

Overall, it wasn’t necessarily a bad book, but I didn’t fully like it either.

This was quite honestly one of the best books it has ever been my pleasure to read. Lara's bicurious questioning really resonated with me, and her relationship with Jasmine was just so wonderfully written. I love that no one in the love triangle was written as "the bad guy", that biphobia does not go unchallenged or unquestioned. I loved the Outer Banks crew and Lara's friends back at school. I loved the twists and turns and misunderstandings. There was basically nothing about this book I didn't love, except that it needs a sequel so I can see the main couple get to be together even MORE.

Cute love triangle of a story with Self discovery thrown in. The author takes a look at what it’s like trying to find where you belong and who you belong with. Was a bit confused with the relationship with Chase...Lara liked him for so long and then BOOM, he’s ready to make her his girlfriend. I’m thankful that when Lara makes her decision about their relationship, that she made Chase truly listen to what Lara said and wasn’t a jerk.

This was the YA bi romance of my dreams!! So cute, so summery, so wonderful. The characters felt like real people and I genuinely cared about them, so YAY!