**Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publisher for a chance to read to & review an ARC of this book!**

Please find my extended feedback below...along with some spoilers (beware).
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Things I Liked:
-I liked that this story focused on the main character being true to herself and giving herself space to figure out how she feels.
-I also loved that the main character did not come to a final conclusion about how she identifies in her sexuality.
-I thought it was really important that during the break up between the main character & the "popular" boy...he did not really shame her for being honest about what she was expressing to him.

Things That Didn't Sit Quite Right With Me:
-I did feel like this book was a little under my age range when it came to the language and "voice" of the main character.

Overall, I gave this book 3 stars. In my opinion, people who enjoy LGBTQIA Plus reads will possibly enjoy it!

Cool for the Summer follows Lara, a high school senior who just spent a summer having a whirlwind situationship with her mom's boss's daughter, Jasmine. Now she's back in school, and the boy she had a crush on for basically forever finally is into her back. But, Jasmine from the summer is the new student after having not spoken to Lara since they left her father's summer home.

I think this book does an excellent job of having lots of casual queer representation. There are lots of secondary and tertiary characters who occupy various queer identities. There are gay, bi, nonbinary, and asexual characters who are populating this world. Lara's relationship with these people factors into her own journey to realizing she is queer. One of the most interesting parts of this story was watching Lara compare her own experience of her sexuality to others' experiences and try to figure out where she fit.

On to aspects of this story I enjoied less. I found the book really tough to get into in the first 30%, mostly because I really didn't mesh with he writing style. I think this is partly just because it is YA and I am 28 but I did really find the book grating and hard to get through, if I hadn't listened to an audiobook I would not have finished this book. I also didn't like how sometimes the way characters talked about food and body image stuff was pretty toxic but was never addressed in the narrative, these aspects alleviate in the second half of the book, but they would make me feel weird about recommending this book to a teen.

I am divided about how I feel about Lara's school friend group. I do think on the whole their characters were underdeveloped, and we heard so much about how amazing the group was as friends but didn't actually get to see them supporting each other on page very often. Most of what is actually on page is slightly toxic group dynamics that are never addressed. Lara's primary friend in the group, Shannon, is always being thought about but is hardly actually on page. Shannon does mess up twice in the course of the book, and she admits her mistakes and apologizes for those two incidents (one happens literally seconds after her first apology). I do really love that Adler showed friends who were open to apologizing to each other, and showed a friend saying something kind of rude while Lara is coming out and showed that friend being able to realize her mistake and apologize. But, even with all of that, there was so much outside of these interactions that I wanted to be addressed that just wasn't.

I've also seen a lot of reviews that don't like that the author names the race of minor characters, I am very confused by this critique. Authors should be explicit that their books are not exclusively populated by white people. I think the critique of this is coming from a really weird place, when authors don't say what race people are, most readers default to whiteness. Adler had a white main character, but the rest of her cast was explicitly noted to be a broad group of people, I don't know why this is being noted as negative. Especially from other white reviewers.

I don't know that I will personally read anything else by Dahlia Adler, but I am glad I read this one.

Great YA book as a girl in HS begins learning self identity. This is a book I plan on adding to my students summer reading list. Thank you for the gifted copy

3.5 ⭐️ A little bit Grease, a little bit ... well, "Cool for the Summer," this is a fresh Gen-Z romance that's also a bit of a page-turner! I especially enjoyed the author's hat tips to romance, graphic novels, and bookstores. Students showed a lot of interest in this one based on the cover and a brief summary, too!

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

This was a fun, refreshing summertime read (that I totally did not read in the summer but alas, the life of a mood reader!) The story was definitely engaging and I loved the characters! I would definitely read more books by Dahlia Adler.

Although this sounded like a good read, I was unable to get into it. I'm sure there are other readers who will enjoy this title.

Cool for the Summer was such a fun read! Larissa has pined over football player Chase for literal YEARS, and he has finally noticed her. It would be great, except for what happened last summer - with Jasmine. And who happens to show up as a new student at Larissa's high school? That's right. Jasmine! Except Larissa doesn't know how to feel, much less act, around Jasmine anymore.

I loved the depiction of a high school girl trying to figure out what truly makes her happy, and then going for it. YA fiction with football players and cheerleaders can be stereotypical, but even Larissa's friend group was diverse and complicated. Jasmine was also a great, well-developed character.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was such a fun read. I love the unapologetic bisexuality of our main character and the conflict was so much more than a coming out story, or even a taboo part of having a crush on two people, but on what comes after that. So fun, so relatable.

Gays and Grease? My favorite trope! I also love books that tackle biphobia in the queer community. This book was brilliant!

Lovelovelovelovelovelovelove. Also a book I needed about 15 years ago I’m not even kidding. All these characters were so good and relatable and you really didn’t know who to root for because honestly, everyone was a good option. I just really liked this and wish I had something like this when I was younger.

Really nice book about being attracted to girl for the first time and coming to terms with your orientation, loved the dual time narration and the forth and back. Very summery healing vibes.

When I read this book, I had just visited the Outer Banks myself so it was really cool to know where a lot of the locations were in the flashbacks to the summer. I really like how the romances are set up in this book. I think a lot of times there is pressure on the main characters to give their sexuality a label. But here the author has allowed the main character, Larissa, to explore her relationships with Jasmine and Chase all on her own without that pressure. She just gets to exist and love who she wants. Definitely a fun summer or late summer read! Great LGBTQIA+ rep!

There are too many queer Grease-inspired books, said no one ever. Dahlia Adler's Cool For The Summer is a masterful exploration of the ups and downs of discovering new feelings and new love when you're not even sure what you're looking for. Lara starts senior year with a Jasmine-shaped pit in her stomach after a curious summer with a dark and mysterious girl, but her longtime crush, football star Chase Harding, is trying to keep her occupied. When the girl she was never supposed to see again shows up at her school, things get complicated.

When Lara's long-time crush Chase starts flirting back, Lara is over the moon, until the girl she had a summer fling with, Jasmine, arrives at her school. Lara finally has everything she wants including Chase if she wants, but she can't stop thinking about Jasmine.

This was such a cute and realistic read. I absolutely adored the bi rep! I recommend this if you want a cute, feel-good romance.

Cool for the Summer was a cute, light read with a love triangle as our main character figures out her feelings and her sexual orientation. She discovers that she is bisexual and we see her trying to see what her feelings are for a boy and for a girl, Jasmine. I obviously wanted her to end up with Jasmine as I found their relationship more interesting and cuter, overall.

This book was entertaining and all it made me think about was that I'm reading this in winter, hoping for summer to come back.

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Esse livro é perfeito! Foi isso que eu pensei durante uma boa parte dele e terminei ainda mais apaixonada pela história! Talvez não seja verdade, eu tenho algumas pequenas críticas para fazer, mas ele é tão bom, tão bem escrito e tão divertido, que entrou para os meus favoritos!

Antes de mais nada, acho bom avisar que eu recebi uma cópia adiantada pelo NetGalley, então pode ser que a minha crítica seja a algo que nem acabe passando para o livro final. Acho que os comentários da Lara sobre uma pessoa não-binária (que nem é personagem) podem ter chegado bem perto de serem ofensivos. Acho que vale uma leitura sensível, nem que seja só dessa parte, para ter certeza de que os questionamentos são inofensivos, porque eles nem eram necessários.

Eu falei críticas? Porque acho que essa é a única mesmo. O resto do livro é maravilhoso demais! Amei a relação da Lara com sua mãe e com suas amigas, ainda que a Shannon seja uma péssima pessoa e que eu não acredito que alguém gostaria de ser sua amiga. Amei ver que a Lara teve um crescimento durante a história e adorei as duas linhas temporais.

Aliás, essa conexão entre o ANTES e o AGORA, que é como a narrativa é separada, foi ótima! Foi o que mais me atraiu! A mudança veio sempre na hora certa e o desenvolvimento de cada linha temporal foi muito bem feito! Além disso, a química da Lara com a Jasmine e com o Chase foi perfeita e foi bem difícil escolher para quem torcer!

Tá, isso não é verdade. Eu sabia exatamente para qual ship torcer! Mas a Jasmine foi bem mais interessante do que eu estava esperando e confesso que me apaixonei um pouco pelo Chase! O equilíbrio entre clichê romântico e personagens originais foi perfeito também! Sim, é bem do tipo de história adolescente fofa que você já sabe o que vai acontecer, mas ao mesmo tempo os personagens não são estereótipos e as coisas acontecem naturalmente.

Nem tenho mais o que falar, só que foi uma leitura maravilhosa. Terminei em dois dias e agora estou louca para comprar o livro quando ele lançar mesmo! Super recomendo!

Cool for the Summer was one of my favourite reads of 2021. It's a fun, sweet romcom about self-love, figuring out who you are, and making your dreams come true. I loved how authentic and well-represented all of the teens were, as well as the positivity surrounding both sex and sexuality. It also does an excellent job of portraying bisexuality -- it reinforces that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to identify, while showcasing how confusing it can be to come to terms with your sexuality.

New to me author but definitely won't be last. Thoroughly enjoyed this story. Thanks Netgalley and to the publisher for letting me read this advance copy.

This book was well executed! I enjoyed the characters, the timeline, the storyline and plot. It had just enough details and volleying the reader back and forth and made you feel connected and like you cared where she ended up. Really enjoyed this one!