A very cute and summery romance of a book! I liked that this book was short and a fairly fast read. I managed to read it in one day. There was a part of me that really liked Larissa story about finding her sexuality and navigating her feelings for Jasmine, but at times her behavior struck me as confusing. I think some of this is intentional since she is confused herself by her feeling and everything that happened over the summer, but I couldn't get over the miscommunication trope of her and Jasmine misreading each other's signals. All in all, it was a good read and I would definitely recommend it as a beach read!

I received an advanced copy of the book from the publisher through Netgalley for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The pacing of this story is fast paced. The story is set in New York City and in The Outer Banks North Carolina. It is a LGBTQIA+ book. You guys have got to read this book. It will keep your attention from the first page. The characters are relatable. It shows how teenagers are feeling throughout their senior year of high school. All of the characters in this book is fantastic. So if you guys have not read this book yet go get it and read it you will not regret it. It is a five star read in my book. I highly highly recommend it. It is in stores now for $18.99 (USD).

I liked this book a lot. It was very well done and it was nice to see a teenager wrestling with bisexuality without erasure.

I loved this story so much. The characters were a must read for me, and I really enjoyed the author's voice. This is my first Dahlia Adler read, I'll be picking up her next one after this!

Disclaimer:. I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Cool for the Summer

Author: Dahlie Adler

Book Series: Standalone

Diversity: Russian heritage MC, Jewish side character, Black male character, Aroace side character, F/f romance, Syrian Jewish bisexual love interest, Non binary pan character mentioned, Questioning/Queer MC

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: contemporary, young adult readers, romance, song titled books

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publication Date: May 11, 2021

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 272

Recommended Age: 16+ (Language, Small HP reference, Underage alcohol consumption, Sex, Mentions of Masturbating, Romance, Making a joke out of sexual coercion)

Explanation of CWs: The small HP reference is fairly early in the novel with just the mention of a specific yellow house shirt. There was none other in the book. There is frequent swearing and underage alcohol consumption in this book. Sex is mentioned and there are 2 sex scenes in this book. There was also one unfavorable joke about how a side character would have sex with her professor when she went to college which gives me creep vibes because that's a misuse of power on the part of the professor and can be seen as sexual misconduct and coercion.

Synopsis: Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life.

Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.

Lara has 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's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl?

Review: I really enjoyed this book! It's so well written and I love how the story takes place between two timelines (then and now). I thought the characters were well developed and the world building was well done. I also loved the story. It's so cute and tropey but it's the right amount of trope. I guess I'm a sucker for the miscommunication trope now. I also really loved the diversity of this book and I loved how the message of the book wasn't labeling or finding a specific label, just to love who you love.

I did have issue with the amount of characters. I think that it was a lot to remember and the two male love interest of the main character and another major character in the book have very similar names. I kept getting confused with the similar friends names too (Keisha / Kiki is one). Also, this is a great book to read in one sitting, but if you leave it or go to sleep like I did, it's hard to get back into.

Verdict: Highly recommend!

Did not finish. This will be a book that a lot of people love. However, the frequent time change within the same chapters was too overwhelming for me personally.

Cool For the Summer is a perfect summer romcom—fun, sweet, silly, and just that perfect little dash of emotional. Exactly what I’m looking for when I pick up a book like this.

Cool For the Summer is also relatively unmemorable. This isn’t a criticism exactly, but even a week after I’d read it, most of it had already left my head. I remember a bookstore, a fun karaoke scene, some angst, and the dual timeline. Other than that, I couldn’t tell you what happened.

That said, I do recommend this book—and I really liked it! This is fully a positive review! I just recommend it for a very certain sort of situation—when you’re looking for something fun and cute and full of cheese. The writing is good, the tension is good, the characters are good. Cool For the Summer is an easy book to lose yourself in, and I think it does everything it set out to do

I also think this book has the potential to mean a lot more to bi readers than it did to me—if you’re looking for a bi love triangle book, this is probably perfect for you. I personally do not particularly like love triangles, and while I’m always looking for rep, I had no personal connection to this rep.

Overall? I fully recommend this book. It’s fun, simple as that

Man, do I love a messy queer love triangle. The Grease vibes are real with this summer-rom-com and I am so here for it. I picked this up thanks to some bookstagram friends who had suggested it and I am so glad I did. This book was SO MUCH FUN. It is full of pining, teen angst, sass and questioning and so many teen FEELINGS. It was a super quick, fun, cute YA-rom-com that I would highly recommend checking out as a cute summer-time read.

I got an ARC of this book.

I don’t know why I put this one off for so long. I think I was worried this would be bi for flavor situation. I really didn’t want something biphobic and “woe is me, maybe I am queer”. I am all for figuring things out and sometimes those stories are what I crave, but I wanted something a little further beyond in the queer journey.

This is partially the figuring out you are queer story and partially about coming into your own. So I got really into it. I was giggling in the car like wild and a trucker was staring at me when there was the karaoke scene. I got super into how confused Lara was. She wasn’t upset about being bi or even having feelings for a girl. Her issue is she was having issues wrapping her head around why her feelings for a boy weren’t what they always were. Lara reminded me of how I get mad when I realize that I have feelings for someone. I get so mad that things changed and they aren’t going according to plan. Lots of pouting and stomping around the house. There was one scene where someone said that she didn’t want a label until she was sure of it. She wanted time to really think things through. Maybe she is into girls or maybe just one. It was so wonderful to see how complex feelings can be. I like when things are a bit more complicated than “will they or won’t they” sort of drama.

I loved the casual queer rep in the background. Some of the side characters were queer and just having happy lives. Their plots were very much “look at me, I’m queer and happy” which when done wrong can be very much pandering and checking diversity boxes. In this case it allowed for queer people to exist and it allowed the MCs to sort of flow into their sexualities with less angst. The level of angst was mild to medium, focused more on “I’m hurting so I am going to think nasty thoughts” instead of a lot of whining. It had the risk of going too far a few times, but then the plot went on.

There was biphobia, blatant biphobia. Of course there was. I am more annoyed that the biphobia was challenged slightly, but then the victim immediately backs down and was like “we can be friends”. I was hoping she would be like “no, we are nothing until you can respect me” and her walking off in a swirl of glitter. That would have been such a show of character development for the character and would have made me love this book so much more. As it stands, it was a fun read. It was great to see bi characters and characters that may or may not be bi learning themselves.

I was SO EXCITED for this book! I’ve been following Dahlia Adler for a long while, so hearing her talk about this book made me want to read it so much! It was cute and funny, and I adored every moment of it. I loved the amazing representation, as well! Highly recommended to contemporary and romcom lovers.

I really enjoyed this one!

A huge thank you to Wednesday Books, NetGalley and Dahlia Adler for my advanced copy.

I missed the pub day for this one... you know what that means. I listened to Cool for the Summer on audio. It was made available to me through Scribd.

What I Enjoyed-

*The Audio- I am so glad I listened to this book on audio. Cool for the Summer is narrated by Natalie Naudus. She did a great job bringing these characters to life. Natalie also narrates for the book One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. ( another great LGBT romance )

*The Characters- I absolutely loved Lara and Jasmine. I was unvested in their relationship and enjoyed their journey from the beginning of this book all the way up until the end. The side characters / friendships in this book seemed very realistic to me. Dahlia Adler did an amazing job of developing the characters of this book regardless of whether they were front and center or in the background of the story.

*The Pacing- This was a fast read/listen. Very enjoyable and easy to follow while multitasking.

Why This Book Lost a Star-

*The Conflict- Some of the conflict in this book could have simply been resolved with communication.

Overall- Very enjoyable. I would definitely read more by this author.

I knew from the title (one of my absolute fave Demi Lovato songs) that I was going to enjoy this book, and I really did. This is kind of like a modern twist on Grease since Larissa has a hot summer fling with a girl who ends up going to her high school come fall.

This turns into a messy love triangle and focuses a lot on Larissa trying to figure out her sexuality, and I was so here for it. The pacing and length of the book was perfect as well. Definitely recommend for a fun yet sometimes emotional YA contemporary romance with summer vibes!

P.S. this was also very sexy positive and was pretty steamy for a YA novel!

**thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

WHAT AN AMAZING BOOK!The bisexual rep was the best I’ve seen so far in a YA novel. Lara was relatable with figuring out her sexuality and by showing all the complex feelings and confusion that comes along with being bisexual. Lara’s relationships with Jasmine and Chase, along with her relationships with her Mom and friends were well established and had great layers. It was the first bisexual representation that clearly showcased the main character having relationships with two different genders, which was awesome to see! This book is perfect for the summer, super fun and a lot can be taken away from it. Thank you NetGallery for my ARC, one of my favorites I’ve read this summer ☀️🌻

This books was not for me. The writing was good, but I felt the pace of the book was slow. I kept getting distracted while trying to read the book because of how I was not enjoying the story. There was nothing in particular I didn’t like just overall it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This is a hard book to determine an audience for. As an adult, it didn’t keep my interest so I don’t know that I’d recommend it for an older teen YA audience, but the (necessary and so welcomed in YA) discussions of sex wouldn’t be great for a younger YA audience either. It might just be a situation of me underestimating what actual teens would enjoy or be interested in. The topic of discovering ones sexuality is so important and is handled well here, so I’d absolutely recommend this if I could determine that the person was the “right” reader for this particular book.

I love this book so much. Although it wasn’t long I went through so much emotions. The author made sure to include everyone, from race to sexual identity.
I wish I had books like this growing up and I can’t wait to see what Adler will come out with next but I’ll definitely be reading.

Thank you so much @wenesdaybooks and @netgalley. Cool for the summer is a great summer book and hopefully it helps people realize that it’s okay to be who they are.

Trigger Warning: biphobia. So I really liked this book! I liked the characters, I really liked the pining for each other, and the love triangle was interesting! I thought it was interesting to see her struggle with her sexuality, and also struggle to find it in herself to tell her friends and people in her life that she liked girls, alongside liking boys. I thought the writing was so fantastic, and it was a great introduction to Dahlia's work! I've never read her books before, and so this one was so good I really can't wait to try her other works! I liked Lara as a main character, she was someone so relatable! She was a bookworm and really loved reading romance novels! She also worked at a bookstore, which was so fun and interesting! I like her journey in this story, and her story of finding herself and her journey to coming out. I also loved her relationship with her mother, and her group of friends. They had their moments where things weren't perfect, but life isn't perfect and they had a nice and sweet adoration of each other. It honestly reminded me of my friend group in high school! Overall I just enjoyed this book so much! I liked the characters a lot, and I loved that they really developed as characters during the course of this book. Highly recommend this book for everyone to read! It was so fantastic!

Ahhh, the bisexual YA story of my dreams. I've been looking forward to reading this one for such a long time. I was especially interested to see how the author would tackle a story where the main character is choosing between a boy and a girl prospective love interest. I'm so glad this rep exists now.

That said, the story itself felt a little surface-level to me, so a solid 3.5 rating rounded up on this read!

Cool for the Summer was a sweet story about self-discovery and first love. Lately I have been looking to read more books with bisexual characters and this one gave me everything I was looking for. I liked Lara’s character and how she came to terms with who she was. Adler presented some of the internal struggles of realizing you are bisexual. I related to Lara and her internal dialogue as it mirrored my experience with my bi identity.

Another thing I enjoyed about the novel was how it portrayed crushes and how at times we become so focused on the person we like that we forget ourselves. I believe Cool for the Summer did a good job at discussing the dangers of crushes like the one Lara had. Fixating on simply one person lets you forget yourself and your own desires. I think it’s important for teens to have books like this one where desire is celebrated, but at the same time explored in a way that isn’t usually explored in other media. Throughout the story Lara’s friends comment on how her fixation on her crush has overtaken her life to the point where she had a specific idea of this person and their perfection but failed to consider how her personality and who she is would fit with this person.

Cool for the Summer is a short read with great representation of being bi and the self in romantic relationships. I look forward to more works by this author.

Cool for the Summer
by Dahila Adler

This book is fine. The story is fairly basic with pretty basic characters for the trope. It definitely feels YA to me. I recognize I’m not the target age group for this book, but do think it’s an ok read for the demographic.

I appreciate that the story advocates for not being ashamed of your interests that aren’t mainstream and for people to love themselves/have self confidence.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

I do have issues with the story, all of which are just my opinion so take them with a grain of salt.

I didn’t have a reason to really root for Lara to end up with either Chase or Jasmine. Since the story is split into Lara’s summer with Jasmine and current day where she ends up dating Chase almost right off the bat I don’t feel a connection to either love interest. It isn’t until about the 40% mark that we see a connection between Lara and Jasmine, and even later that we understand why she has had a crush on Chase for so long. For almost half of the book Lara has tense/strained interactions with Jasmine, but keeps alluding to their romance. Up until about the last third we’re just told that Lara has always been in love with Chase, that it’s been her dream to date him, etc. but I don’t even begin to understand why until the story is almost over. Particularly because when any time she’s alone with Chase she’s thinking about Jasmine.

Which brings me to the point that Lara doesn’t actually seem that into Chase. Any time she’s with him she’s thinking about Jasmine. Never does she think of Chase in the same capacity when she’s with Jasmine. She’s trying to force herself to rekindle the feelings she had for him before her summer away, but doesn’t actively have feelings for him. This wasn’t a successful love triangle for me because I didn’t feel as if the main character was actually torn between two people, just conflicted about being bisexual. All of which just made me sad and incredibly uncomfortable when Lara was intimate with Chase.

I wish the flashbacks were the main story. Just cut the whole current day at school plot line and focus on the summer. Lara meeting Jasmine, them getting to know each other, flirting, falling for each other, etc. I appreciate the bisexual representation but, in my opinion, it isn’t done well enough. The story would have provided better bi representation if it focused on Lara discovering she was attracted to Jasmine, exploring their romance, and accepting her sexuality. Or maybe if the story wasn’t told in flashbacks, but in a more linear timeline. Where we got to see Lara’s summer with Jasmine and then bring Chase in to temp Lara away from her new love. I don’t know, I just didn’t connect with the story, but that’s ok.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.