Beatrice Quinn has always been special. Her mind has always worked a little bit faster than the other kids' and she's never really understood the appeal of dating or having friends. She's fine on her own, and if she has her way, she'll continue to be fine on her own. But when Beatrice's parents find out she secretly applied to Oxford University and got in, they decide that they'll need their daughter to prove that she won't founder overseas before she spends the next four years of her life across the pond. To ensure that Bea's ready to tackle new experiences, they send her to the one place they're sure she'd never have gone on her own: a prestigious Shakespearean acting camp. Bea's sent along with a Teenage Experience checklist, including items like "prank someone", and "make a friend". During six weeks of a summer that she'll never forget, Bea learns that coming out of her shell isn't as hard as she though it was.

I enjoyed this book! The characters were all interesting people with complicated relationships with acting and complex relationships with one another. Bea's love interest, Nikhil, was absolutely swoony and the friends she made were genuine. It was nice to see Bea grow to understand that friends aren't just yes-men, but are people that you grow with. The only "issue" I had with the book was how different home-Bea seemed from camp-Bea. Bea was much more secluded and unwilling to change at home, and it kind of felt like she didn't have a personality aside from being neurotic. When Bea got to camp, all of her sarcasm and expressiveness came out, making her feel like a much more believable character. I had a hard time justifying the quick personality change, but overall it didn't affect my enjoyment of the novel. My favorite part about Long Story Short was how Bea changed over the novel. I liked that she realized that she wasn't who she thought she was, but was happy and accepting of her new self anyway. Watching her grow to be more comfortable in her own skin was really gratifying. All in all, Long Story Short is a true coming of age novel, with an added twist of nerdiness and Shakespeare.

When socially awkward Beatrice applies to Oxford at 16 and gets in she must convince her parents to let her go. But after being homeschooled and having a very structured and bubbled existence they are reluctant to let her move across the globe. So a challenge is given to go to summer drama camp and complete a list of tasks a normal teenager would do. How will she survive and can she learn to make friends and be a normal teen? A heartwarmingly akward read for anyone who has felt they don't fit in with their peer group and learned to adapt.

*there will be spoilers past halfway in this review*
My heart is so full after finishing this book (which I binged through today, barely stopping to heat up leftovers to eat). I love love love all of these characters, these awkward, endearing theater nerds and their interactions and humor. I thought I’d enjoy this one, which was why I downloaded the ARC (thanks Netgalley), but wasn’t too sure what to expect from Serena Kaylor’s debut (spoiler: I loved it). I’ll definitely be on the lookout for her future books.

Reading Long Story Short reminded me of everything I love about reading YA contemporary romances. The focus on the characters, particularly the growth and development of our adorably prickly and lovably awkward lead Beatrice, and the themes of family and friendship and learning to be comfortable in your own skin, to discover more of who you are and who you can be—these elements have always resonated for me in this genre. I only wish when I was a teenager that I had read these exact books, but even a decade later, I identify a lot with these messy chaotic teens.

Because of contemporary YA’s focus on characters and interpersonal relationships, in order for me to love a YA book, I’ve got to love the main character(s), and I was so pleased to find Beatrice likable from the start. I found her awkwardness endearing and so relatable; small talk is still so awkward and weird for me to make, and I empathized with her questioning of if she’d said the wrong thing to Darla in that first interaction. Bea’s insecurities and uncertainty about how to be a teenager, when being a teenager is such a confusing time to begin with, endeared her to me right away. I loved going on her journey and making immediate lovely friendships with both Mia and Nolan. Their openness to embrace her as she is, to genuinely want to get to know her and understand her, warmed my heart so much. Bea found her people so quickly, and they were there for her every step of the way at theater camp. The examples they set for her taught her so much without her even consciously realizing it, and I loved seeing how close they all got in such a short timespan. Bea learning to live her life and try new experiences made me so proud of her. It wasn’t easy, and she sometimes took steps backwards when things got to be too much, but her friends helped her keep moving along and opening up. When she eventually unlocks a brand new side of herself through her acting, I cheered her on like a proud sibling :’).

Nikhil, her (eventual) real-life Romeo, started off on the wrong foot with Beatrice, and I loved his awkward, bumbling attempts to fix things with her from that point on. Their first meeting had me cackling and cheering for Beatrice, since his initial inattentiveness (whether purposeful or not, I’m not sure if we’ll ever know) provoked her into insulting him; I loved her talking about trying out for the part of Romeo, though, and leaving him at a loss. The stupidity of that remark he made, though, tsk tsk, haha. I figured he’d said it in a moment of wounded pride and anger, which of course turned out to be right. Nik really fumbled around the way Darcy did, since I’m guessing he liked her from the beginning (Nolan was right that Nik was flirting with her on the bus, especially asking about what she thought of love at first sight; I’m still slightly convinced he fell for her at first sight and just kept falling deeper as he got to know her, hehe), but didn’t know how to fix things properly and make his feelings clear. He had to learn slowly what Beatrice needed to understand what was going on, by eventually talking and just straight up telling her (oh, these silly lovesick teens, these dorks), and at the same time, Beatrice needed time to reflect and figure out her own feelings toward Nik, so honestly… it all worked out as it should have. The messy drama, the flirting, the falling, all of it. I adored reading about Beatrice and Nik’s love story (him wanting her to notice him, by calling her by her full first name and also nicknaming her Mouse, and all the Shakespearean love quotes in that Shakespeare-off—what a romantic dork. He’s precious and I love him.). My favorite scenes with them: the laundry room scene for that tension, the post-TP-ing scene in the woods (also for that tension), acting as Romeo and Juliet during practice on the dock, whispering in the blankets during movie night, of course the Shakespeare-off, their first kiss… pretty much all of their scenes, haha.

Speaking of the romantic drama—there wouldn’t have been as much drama without Shelby’s character, and while I called her a bitch and got angry at her multiple times on Bea’s behalf, I loved that we got hints throughout that this was a result of deeper issues Shelby had with herself and the own uncertainty in her life and jealousy of Bea’s situation, too. Shelby turned out to be very human and flawed, and while it didn’t excuse the nasty things she said, Bea sympathized with her and understood her and even extended the offer of friendship after Shelby sincerely apologized. I loved that we got that kind of resolution, and that she wasn’t just the cliche mean girl. Knowing that Shelby and Nolan were twins did help me maintain some faith that she couldn’t be all bad, as Nolan brought Shelby’s struggles up with Bea too.

Can I also say I loved shy, kind Ben? He and Mia seem to be such a good match, and I love that Bea realizes she discounted him for those qualities when they were to be appreciated. He’s a total sweetheart, and I’m glad his sister’s okay. Totally called it though that Bea would get to take his place, hehe. Also the thing about Oxford, of course. I was waiting for that reveal for the whole book and was not disappointed. AHHHHHHHH I just love all of these characters so much and want them all to be happy and succeed at everything. *teary-eyed* I’m so glad I got my preorder in in time for the goodies (preordered when I got a bit over halfway and have not regretted it at all). I know I’ll be rereading this one in the future and holding these characters and their shenanigans close to my heart. It makes me wistful for a Shakespearean theater camp that I would not have thought would sound fun if it hadn’t been for this book, since I haven’t even read much Shakespeare and don't particularly care for his works (it truly amazed me how enjoyable I found all of the Shakespeare in this and glad that I’ve actually read Romeo and Juliet back in high school lit). Maybe I’ll have to get some of those annotated versions of the plays someday to better get the full effect of this book; that’s how much I loved it.

Long Story Short is a wonderful tale about friendship and learning how to stay true to yourself but to also become more accepting of change. This is the debut novel by Serena Kaylor and the story is really special.

You can’t have a contemporary young adult novel without having a love interest. Bea is immediately attracted to leading man and uber popular Nik, but not having been around people much and especially kids her own age, she is not good at interpreting truths and untruths, likes and dislikes, and whether a boy is teasing her or picking on her. Nik starts off making one mistake and spends the rest of the book trying to make nice with Bea but she’s been burned in the past and isn’t keen on trusting her instincts. There’s some great banter between these two and the chemistry sparks off the page. The reader really can’t wait until these two settle their differences and get together.

Despite the typical teen groupings of popular, unpopular, and geeky kids the author portrays friendships as the absolute must-have that is true no matter your age and something that we can all identify and agree is important. I loved the Shakespeare themed summer camp and it was the perfect foil to Bea’s more math-minded brain and the tropes he portrays in his plays are actually quite similar to the cliques you’d find in high school and a perfect world for Bea to stretch her wings. Long Story Short is funny, sweet, and packs an emotional wallop. This author has moved onto my one click list and I’m looking forward to her next novel. I hope she writes quickly! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of LONG STORY SHORT by Serena Kaylor. This book was so cute. I appreciated the neurodivergent rep, and though I don't identify like Bea, I definitely related to how out-of-place and awkward she often felt. I enjoyed all the nostalgic teenage shenaigans, the theater camp fun, and the cute hate-to-love romance. Once said romance really kicked it up a notch is when I got into this book for real. I enjoyed watching Bea grow up a little, step out of her comfort zone, and come into her own. It was a light-hearted, sweet, optimistic kind of story.

This was a fun cute romance! I would definitely recommend to someone who enjoys rom coms. This book comes out tomorrow and I'm sure that people will enjoy this book and its going to get some hype

3.5 rounded to 4

I found this a fast, entertaining read, what years ago would have been called a chrysalis story: the severely introverted girl is forced out of her shell and blossoms at a theater camp, finding friends for the first time, as well as romance.

I think the problem is that these days (and I believe this a good thing) there is more sensitivity to people on the spectrum, as the text hints. Beatrice is not just homeschooled, she basically starves herself at that camp because they don't have the meal plan she has stuck to her entire life. Etc.

I think I would have gotten thoroughly behind this novel if Beatrice had been longing to learn how to socialize, and here was her opportunity. Instead, we're to believe that two loving parents force her totally out of her comfort zone as a condition of going away to college in Oxford, implying they think she--their "little genius"--would not be able to handle an academic setting. Say what? She is an academic through and through.

Also, some of the boys were presented as more pushy than I was comfortable with. Very realistic on the part of teenage boys, but not when the text is implying that it's all right to intimidate, and even manhandle girls for their own good, as a part of socialization. Which the writer certainly is aware of how toxic that can be--the book opens with an obnoxious piece of advice from a teenage boy about how she'd be prettier if she smiled more.

Those things aside, it was a fun read, especially the Shakespeare references. I liked the diversity, but I think what I really liked was Shelby. It's said by some that a book is only as good as its antagonist, and the author took the time to give the antagonist here some complexity, and a story arc. In a way, I kind of wished that it had been her story, though she was highly unpleasant through the first half especially.

Anyway, a fun read, though I'm not sure I'd give it to a reader on the spectrum, unless they expressed a desire to read about someone who makes a radical change toward mainstream socialization.

I absolutely loved this book! Quirky characters- ✔️
Teenage drama - ✔️
Shakespeare- ✔️
An un-put-downable story - ✔️

As a teacher and former book bowl coach, I have read many young adult novels. There are very few books that discuss genius children or Shakespeare, so this was unique in those ways.

The characters each had distinct personalities that made them easy to like or dislike. My favorite characters were Beatrice and Mia. Beatrice is a genius and has been accepted to Oxford University to study Statistics at age 16. Her parents are not willing to send her unless she can prove to them that she can handle social situations and change, and to be a more “normal” teenager. So, they send her off to theater camp for 4 weeks. Mia is one of Bea’s roommates and quickly becomes her best friend. I love how genuinely nice that Mia is and how sarcastically funny that Bea is. While the character of Nik and that story line are also enjoyable, my favorite part of the book was about the friendships. I also loved all of the Shakespeare quotes! 5 stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and #St.Martin’sPress for an ARC of #LongStoryShort by #SerenaKaylor I am looking forward to reading more from this author!

So very glad I read this one!!! Loved watching Beatrice's journey to find herself while at summer camp. Will definitely recommend!!

Beatrice Quinn is just 16 years old but has already been finished with homeschooling for a couple of years. She’s ready to move on with life, which means her dream of attending Oxford University to study statistical genetics. She secretly applied and got accepted. But her parents don’t feel she’s ready to leave home; she’s not exactly had a normal childhood or teen life and has shied away from socializing with kids her age.

So Beatrice and her parents work out a deal. If she can accomplish a list of normal teen activities and milestones at a six-week theater camp across the country, they will allow her to attend Oxford. It sounds like it should be easy, but it seems like a high summit to climb for the math-inclined Beatrice. However, she’ll do anything to go to her dream school.

Her first hurdle is to make friends, and she accomplishes that; her roommate, Mia, and a boy in the costuming section of the camp take her under their wings. That’s particularly helpful since she comes up against the popular, and talented, and gorgeous, son of the camp owners. Almost everything about him rubs her the wrong way. And while the camp performs Shakespeare (and this year’s end-of-camp production is Romeo and Juliet), Nik is rather the Darcy to her Elizabeth. She knows how to be annoyed at someone, but not exactly how to handle being attracted to that someone as well.

As it becomes clear to everyone else that Nik and Beatrice have chemistry, it certainly isn’t clear to Bea (as her friends decide to call her). Why can’t relationships have simple rules to follow, like math?

This cute story follows Bea as she learns how to navigate the tricky territory of friendships and romance, as she comes out of her shell and finds new parts of herself she didn’t know could exist. It’s fun and sweet and features a nice romance, as well as plenty of Shakespeare quotes. A solid debut.

Long Story Short
by Serena Kaylor
4.5 stars
Beatrice was homeschooled and never really had any teenage experience so when she drops the bomb on her parents that she has gotten accepted into Oxford, her parents are worried about how she will act around social groups. They devise a plan to send her on a little experiment to theater camp to branch out and try some teenage stuff.
Beatrice isn't thrilled to go camping and socialize but she will do anything to go to Oxford. As Beatrice gets to camp and starts to make friends and have fun she realizes it's fun to do stuff out of your comfort zone sometimes.

This book is a YA little romance and growing into your own, it is adorable. I enjoyed reading about Beatrice growing into her skin and learning more about herself. The beginning was slow at first then once she got to camp it picked up and I couldn't put it down. She learns so many experiences along the way and just blossoms. It's enjoyable to read it all and the enemies to lovers between Beatrice and a cutie at camp, even though the cutie at camp comes off a little mean at first he does try so hard to show that he made a mistake and he wants to make it better and he also has a crush on Beatrice.
Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC for an honest review

I will have to come back to this book at a later time when life isn't busy. I did want to read it though and will sometime in the future. I'm sorry work is busy with deadlines.

For now it's a will come back to later.

I was so excited when I found out I got an ARC of this book from NetGalley (thank you, thank you, thank you!)

The main character of our story is Beatrice, a 16-year-old girl. She has been homeschooled her whole life, and has a lot of difficulty being around other people to the point where she’ll just retreat into herself and stay silent. She graduated high school early, and secretly applied to Oxford. Beatrice finds out that she was accepted, and fearfully tells he parents that she plans to go (which would require a cross-continent move). Her parents are stunned and end up giving her an ultimatum: prove to them that she can exist on her own without their support and she can go to Oxford. They decide that Beatrice will attend a Shakespeare theater camp to check of the boxes. The list for The Teenager Experience Experiment has items:
1. Make a friend
2. Share a secret
3. Walk up to someone and make small talk
4. Accept an invitation you don’t want to
5. Do an outdoor activity
6. Pull a prank
7. Execute a dare
8. Hug three people
Beatrice ends up befriending her roommate, Mia and Nolan, and finding rivals in Nik and Shelby. Bea, Mia, and Nolan bond quite quickly, and eventually add some more items to the checklist.
9. Flirt with someone for the sheer hell of it
10. Dance with abandon
11. Kiss someone
This story continues with lots of adventures for our trip from shopping to lake swimming to Shakespeare quote competitions and learning how to flirt. Bea continuously grows throughout her adventures, finding friends and someone to care about.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. There were certain points where characters would talk and act in very strict, stereotypical ways, which occasionally made it difficult to dive deeper into the story. However, they all had so much heart and were so lovable that I could breeze right past it. Seeing the mental illness rep was wonderful, and I thought having her therapy sessions even while she was at camp was a great touch. Watching Bea transform into someone who is comfortable growing and changing while still being true to herself was probably my favorite part. Bea is such a charming MC, and I found myself cheering her on at every turn. The story is certainly a little predictable (which I enjoy in stories like this), and the payoff that happens at the end left me with a full heart. I honestly can’t believe that this is Serena Kaylor’s debut, she has made a fan out of me!

Classic teen rom-com fare!

Although we have many of the classic YA romance tropes, it was definitely interesting to experience it all through the lens of a neurodivergent heroine. Bea was awkward at times, but also endearing. While she genuinely did not see or understand things the way neurotypical individuals tend to she was willing to learn and grow, albeit reluctantly at first. But luckily she found a pair of friends who were willing to walk arm and arm with her while she navigated this wholly new experience.

The book was short, sweet, and easy to read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I'm gonna try to keep this short (haha, I'm so funny) but overall, I didn't really have the best time with this book.

Funny enough, I was so hyped for it that I preordered it and requested it on NetGalley the second it became available. Maybe my hopes were too high because of that, but still.

In this story where our MC Beatrice is supposed to learn how to navigate friendships, socializing and love for the first time, I found that everything and everyone felt extremely forced and flat. The two friendships she makes right off the bat are extremely hard to believe, as Beatrice does not put in nearly as much energy into them as they are putting into her. Even when the MC was interacting with the love interest, it felt like she did not want to be talking to him. I know the plot of the story is that she's forced to go to camp, but it felt like everything that Beatrice did was done against her will, even the things that were supposed to be moving the story foward. At this point, just let her go back home or something, you know?

For that reason, I could not see any chemistry between her and Nik. I am still trying to understand how I was supposed to root for them. I love enemies to lovers and I love opposites attract, but... Seriously, there was nothing about their relationship that felt plausible to me. There is no way that they'd last more than 15 minutes in the real world.

All in all, I think this book had a lot of potential and I really wish I had loved it as much as I thought I would. But I didn't end up caring enough about the characters or the plot to be completely immersed in the story. This was a really big disappointment, to be honest. ☹️

As always, don't hesitate giving a book I didn't love a shot if it sounds like something you might still like! Book opinions are subjective and this is just mine! Hopefully you'll get a better experience with it than I did!

I've been obsessed with this book for literal years, and am so excited for it to debut into the world this week! Such a fun, charming, heartwarming read. One of my favorite things about this book are the side characters, who are so unique, lovable, and real- particularly Mia and Nolan. As a protagonist, Bea is so relatable and easy to root for, and I love being inside her head. The Shakespeare scenes are SO well done, and will be killer when this becomes a movie. This novel is just absolutely the most perfect summer escape, and all of you who get to read it for the first time are in for a treat!

This book was super cute! I rally identified with the main character, Beatrice because she is a total nerd but also like theater. I felt like this was a really good debut novel from an author.

Beatrice Quinn is shocked when she gets into Oxford, but not as surprised as her parents! They didn't even know that their intelligent, shy daughter who loves routines (she eats the same meals on the same day every week) applied and they cannot imagine sending their sixteen-year-old overseas. So they strike a deal: if Beatrice goes to theater camp and completes a series of tasks (make a friend, accept an invitation, get hugged by three people), they'll agree that she's experienced teenage life and is ready for Oxford.

This is rather charming YA story about coming of age and finding yourself. Beatrice is absolutely adorable and a wonderful, feisty, intelligent, heroine that I could get completely behind! I was a little wary about this story because I'm not a huge fan of books where we need to take the plain intelligent girl and transform her into a beautiful person who no longer focuses on the intelligence that she cared about before. Luckily, STORY does not seem to want to change Bea too much, though it hovers on a little too much for me at times.

Bea completely lucks out in meeting Mia, her roommate, who takes her under her wing and has no problem that her shy and awkward roommate is at camp with a checklist. She embraces it completely, as does Mia's friend, Nolan, who is a total sweetie. Like much of STORY, there's a lot of good luck and a bit too much cheeriness, because, let's face it, kids can be cruel. And don't worry, there's plenty of teenage bullying for poor Beatrice, but it's isolated to a couple of kids. Still, I loved the friendship between Mia, Nolan, and Bea, and they are so cute.

Bea's love interest, Nik, offers a great love/hate relationship and they give us palpable (YA appropriate) chemistry. Things drag a small bit as Bea wonders maybe one or two too many times about his intentions and her place in the world. Overall, though, it's a sweet romance and a lovely story. The themes of finding yourself, friendship, and first love are presented in a unique and fun way. And, seriously, Bea is pretty amazing for surviving theater camp--I honestly thought her parents were monsters for that touch.

Overall, this is a fun, touching, and poignant YA rom-com.

Because I’m a nerdy math teacher, my review as an equation:

intelligent homeschooled teenager - social skills + Shakespeare theater camp + enemies to lovers = wonderful read!

This book! I cannot tell you how enjoyable this debut was! Usually I wait until I’ve finished a book to start telling everyone I know about it, but this was so much fun that I started talking it up to other romance/theater lovers mid-read.
Sixteen-year-old Beatrice has been homeschooled by her relationship therapist parents in Berkeley, CA, and has successfully avoided almost all socialization, learning everything she can from books. She secretly applies to Oxford University, her dream school, and is accepted - but her parents worry that she isn’t ready for such a significant change to her well-established (and well-enjoyed) routine. All three come to a compromise that Beatrice attends a theater summer camp in Connecticut for six weeks over the summer and, if successful there, she can attend Oxford. To help her measure her progress, Beatrice and her parents construct a list of activities on “The Teenager Experience Experiment” for her to accomplish at camp: make a friend, share a secret, accept an invitation you don’t want, etc. Bea, as christened by her new roommate, is embraced by some of the camp participants. The day-to-day summer camp fun mixed with the theater rehearsals made me miss being in high school - but also remember the petty jealousy and other rude behaviors that appear alongside teenagers trying to figure out who they are.
Long Story Short comes out Tuesday, 7/26, and if you’re a theater/math nerd like I am or just want to enjoy a well-written YA novel about the challenge of leaving your comfort zone. I can’t wait to recommend it to my high school students! Thank you Wednesday Books, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Title: Long Story Short
Author: Serena Kaylor
Genre: YA
Rating: 5 out of 5

Growing up homeschooled in Berkeley, California, Beatrice Quinn is a statistical genius who has dreamed her whole life of discovering new mathematical challenges at a school like Oxford University. She always thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. But while math has always made sense to Beatrice, making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents are worried about sending her halfway across the world. The compromise: the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of "normal" teenager and won't spend the rest of her life hiding in a library.

Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don't follow any rules, and there is no equation for teenage interactions. When she's adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the popular—and, annoyingly gorgeous—British son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than calculus. With her future on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than your fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice realize that there’s more to life than she can find in the pages of a book?

This was such a fun, sweet book! It was a bit like reading from a female Sheldon Cooper’s POV. Bea is clueless about so many things, but fortunately she manages to make a couple of good friends who help show her the way. The secondary characters are wonderful, and I loved them a lot. Nik came off as jerk at first, but it was soon easy to see the truth of him (Well, I could see it. Bea definitely couldn’t.). This was such a relatable read, and made me laugh out loud several times.

Long Story Short is Serena Kaylor’s debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)