I received a digital ARC from Wednesday Books via NetGalley.

This story was enjoyable. I appreciated the friendship dynamics, and how each character learned from the others. I especially liked Mia, and how she forced Bea out of her comfort zone.

There are so many good YA novels coming out this summer but this one is extra cute!

Beatrice is a 16 year old girl who has just gotten into Oxford but when her parents find out, they aren’t as thrilled as you might expect. You see, Beatrice is a girl that refuses to leave her comfort zone. She has her “uniform” (as her mother calls it) of khaki’s and earth shade polos, eats the same meals on the designated night of the week, and limits all her social interactions to ones she is forced into. Her parents are understandably worried about throwing her out into the world on her own.

Together they all come up with a comprise. A summer acting camp to get Beatrice out of her comfort zone but in a controlled environment. The catch, she also has a list of teenage experiences she must check off while she is there.

This is a hilarious, laugh out loud journey Kaylor has invited us along for and I am here for it. I was rooting for Beatrice and all her quirky theater friends. And honestly, is there any better place to find yourself then at a Shakespearean summer camp?? The love interest was top notch and I loved their little feud.

Content Warning: mild language, bullying, kisses

Who doesn’t love an awkward teen making their way through life trying to figure out the awkwardness of being an actual teenager ?

Beatrice being homeschooled has made her so socially awkward it was cute to read. Her new friends Mia and Nolan were totally the perfect support team for this story ! Helping guide her through her first summer at theatre camp before moving England to attend Oxford in the fall.

If you’re looking for a cute coming of age teen story with a touch of romance this is the absolute perfect read for you ! Thank you so much for letting me read this book before publish !

Maybe it's my love of Romeo and Juliet (which I've taught to 9th graders for 16 years) or it's that Beatrice is so relatable in the way she is trying to find herself in the world and find comfort in who she truly is. Maybe it's the enemies to lovers trope (my favorite) or maybe it's the way that the author crafted the perfect summer camp friendships and experiences. For me, this book was just perfect and a delight to read. I love when a book surprises me and this one did! The wit, banter and all those lines from the Romeo and Juliet! When homescholled (genius) Beatrice wants to attend Oxford in the fall, her parents are concerned that her quirky qualities and lack of relationships with peers will hold her back from success. They craft a list of expectations for her to complete and send her to theater camp. Everything that follows is just fantastic. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion..

I would like to note that I am not currently diagnosed with autism but it is strongly suspected by many people and I am seeking an assessment. However, when I was reading this book, I consulted my friends and family who do have diagnoses to make sure that the things I found distressing were in fact bad (spoiler alert: they were).
This is going to be a pretty long review, so let me summarize it for this of you who don’t want to read it: I found this book to offensive, upsetting to read, and if I had read it a few years ago, I would have come away with the idea that I had to fundamentally change myself and be around people that called me a “robot”, asked if I had feelings, and criticized my needs, because those people were my “friends”.
If this is all that you read of my review, I would also ask that you not attack the author on any social media platforms. That’s not cool.
Onto the longer portion!
I would like to reiterate that Beatrice as a portrayal of an autistic person was accurate and well done. I am NOT criticizing that at all. In fact, it felt very refreshing to see myself on the page.
What was upsetting was the way the author and the story treated Beatrice. Beatrice herself was not the problem, but I will get into that in a later section.
I would like to note that on the page Beatrice is not stated to be autistic or neurodiverse. It is implied, but she was never assessed (in chapter 2, her parents pulled her out of preschool at the age of 4 so she didn’t get “diagnosed with anything”...that’s a direct quote).
Beatrice is not diagnosed because of the author’s personal decision (stated on Twitter). She says that she doesn’t feel like labels have helped her all that much, and I respect that. I would like to note that 3.4% of children’s books have disabled (including neurodivergent) characters (bookriot statistic). There are no studies about how many YA books have disabled characters, but I would assume that to be a similar percentage.
My problem with Beatrice being undiagnosed on page is that the author continually advertises her book as having ND representation (on Twitter and Instagram). However there is no statement in the book that Beatrice is autistic or neurodiverse. When I pick up a book that advertises itself as ND rep, I expect that to be stated on the page in at least some way (book genre and character situation permitting, obviously, and Bea’s situation and book genre made it very possible for her to obtain a diagnosis). And not only did this not happen, it didn’t happen intentionally. And that is a bit irritating to me.
(this didn’t really affect the rating for the book, as I found out about most of it after finishing said book, but I did feel that it was important to note)
As I mentioned above, Beatrice was in a situation where she was able to obtain a diagnosis, but didn’t get one. Let me elaborate a bit more.
Both of Beatrice’s parents are therapists (who regularly break HIPPA for the plot, but that’s a different issue that I won’t really be getting into in this review). Beatrice is also seeing a therapist outside of her family.
Beatrice’s family is also rather well-off, as they send her to a theater camp with the “New York Elite” which seems like it would cost quite a bit of money. Beatrice is also white. Her parents should have said “Beatrice is autistic, let’s use our combined therapist contacts to get her a diagnosis because our therapist skills let us know that people with diagnoses grow up with higher self-esteem and have other benefits.” but instead they went “Beatrice is probably autistic, and also she’s 4, so let’s homeschool her forever.”
That is…not okay. Her parents then proceeded to enroll her in a theater summer camp (something she wasn’t interested in) to try and make her “a normal teenager”. Shouldn’t therapists know that forcing people to be normal never ends well? I am still confused about why they didn’t send her to a science camp where she could have connected with those who had similar interests. Anyway those are my problems with the family.
As a character who was autistic, Beatrice was well-done. She was a savant, which is generally frowned upon by the autistic community because of the misleading stereotypes and assumptions that it leads neurotypical people to have, however that was my only issue with her.
I was really glad that there was another character who was a picky eater and had sensory issues. She also loves routines and doesn’t enjoy change at all. I relate to all of this and so it was really refreshing to see it on a page! It made me feel seen and that is something that rarely happens in YA literature.
My other big issues were the relationship Beatrice had with Nik and the implications this will have for readers who may try to learn social rules from this relationship, and Beatrice with her friends and what will happen to readers who think this behavior is normal.
Nik, the love interest, is cruel to Beatrice and never properly apologizes to her. He is portrayed as this dashing man who only teases Beatrice, however Beatrice doesn’t…know he’s teasing most of the time. Her friends tell her that. However I feel like actions speak for themselves and so I want to give you a list of things that Nik has done.
-called her ugly
-did not shut down comments about her being a virgin or a robot (it is good for lovers to stick up for each other)
-called her a robot
-asked her if she “felt anything at all”
-asked her if she was hiding behind her facts and words to avoid being a real person
-mocked her for always running away from him after he does some of the aforementioned stuff
-apologized in the last 10% of the book, and only for calling her ugly…not for any of the other things
-called her beautiful and tried to flirt with her IMMEDIATELY after apologizing
None of this is okay to me. If I had read this as a 13 year old, when I thought I was unlovable outside of my family because I didn’t see anyone else like me, and was reading books to try and figure out how to socialize, I would have come away with some terrible messages. One of them would have been: a man who is incredibly rude to you because of your autistic traits is in fact secretly into you and just mean to you because he likes you. This would have probably put me in a variety of dangerous situations.
And the “he’s just mean to you because he likes you” trope is outdated and isn’t actually true in real life. It teaches young people (especially young AFAB people) that you should stay around people who are cruel to you because they secretly care and will show that eventually. As one can imagine, this could lead to a variety of unhealthy and abusive relationships where people stay with their partners because they think this is how the world should work.
There is a time and a place for toxic romances that are so terrible you just have to keep turning the page for more…a rom com is not that place. In my opinion, a rom-com is a place where people should see themselves in relationships that are nice and supportive and fluffy…not things like this.
And Beatrice’s friends supported her relationship with Nik and the “he’s just mean to you because he likes you” ideal, and this is not the only thing her friends did, and we shall get into that right now.
Beatrice’s friends…I have many issues with them. They are supposed to be the people that encourage Beatrice to get out of her shell and grow into herself and everything like that. However they constantly shame Beatrice for her neurodivergent traits and try to change things about her, as well as push her to be with Nik.
One of Beatrice’s friends, Nolan, refers to her as having a “robot mode” and sometimes makes comments like “Beatrice’s robot mode is back” which is…offensive. So very offensive. I'll explain.
Many autistic people (often AFAB) do something called masking. This is when they act like a neurotypical person to fit in and avoid being bullied. Autistic people unmask around those that they are close to, so close friends and/or loved ones. Beatrice is unmasking and Nolan is mocking her for it.
Nolan also mocks her for picky eating and for being change-averse, which are also typical autistic traits. He also hugs her a lot despite Beatrice not wanting to be touched.
Beatrice’s other friend, Mia, is even worse. She tells Beatrice that she is selfish for not wanting to hug characters at Disney World (or DisneyLand, I honestly can’t remember) and tells her that she doesn’t actually care about her parents because of this. She tells Beatrice that she is not good at social relationships because of her selfishness. She also implies the same thing when she learns about how Beatrice is picky at home too.
Then to make matters worse, Beatrice’s therapist also tells Beatrice she is selfish for these things.
I want to say something else. People with neurodivergent traits are not selfish. People who are picky eaters are not selfish. I have often wished I could be less picky with food and tried to be less picky…and guess what, I am still picky with food. And that isn’t something that should be shamed. Yet Beatrice’s friends (AND HER THERAPIST) engage in this behavior.
They also take her shopping for new clothes and peer pressure her into buying them, peer pressure her into going to parties with alcohol involved even though she doesn’t want to go to them, and tease her about her sensory issues. This is not okay and should not be normalized.
Once again, if I was a 12-13 year old reading this book I would have come away with the conclusion that I should hang out with people who mocked me for my differences and tried to make me more normal.
Since I have been very negative, I did want to highlight that the author wrote a diverse cast. The love interest, Nik, was Southeast Asian (I believe). Mia was black and bisexual and Nolan was gay. It was nice to see all of that in the book and not have it be portrayed in a stereotyped manner! I’m always happy to read diversity in books!
The author intended to write a story about pushing boundaries without changing who a person is, but she failed. She wrote a book where the main character has her autistic traits ridiculed throughout the story until she learns to mask them and “be more normal”. The book ends with Beatrice’s parents rejoicing because she is more normal and asking her to continue being like that (such great therapists /s).
Once again, I am asking people to not attack the author. Not liking the book does not mean people can or should hound the author about it.
I would not recommend this book to anyone, as I found it incredibly offensive and distressing. I would have more to say, but I don’t want to write too much more. I hope that this author writes better books in the future, as I really did enjoy her writing style and storytelling abilities. That is why I’m giving this book 1 star.

I thought this was a great YA book and I am definitely glad a read it. I was also homeschooled but I am no genius.

I think this was a good story about getting out of your comfort zone and exploring life. I would definitely recommend it.

Long story short - READ. THIS. BOOK!!

Sarcastic enemies to lovers.
Shakespeare.
Summer camp.
What more could a reader want?? I loved how Bea gained her confidence (and friends) throughout this book. I kind of figured out the ending early on, but the writing was great and I really enjoyed seeing Bea grow into herself and learn about friendship and love as she figures out who she is as a person.

this book was really sweet! i loved all the characters and the storyline was compelling. it read kind of like a long lost plot of a missing 2000s romcom, which i loved. the only thing i really struggled with was that bea’s (at least to me) obvious neurodivergency was never named beyond the fact that she had a therapist. (unless i missed it at the very beginning and it was never brought up again?) i’m not saying she needed a specific diagnosis or anything but the way she acted and the story as a whole i think would have been more meaningful and impactful if it had been acknowledged in the text that she was neuedivergent and not just quirky. i loved mia and nolan though and i loved shelby and nik’s arcs though! overall a fun read.

SPOILERS FOR NETGALLY:
oh set piece disappearing to display too people kissing in what they thought was a private moment trope my beloved. genuinely i have loved it since love actually. mia and nolan being helpful about the list instead of weird about it and fully accepting bea but still pushing her outside her comfort zone was so lovely. and i struggled with the arc with nik and bea had but at the end i was rooting for them which is what matters.

This was a really fun read. I enjoyed being immersed in life at a Shakespeare theatre camp, the banter was great, and I loved the MC's friends Mia and Nolan. At times the characterization of the main character, Bea, felt a bit uneven, but I was rooting for her all the way.

Beatrice just got accepted into Oxford, but as a nearly recluse teenager, her parents have reservations about her leaving for a England on her own. To prove that she can handle all the changes and socializing that comes with college, Beatrice has been given a list of “normal teenage experiences” to complete while attending theater camp. Beatrice is determined to complete the list so she can get to the only thing that matters to her, Oxford. Serena Kaylor has written an entertaining and witty book for teens that includes just enough drama, romance, and cringe-worthy encounters that readers of all ages will enjoy.

To read or not to read? That simply is no longer the question.

Love love loved! This is THE delightful summer YA rom com that everyone needs to add to their TBRs immediately.

Beatrice is a self proclaimed awkward homeschool teen who likes things…a certain way. She’s been hurt and bullied and has taken herself out of the social scene. In order to get to her dream school she needs to spend 4 weeks at summer camp doing everything that makes her feel anxious.

I loved watching Bea blossom and realize sometimes the most dangerous boxes are the ones we build around ourselves!

Why read this book?
- a wonderful and colorful cast of main AND supporting characters that give you all there feels
- a woodsy summer camp setting
- Shakespeare and drama camp (I have been in performing arts all my life so this spoke to me)
- A little loathe to love action with wit inspired by Mr. Darcy himself
- An engaging inclusive book about learning to love yourself and finding those people who will love you as you are too.

“His voice washed over me, and he was young love embodied…He was secret meetings in a garden…he was yearning and relief and every sticky feeling I’ve ever had rolled up into one.”

This book made me one happy camper (pun intended) and I hope you give it a chance too! Thank you @wednesday_books and @netgalley for the arc. I can’t wait to see what this author writes next.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was a cute summer read! It took me a little while to get into it but once I did, I could not stop reading. Bea and Nik’s banter was fun, and I liked how their romance wasn’t rushed. I recommend if you’re looking for a quick and easy YA romance!

Perhaps a 2.5, as there were some things I enjoyed here: I was so here for the Shakespeare summer camp setting and all the theater that comes along with that, as I just don’t see enough theater in fiction. I really enjoyed Beatrice’s friends Mia and Nolan and appreciated that we could trust them and never saw them disappoint her. Nik and Bea had some fun dialogue, but I was disappointed that we didn’t see him really trying to understand her or get to know her the way Mia and Nolan did.

However, the characterization and framing of the main character, Beatrice, really does not sit right with me. She seems very coded as neurodivergent and specifically autistic, and yet there is nothing there on the page to clarify. Other than a missed opportunity for clear representation and confusing depiction, it particularly bothers me that Beatrice is labeled consistently as awkward, abnormal, sheltered, etc as an explanation when she clearly seems to be neurodivergent. While some of the representation/descriptions were very relatable to me and I felt seen by them, and her character did have some welcome dimensions beyond these characteristics, I was more frustrated by how they were always framed by “Bea is awkward” and “doesn’t know how to be social yet.” I’m not sure if this is own voices and what the editorial decision was here, but it was consistently off-putting at best to me.

Thank you to Netgalley + the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect for fans of Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, “Long Story Short” by Serena Taylor is a YA rom-com that follows Beatrice Quinn, a teen who finds herself at a theater summer camp.

Sheltered and homeschooled, Beatrice has always wanted to go to Oxford because she's well, a math genius. When her parents send her to the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy to make friends, she has to learn how to be a normal teenager. Things get complicated when she butts heads with the son of the camp founders.

Serena Taylor's debut is a worth-while story.

After seeing so many people praise this book, I downloaded it on a whim and ended up really enjoying it! It’s been a while since I’ve a good, fun camp story, so this book was something I really needed at that moment. Long Story Short follows a homeschooled genius who finds new friends and possibly love at a Shakespearean theater camp.

Homeschooled and eager to get out of Berkeley, Beatrice is thrilled when she finds out she’s accepted to Oxford at the age of 16 for their statistical genetics program. There’s just one thing holding her back: her parents. They’re worried about her living in England by herself since she has yet to break from a strict routine she sets for herself. To prove that she can do it, Bea agrees to go to a Shakespearean theater camp and accomplish “normal” teenager things, such as making a friend and overall getting out of her element. There, she befriends her roommate Mia and her friend Nolan while also seemingly making an enemy of Nik, the camp’s golden boy.

While Bea does not have specific representation on-page due to her parents not wanting her to “be diagnosed into a box,” it’s evident that she is neurodivergent. She eats the same meals on a particular schedule and has some difficulty acknowledging social cues. I liked reading about her growing over the course of the books and opening herself up to new experiences while also remaining her prickly self.

I liked the characters! Mia and Nolan take Bea under their wing immediately, showing her around the camp and encouraging her to accomplish the “normal” teenager task list. They actually also add some more tasks to it, including dancing without abandon and kissing somebody. While they respect Bea’s boundaries, they also know that she needs a push to get out of her comfort zone sometimes. I liked seeing how passionate Mia and Nolan were about their respective fields, acting and fashion design, too.

Nik also proves to be an interesting character. Bea disagrees with him from their very first conversation and dislikes him from then on. However, the camp is small and they’re in the same concentration so they can’t stop running into each other. Although they clash a lot, it’s clear that he brings something out in Bea. I liked seeing her gradually see she likes him despite also disagreeing with him.

Again, this is a story centered around a camp setting. I liked the writing and reading about all the hijinks that usually occur at summer camps, Shakespearean component aside. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book, and I’m intrigued to see what this author writes next!

Long Story Short is a story about opening yourself up to new experiences and discovering new friends. I liked the characters, and the romance was very cute. If you’re looking for a fun summer contemporary, you should pick up Long Story Short!

(3.895 stars because a solid four stars feels too generous) I don't love books that try to tell teenagers to change every little thing about themselves in order to become the person they're meant to be. I also don't love how the author gave the main character autistic tendencies and wrote them off as 'quirks'.

But I can't deny that this was a cute, fun read. The love interests had real chemistry and I loved all the side characters (minus our MC's parents, they can go rot somewhere. We only love parents who support their children REGARDLESS of their personality) This was just joyful, Shakespearean fun. Definitely recommended if you want a light read this summer.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced reader copy!

I LOVEDDD reading this!! I read it while I was in Florida so it just made the summer theater camp vibes so much better.

I actually really liked Beatrice and her friends they’re so hilarious and fun to me. I heard about this book on TikTok and I was told it was an enemies to lovers so you know I just haddd to read. Personally, I didn’t really likeee the way it became an enemies situation but to be fair the MC also didn’t understand social cues and such so it did make sense.

I thought it was a cute fun book to read though and just watching her grow out of her shell and appreciate life more as a teenager
HAHAHA I LOVEDD GJE ENDING AND THE ‘MERCUTIO AND ROMEO CHEMISTRY’
4.5 :)!

I just reviewed Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Long Story Short will go up there as one of my FAVORITE YA reads.

Bea has been homeschooled her whole life, a gifted mathematician who sticks to a very set schedule. Same meal plan each week, same outfit. Bea recently got accepted to Oxford but her parents will only let her go under one condition: go to summer camp and learn how to be a teenager.

Thus comes Bea's fun journey through Shakespearen summer camp. She's got Mia as an adventurous roommate and Shelby as the mean girl roommate. She's got Nolan as the costumer with ALL the best advice. She's got a list that her parents made that will prove she's socialized and experienced being a teen. What she doesn't have a playbook for? BOYS. Especially ones named Nik.

Serena Kaylor shines in her debut read, Long Story Short. Kaylor gives strength and power to every character written on page. I automatically clicked in with neurodivergent Bea and her journey to discover who she really was. I also NEED a follow up story on Mia and where everyone is in a few years. The setting is realistic and the Shakespeare element is written with depth. I personally look forward to all that Kaylor will bring to this world.

This is a cute YA story of a homeschooled Beatrice going to theater camp before college at Oxford to learn to "be a teenager." Bea honestly didn't seem very real - she was very one dimensional and stereotypical. Other supporting characters were more intriguing.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really cute, easy and surprising read :) I very much enjoyed the FMC coming of age journey with all its awkwardness, camp fun and new relationships. I love how the FMC wasn’t what society calls “typical” for a teenager but it was shown that there is spots for everyone and no one is really typical anyways. Add in some zany camp adventures, Shakespeare and the nickname “Mouse” for the “cherry on the top” of this delightful read.