Well I gobbled this one up! Such a cute and fun and meaningful story about growing up and finding love and loving who you are. Not importantly about testing boundaries and going on adventures. It was sweet and lovely. I highly recommend this one to all teens, people who love coming of age stories, and anyone who loves Shakespeare like my daughter proves ice cream… that’s a lot!

Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

Thank You Netgalley for the arc!! :)
To start off i was really excited to read this after reading the description. This was a cute rom-com, and enemies to lovers book. I related to bea alot throughout the book .I liked her friendship with Mia and Nolan.. However i found them to be kinda pushy sometimes. Her parents did get me frustrated at moments. Nik didn’t really catch my interest that much as well. And the fact her parents were trying to completely change her didn’t sit well with me. I did still enjoy reading this :)
(to cheesy for my taste but was still a fun quick read)

I liked that the characters and the relationships between the characters felt realistic. Some of it was kind of cheesy, but that's always expected from a YA contemporary.

I enjoyed this YA rom com by author Serena Kaylor.

Math genius Beatrice was hard for me to relate to at first, but once out of her element she really grew on me as a character. I enjoyed her growth as she learned more about herself.

The found family was great, but the romance took me awhile to get into.

Overall, an enjoyable YA rom-com!

I actually ended up really enjoying this!!! At first I was really frustrated with the main character. In the words of Olivia Rodrigo, it seemed like she was always “1 step forward, and 3 steps back” but gradually she stopped making retreats and really grew into herself. The setting was really cool and I loved the hints of Jane Austen that I saw in there. I love the friends our MC made and how she grew to appreciate both herself and her family. Beatrice (Bea) is really different from most ya protagonists that we get in ya lit but I think she’s such an important character to have! I really loved this book and loved how it ended and would recommend

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced readers copy & Wednesday Books. All opinions are my own!!

Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What do you get when you add theater camp, anxiety ridden teenagers, Shakespeare, no nonsense main character and a well done hate to love relationship? You get this gorgeously crafted coming of age story about Beatrice Quinn & Nik & Mia & Nolan & even Shelby.

I stayed up WAY past my bedtime to binge read this & it was so worth it. This story made me feel all the things!! 🎭🌲☀️💖✨

A mostly clean read with relatable but complicated feelings and angst. Beatrice was unapologetically herself while still learning how to navigate new places and new people/ relationships.

& Nik was the Darcy to Bea’s Liz & them together was *chefs kiss!!! ( I could’ve died from their banter alone ahhhhhh)

LONG STORY SHORT COMES OUT EVERYWHERE JULY 26 2022.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Super fun and mostly light-hearted. And omg I was so emotionally invested in Bea 😭

This was a great heart-warming YA novel. I loved the setting, the relationship development, and the friendships we got to see. Overall, this is such a good coming of age story for young adults who are grappling with their own confidence and future.

While I wasn't homeschooled, I did really relate to Beatrice's social anxiety and introversion. I think this is a novel that would have been very beneficial for me as a young adult and I hope it gives today's teenagers the comfort they need as they navigate their own social circles.

Thank you to the publisher, author and netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

3.85⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!
release date: july 26 2022!

this was overall a really entertaining read. i mean, an enemies to lovers that takes place in a theatre camp? where they’re producing romeo and juliette?? i mean come on!!

i loved both the characters, their banter was great! nik, you are one of a kind, i love you ❤️‍🩹

i also love the genius trope so having the mc as one was really cool! seeing her learn to adapt to the “regular teenage life” was incredibly entertaining & i love seeing her character develop & change!

i do however wish the ending wasn’t so rushed!

Beatrice has been homeschooled most of her life. After a bad experience with her peers she's sheltered herself from life itself. When she gets into her dream school her parents don't approve and thinks she needs some life experiences to prove she's ready. They agree to think about sending her to Oxford only if she attends a theater summer camp. She thinks she'll jist hide in the shadows but the more friends she makes and even an enemy or two proves she's been missing out.

Long Story Short but was quick, cute read with lots of teen angst. I'm not much of a theater person but i loved all the Shakespeare quotes and especially the interactions between Beatrice and Nik. Mia and Nolan were such fun characters and really proved what friendship means!

I really expected to love this book and I liked most of it, there were two huge things that annoyed me though. Beatrice drove me mad, she was so whiny to the point that I almost gave up on this book. Although she got better at times she just complained so much that I took away from my reading experience. Second, I was expecting this book to be set at a camp and there was no camp energy. The cabins felt more like dorms and this felt like more of a theatre intensive than a camp. That's not a bad thing I just felt it could have been better advertised as such.

I think I must have inhaled this book in an afternoon. It was completely unputdownable, I really felt like I was transported to a Shakespeare summer camp and following Beatrice’s journey to finding herself. I did some googling and I have to say I really appreciated that the author was looking to explore the experience of someone who is autistic, despite that not being explicit in the text. The exploration of someone who is clearly neurodivergent, grappling with being forced to partake in activities her parents deem as “normal” for teenagers her age was really sensitively done. It was also just really fun? I think Beatrice was a force to be reckoned with and I loved that while she was committed to her own worldview, that having new experiences really challenged her to look beyond them. Something I also didn’t think I’d love as much as I did was how great her friends were? You could really see how much they loved and cared about her and challenged her to open up her heart to new experiences. Her growth over the course of the story felt natural and her relationship with Nik was so fantastic. I like that they both had misconceptions and prejudices against once another, and learned how to move beyond them. OBV I am never against an enemies-to-lovers story and set against the backdrop of a summer camp before starting university? Also, the little incorporations of Shakespeare were so fun! It was so easy to root for Beatrice and I loved every minute of this.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**Review will be published on my sites July 21st, 2022

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

I had a few friends rave about this book so I was sufficiently hyped by the time I picked it up, and it did not disappoint. LST was incredible and I’m in awe at this debut.

I resonated with Beatrice so much. I love that she was a socially awkward heroine, who knew what she wanted, but needed a few more steps to get there. I appreciated that true support from her parents and how walking into the summer camp beautiful friendships grew. I LOVED the friendships and how supportive they were. And also how they showed making mistakes and apologizing. There’s room for growth in a safe space. Beatrice changed leaps and bounds, and yet still remained at her core, herself. The anxiety rep was one of my favorites too. I liked the approach to it and the openness of speaking to a therapist as well. The combination made for the best kind of read.

The romance (because we know I’m a sucker for romance) was perrrrrfect. The angsty hate to love vibes were off the charts. The banter and swoony moments, and gosh dang THE HANDS TOUCHING. A small hand touch moment IS THE BEST DANG THING. I don’t know how many times I started chanting, kiss kiss kiss. I was on the edge of my seat with Beatrice and Nik and it was everything I love in a YA romance.

This setting took me by surprise too. I’m hit/miss on summer camp books. Clearly this was a HIT. I was even enjoying all of the Shakespeare stuff too! And that Shakespeare line battle? GOLD. I think I could probably go on forever about my new found love for this book (and author). Read it. Read it. Read it.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Contemporary romance
- Language: a little
- Romance: kisses
- Trigger/Content Warnings: underage alcohol consumption, panic attack (on page), depictions of anxiety

LONG STORY SHORT follows Beatrice Quinn. Having been homeschooled and graduated at the age of fourteen, by sixteen, she has just received her acceptance to Oxford University. She can’t wait to throw herself into the school of her dreams, but there’s a catch. Her parents are concerned that she’s not ready to move across an ocean and fend for herself at college. To prove she can handle it, Beatrice is off to spend four weeks of her summer at a Shakespeare camp for the performing arts.

One of LONG STORY SHORT’s strengths is the romance. The romance is an enemies-to-lovers full of witty banter, games of one-upmanship and Shakespeare quotations. The interactions between Beatrice and her love interest are deliciously entertaining. Even when they’re closer to enemies then lovers, their chemistry will have the reader glued to the page.

And speaking of Shakespeare, given that the story takes place at a camp revolving around his work, it’s no surprise that mentions of his work abound. No knowledge of the Bard is necessary to understand the story, but those with a Shakespearean passion will enjoy the references.

While the romance is a highlight of the book, another point of importance is the friendships that Beatrice forms at camp. Growing up a homeschooled only child, Beatrice doesn’t have much experience with other kids her age, so watching her make her first friendships is a sweet cornerstone of the book.

All in all, LONG STORY SHORT is a story of summer fun and friendship and pushing the limits of your comfort zone, of discovering that people may not be just who you first thought they were, even yourself. It is the kind of book that makes you wish you could go to Shakespeare summer camp.

This book was fun! It was a nice coming-of-age, self-discovery story with a Shakespeare-obsessed cast (I get it). The characters were a bit stereotypical but it was funny and sweet and made my heart so happy. A perfect read for summer, young love, and new experiences. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC!

This book was honestly wonderful. It has some great Shakespeare references, an honest representation of anxiety, and a swoon worthy love interest which makes it probably the perfect YA contemporary, at least for me.

Beatrice and her surrounding cast of characters was so lovable that I was almost instantly invested in this story. Kaylor really succeeded in getting Bea’s voice just right.

Also, you guys I binged this in a day, that’s how easy and fluffy and great this book is. If you’re a lover of Shakespeare and introverts and romances than this book is for you!!

The only thing I would have changed is the play that they performed, I’m definitely biased but I feel like it would have added some more depth to the book as a whole if they put on Much Ado About Nothing instead of Romeo and Juliet. Not a huge deal, but just a personal preference.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the ARC! This was a super quick, lighthearted read. I read it in one sitting. Serena Kaylor definitely had me hooked at bonding over Shakespeare and I was not disappointed. Coming of age stories like this have a special place in my heart and I loved the softness of new experiences and first crushes. I felt so much love for Bea and of course for Nik. I loved the transformation that Bea went through and her journey of self-discovery. Shelby, Nolan, and Mia were also characters with a lot of depth, which I appreciated. The characters were a bit stereotypical YA but instead of finding that to be a bad thing because of how well the book was written, I have considered it to be a staple of YA in this instance. Definitely an unputdownable read that is great for summer.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I loved this book so much. It was such a fun and sweet G-rated YA read. I particularly liked that this book was so inclusive: diversity, LGBTQIA+, girls in STEM, a lead with characteristics of autism spectrum disorders. This is an incredibly sweet story with an enemies to lovers trope, a makeover and all the coming of age feels.

Beatrice is 16 and has been homeschooled her entire life by her hippie sex-therapist parents. Extraordinarily gifted, she finished high school at age 14 and has been waiting for her parents to agree to let her go to college. She secretly applies to her dream school, Oxford, and begs her parents to let her go. Concerned about her lack of social skills, friends and life experiences, her parents are hesitant to allow her to attend college at such a young age, not to mention that it's in another country. They finally agree to let her go on the condition that she step out of her comfort zone, stop studying for a month and have a real "teenage" experience. In order to go to Oxford, she must attend theatre camp with a bucket list of "teenage" milestones to check off before the end of the summer.

I thought the premise was so different and refreshing; it really was a treat to follow Beatrice on this adventure. "Long Story Short" was hard to put down and I highly recommend it for your summer read!

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Some spoilers will crop up in this review.

Long Story Short by Serena Taylor is the story of Beatrice Quinn, a reclusive, brilliant, sheltered, homeschooled California teenager who is most comfortable by herself or with the adults in her life. She has a regimented approach to her life: clothes, studies, activities, even her meals, follow a set plan that she is reluctant to deviate from. Conflict arises when Beatrice is accepted to Oxford University and her parents, who have enabled many of her reclusive, regimented tendencies, worry that her social skills and coping mechanisms won't be adequate for her to manage going to school so far away. They strike a bargain with her: she has to get out of her comfort zone and try something new, while checking off stereotypical "teenage" experiences from a list her parents create. Where can she attempt something like this? At a Shakespearean theater camp on the East Coast.

Some of Beatrice's traits read as neurodivergent to me and I had some initial concerns about the book steamrolling over those traits and "changing" her just because she's having new experiences in a new location. So I was a bit hesitant with the first part of this book, based on that concern. But as I continued to read the story grew on me. Beatrice does "change" over the course of the book but it is based more on her own perceptions and progressive comfort with the companionship of friends who accept her for who she is and encourage her to push the boundaries she has set for herself.

Bea finds a good, supportive friend in Mia, one of her roommates, and in Mia's good friend Nolan. They both immediately find a connection with Bea and they work to make her comfortable and confide in her, bringing an intimacy to their friendship that Bea has not experienced before. It allows her to open up to them as well, letting the friendship grow and progress.

Not all of Bea's interactions are that positive however. Her other roommate, Shelby, is unfriendly at best. Bea finds herself out of her element at the first night party and finds herself infuriated by camp heartthrob Nikhil (Nik) Shah, the boy who is a child of acting royalty and ends up being Romeo in the camp production. Their first encounter has sparks but not the good kind. Bea calls him out on his privilege (rather sharply, and ignoring her own) and he makes an unkind comment that she overhears. The gauntlet has been thrown down and they are quarreling from then on.

But Bea is not the best at social cues (again something that points to some neurodivergent signs in my reading) and she misreads Nik's growing interest in her as argumentative rather than what it truly is: a crush. They banter back and forth and engage in some wonderful exchanges of Shakespearean quotes that were swoon worthy. I love the quotes the author chose for them: It showcases how they are both perceiving this in different ways: Nik basically professing his attraction in the Bard's words and Bea making her apparent disinterest known in her quotes, which he misreads as witty banter.

Bea may seem oblivious to the fact all the other campers realize quite quickly: that Nik is fascinated by her. But in addition to her being somewhat oblivious, Bea also has a history of some deceptive bullying that occurred in her past, that has made her very wary of anyone who appears to take any interest in her. It's a defensive mechanism and based on the past event you can hardly blame her for protecting herself from that kind of hurt. But this is a YA romance so they do eventually find their way to a closeness and intimacy and that was thoroughly enjoyable to read.

I liked the diversity of the cast. The characters are all far from perfect and have flaws that are realistic and familiar. The dynamics of a theater camp were well represented. I liked most of the characters and their voices felt unique and distinct. Her closest friends Mia and Nolan quickly become privy to her reasons for attending the camp and they are both determined to help Beatrice (or Bea, as they nickname her) succeed, not only at her parental list but at having a good time at camp as well. They are well=meaning but they are also teenagers themselves, so they don't always make the right suggestions or have the best answers but it is clear that they care for Bea and appreciate her for who she is, and support her whole-heartedly. Nik is much the same. He may have started off on the wrong foot and compounded his issues with how he went about attempting to get closer to Bea, but he's operating on what he perceives and doesn't realize she's seeing things in a different context. Bea also doesn't realize Nik is interpreting her actions and words through a different lens than her own. It's lovely that he realize he's gone about this poorly, that he's made things worse unintentionally. People aren't perfect. Teenagers don't have all the answers. Sometimes they try to help and it's not the right answer. It felt realistic in that sense.

This is a YA romance novel and it hits so many lovely tropes. It's enemies to lovers and I love the Shakespearean setting. The play being produced at camp may be Romeo and Juliet, but the banter and sparks of the story are far more reminiscent of Much Ado About Nothing and I loved that, particularly the nod with Beatrice's name.

As I was reading I was finding little things to nitpick but overall this book was such a welcome joy to read: it hit so many things I love. Theater camp, enemies to lovers, friends who are supportive, witty and incisive banter, Shakespeare and more Shakespear, quotes, respect for intelligence, personal growth and change, young romance, misunderstandings--this book had it all and did it well.

I read this right after a different, heavy read and it was just the thing to brighten my day, I found this quite enjoyable.
four and a half stars

I wanted to love this book so badly because I love stories of theater nerds, summer camp and fish out of water situations combined with enemies to lovers' banter, however, something about this one just didn't vibe with me, unfortunately. While it was very well-written, told in a captivating first-person perspective, something just felt a bit too long and drawn out. Then, MC Beatrice to me wasn't all that likable for some reason. I think because she presents as someone who is not very willing or receptive to change which just rubbed me the wrong way. The writing was definitely very good, the premise intriguing and the Shakesperean-inspired banter was great, however the slow pacing and character developments of the protagonist left little to be desired despite best interests.