I might be 35 years old but I adore a good YA novel 🤭🙈 Typically, I read YA when I'm in need of something wholesome but compelling, and Dancing Barefoot absolutely delivered that. I especially loved that the book was set in Melbourne, Australia. It feels like such an anomaly for me to read Australian literature but I love it when I do!

Dancing Barefoot follows Patch, our completely loveable protagonist. She's finding her identify as a young lesbian who is on scholarship at an elite private school in Melbourne. In typical YA fashion, there are a few important themes interweaved within this novel, and I loved the depth that Alice Boyle managed to cover in the story and characters.

I highly recommend a read if you are looking for a sapphic YA romance that's wholesome and heartwarming.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Text Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Well that was as sweet as promised on the cover and blurb (and it kept me up waaaayyyy later than I’d planned tonight because I wanted to know how Patch’s story ended before I went to bed🤣).

Dancing Barefoot is a queer #LoveOzYA novel about first love and finding out who you are. I loved that this was a book where the main characters liked their parents and the parents cared for their teens (and their friends). I liked that the talk between the kids in the story seemed realistic (sometimes a small peev of mine is the way some teens get the Dawson’s Creek vocab makeover in YA fiction).

Patch and Edwin and Evie are loveable and you very quickly become invested in their stories.

Being set in Melbourne, partly right around where I lived in my early uni days, helped me to engage with the story so much too. And when the action moves to camp in The Grampians I could once again picture so vividly all the locations where the characters were hanging out!

This was such a lovely read.

Ps. Is there a playlist for this book? I feel like there needs to be?!

Dancing Barefoot is an utterly delightful YA novel about friendship, love, self discovery and fitting in. Authentic, richly detailed and genuinely just good fun, I loved every page of this novel and can’t wait to add it to my school library shelf.

Patch just needs to survive high school. And maybe survive the crush she has on popular girl Evie. Since Patch isn’t out to even her best friend Edwin or her family, she’s unlikely to turn her crush into something… more. But life throws all sorts of challenges at Patch. Like having the chance to get to know Evie a little better, having to deal with mean-girl (and Evie’s best friend) Abigail, camp, and changing dynamics at home. It might not all be smooth, but it might just work out exactly as it needs to.

Dancing Barefoot is such an uplifting and yet realistic book. Life is hard for Patch. She is bullied, outed and is trying to be a supportive best friend while also dealing with a lot of changes in her life. She makes mistakes, owns up to them, and faces the challenges with some reluctance. I can relate.

I adored so much about this book. Patch’s family - brother and father - are wonderful. From their music, record shop and Sound of Music obsessions to their love and support of Patch, they made me smile. Edwin is a great best friend and needs lots of Patch’s support as he transitions and deals with all the emotions and feelings that go along with that. He’s not afraid to tell Patch when she needs to be a better friend. I really enjoyed the camp scenes. They reminded me so much of my own high school camp experiences (except for the tent scene. That did not happen on our school camp!)

Dancing Barefoot is such a delightful novel. I can’t wait to share it with my readers.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

I was in the mood to read a quick YA contemporary story, so I figured I'd pick up this one, and it was definitely a good choice to read in one sitting. This is a cute sapphic story, and I really liked seeing them become friends first. It did bother me a little that the love interest's best friend bullies the MC but it takes quite a while for that to be resolved, and it's hard not to feel like the LI is complicit for not standing up to her friend more. This took me out of the story quite a bit, and I'm not convinced by how it was handled. This is a shame to me, because I otherwise really liked the book.

"Dancing Barefoot is a feel-good romance about growing up queer, figuring out your place in the world, staying true to yourself and your friends, finding love, and learning to embrace the obstacles life throws in your path."

I really wanted to love this book.
Don't get me wrong, it was a delightful read...but, It kinda left me lacking?

I liked the plot, the character development and the storyline, but all those like led to a book that I just well.. liked. The story didn't leap out of the page at me, and I struggled to immerse myself in the tale.

Despite this, I really loved the concept and premise of the story.
3/5 stars

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an arc

Patch Smith is the geeky scholarship girl at an elite Melbourne high school her life revolves around bullies, baby sitting, bad hair days and best friends. Honestly she’s just your average teen, except Patch has a big secret, a big gay secret crush on Evie: the star of the basketball team who doesn’t even know she exists…

This is Alice Boyle’s debut novel and it is already award winning and I can see exactly why. I could not put down this book and I could not stop laughing. The protagonist Patch is so loveable and hilarious and you couldn’t help but root for her. I also love the side characters including Patch’s trans best friend and goofy dad. Honestly, this took me back to my favourite books in my teen years of the Princess Diaries and Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging but make it queer. It is so wholesome yet funny and I loved all the great film and music references.

If you love Darcy and Tara from Heart stopper or Hani and Ishu’s guide to Fake Dating you’ll love this book! It has already become one of my favourites of the year.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dancing Barefoot comes out 30 August. Thank you to @netgalley and @text_publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is always a complete joy to read a #LoveOzYA book, and an even bigger joy for me to read one with a lesbian protagonist.

Patch, our main character, is a socially awkward but lovable lesbian. She’s talented in art, she’s a good friend, and she’s been in love with her classmate Evie Vanhoutte for 4 and half years.

In this fun, lovable coming of age story, Patch branches out of her comfort zone and befriends Evie. The pair find they have a lot in common, and it also helps that when Evie is away from her horrible best friend, Abigail, she also flourishes.

Patch and her best friend, Edwin, have been a duo for so long that it’s is odd for her at first to make other friends, let alone someone she’s had a crush on for her entire high school life.

But friends they become.


What I loved about this book is (a lot of things, let’s be real) how it shows teenagers with flaws. I love this. Teenagers are messy. They’re sometimes really selfish, but feel all the feelings, and it’s something I think a lot of today teens will relate to.

Edwin’s transness isn’t just a plot point, either. It’s incredibly well executed – from his own body euphoria, to saying how he’s excited (and nervous) to get his first T shot. It also doesn’t shy away from the fact that he’s a trans boy who still gets a period. That whole scene was so well done.

While Patch is a bit neglectful of her friendship with Edwin as she starts to see more of Evie, it’s handled really well in the later part of the book.

The Wilderness part was such a good addition to the book, and I do not miss those school camps where there were no flushing toilets or running water!

Spoiler:
Abigail is, however, a massive bully, and I really hated her. She was well written like that, for sure, and I hated her a lot a lot. I don’t care for the poor rich girl trope, and that was the only thing that I thought could’ve been handled better – purely in the fact that Abigail never actually apologised for being a bully. And she has no redeeming qualities I could see, either.

Abigail calls Patch the d-slur twice, doesn’t apologise, says her sister is gay and that she’s “not a homophobe” (lol, pal, you absolutely are) and then it’s all good because she tells Patch that Evie also has a thing for her.
End spoiler.

Another thing that I adored was Patch’s relationship with her dad and her brother – they were so well done. Leo is such a cutie and it’s nice, and different, to read about single dads raising their two kids.


I will be recommending this to everyone, and I will probably be obnoxious about it. It isn’t often that we get lesbian Love Oz YA books, and this one was all kinds of fun.


(I am vexed - I had highlighted so many passages on my digital copy that have seem to have disappeared as I've excited the book (read on my PC) and now I'm sad because I had so many good bits and quotes that I had highlighted. This adds nothing to my review, I just need to be sad.)

4.5 stars

Thanks to Text Publishing and Netgalley for the e-arc!

I picked this from the cover, then the description and I am so glad I got the chance to read this early.
Dancing Barefoot is a funny and heartwarming store and I absolutely adored it. I didn't want the book to end.

The story was easy to follow. About the weird kid who doesn't quite fit in and has a crush on the most popular and beautiful girl. There was so much representation in this book, Lesbian, Transexual, POC.

Overall, this was such an enjoyable #LoveOzYA book. If you get a chance to read this, I highly recommend it, and congratulations Alice!

Thank you, Text Publishing, for allowing me to read Dancing Barefoot early.

This book was a sweet breeze; funny, heartwarming, and so easy to read. I loved it and can't wait to recommend Dancing Barefoot to my students.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🏳️‍🌈🍿👭🏕️🏳️‍⚧️

Wow! This was such a cute book to read. I loved how everything was in first person, so it felt like I got to know what Patch was feeling and thinking.

The storyline was heart-warming, easy to follow and very close to my heart. Like Patch, I was the weird kid dressed funny, had weird frizzy hair and had a crush on the most popular girl in school. But that's where the similarity ends. I guess that is why I loved this story, is because it had a HEA and gave me lots of butterflies.

I loved the representation in the book. Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual. I loved that everyone is supportive of everyone, and there are no homophobic comments or anything like it.

I've definitely put this on pre-order to have the book on my rainbow shelf.
And thank you netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this beautiful book.

Thank you Alice Boyle <3