This is the PERFECT YA summer romance read!!

Going Bicoastal is a queer sliding door romance that follows Natalya Fox and her summer in NYC with her father and friends and the girl that she's had a crush on all year... and her summer with her estranged mother in LA and the boy and friends that she never knew she needed.

This book was so much fun!! I'll admit, it did take me a while to get through, but that was mainly because I had so much going on and no time to read. But overall, I had a great time!!

I loved Natalya! She was very outgoing and likeable and confident in herself and her sexuality, and I aspire to be like her someday. She

Her LIs were amazing, and I was so torn on which couple I liked better, but I'm probably Team LA.

New York Timeline: Natalya and Elly made my heart melt. I loved how they were crushing on each other the entire time before they even actually met. I love how they went to a lot of music concerts together and with their friends and how they were able to bond over that. I also loved how even though she decided not to go to LA with her mom, she was able to start to repair their relationship. She also solidified her relationship with her dad, so that was really wholesome.

Los Angeles Timeline: This was probably my favorite timeline! I loved how Nat really put herself out there and made friends while she was in LA. THE! FOOD! I was salivating every time I read the LA chapters because I just wanted to go have dinner with them. I also really loved how she wasn't afraid to avoid her dietary restrictions. SHABBAT. DINNERS. It was so cute when she and Adam (mostly Adam) would cook Shabbat dinner together. I really enjoyed the way their story came to a close because for a moment I WAS STRESSING OUT.

The only reasons I've given this book 4 stars (and it's really more of 4.5) is because...
1) I was confused by what a sliding doors romance was, so the way book ended kind of confused me, but that's a me problem, not the book's fault and
2) The switching back and forth between timelines kind of gave me whiplash and in my mind, I would be like, "Where am I??" (but then again, that might just be a me problem).

Thank you so much to Dahlia Adler and NetGalley for the eARC!

☕️eARC Book Review☕️

“Being an only child through the divorce is definitely in my top three grievances in this life”

Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
Pub Date: June 13th, 2023
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟(4/5)
Spice: 🌶(1/5)

Review:

Natalya Fox just finished her junior year of high school in NYC and is trying to decide if she will spend the summer in the comfort of NYC or out west with her mom in LA. Thanks to the brilliance of Dahlia Adler we get to experience what both journeys would be like!

In NYC, Nat spends the summer baby sitting and working for her math professor dad. She also finally meets the redhead girl she’s been eyeing for literally a year.

In LA, Tal takes an internship at her moms marketing firm where she shares a desk a cute but bashful boy whose brother owns a food truck.

On both journeys Natalya finds herself celebrating Shabbat, drawing (her favorite hobby that she wants to turn into a job), falling in love, reading, and getting to know her parents better than ever before.

Personally, I LOVED this story. Dahlia Adler’s writing is always amazing. Her ability to write queer stories is amazing. We have a full cast of queer stories that I hope she follows up on. We get a “Home Field Advantage” reference at the end of the NYC journey!!

I absolutely adored all the Jewish references direct and indirect this story. Obsessed with Natalya’s Shabbat observance and how she shares that with her non Jewish love interest. How Adam cooks dinner every Friday for her and her mom! How Elly comes over for Shabbat and loves it. It was so cool to have a food focused story line but showed the choices a kosher person makes. All around obsessed with the Jewish rep!

If you like:
- Sliding door timelines
- NYC and LA
- Shabbat Dinner
- Summer adventures

QOTD: How do you celebrate Shabbat?

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martins press/Wednesday Books for proving me with an eARC of this novel.

There are just so many contemporary queer YA books coming out lately and I am almost jealous that kids these days get access to such fun, queer, JEWISH, and delightful books. This is my third Dahlia Adler book and she's just getting better and better at balancing heartfelt stories with teenage antics. In Going Bicoastal, she tackles an extremely high concept, sliding doors type story where our protagonist, Natalya, must choose between spending her summer in NYC with her dad or LA with her mother. Adler says, por que no los dos and gives the reader a chance to see what happens if Natalya goes to LA versus NYC.

I was a little worried going into this story because this is such a hard device to pull off well and I think Adler does not only a good job but a seamless job. It wasn't difficult at all to tell the difference between LA and NYC chapters and it was so much fun seeing which parts of her summer mirrored the other and which parts when in completely opposite directions.

As the very punny title indicates, Natalya not only has different summer experiences but different summer romances. In NYC she spends the summer with The Redhead, Elly, and in LA she dates Adam Rose, a fellow intern at her mother's marketing company. I loved both Elly and Adam and there were things I liked better in each location so I was never upset or irritated when a chapter would open in a different location which is a hard feat to pull off. As I neared the end of the book, though, I was worried how Adler would pull the end off without it seeming like Natalaya was cheating or if one of the love interests who I had grown to love to, whether they would be left behind.

Thankfully Adler finds a clever way to wrap up all the stories, but I almost would have preferred them all sort of coming together in the end? Without spoiling, when Natalaya is in LA she helps a lot with one of the characters' future and business and it made me sad to know that if she had stayed in NYC then those poor characters might be out of luck?

Overall though I really enjoyed this book and I am so thankful to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love Dahlia Adler! Her writing, books, storylines, ideas, all work for me. So a book with chaotic bisexual energy? Sign me up!

What I loved most about this book was often when a book has multiple love interest, there’s an obvious person to choose. In this book, I felt like each partner was given an equal shot at being end game with Natalya. While I had my preference (team Adam) I thought each relationship was authentic and came about organically. I thought the coworkers to lovers in the Adam storyline was so adorable. I like getting to see a little bit of his home life and the dynamic between him and his brother. The food truck & family dinner nights sound like something I wanna be a part of! I also liked getting to see her finally meet “the redhead” and seeing how compatible they could be. While I liked them together, I could see where their personalities were totally different & could picture them more as a fling than long term. However, I liked how in the Elly storyline we got to see all kinds of music references & tons of NYC content.

Another strong point was the ending. In a story like this I was constantly wondering “how is she gonna end this?!” How would both storylines tie together?? I was shocked & happy to see the “choose you own ending” that left it to where you could in your mind pick which way you wanted it to end. While I was team Adam, I did read both endings and thought they were both perfect ways to end.

ALSO! Why hasn’t anyone pointed out the little Easter eggs from Cool for the Summer and Home Field Advantage?!? I liked how we got a little glimpse into the future of characters from her other books!

I’m not really a fan of choose your own adventure books because I want one universe not a parallel one. I think that the decision to go to LA needed a little more explanation at the beginning because I was confused by it. I do wish that some things overlapped a little more but also found it confusing to read both simultaneously especially when there was overlap in the exact phrasing. I loved the bisexual representation and crushes

Cute book that I really enjoyed reading.

I love that the dual viewpoints came together in the end.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this review copy

Remember Choose Your Own Adventure books? This has those vibes only it's a romance and you don't have to keep your fingers in the book everywhere you want to go back and see how the other choice would turn out. In Going Bicoastal, Natalya has to decide if she wants to spend the summer in NYC with her father or in LA with her mother. And instead of choosing, we get to see how both of those choices would have played out in alternating chapters. You can always tell which city you are in by the headers on the chapter page (buildings for NYC and palm trees for LA) and that's just one of the small touches that made this book so amazing.

I loved watching each story unfold and seeing how events played out in different ways in each timeline. I also really loved that the book has both queer and Jewish rep in addition to amazing side characters, food puns and amazing families of origin. The found family aspect is also really wonderfully done no matter which timeline you are in.

I really can't say enough good things about this wonderful book other than you should absolutely read it if you like romance and don't mind the young adult lens. Going Bicoastal comes out on June 13 and you should pre-order it now. Thank you to Wednesday Books for sending me an early copy. I'll be screaming about it until the end of time.

First of all, thank you so much for the publisher for sending me an e-ARC of this to me! I loved Home Field Advantage when I read an ARC of it last year and I was delighted to be offered an ARC of this.

Going Bicoastal has such a unique format of reading and it took me a second to realize (and by a second I meant a few chapters lmao). I think the unique sliding mirror format fits Natalya's personality in the beginning so perfectly, and I loved reading both sides of her summer vacation and meeting the two love interests Elly and Adam. For me, Going Bicoastal is definitely more relatable especially Natalya's strained relationship with her mom, and I loved watching their relationship grow. Another thing I loved was learning about Natalya's Jewish culture as well and I think her perspective on being queer while also being religious is very well written and I loved that little discussion a lot.

Would recommend this as a summer vacation read!

I really loved how awkward the main character is, and seeing the two timelines play out was interesting, you got to see different parts of her personality and as someone who has issues with their bio parents, this was really nice to see in books.

Do look up trigger warnings because there is something discussed in this story that can be triggering.

This is THE perfect romance for summer! We have two settings, NYC and LA.
Along with a first person pov, slash two outcomes/ paths our main character Dahlia! I loved how this story never got lost or confusing between the two outcomes, and seeing so much messages in this book. I was having a grand ol time and cared for all these characters that were involved in the dual paths!

In one path we have the “red head” who dahlia always runs into but never speaks a word to! In the other path she goes to visit her mother and meets this boy during this intern ship her mother has set for her, along the ways we see different outcomes and relationships form.

I read this book as an arc from Netgalley. Thank you for the book!

This book follows Natalya Fox as she has to choose between staying with her dad in New York or staying with her mom in Los Angeles. So we follow her summer being played out in alternate timelines. In these timelines, Natalya deals with her relationship with her mother, different crushes and also thinking of colleges and her career. It was very interesting to read the alternating timelines and I wish this book was made into a tv series! It was a fast paced book and easy to get through once you get into it.

**Thank you to Dahlia Adler, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to receive an ARC of Going Bicoastal in exchange for an honest review!!** WHEN I TELL YOU THIS IS THE COOLEST PLOTLINE EVER?? Like. As soon as I heard about this book I knew I had to read it. I saw someone talking about it on Twitter and knew I had to find it as soon as possible. I absolutely adored this book and I love seeing more queer rep! I love reading queer novels and I was particularly excited that this book was a YA novel. I particularly was excited because the main character was bisexual, but was able to have relationships with multiple people. I feel like bi characters usually get stuck with only exploring one side of their sexuality and this book showed exploring multiple sides. It was nice to be able to watch Natalya explore her multi-faceted self. I am definitely a rom-com girlie and I loved basically getting a two-for-one special with this book. I really enjoyed that this book showed the happier side of love. I feel like this is missing from a lot of queer novels just because it's hard to imagine a world without harmful prejudices. I really enjoyed being able to step into this world and these two summers. I really loved this book and I am so excited that I can now convince my friends to read it!

This was such a great queer summer rom-com! The plot was so fun and managed to never be confusing! Natalya's story is split into two independent storylines as she decides whether to spend the summer in New York with her dad or in LA with her mom. Both stories have two great friend groups and two different love interests. I also love that it didn't force the two storylines to merge or for her to "choose" a love interest at the end. The stories were distinct and so fun. Natalya was a wonderful main character, and I loved how her sexuality was just as valid when she was dating a boy in LA as when she was dating a girl in NYC. The bisexual and Jewish rep was amazing, and the summer vibes were unmatched! (Also, the LA storyline's focus on tacos made me hungry for tacos the entire book!)

Thank you to Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was absolutely delightful! I love the parallel timelines and the exploration of "What If".I especially love the choice ending and thought that it was a unique and magnificent choice! I love queer rom coms, especially ones that explore identity and as a young queer, part-Jewish woman myself, I could relate a lot to the story. The plot was fast paced and well developed, while the characters were likeable and interesting. This is a MUST READ for the summer!

What an adorable, fluffy and supper queer read! I love YA contemporary books and this one did not disappoint. Natalya is our bisexual, Jewish and artistic main character. Her parents are divorced and live on different coasts. Nat has to make a decision to spend the summer in NYC with her dad or spend the summer with her mom in LA. We get both perspectives of what would happen with either choice. LA is full of good food, bonding with her mom, and a very cute boy. NYC is full of trying things out of her comfort zone, hanging out with her friends, and a very cute punk rock girl. How can a girl choose?

What I enjoyed:
- I can totally relate to Natalya because I also stay up way too late reading thrillers. I too am an insatiable bisexual. As well as being told being an artist wasn't a good career choice
- Loved the AAPI/Filipino representation on the side characters. Natalya's best friend Camilla is Filipino. Being Filipino myself, I am always excited to see the representation!
- I loved both romances! Honestly, they both were adorable. I couldn't chose one to root for. We have enemies to lovers on one side. Then chance encounters over and over again on the other. I loved seeing both M/F and F/F romance! This made my little bi heart swell with fluff and smiles.
- The dual perspectives on what if for both choices
- The ending was perfection

This was the perfect Pride Month read 💜 Seriously, I adored this book and love everything about it. I look forward to reading more in the future by this author. 4 stars out of 5! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC of this delightfully split narrative with so many possibilities wrapped inside! I had read the synopsis for this novel once the invite to read it had been sent over to me; so I knew there would be alternating timelines-- but I had no idea how such an endeavor would play out! Much to my awe and enjoyment, it was absolutely seamless and perfectly easy to keep both plots in mind. You even get to choose your own ending, which thrilled me to bits. It's such a fun conclusion to a very cozy read, and I literally could not put it down.

This novel centers around Natalya, a bi and Jewish young adult who comes from a bit of a broken home. The warm season has reared its shining head, and as such, Nat must make a choice. She can either stay with her father in New York or visit her mother in California. She is torn, and Dahlia Adler lets her be torn. What follows are two stories of summer love that I absolutely loved to watch unfold. In one, Nat finally makes a move on her crush; the Redhead. Also known as Elly, the Redhead opens up a world of music, art, and sapphic romance. In the other, Nat goes to intern for her mother's company and meets Adam, a chef-in-the-making. He shows her the vibrant social scene of Los Angeles, and they make an incredible team in the workforce. Outside of these things, he also finds his way into her heart.

in each timeline, Natalya not only finds lasting flirtations, but also a deeper connection with her estranged mother and a path to pursuing her gift of art. It's not just a book about love-- it's also a coming of age story that shows how everything happens for a reason, and that if it's meant to be, it will be. I fell in love with the cast of characters here; how diverse they all were and how full of life. I could imagine these people being my own friends, my own family. Dahlia has crafted a beautiful YA novel that is going to be the pride of Pride Month. I can't imagine an easier or more fun read. I am looking forward to seeing which ending everyone decides on! For me, as Camila says, "Por que no los dos?"

I received a copy from NetGalley and the Publisher for review.

Guys, Gals, and everyone in between, this book is definitely one for those who love questioning the "what ifs" in life. It follows Natalya, a Jewish Bisexual teen, whose parents are divorced and what happens if she were to choose either parent to spend with for the summer. There are two plot lines to follow, but in the end you can read whichever love interest you choose to, or both to see how everything ends. As a bisexual myself I appreciate that the author gives us the opportunity to see both in the same story. I think it allows the character to have depth in different ways with the two different love interests and by the end it's hard to choose who you'd actually want Natalya to end up with. (If I'm being honest I think it'd be a fun marketing tactic for some retailers to only print one ending and others print the other because if I'm being honest I'd buy it both ways).

While I really enjoyed the love interests and their respective journeys with Natalya, ironically enough I wish her journey with the respective parents would have been developed more. I kept hoping throughout both timelines that we would have gotten to see more development with Natalya and her mom's relationship, and we just didn't and that part of the story fell a little flat for me. Overall, though I think it's a really good story and I think I'll end up purchasing it for myself.

1 Sentence Summary: Natalya Fox has an impossible decision to make: stay in New York with her dad for the summer, or go to Los Angeles to intern at her mom’s company? Whatever she chooses, it will impact the rest of her life; but, what if we got to see both choices play out?

My Thoughts: This was fun and cute and a perfect lighthearted summer read! The whole dual timeline thing was really cool and I loved how we got to see both paths that could have happened. I especially liked this because with all the choices we have to make in life it can be so stressful, but sometimes there’s no wrong decision and you can create a great life anywhere you are. I also liked the idea of how you can be compatible with multiple people and there’s no “one true love” soulmate of your life. Personally I don’t find the concept of soulmates that romantic, because it’s basically just an arranged marriage but by the universe. It’s choosing someone and continuing to choose that person forever and always that’s more romantic to me.

My biggest complaints were that sometimes the pop culture references got a little too much, and that it was really hard to keep track of all the characters. Probably because there were two stories playing out simultaneously, there were just a lot of characters and names to keep track of.

Overall I really enjoyed this, and the Jewish and bisexual representation was fantastic as well!

(Oh, and also all the descriptions of the food made me so hungry so be prepared for that.)

Recommend to: Fans of cute YA summer romances featuring art, coffee shops, food trucks, music, internships, and bookstores.

(Warnings: swearing; sexual content; parental separation)

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and OrangeSky Audio for the ARC & audioARC of this!

I absolutely loved it. The idea that one choice can make both a huge change in your life and that some things were just meant to be stood out to me while reading this. I loved the characters and was rooting for her relationships, both with her parents and potential love interests. I especially liked all the food talk!

Going Bicoastal is the first book that I read by Dahlia Adler, and I'm definitely going to read more by her. This book was too cute and I loved the whole concept behind it. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed Natalya as a main character, I felt like I was able to relate to her as a socially awkward bi myself. I really enjoyed both love interests and what they brought out in her. I genuinely couldn't choose between Elly and Adam and ended up reading both of their endings and felt so giddy about them. I loved Elly and Adam, and how respectful they were toward Nat and her religion. Like the first Dinner Party, she went to when Adam wasn't going to eat something he was really excited about because it wasn't Kosher??? 🥺🥺🥺

I really enjoyed how seamless both storylines were and how Nat grew in both very similar yet different ways in it. I loved reading the story from both perspectives and watching her come to the same conclusion about what she wants to do with her life. As someone who up until a couple of years ago didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, even in her 20s it made my heart so full watching her figure it out.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book and I hope everyone enjoys this book when it comes out June 13th!