I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really liked it at first but with the two different storylines, I got invested in Adam and I wasn’t a fan of Elly at all, which is surprising because I’m usually more into the queer characters but nope. The more emotionally invested in Adam and Taly I got, the more anxiety I got because I really didn’t know how it was going to end since completely different storylines were going on and I just wanted to skip to the end to see what happened but also wanted to finish the story. I did like how the author did the ending though so it helped with my conflicted feelings.

Ever wonder what would happen if you made just one different choice?

Natalya has a choice to make - stay in NYC and chance meeting the girl she's crushing on or go to LA to see her mom and maybe hit it off with the cute intern. Nat also has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She loves art, but that can't be a living. Can it?

This was a really neat take on What If...! Each chapter alternates between what if Nat goes and what if she stays. Adler essentially wrote 2 rom coms and spliced them together, and it WORKS! Also, I loved how Nat's friends respected her Jewish traditions and made space for her needs!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

4.5 stars.

One of my earliest reading memories is finding old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books in my grandparents’ house. Going Bicoastal has those vibes. Natalya has to decide whether to play it safe and stay in NYC (and maybe finally meet the hot redhead girl she’s been crushing on) or to visit her mom in LA and try to repair their relationship (while figuring out how to deal with her hot co-intern).

I think what I liked so much about Going Bicoastal was not the romance (although I am OF COURSE a sucker for that) but that Nat seems to come to the same decisions and revelations, despite what choice she made. Either way, she worked on her relationship with her mom, made new friends, and stepped outside of her comfort zone.

I did have a favorite of her love interests, as one of them felt like a more genuine connection. But both were good choices, regardless.

Going Bicoastal was a fantastic read. Great Jewish and bisexual representation!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the review copy.

Dahlia Adler does it again! Going Bicoastal starts with our bisexual main character Natalya trying to decide what to do during summer break. Stay in New York with her friends and dad, possibly talk to the girl she's been crushing on for years. Or go to LA where the only person she knows is her mother, who she barely talks to, and a paid internship with a cute boy.

Natalya can't decide, so we get a fantasticly wonderful book with two timelines! I LOVED this book, I couldn't put it down! The romance, the food, the characters, the two different timelines we get to see Natalya grow and change, and THAT COVER!

5 stars! Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press, for another fantastic eARC!

Going Bicoastal has uniquely done alternating timelines. Personally, I think the alternating timelines were a lot of fun! This book does deal with some heavier themes like divorce, but overall, I think that these themes are handled with care.

Going Bicoastal is a YA rom-com that explores the dual narratives of a bisexual teenager named Natalya Fox, also known as Tal or Nat (depending on which parent you ask), who must choose whether to spend her summer with her father in Manhattan or try to mend her relationship with her mother by interning at her marketing firm on the West Coast. The author does a phenomenal job of portraying the bisexual community and honoring the characters' identities authentically. The lack of angst around the characters' sexual identity is refreshing, and the inclusion of Jewish culture and traditions adds depth to the story. The unique dual narrative structure of the novel allows readers to experience both sides of Natalya's decision and creates a heartwarming story about self-discovery, family, and love. Overall, the book is an entertaining read that will leave readers feeling both satisfied and longing for more.

Full review will post on duffRUNStough on May 19th. Will update feedback with link then.

I read an eARC of Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.

This book had an interesting premise. Natalya has been given twenty-four hours by her mother by her mother whether she wants to spend her summer before college with her in LA at an Internship at her mother’s job, or stay with her father in NY. She is stuck between staying with a father she’s close with, and spending time with her friends she might never see again, or getting to know her estranged mother and fixing their relationship and using this time to do something daring and explore a new place.

Twenty-four hours is not enough time to decide, and that’s when the premise is revealed. At the crucial moment, the story splits, alternate chapters telling of the story when she went to LA and her romance with the grumpy fellow intern, and the other at NY where she stumbles into summer jobs and has an awkward relationship with a long-time crush “the red-haired girl”.

You can probably tell which one I prefer.

The thing about this book is it can be painfully boring. Natalya is a privileged young woman whose biggest hangups besides her mother’s estrangement seems to be finding restaurants that serve kosher food and learning how to cook for the sabbath. This makes her time in NY boring to read. Her relationship with the redhaired girl is one of those cutsey clumsy types, that I like, but only if interesting fantasy things are happening around them.

That leaves the LA storyline, which is much more interesting. Natalya is forced out of her comfort zone, her mother isn’t perfect, to begin with, and her love interest she instantly dislikes and has a much more interesting backstory and dynamic with her. It still wasn’t riveting, I’d say once they got together, the most interesting part was when Natalya was forced to realize her own privilege when put up against his, but even then, her life runs just a bit too smoothly for me to ever get really invested, and as a person, Natalya just wasn’t interesting enough of a character to carry an everyday story with normal characters of a girl just living her life, the only difference being where she decided to go.

So not a bad book, and I can see people who like low-stakes romances with a little twist, just not the book for me in the end.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Romance is not my preferred genre but I was looking for a cute book and this one seemed to fit the bill. It was super cute but I didn’t love it as much as I wanted too. The beginning was a touch confusing with switching between two alternate summers with each chapter but after a few chapters I got used to the switches and that was okay. Mostly, I was waiting for the LA/Adam chapters and would have loved a whole book just on that summer. There was something about Elly that bugged me (probably that she’s too into music and that’s just not something I’m into so I couldn’t relate) but I felt like I was slogging through her chapters. The Jewish and bi rep were both top notch and well done! If you’re into romance books and don’t mind them YA (no spice here) I definitely recommend checking this one out!

I loved the message of "there’s more than one path to happily ever after." This plot was unique and fun! This was funny and very cute!

This book was just pure delight. I loved the parallel timelines so much! It’s such a fun take on the pun of bi and neatly skirts the love triangle trope that this could have fallen into. I enjoyed the culture, the growth, the family bonding, the romance, and the writing style thoroughly. The ending as a choose your own adventure moment was also super cute!

Trigger warnings for divorce and brief mention of past self-harm/scars (not detailed)

I read one of Dahlia's previous books, CRUEL FOR THE SUMMER, a year or two ago and had a great time with it, so when I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I was in for a good time.

GOING BICOASTAL follows Natalya the summer before her senior year, and she has to decide if she's going to spend the summer with her dad, who she lives with in New York, or her estranged mom, who lives in LA. Staying in New York would give her the opportunity to get to know the redhead girl she keeps running into and is harboring a crush on, but going to LA gives her an opportunity to intern at her mom's marketing firm and work alongside the other intern, Adam. The story is told sliding doors/dual-timeline style, following what would happen in both timelines.

It's ambitious to write a dual-timeline story; there's a lot of potential room for error with creating a satisfying ending and the reader could have trouble distinguishing the timelines--but none of that was the case. The flow between the two timelines was seamless, and I never struggled to follow along with it.

The romances with both Elly and Adam were so well-developed and adorable; I still honestly don't know which partner I prefer for Natalya because I loved them both so much.

Not to mention, all of the friendships were so fun and as well-developed as the romantic relationships--you could tell that those friendships were important to Natalya, and it was so fun to get to know the entire cast of characters.

I think a lot of people can also connect with Natalya's struggle to identify what she wanted to do with her life and balance finding something she's passionate about without necessarily exploiting the hobbies that she loves.

The one concern I had throughout the story was the ending; I wasn't sure how the story could be wrapped up in a satisfying way with these two diverging timelines, but I was pleasantly surprised with how it was handled, and I thought it was the perfect ending.

I had so much fun with this book and would absolutely recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is absolutely adorable. I was a little confused at the beginning when the perspective shifted to an alternative timeline, but it was really easy to feel the switch between the two stories.

Natayla can't decide between staying in NYC for the summer, or going to see her mother in LA for an internship, and to try and mend their fractured relationship.

In NYC, Natalya goes by the nickname her father gave her, Tal, and is determined to finally talk to the cute redhead girl she has a crush on, and figure out a plan for her future, and maybe a summer job.

In LA she goes by her mothers nickname for her, Nat, and gets off to a rocky start with her fellow intern Adam, and struggles to find her place with both work and her mom.

I loved the fact that although the stories were different, Natalya stayed true to herself in both timelines. She grew as a person, grew more comfortable with herself, her relationships, her passions, and so much more in both timelines. I also really loved the way her relationship with her mother blossomed in both timelines, although they did grow at different rates based on where she was in the country.

I was hoverer, not the biggest fan of Elly. She didn't seem to have a big personality outside of "quirky girl who likes music" and Natalya seemed to try and change to fit what Elly wanted instead of being fully comfortable with herself. With Adam, it felt like that both grew and changed together as people instead.

Natayla is Jewish, and I really liked the way her religion factored into both of her lives. With her father, religion played a much larger role in their day to day lives, but it was interesting to see how being around her mom shifted both of their views on it as well.

There was also the aspect of Natayla discovering her passions, and it was really interesting to see the way that this played out in both timelines, once again she did reach a similar realization and dream, but it played out at different speeds and moments.

The book ends with the reader being able to pick which ending they want to read - Elly or Adam, which of course I did both, but there definitely was one romance I preferred to the other. Surprisingly, it wasn't the one I thought I would have preferred.

Last note, I LOVED the fact that Natalya was fully and surely bi in both storylines. When she was with Adam she still was bi, and he was aware and supportive of that fact, but at no point in the storyline was she suddenly considered straight. Bi erasure is still nauseatingly present in both literature and real life and I'm so happy to see it.

I really enjoyed the Sliding Doors-style parallel stories between New York and L.A, and it was nice to see bisexuality treated as equally valid regardless of the gender of one's partner. I also felt like I learned a lot about Jewish identity in a real-world sort of way. It's always wonderful to celebrate a culture rather than hear about its tragedies and crimes perpetrated against it.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the two different timelines and how things overlapped throughout them. I liked all the characters and it was a fun read.

Going Bicoastal has one of the coolest, most unique book concepts I've ever read, following a bisexual female main character who gets to explore love with both sexes in alternate timelines. I love the creativity of the plot and I really liked the repeating of paragraphs each time the author switched timelines. I also really enjoyed how Dahlia Adler handled the LGBTQ+ and Jewish representation. It was nice to read a book where all characters are treated with respect and there are no instances of -phobia or antisemitism, as many diverse books still include these scenes. The only thing I wanted from this book was a bit more depth to the characters. Most of the characters felt flat and I didn't connect to either love interest strongly enough to root for one over the other. However, I still enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a cute, fun, YA summer romance or a quick beach read!

3.5/5 stars

CONTENT WARNING: brief mention of prior self-harm

I’m at the point with Dahlia Adler books where I don’t even need to read the blurb to know I want the book, and it’s never been more clear than with this book. All I needed to see was bisexual and I wanted to read it. The fact that it had Jewish representation only made it more appealing. But … when I started reading, I was surprised by the alternating timelines, because I seriously didn’t bother to read the blurb.

Natalya is an awesome character. She’s an only child, and in the summer before her junior year, she’s given the choice to stay in NYC for the summer with her dad or head across the country to spend her summer in LA, where her mom lives. But each of these options comes with pros and cons: staying in NYC means she’s doing what’s easy and comfortable, spending the summer with her big group of friends and the parent she’s closest with, and potentially getting to know the mysterious redhead she’s been crushing on for a while. But getting out of her comfort zone and spending the summer in LA means months with her mother, with whom her relationship is very distant, all to secure an internship she knows would look good on her resume but she isn’t sure she really wants.

The story allows both scenarios to play out, making this the ultimate bisexual dream. I really enjoyed seeing how both experiences challenged Natalya, allowing her to grow and change. At 17, she’s struggling with the path her life should take, especially when (on both coasts), she’s surrounded by people who know exactly what they want to do, and she’s kind of foundering. As she forges a path in each scenario, she realizes more about herself and discovers a new path forward for herself, but what was intriguing was not only the differences between how things go on each coast, but what stays the same in each scenario.

Perhaps my favorite part of this story was the proud Jewish representation in it. Every Jewish family practices differently, and this is never more clear than in this book. Natalya and her father make sure to have Shabbat dinner every Friday night, and to avoid using electronics afterwards, instead spending the night reading on the couch together. Their neighbors are Orthodox, and are much more observant than Natalya and her father, but Natalya does keep kosher, which gets brought up more than once in the story. When she goes to LA, her mother is more of a secular Jew and doesn’t have Shabbat dinner or practice much of anything.

I especially loved the fact that not only isn’t there any negative pushback on the Jewish representation, or any antisemitism incorporated into the story, but there are also a number of openly LGBTQ and non-binary characters in the story, and there’s nothing harmful regarding that either. None of the characters experience homophobia, transphobia, or anything negative, and it was beautiful to see a book with so few triggers. There is mention of divorce and a brief mention of prior self-harm, but overall this was a sweet, fluffy romance that was beautiful. My only complaint is that it doesn’t come with any samples of the food mentioned in it, because now I’m starving!

Going Bicoastal is like a pick your own happily ever after with alternating storylines that either keep Natalya in NYC with her father over the summer, free to pursue the hot redhead of her dreams, or take her to California to reconnect with her mother and share a desk with a very attractive fellow intern. It’s an intriguing concept to pursue both paths at once, but I was super impressed with the execution. I loved the way Natalya stays true to herself and the things that matter to her throughout and manages to discover her ideal college/career path, regardless of the path she chooses. I honestly wanted both scenarios to work out! I was happy either way, which is so not like me and a credit to the well-developed characters and storylines. It’s a great reminder that our choices have consequences but there are often more than one path to happiness.

A BISEXUAL DILEMMA
rating: 4 stars

In this young adult novel centered around bisexuality and Jewish representation, Natalya Fox enjoys her travels in two cities: New York and Los Angeles. She meets Elly in New York, and Adam in LA. Getting to know both of them more, Natalya finds herself falling for each person. But there's a choice she has to make: does she want to stay with Elly, or choose Adam and continue a life with him?

I really love the name Natalya, it's a pretty name. Adler was really creative when she created her name; a mix of Natalie and Atalya. As for the plot, this was really a peak bisexual dilemma. Natalya's crushing on both Elly and Adam, but she can only go further ahead with one. The cover is so beautiful as well, it captures the plot perfectly in a mix of bright colors, and you definitely cannot forget the bisexual colors. I don't know much about Jewish culture, but it was very interesting to learn more about it with the Jewish representation in this novel. The ending of the novel was certainly a very creative surprise, as I liked how you got to choose the ending.

If you're looking for more LGBTQ+ recommendations and a fun adventure, this is something perfect to pick up, especially for the summer season.

I had some hope when I first saw this, but for some reason I was expecting it to be structured as a choose your own adventure kind of story. It might be my own fault that I couldn't enjoy this book but it was very difficult to read.

The switching perspectives being read one after another made them lose some sense of their impact. I felt cheated, almost, when paragraphs from one chapter were repeated in the alternate timeline. Though I think both stories would have been good on their own, the formatting was extremely off-putting and completely ruined both narratives for me.

Unfortunately, I could not appreciate what Adler was trying to do here, though that might be my own fault. I think if I had read each timeline separately I could have appreciated them more and that's how I would personally recommend this be read.

Thank you to NetGalley, ‎Wednesday Books, and Dahlia Adler for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

My first, but definitely not my last, read by Dahlia Adler! In Going Bicoastal, Natalya has to decide between coasts/parents for her summer plans. Rather than choosing one, this novel allows our main character to explore both options! This was done so intentionally and creatively throughout, which I loved. I also thoroughly enjoyed the inclusivity of characters/language, vivid artistic descriptions, and the ending! While I really enjoyed the story, I found I was rooting much harder for one storyline than I was for the other. Overall, I will be recommending it as soon as it officially hits the shelves!