Finally getting around to this arc. I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I genuinely didn’t understand the dual timelines and definitely prefer Adam over Elly because he felt more fleshed out.
I am glad we got a choose your own ending so body is disappointed.
I cannot speak to the representation in this but it felt authentic from an outsider.

Wow this was so good I basically read it in a day!! Brings me back to when I was a teen and would just sit on the couch until I finished a book.

ANYWAYS. I must like the sliding door set up more than I thought bc WOW I am obsessed with how everything worked out, like the general beats being the same but the way Nat got there was so different? Truly shows that sometimes things are just meant to be. I also liked how this wasn't tragic in any way? The other books with this set up have all been so sad and emotional, but here we just get to see Nat have a fun summer, fall in love, and reconnect with her mom.

Both love interests were so good that I truly did not care who she ended up with and like do you know how hard that is to pull off? Dahlia Adler is such a good writer.

Overall this was such a good listen (shoutout to audiobook narrator Mara Wilson) and I am obsessed. This is my second Dahlia Adler book and wow she has cemented herself as a fave.

Going Bicoastal follows Natalya Fox as she goes through a Sliding Doors sort of experience. In one part of the story she goes to LA for the summer and meets fellow intern Adam. In the other part, she stays in NYC with her father and finally meets the Redhead that's been plaguing her life for over a year.

I'm not going to lie, this story had a very interesting premise and I really like the idea of falling for both a boy and a girl in different parts of the story because bisexuals can fall for both!!!! The only downfall is the execution. I've liked the author's books before but this felt a bit like a rehash of her previous book, Cool For the Summer with the exact same protagonist vibes.

I also didn't really like the CONSTANT reference dropping especially in the NYC part. I lowkey found Elly insufferable and not because it's the sapphic love story. I actually really liked their time getting together, but Elly was meant to be the quintessential "cool girl" but really just felt annoying and judgy. While Adam and Nat had a nice little rivals-to-lovers going on, Adam was definitely the nicer love interest and I liked his and Nat's love story so much better because with Elly it felt like Nat was trying SO HARD to seem cool enough to keep Elly's attention. With Adam it was like she could just be herself.

Overall, not that exciting of a book and idk if I would read it again.

I sadly had to dnf this one.
I tried getting through it because I liked the idea of the book, but I didn‘t realise it would be jumping between basically two stories depending on what decision she would have made and I just couldn’t do it.
I don‘t really like those kind of things, so it‘s not anything specific against the book itself (although I‘m not the biggest ya fan anymore) and I‘m sure a lot of people adore it. It just wasn’t for me.

I’m not a fan of contemporary, but Dahlia Adler makes it tolerable. After reading and loving Cool For the Summer, I had high hopes for her next project… and fortunately for me, majority of those high hopes were met! Just a sweet and fun story.

Dahlia Adler's "Going Bicoastal" is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and self-discovery across the bustling cities of New York and Los Angeles. Through vivid imagery and engaging storytelling, Adler invites readers on a captivating journey with protagonist Sarah as she navigates the highs and lows of life, love, and career. With its relatable themes and heartfelt narrative, "Going Bicoastal" is a must-read for anyone seeking an uplifting and immersive reading experience.

---

I really loved this. I went in thinking this would be a sort of very typical teen romance, but this was much better than I expected.

The one thing that I was prepared to dislike was the dual timelines, but I was surprised at how much it worked, and allowed Natayla to grow over the course of the book. She is such a strong character, and seeing how similar things in each timeline resulted in such different reactions.

This might be controversial, but I loved her relationship with Adam. I felt like it worked so much better than her and Elly (not that I didn’t love the relationship), because it felt more organic, rather than her pining for Elly and instantaneously falling in love, despite never actually meeting or getting to know each other.

This is a super cute, easy to read book that would be great for romance lovers of all ages. I finished this in a few sittings, but it could easily be read in a few hours.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I truly enjoy Dahlia Adler's books, I have read them all!

So heartfelt and sweet and they make you squee and Going Bicoastal is just that! I love a "Sliding Doors" reference!

Such a sweet and fun book!

Such a smart concept. Having two romances in a book was such a gift and you cannot help but root for the characters and how self discovery went hand in hand with romance.

This book had a really interesting concept, but I was rooting for the fact she didn’t end up with any, but it didn’t happen. I thoroughly enjoyed it tho.

I’ll be honest. This book’s title and cover is what got me interested at first, before I even read the summary or the structure. I’m so happy I read it because it was a lot of fun!

Natalya has to decide if she goes to LA for the summer with her mom or stay in New York with her dad. She chooses… well, both. There is a split narrative so we get a dual POV, but Natalya is providing both sides of it. We see the story unfold in alternating chapters, one of her in LA and one of her in NY.

The whole idea of a book with two concurrent storylines and a choose-your-own ending was very smart. It kept it from being a love triangle where Natalya would have to choose one of them. And for a book about being bi, I love that the tough choice wasn’t there for her… but it was there for me! The reader! I cheated and read both, which I feel is the true bisexual ending. Why not both!

I always feel safe in Adler’s narratives, and this time, I found myself captivated by the alternating storylines. Two books for the price of one!

Natalya Fox, a bi-sexual Jewish girl, has a big decision to make. Spend the summer with her dad, a math professor, in NYC in hopes of getting to know the pretty red-head girl she has a crush on! Or head to L.A. to get reacquainted with her mom and intern at her firm? In her latest release Dahlia Adler gives us twofer one story in Going Bicoastal. In lieu of an actual choice, we join Natalya as she explores both possible paths. The chapters alternate between NYC and L.A. in a very low stakes feel good summer of self-growth.

In L.A. Natalya interns at her mother’s advertising firm and is forced to share a desk with a guy who comes off as unapproachable. Despite this uncomfortableness and her mother’s lack of attention, Natalya decides to take this opportunity to put herself out there and finds a wonderful new group of friends in the queer and foodie corners of L.A. That guy she original didn’t like… Turns out he was just what she was looking for after all! In NYC she mucks up her courage to go for the girl and works on repairing her relationship with her mother from afar by having book club meetings.

The back and forth of living the same story in two different "universes" took me a minute to get the hang of but this was a solid read and will recommend.

3.5 stars. I loved the concept of the choose your own adventure model with this book! Super cute and a fun read. What made it less than great I think ultimately was that the two relationships weren’t equal. It seemed more one sided than in terms of which relationship she should be with.

This was cute!

This book plays out in alternating adventures, but I felt more connected to the one with her leaving to California where she meets the boy with dark mysterious eyes…I liked how it ended ♥️

After reading this book, I can say that Dahlia Adler has become a new favourite author. This book captivated me from the very start. I loved the characters and the plot.

DNF at 30%

This book seemed like it was a favorite for so many, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I found the alternating life between chapters so confusing and repetitive in some cases. The writing was really well done for what I did read, but ultimately this just wasn’t my kind of book.

I did enjoy the characters! I thought they were very easy to connect with, but they weren’t enough to make me continue reading. I hope that I’ll pick this back up in the future because I really don’t like DNFing. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF. Usually love Dahlia alders books but this one didn’t connect and I’ve had this arc for almost a year so I think it’s time to say goodbye.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC of Going Bicoastal! All opinions in this review are my own.

I have loved everything that I've read so far by Dahlia Adler and Going Bicoastal is no exception! While it did take me a few chapters to get used to switching between the stories, I like how it shows both outcomes of Natalya's summer decision. At first, I favored the New York storyline but the LA one grew on me by the end.

I love how realistic and honest Adler's characters are. They are relatable and I appreciate the diverness among them. I like how in both storylines, Natalya grows as a person and tries new things. Despite the choices of where to spend her summer seeming vastly different in the beginning of the book, Natalya is still able to learn the same things about herself by the end of both stories.

This was just okay for me. I think the characters were delightful, but the parallel choose-your-own adventure-ish formatting, while fun, I think just resulted in a weaker story.

This book was such a delight to read!! i absolutely loved both timelines almost equally, something i hadn't expected. my main worry was not being able to tell them apart, or getting confused between them, but that was not an issue at all.