a beautiful queer coming of age story. i love campus novels so much, and this one really moved me. the found family concept in this book is so strong and lovely. i do wish some characters would have had some more depth though!

Old Enough follows Sav Henry, a college sophomore learning more about herself. She recently came out as bisexual and she's forming friendships with her fellow queer classmates, but she's balancing that with her childhood friend Izzie's engagement. It's not just the engagement, though. Sav and Izzie's friendship fell apart after something happened between Sav and Izzie's brother when the friends were sixteen.

This book covers so much in so few pages: chaotic friendships, trauma, situationships, etc. I loved Sav's college friend group because they felt like real people. It was also interesting to see how Sav changed around her more welcoming friends versus when she was around Izzie and trying to suppress the person she's grown into. That happens so often when we grow up and move on to college, plus there's the added tension from Sav and Izzie's brief fallout in high school. The author handled the complexity of relationships exceptionally well.

Check the trigger warnings for this book before picking it up because it deals with some extraordinarily difficult topics. It took me so long to get through this book because I knew I had to be in the right headspace to finish it, and I'm glad I finally read it.

I liked Sav and her crush on Wes, a nonbinary character who seems so nice.

Some of the flashback chapters were jarring, so I wish they'd flowed better with the rest of the story.

I would 100% pick up a book by Haley Jakobson again. I also loved the college setting. Is New Adult making a comeback? I hope so, as it's such an underrepresented age range in fiction!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dutton for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! OLD ENOUGH, the debut novel by Haley Jakobson, is a wonderful exploration of queer love, friendship, forgiveness, and being a survivor.

This novel tells the story of Sav, a college sophomore, finding her community while coming to terms with the sexual assault in her past, reckoning with the complexities of her lifelong friendship and the ways she has outgrown her "BFF" Izzie, all while developing feelings for someone new.

Jakobson's writing is lovely - the many characters in OLD ENOUGH are complex, fully formed and believable - and this novel handles really challenging, nuanced topics with grace. I will absolutely recommend this story and will watch out for anything Jakobson writes in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

It's somewhat hard to get through this one because the trauma that leading lady Sav went through as a teen and is only now dealing with is not an easy topic. Rape when it's someone you know and think you love is hard enough without all that followed, and reading it was not an easy thing.
But there's so much queer joy and community playing a big part in the plot and showing Sav that she has a strong support group of people who love her just the way she is that it's hard not to praise Jakobson's work. You're in Sav's head from teenage-aged to college-aged, and to see the growth and strength she's achieved gives this reader hope.
It might not be for everyone because it touches on some (needlessly) controversial LGBTQ+ elements, but I highly recommend it for those with an open mind looking for a solid story and even for people who could do with some mind-opening reading.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the thought-provoking read!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a good book but not my type of book. First time reading from this author.

4.5 stars

A beautiful story about friendship, queer community, community care, trauma, love, complicated relationships, coming-of-age, coming into your own, and the magic of an all-consuming crush.

This book was messy, sweet, tender, wrenching, enraging, heartbreaking, beautiful, all-consuming, and unputdownable. Haley Jakobson is a writer to watch!

I was enthralled with this book from the beginning and was sad to see it end. This is the kind of book where you want to be friends with the characters, find yourself deeply rooting for their success, and can't help but long for more after you turn the last page. I enjoyed the queer coming-of-age element from a first-hand point of view and appreciated the inclusion and diversity across the characters. Haley has done an incredible job with her debut novel and I'm excited to read her future work.

Oh how I wish I had been able to read this book when I was younger. These are the kinds of books that save people’s lives and help them establish a beautiful sense of self. I’m so thankful that this book exists now and I hope it ends up in the hands of young people who see themselves in the MC’s shoes.

Old Enough was one of my most anticipated novels of 2023, so it is very unfortunate for me to say that it did not meet my expectations. I really loved the plot surrounding sexual assault and the main characters relationship with her high school best friend, but I found the build up of characterization surrounding her college friends to be lackluster and ultimately stain the books beauty. The relationships simply weren't convincing, as the author introduces such a high volume of side characters, leading to more prominent side characters suffering from a lack of depth. I also wasn't a fan of how side characters or background characters were often introduced by the stereotypes they fit into.

An emotional awakening story - touching, raw, and real. A worthwhile read that will have you missing the characters after you finish the story.

What was that meme of the person doing the uppercut of the thing they were preparing for and then getting slugged by the thing that came out of the blue and they weren't expecting?

Because that was this book.

But in a good way?

This took me to some places I was both expecting and not expecting to travel (check out all the trigger warnings), but the core of the book is about finding your people and yourself, and forgiving yourself for being a mess, and learning that trauma never really heals but stays with you and informs everything in some way.

I did find it funny that Sav felt that college was all growed up, because as much as the difference in maturity is from 16 to 18 t0 21, wait until the clarity (and lack thereof) you get at 25, 30, and 36. But then, who doesn't look back at their high school selves from college and go, "wow I was so young and I thought I knew it all, and the world is a lot grayer than it was back then?"

college sophomore sav begins to explore her newly realized queer identity, including a great group of queer friends, while also struggling with past trauma when her high school bff gets engaged. this story blew me away, and i felt myself relating to sav in so many ways to how i was discovering myself in college. i wasn't expecting the darker storyline underneath this book, but it was handled well and added more nuance to sav's growth.

I ended up DNFing this book at about 25%. This was the kind of queer book that felt like it was written for people outside the community instead of people like me. I was looking forward to this because I think the writer's writing on Instagram, but it was a miss for me. The writing felt awkward and clunky to me, but your mileage will likely vary! It was probably more about me than the book!

Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book!
Overall, I think Old Enough deals with a lot of important topics that a lot of LGTBTQ+ young adults will relate to. Messy relationships, groups of queer friends, dealing with past trauma, and coming of age. I think Jakobsen is a very skilled writer and I'd be interested in checking out her other work!

We love a book about the messiness that is discovering yourself and finding your own path. Really enjoyed this one!

This debut is a wonderful exploration of learning to accept yourself. It's messy, it's complicated, it's everything i look for in a book. Will definitely recommend.

Sav is getting closer to the person she wants to be. She’s in her sophomore year at college, is finally out as bisexual, and has formed a community of other queer folks around her. When her childhood best friend, Izzie, announces her engagement, Sav faces a crisis: things between them curdled after something happened between Sav and Izzie’s older brother, and attending Izzie’s wedding means confronting her past and the trauma she’s long kept buried.

This remarkable and poignant debut is a memorable examination of one young woman's journey to self-acceptance. Jakobson manages to create a narrator in Sav that is both fully realized and incredibly compelling, and she captures those early college years so well that it’s staggering. As Sav befriends a group of queer people and begins to reckon with her unresolved trauma of her teenage years and a sexual assault that she’s never allowed herself to name as such, the novel opens up into a really incredible examining of young adulthood, queerness, and self-acceptance.

In less talented hands, the blending of complex ideas about gender and sexuality with the stream-of-consciousness narration and (very funny) dialogue would not work. Here, it works seamlessly, and Jakobson’s fearless approach to writing about and describing sex is staggering (in a good way). Bonus points for her incredible ability to show how easy it is to use pronouns in writing. Funny, emotional, and absolutely compelling.

One of the best coming of age stories in recent history. If you're a fan of Sally Rooney don't miss this book!! Messy, complicated, heartbreaking heart saving. First love. Drifting friendships and trying to figure out where she fits in the world Sav won my heart in just a few sentences. Buying physical copies and a LOT of highlighters!! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

This debut novel tells the story about a young woman finding herself. Savannah isn’t quite sure who she is but she’s figuring it out. She’s not sure where her place is in the world, who she wants to love and where her place is in her friendships, but she’s figuring it all out. This was a great coming of age debut.
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Thank you #Dutton and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am always a sucker for a queer found family, but Old Enough is so much more than that. It’s deceptively complex, digging deep into trauma and outgrowing your roots and discovering your identity. It’s the book I could’ve used as a teenager, the one I needed in my twenties, and the one I'm glad I've now found in my thirties. It’s a cozy, supportive, queer idyllic community with friends who are family before you realise it.

It takes a few chapters before you realise that Old Enough is more than it appears. Like Sav, you start to feel a little imposter syndrome-y. This can’t be hitting you as hard as you think - after all, it’s only a bi college student making friends, developing crushes, and drifting from high school relationships...

Jakobson's writing allows Sav and her story to shine. I never questioned her emotions or actions because each scenario was well-defined, as were the other characters involved. Sav made mistakes and was awkward and second-guessed a lot of her choices, but it was never to force a plot point or mislead the reader. She was clearly trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted, all while balancing her privilege, identity, trauma, and past. It was very easy to fall for this character who was trying so hard to do the right thing and be the right kind of person without breaking any promises, even if it was emotionally and psychologically traumatising at times. I was so glad that Candace and Vera were incredibly supportive and encouraging people because Sav needed them and deserved them in her life.

Every single interaction between Sav and Wes was so cringeworthy in all the best ways. I got secondhand embarrassment every time, but I always wanted more. I loved how obviously they were into each other without being able to make any movement in the right direction. It was slow and awkward and achingly sweet.

I could rave about Old Enough for hours, but I don’t want to give any more away than I already have. I can't wait to see what Jakobson writes next because if it’s anywhere near as honest and welcoming and supportive as Old Enough, it’s sure to be another worthwhile five-star read.

"'I have to be honest about one thing, though.' Her voice was stern.
I winced. 'What?'
'Downloading Snapchat for a cis guy might be the most biphobic thing you've ever done.'
'Nooooooooo!' I screamed.
She cackled and reached for the radio knob, turned the volume all the way up, and sped out onto the road."