Let me start off by saying the Girls Like Girls 2015 music video changed the way I saw myself as a confused, bisexual teenager. I’m a HUGE fan of Hayley Kiyoko and I think will always be - so it really bums me out that this debut novel fell short for me in so many ways.

At this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not much of a YA reader, BUT I can still definitely appreciate a good YA story. The writing in Girls Like Girls was not only elementary, but honestly plain bad. There was so much telling VS showing with these characters that you never truly get a good grasp of who these people really are. You definitely feel sympathy for Coley, as the internalized homophobia and trauma from her family’s past is eating at her, but it’s almost HARD to empathize with her? Because she isn’t even fleshed out enough. And I feel like we only ever see Sonya through Coley’s rose colored lenses OR Sonya’s private journal entries - BOTH OF WHICH definitely don’t match up to Sonya’s actions/overall behavior? She was SO frustrating as a love interest because there’s no redemption? There’s obvious tension written in but I never felt it.

And with all YAs, there’s always a sense of naive absoluteness to everything, but without a true grasp of the characters, it just feels cringey and silly. It makes the trauma feel so surface level, which is a total injustice to both Coley’s self inflicted hatred and Sonya’s internal struggle with the societal pressure to be “perfect.” The ending was just so fast. The entire book feels very rushed, as things progress fast without much time passing at all, but then all of a sudden things are awful horrible bad then great okay lovely. I got whiplash in the last 5% of this book?! And it doesn’t quite feel like a happy ending, I think there is so much that’s glossed over and unfinished that I don’t want to call this a healthy partnership at all.

What’s tough about this is that I honestly REMEMBER feeling the way Coley and Sonya were feeling when I was struggling to define my own sexuality as a teenager. Some of the stuff in this book tugged at my past self’s 16 year old heartstrings, so I know that with some heavy editing and more precise storytelling, this book could have been really good. The way I feel rubbed raw when I watch the Girls like Girls music video - EVEN YEARRRSS LATER - blows my mind and shows me how strong of a musician and artist Hayley Kiyoko is. But this novel unfortunately feels like it missed a lot of marks, technically and lyrically.

4.5 ⭐️ I really really enjoyed this🥺 I’m not usually one for high school romance but I love a good coming of age story and this one really did it for me!

Coley just moved to a new town to live with her estranged father after her mother passed away. She meets a group of friends who invite her to hang out and ends up connecting with Sonya the most out of all of them. They spend a lot of time just the two of them and their friendship progresses to something more, but Sonya gets scared just as everything starts to change.

I connected with this a lot and especially with Coley. This was so full of angst and teenage drama but also lots of real life troubles too. Check TWs - specifically suicide/mental illness discussions - it gets a little heavy at times and I felt so much of the emotion. It’s sapphic, high school aged, coming of age/coming out, self discovery & acceptance, grief. I absolutely loved that this was set in the early 2000s and they chatted on AIM, brought me right back 😂 I also really liked that even though it was just in Coley’s perspective, we got to see Sonya’s side of things through her private posts online too. Her mending the relationship with her dad was heartbreaking yet so sweet at the same time 😭 The only thing I wish was different was the ending, it felt so abrupt and there was no epilogue 🥲 but besides that and overall, I really did love it 🥹

Girls Like Girls is a queer, coming-of-age novel written by the amazingly talented pop star and lesbian icon Hayley Kiyoko. This story follows Coley, a teenage girl who just moved to a new town and is dealing with family trauma and discovering who she is. Coley meets a group of kids in her town, including the popular Sonya, who she immediately falls for. The two enter an extremely complicated friendship that eventually becomes something more.

Something I really enjoyed about this novel is how similar it is to Hayley Kiyoko's music video of the same name. There were specific scenes in the book that I immediately connected to the video, and it made it all that more special. She also wove in other elements from her career, with a reference to her song "Cliff's Edge" and even a nod to being called Lesbian Jesus.

This novel was extremely fast-paced, and sometimes I wish it would have taken the time to slow down a little bit, especially towards the end. The final party scene, which is derived directly from the aforementioned music video, could have used a little bit more action and depth. Characters, however, especially Coley and Sonya, were very well-developed and fit the plot well.

Overall, I found this story very enjoyable, and loved being able to connect it back to the music video that inspired it. I hope Hayley will continue writing, or at least turn this into a full-length film someday!

A massive thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press - Wednesday Books for this advance reader copy.

content warnings (please note i may have missed some): grief following death of parent by suicide, homophobia (external & internal), underage drinking and drug use

after losing her mom, coley is forced to move to a small town in oregon with a father she does not know. there, she meets sonya, who she’s attracted to, but she’s not sure how sonya feels.

one thing that surprised me is that this book was set in 2006. i don’t think the book would’ve been super different if it had been set now instead, but i did like the element of the blogging, which wouldn’t have worked as well had it been set now.

i liked the exploration of first love and how tricky it can be. i didn’t really find anything wrong with coley, but sonya definitely had her problems, especially internalized homophobia. i liked how this was all explored and how her growth played out.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC of Girls Like Girls in exchange for my honest review!

Before I give my review, I must preface that I don't listen to Hayley Kiyoko's music, so I don't have the personal connection with her work, particularly "Girls Like Girls" and its music video, that other readers will. That being said, I ended up liking this book, even though things could get rocky. The beginning, for example, deploys the insta-love trope for the central romance, and insta-love isn't something that I'm all too keen to consume. Then as I dived deeper into the story, I realized it wasn't going to be the easygoing teen romance that I'd expected it to be. Nope, it gets heavy and it's dealing with messy-ass youths, so I had to shift into a different reading mood in order to be able to enjoy it as much as possible. Once that happened about halfway through the story, I got more satisfaction out of it, even when the writing was feeling corny and unpolished. But it can get quite touching, too, and I liked Kiyoko's choice to set this against the nostalgic backdrop of 2006.

Overall, I'm officially rating Girls Like Girls 3.25 out of 5 stars, then rounding it down to 3 stars. It didn't amaze me, but I'm glad I picked it up, and I'd be interested to see if Kiyoko will write any more books in the future.

I wanted to love this book SO much! the yearning, the pinning the 2006 vibes with livejournal and AIM... but it seemed to fall flat in SO many ways - especially how toxic Sonya and her friends were.

So much of sapphic media revolves around one girl being toxic and the other romanticizing it even when it hurts them so much and this book does just that. Coley opens up to her and Sonya immediately ghosts because she's so in the closet but instead of talking about their feelings she leads her on and gaslights her about their relationship as a whole.

Meanwhile Coley is finally moving on and getting closer to her dad (LOVE Curtis - he was really the highlight of the book!) and I was hoping and praying that it would lead to her saying goodbye to Sonya and finding someone that actually wants to be with her.

alas no - Coley gets hate crimed and that spurs Sonya into wanting her back - a trope which I hated SOOOO much. I really wished this story had ended with her just walking away.

This was a perfectly acceptable first book for a new author. That being said, it wasn't a fantastic book. I think there were a few things that were shoehorned in for fans of the author (lesbian Jesus anyone?) that feel out of place if someone were to pick this up without knowing about those inside jokes. Overall, this was just ok.

I really liked this, While stories of queer love and joy without homophobia is a breath of fresh air and essential, it is also important for stories where homophobia both external and internal are aspects of self realization to be told as well. Especially with what is going on in the world now. And for me as a baby Gen Xer, this more closely represented my own experience. So I really identified with Sonya's confusion and appreciated her LiveJournal entries scattered throughout. I really felt for Coley too and everything she was going through. This is a debut and of course it's not without its criticisms, however I felt it was done well. I would definitely read more from Kiyoko.

This book had a lot going on. The main character is dealing with the death of her mom while also falling in love with a girl who isn’t out. There’s drugs and alcohol mentioned frequently for a young adult book. Also violence and cruelty. Wasn’t my cup of tea and could be triggering for young adults who have experienced similar traumas.

Girls Like Girls is based on the iconic music video and song from Hayley Kiyoko. I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover. The story follows Coley and Sonya, with Coley forced to live with her estranged father after the death of her mother. Coley must wrestle with romantic feelings about Sonya, as Sonya must decide whether she accepts herself. There are no easy answers and the girls must choose whether they can continue their friendship/relationship…

The story felt very surface-level. I struggled with the lack of depth in both plot and characters. While Coley absolutely had tragic things happen in her backstory, they felt a little underdeveloped. If you’ve seen the music video, you’ll have a good idea of where the story is going. However, the pacing felt a bit off as the climatic moment occurs and then the book wraps up. I would have expected more about what happens next or what happens between them in the future.

I enjoyed the relationship between Coley and her dad. It was nice to see Coley form genuine connections outside of her somewhat toxic friendships and relationship. Girls Like Girls has an important message about being true to yourself and not worrying about the expectations of others. I do think this book will really mean a lot to some readers, especially those who love the titular music video and song.

Thank you to Hayley Kiyoko, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Girls Like Girls is a phenomenal coming of age sapphic romance. The book follows Coley, the new girl in town who just moved in with the father she never knew after her mother dies, and Sonya, the dancer who has never been with a girl before. The story is based on the author, Hayley Kiyoko’s song of the same title and it follows the girls as they face their fears about love and learn that they are worth love. Neither of the girls grew up with parents who had a successful marriage, which tarnishes their ideas of love and prevents them from seeing that they are not only capable of it, but deserve to be loved.

In all, this was a fun, quick read that kept me entertained the entire way through and I would love to see a second book from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hayley Kiyoko, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of this book.

The story is clearly crafted to build a narrative around the song and music video of the same title but overall I enjoyed it. The tone doesn't feel heavy while dealing with themes of grief, coming of age, and internalized homophobia. The characters feel rounded and authentic. The typical small-town American story of sex, drugs, and alcohol with a healthy dose of teenagers making reactive decisions is a little over done and did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to characters and setting. Often the character descriptions and scene settings were sparse or non-existent and could use some work in future books. Overall there were a lot of good story points but they don’t all smoothly go together as they felt contrived for Coley’s growth rather than natural. There’s a lot of potential here for a debut book from a new author.

2.5 Stars. Based on the music video by the same name, Coley moves to Oregon to live with her father after the death of her mother and instantly falls for Sonya. Unfortunately for Coley, Sonya has a boyfriend who is more than a bit possessive. The two find time in the summer to be together but friends, family, and other relationships keep things complicated.

I was vaguely aware of the music video but did not actually watch it until I finished the book. I like the music video better. While there were a lot of scenes in the book that were not depicted in the music video, they didn’t add anything and the book and the video end at the same moment. I found many of the scenes to be repetitive and there a was a lot of telling rather than showing. I found it was interesting to set the story in 2006, but the book didn’t feel like 2006 other than the references to AIM. I think fans of Hayley will really like the book, but it didn’t work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. I really liked the character of Coley and the growth she went through. Seeing her accept herself was very pleasing. I liked that even though the book is only from Coley's pov you still saw Sonyas thoughts through her livejournals. I liked the two of them together but I just think that Sonya is a little bit too toxic. If the book was a little longer and we saw them actually together around their friends then maybe I could be on board with Sonya.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is based on the “Girls Like Girls” music video by Hayley as well. I, surprisingly, had never seen the music video before so I went into this book knowing nothing about the story. I had some mixed feelings, mostly about the characters. I liked Coley but I didn’t like Sonya like 85% of the time so I wasn’t rooting for them for much of the book. But, at the same time, I think it told a pretty realistic story of a closeted girl really seriously struggling with her identity. That’s never going to be a super happy fun story or character to read about so I still liked it regardless.

I went and watched the music video after finishing the book and, not going to lie, it made me cry. I can see why it was such an iconic and important video for queer people, especially women, when it came out. As a lesbian myself, both the video and the book did touch on a lot of things that felt very relatable. The confusion of liking a girl for the first time. The way it is very intense with the first girl. It’s very true to how I experienced liking a girl for the first time.

Overall, I thought it was good! It could definitely be a bit cheesy / cringey at times but I don’t think it took away from the story at all. If you liked the music video, I would 100% check out the book.

(ps, I loved alex so much)

I was so excited about this one, but I just could not get into it. The dialogue felt incredibly awkward to me and also the characters were very bland. I got to about 25% and just couldn’t go on. I do think some readers will absolutely love it, but it just didn’t work for me.

When the music video for Girls Like Girls was released in 2015, it meant so much for queer teen girls, so when I saw that the singer of the song was writing a book based on the video, I knew I was definitely going to be reading it.

This is Hayley Kiyoko’s first foray into writing a book, and it does show in a lot of ways. The first person POV and internal monologues were a bit much at times. The writing is on par with a lot of YA romances I have read, which is to say not amazing, but serviceable.

I did find the Livejournal and AIM parts entertaining as someone old enough to have used those, but some younger readers might not register those references.

Kiyoko does an incredible job showing both the gut wrenching pain and beauty of being a girl in your teens, when life is already so hard, and realizing that you might love a girl.

I wanted to love this book, but the ending is extremely abrupt, not just the way the last chapter plays out, but how the relationship is resolved. It doesn’t satisfy after how both Coley and Sonya spend almost the entire book in emotional anguish. It’s hard to believe in a happy ending when it’s barely fleshed out.

I did really like some of the minor characters and found they were well built for barely being part of the story.

Regardless, this book is worth a try if you’re a fan of Kiyoko’s music and especially of that music video. There are a lot of very sensitive topics that are touched on, so please check content warnings.

Tldr; these girls need therapy!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC.

CW: suicide, grief, mental illness, homophobia, violence

3.5⭐️s

TW/CW: Discussion of suicide, death of a parent, grief, absent parent coming back, homophobia, internalized homophobia, underage drinking/drug use, mention of vomiting
Rep: Lesbian, Japanese-American main character, sapphic love interest, sapphic side character, possible Achillean side character

If you’re a Hayley Kiyoko fan, or just a fan of Girls like Girls the song, this is a must read!

I’ll be completely honest: I wasn’t as impressed with this book as I wanted to be. I love Hayley. I know how important this song, book, concept is to her. It’s important to me, too.

It just felt basic. The writing, the plot, the characters. Honestly, if this book had come out in 2015 like the song, I’m sure it would’ve been groundbreaking – but we’ve come a long way since then. However, I know this book is important and will be important to many. People dealing with grief, with homophobia, with struggling to figure out who they are in teenagehood.

And I did enjoy it! Just not as much as I expected to.

It seemed like the book took so long to get going, and then I felt like the ending was quite rushed – it was basically just the end of the music video, and not much that was brought up was actually resolved. I thought after the end of the music video would be expounded upon a bit, and it was not. It just wasn’t as satisfactory a conclusion as I’d hoped for. I wanted more!

I also wanted Coley and Alex to bond more. I had suspicions about him from the beginning, and I wish they’d been able to be closer and rely on each other more. I also loved Curtis, and the fact that him not being there for Coley was more complex than she was aware of.

Support this book if possible. Hayley has big dreams for this story – I was lucky enough to meet her and be a part of a Q&A at her show, where most of the discussion was about this book and future writing projects she has dreamed up. Let’s make those dreams a reality!


Huge thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC of this!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin Publishing and Wednesday Books for the ARC of "Girls Like Girls".
What's truly impressive here is the amount of powerful dramatic content that's packed into its primal main story - that of two teen girls falling deeply in love.
As a multi-hyphenate performer, Haley Kiyoko certainly has the instincts of a born entertainer......and as a fledgling novelist, she knows enough to keep the story at an immediate fever pitch, even if her prose lacks the depth and skill to deal with the issues she's raising. Maybe that's why I felt it read like a quickly produced novelization of some new YA movie about to hit streaming sites.
Right at the start, you feel compelled to root for the "new girl in town" Coley. Shaken and broken from the suicide death of her mother, she's forced into the custody of Curtis, her long estranged father who abandoned his wife and daughter years ago.
The pain, hurt and anger surrounding this father-daughter duo runs deep, with Curtis desperately hoping to make amends and redeem himself to Coley, whose emotional wounds seem beyond healing.
What changes everything is Coley's immediate, electric, white-hot attraction to Sonya, a popular girl who befriends her.....and even with Sonya taking a prominent place among a coterie of friends, it takes no time at all for her chemistry with Coley to simmer close to boiling point. But the sudden passion between the two suffers from Sonya's ingrained homophobia and peer pressure......this poisonous pressure builds further, stoked by Trenton, the coterie's official obnoxious, repugnant creep, whom they all barely tolerate....and an instant enemy of Coley from the start.
As much as readers will cheer on Coley, Sonya's another story, weighed down with so much of her own dysfunctional baggage, you'll start to wonder if Coley might be better off without her. But there's one aspect of the book that I must give credit to Haley Kiyoko - even with her obvious, simplistic prose, she fully evokes the kind of sparks-flying, first-love rapture that aches and exhilarates lovers all at the same time.... perfectly designed to leave any reader alternately sighing with either hurt or hope.
Sorry to say though, "Girls Like Girls" badly disappoints and falls down in its final chapters, the reason I can't give it more than 3 stars. That rushed and abrupt conclusion may well work dramatically if adapted to the screen, but once we readers become invested in the characters, we expect more than a snappy 'fade-out-to-credits' from the book that's telling their story. (Memo to author: that's one of the reasons everybody ends up saying the book was better!)

Girls Like Girls

It is a very rare occasion that I will pick up a YA book as it is not my favourite genre, but I will do anything for Hayley Kiyoko so here we are.

I think this book is going to be a HUGE hit for anyone who is a fan of a sapphic love story, coming of age tales, and teenage angst.

Main character Coley is quite endearing and I loved her relationship with her father. Sonya, the love interest, was just okay for me. Mostly the characters felt very one note.

The writing was mostly okay, but often cringy. I have a really hard time with the cringey, over dramatic nature of YA, so take this critique as you will.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my gifted e arc!