I'll update my review once I finish reading it. I received a physical copy from St. Martin's Press, and so that is how I will be reading this book.

What I will say is that I hope this lives up to the hype. I remember watching the music video and listening to the song this is based on when I was 15. It was so influential to me, so when I saw it was becoming a book, I knew I had to see what it would turn into.

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko is an angsty sapphic coming of age story based on her music video of the same name.

This YA romance (?) follows Coley as she moves to Oregon to live with her father after her mother's death by suicide. Coley becomes magnetically connected with a girl named Sonya, whose on again off again shenanigans play out almost until the end.

I'm going to be honest, parts of this were difficult for me to read. The angst was high. The grief was high. Sonya was cruel and rude. I'm not sure that she deserved Coley in the end. The pacing seemed off from a typical romance, but that could be partially due to the underlying music video basis.

Overall, I liked this story, but it worked for me more as a coming of age and dealing with grief for Coley than a romance.

honestly, this was painful for me to get through. i skipped through so much of it and felt so bored. i’ve also been in a bit of a reading slump lately, so that might have contributed to it ??

however, i’ll always remember the iconic-ness of the “girls like girls” music video <3 i used to watch that mv on repeat !!

I didn’t request this book, but I ended up being sent two physical ARCs and an eARC, so I ended up reading it anyway.

TW: discussions of suicide, death of a parent by suicide (off page, prior to start of novel), homophobia, internalized homophobia, violent homophobia in the form of physical assault

2.5 stars

The reviews on this one are very mixed, and I understand why. My thoughts on this are also mixed. In the beginning, I wasn’t loving it. Mostly, it was just a series of not-for-me type things. The writing and narration weren’t the strongest, and it was very internal monologue heavy (not for me). The romance was also very insta-attraction in the first meeting and first couple interactions, which doesn’t tend to work for me. But then, about 25% in, through about 60-70%, I started to get drawn in and started enjoying myself. And then the ending was one of the worst endings I’ve ever read.
In general, I liked Coley as a main character. I think she had a lot of growth in the book, and I enjoyed it. She was easy to love and easy to root for—and I think that’s where one of my main complaints with the book comes in. She deserved better than her relationship with Sonya. I didn’t hate Sonya, but she had so many issues and internalized homophobia that she never handled, and instead took out on Coley. And unlike Coley, she never showed significant growth. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be rooting for the main couple in a romance to get together, but I was actively rooting for them to stay apart, grow on their own, and move on.
Prior to the ending, I was going to say that it was a book that, if the song/music video means something to you, you should definitely read it, but if not, you wouldn’t be missing much if you passed on it. After the ending… All I can say is if you really really want to read it, I won’t say not to, but I don’t recommend it.

Now I want to get into the ending, but I can’t do that without spoilers, so read on at your own risk.

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During the last 5% of the book, Coley and Sonya reunite after Sonya freaked out and dropped Coley. Basically, they talk and Sonya is freaking out. She’s dealing with a serious sexuality crisis, and I don’t blame her for it, but she’s saying she wants Coley, but she can’t want her because “wanting her is wrong” and “she can’t be wrong.” She’s clearly fighting with internalized homophobia, but she’s also clearly letting the internalized homophobia win.
Then, the next day, she is looking all sad by the pool at a party and Coley goes to her, and they talk, and it’s still like “I want you but I can’t have you”, but there’s chemistry and they lean in to kiss and OUT OF NOWHERE this guy comes and PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS THEM for kissing. This happens FIVE PAGES before the end of the book. I’m genuinely not kidding, I counted. Coley beats him up (go Coley!) and then starts to leave, because traumatizing, and Sonya chases after her and catches her in the driveway and says “wait no! I love you and I’m gonna do it! I’m going to be with you!” and they kiss and go back to the party. The end. Literally, that’s how it ends. This was definitely the most rushed ending I’ve ever read, and it all came out of nowhere. There was absolutely no time to process, for either the characters or the reader.

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books & St Martin Press for an advance copy of this book!

There has been such early buzz for this book and I was very excited to be able to get an early copy of this book.

I had seen early mixed reviews on it so going in I was a little nervous but I thought this book was very enjoyable and such an easy read. It is also at the perfect length for a book coming in at 320 pages.

Coley is a 17 year old girl whose mother passed away and she has to leave her life in California and move to Oregon with her father whom she hasn't seen since she was 3. He encouraged her to go out and try to make friends. After almost getting hit by a car by driver Trenton, she meets Sonya who turned her world upside down.

"That's the thing about falling. Sometimes you crash."

I am not of the queer community but I thought the apprehension and the confusion in your teenage years came across believable. Because while I might not know what it is like to have a crush on the same sex, I do know what it's like to have that first big crush and all the feelings that come with it.

While a big portion of this book was the potential romance between Coley and Sonya, it also deals with Coley's grief and starting a relationship with her dad as well as the complicated teenage years and making friends. I was really more interested in seeing Coley's growth with her estranged father and knowing more about his history and we definitely got a piece of that towards the end.

One thing that I loved was that this took place in the early aughts so the main technology was AIM which took me back to my high school and college days. Also love that LiveJournal got to be spotlighted as that was something I definitely used and wish I still had access to my account.

I have heard that the audiobook is a cast of full characters which Hayley had handpicked in doing the narration.
I am excited to check that out to see how it translates. I think I know how it worked as this is only told primarily from Coley's POV but we get teases in those LiveJournal entries of other voices.

"I could spend my life chasing her."

I had not previously watched the music video where the origin of this story came from until today and I'm glad that I waited because I could definitely see storylines from the video that were also in the book. I also like how Hayley was able to use the font from her single cover to be on this cover and that there is a moment where the two girls are sitting by the pool that mimics the cover. Just a nice full circle moment.

I think this book is a great book for teenagers and those coming of age! But could also be meaningful for those who are still trying to figure themselves out at any age.

To begin, let me just say that I had not watched the Girls Like Girls music video until about halfway through this book when I decided I had to see it immediately. I will say that if you were already a fan of the music video then I think that you're going to like this book a whole lot because it takes that general concept and it expands it, but the beats it hits are the same. There's just a level of emotional devastation in the book that you don't necessarily get in the same way in the music video because you don't know any prior trauma either girl may have.

In the book version, Coley has moved to Oregon to live with her dad who she hadn't seen since she was like, three or something, because her mom died by suicide. Coley is... not dealing with things particularly well, though still far better than I would be in her shoes. Anyway, she winds up almost getting ran over by this douche bag and his ex-girlfriend, Sonya, and her summer starts going in a bit of a different direction. There's a pretty immediate connection between Sonya and Coley, but it's interesting because Sonya is very much the "cool girl" and the most popular girl so Coley pushing back and challenging her is new. As for what Sonya's dealing with, basically it's her mom being awful.

There's a lot of drug and alcohol use for kids in high school. But what really struck me the most about this book is how perfectly it captures 2006, but also holy cow, so much has changed since 2006?? It almost makes this book feel like historical fiction. I'm so curious how young adults who read this book are going to feel about it because it's truly so different. Do you remember AIM away messages? And the way we would all make those messages so targeted at one person... Ah, the nostalgia. Anyways, this book deals a lot with homophobia and it's so interesting because wow, the flashbacks. I don't want to spoil anything, but also, if you want the general vibe, just go watch the music video.

All in all, I would recommend this book, but only if you're okay to be emotionally destroyed. Also, Kiyoko has an interesting writing style that felt very different to most of what I read, so I would recommend trying a sample to make sure you'll get along with the writing. And if you're looking at this book for a young person in your life, I would recommend getting one for you too so you can talk about all the 2006 references with them and how, for love of all that is good and holy, gay is not an insult. You know? Because we just really don't need to go back to that time. We really, really don't.

I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The "Girls Like Girls" is one of the first music videos where I saw me clearly, so I clearly wasn't going to turn down a chance to read the book.

The book shows what happens BEFORE the events in the music video. Coley is new to town and struggling with who she is. She just lost her mom and uprooted her whole life. Now she's dealing with hot and cold feelings from Sonya, her new friend and love interest.

As an a teenager, this would have been exactly the book I needed. It's a journey of self exploration, love, and friendship. However, as an adult, I know the relationship in this book is not what Coley needs. She deserves more.

I loved the friendships in this book and the personal growth. But man am I am mad it still ends the same way as the music video!

3.5/5

I was drawn to this book cause I always liked the Girls like Girls song. It was so filled with teen angst and heartbreak and that pure teen craziness. This book really captures those feelings. It was a teen hormone drinking and drugs filled mess as Coley navigates her way to finding friends and herself in a small town. When I first started reading I had so many Forks Washington Twilight vibes. I found Coley and classic mix of trying to be cool and fit in and also the chip on her shoulder trying to be a badass that needs no one.
I found the character of Sonya the most fascinating. She was a perfect prom queen preppy rich girl but she was a really good and loyal friend. Her feelings for Coley were complicated by her and her moms relationships and how she thought she had to be. You really got to feel her inner most feelings through her journal entries.
Over super good moody teenage love story with great family and great friend dynamic. It was the music video come to life.
Ps it also desperately made me miss My Space and AIM!! Ahh the 2000s.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley for review.

Reading this book was a very middling experience. I felt like there was a lot of processing by the author and main character through out, but by the end I was left disappointed. I appreciate that Coley spent the time to process what her sexuality was throughout the book, but I was really hoping she'd end up somewhere different than with trying again with Sonya (who SUCKS as a love interest). The writing overall was alright, it felt like it dragged a little in the middle 30% and I wish there had been more depth to the friendship between Alex and Coley as it seemed like they were both processing or had processed similar experiences throughout the last few years. I think having Coley be alone in the end would have made for a much better ending, and a more honest one. Overall, I think it's an alright coming of age summer read for those that might be questioning their feelings/sexuality, but the story feels like it could have dug deeper.

Thank you for the ARC copy of this book!

To start I absolutely love this song and have seen the music video tons of times. So I was excited to read a book that was about the music video and song. Personally the writing in the book fell a bit short for me but I still enjoyed the read. I think one component for me is that the writing feels like it may be for a younger audience than myself which I fully understand. I also felt that the ending was a bit rushed. I did think the book covered some of the challenges that young queer women face quite well. It was a quick read for me and I hope others like the book.

For a debut novel & for someone who isn’t an established author, I felt this was written very well. I’d recommend this for older teens and adults only because it deals with heavier content. This book is so honest about how messy, difficult and heartbreaking life can be but it does an amazing job at highlighting how beautiful and how there’s always hope and room to grow as a person.
This book also deals with loss/grief and how it can effect your relationships and emotions, but also shows you how beautiful moving forward and dealing with those emotions can be.

I really wanted to like this one, the premise sounded so promising. Unfortunately the writing is very immature and cringey at times. I just could not get into it.

2.5

This was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. The writing was rocky in the beginning, and got better but also used sentences like "she was not like other girls" on the first page.

Some of the characters and plot lines felt entirely unnecessary. Brooke and her little crush on Trenton had no major role, nor her beef with the main character. The whole Blake plot line felt useless as well. I believe that these could've been used to develop the main characters relationships better.

The Livejournal posts were fun, but for a book targeted to young adults, a lot of which at this point would not have been alive at the time this book was set may not understand certain references such as Livejournal etc. (I know I had to google what AIM was).

This is the kind of story I wish was around when I was a teenager. I loved the characters and hearing their experiences.

Unlike many people, I don’t have any particular connection to Hayley Kiyoko’s music or this music video in particular (although I’ve certainly always been aware). So it was fun to read this with the idea of a music video in the back of my head and then see how it all played out on screen after I’d finished (something I’d highly recommend if you do read this book and you can see all the little details). Overall, this was a pretty good read, with a decent balance of fun and character exploration/growth. It definitely falls more on the contemporary side, rather than romance, but if you’re looking for the lesbian jesus book, then this is definitely the book for you.

While Coley took a little while to grow on me, I think that her character exploration and growth were the best parts of the book for me. And while there are romantic elements to this book, I don’t think they’re as interesting in the long run. This is a book about Coley, a lesbian in the mid-2000s in rural Oregon who’s learning to live as herself and to just live after her mom died. It’s a hard book to read at some points, and Kiyoko digs into those emotions. There are things that I wish were more developed, and the last 20% of the book felt a lot more like a story I really wanted to read than before, but as a whole I enjoyed this as a character journey, albeit one I wanted to see progress even more.

As far as relationships go, I think that the development of the platonic and familial relationships was better or easier to root for than romantic (although there was still a part of me rooting for Coley and Sonya). The development of Coley’s relationship with her dad was probably my favourite, although I wish that we’d also gotten more of her relationship with her mother, even if it’s in the past. Coley and Sonya were fine, but they weren’t a couple I really saw going anywhere, more of a plot point within their overall journeys, although I did enjoy parts of their journeys.

At the end of the day, I decently enjoyed this book. I wish that I had more of an emotional connection with it going in, but I don’t think it’s necessary to enjoy the book.

A young adult queer love story inspired by the iconic music video of Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko...

Overall I did enjoy the story, its like a hug to young queer girls. Just like Kiyoko's song was when it released. The story of acceptance and grief is really impactful.

Kiyoko definitely has some writing talent but this really does feel like a debut book. It probably could have used a little more refining. This was partly in the behavior and actions around Trenton. There was no subtly to how unlikeable he was so it's kind of hard for readers to get why Sonya would put up with it.

The romance in this is very instalove/friends to lovers, which I'm not the biggest fan of. I have seen a lot of debut (and seasoned) authors have an issue with telling rather than showing the reader the character and relationship development., and Kiyoko is not exempt from this. I would have liked to *see* a lot more of the development than we did.

I'm curious to see where Kiyoko's writing goes from here and I am hoping for some more improvement as this was a bit of a let down.

2.5 rounded up to 3

This book is based on Hayley Kiyoko’s iconic “Girls Like Girls” music video that was released around seven years ago. The book starts with Coley moving to a rural area in Oregon after her mother passes away from suicide. She’s shipped off to live with her dad, Curtis, who she doesn’t know well. Interestingly, this strained relationship with her father was the most compelling part of the story for me. Curtis tried really hard, and he seemed to really love Coley, which I really liked.

The AIM and LiveJournal stuff didn’t really do anything for me. Perhaps that is because this book takes place in 2006, and I was only 9 at the time, but I didn’t experience the nostalgia that older people may experience for those things while reading this book. Considering this is a YA book and is intended for ages younger than myself, I don’t think it would do much for them either. I just want to know why the author chose to situate the story in 2006 other than to add the LiveJournal stuff, but I think this could have been easily modernized with Tumblr entries or posts on Instagram or Twitter. Again, why 2006?

Sonya, the love interest, is a closeted girl struggling with her sexual identity who constantly defends her horrible friends, including her abusive POS boyfriend, Trenton, who got away with too much considering everything he said and did. There are some chapters dedicated to her LiveJournal entries, but a lot of her character development aside from these journal entries are done at dance camp, which happens off page. I think the book would have been better if it was a dual POV that showed us Sonya’s development, especially at dance camp. A dual POV would have also allowed the author to explore and readers to watch two girls figure out their sexual identity.

The book ends like the music video, very open ended. However, I cannot envision book Coley and Sonya moving forward in the way that I can see music video Coley and Sonya moving forward. The book simply didn’t live up to the music video. I wasn’t rooting for book Coley and Sonya the way I was rooting for the music video version of them, but I made up my own story for the music video version of them that the book doesn’t live up to. I was not rooting for the two of them to be together in the book with how toxic their relationship was.

Also, aside from one comment about Coley not being white enough for white people and not Asian enough for Asian people, there was nothing else in the book to distinguish her racial/ethnic/cultural background. I would have liked that aspect of Coley’s identity to be expanded, especially since most of her friend group appears to be white. This struggle in her cultural identity could have even been juxtaposed in relation to the setting of rural Oregon, since I have heard that it is not very progressive there outside of Portland.

CW: suicide (off page), death of parent (off page), physical and emotional abuse, underage drinking, drug use, toxic relationships (platonic and romantic), gaslighting, violence.

TL;DR I prefer the music video

netgalley could benefit from providing trigger warnings. i wont be reviewing this book further as the content is triggering for me.

DNFd once I realized that her mom died by suicide. I wish I had looked up TW before requesting this book bc I just lost my own mother to suicide.
Thank you for the ARC

2.7/5,
(3 stars rounded up)

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review

Girls Like Girls is a coming-of-age young adult novel surrounding Coley, as she navigates her life moving to a new town with her estranged father following her mother’s suicide. First, I think that Hayley Kiyoko did a good job of writing Coley’s voice with all the angst and confusion that comes with being queer in the era of AIM and LiveJournal. The setting brought me a lot of nostalgia for me. I found the storyline of Coley and her father learning to become a family sweet and compelling. Coley’s growth and confidence in her identity and worth was great and could have been a great message to younger readers, until the end.
I didn’t love the writing– it felt too staccato and wasn’t my preferred style of writing. My biggest problem with this book was the portrayal of the romance between the protagonists. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of sapphic media in which one half of the relationship is clearly a terrible person and the love feels toxic but is portrayed through a lens that is rose-colored. Unfortunately, Girls Like Girls falls into this trope that is sadly common with queer media. While Sonya’s struggles to accept her identity were valid, as being in the closet is a confusing experience, we gloss over all the other ways in which she is terrible to Coley. She immediately ghosts Coley after Coley becomes vulnerable with her about her mother’s death– something that is never fully discussed at the resolution of their conflict. Additionally, she’s in a situationship or dysfunctional pseudo-relationship with someone else for the entire events of the novel. Although he is portrayed as being the absolute worst she never fully denounces their relationship. She’s also clearly selfish, spoiled, and self-centered, which both Coley says outright and is apparent from all of Sonya’s LiveJournal posts. Despite these red flags, Coley completely romanticizes Sonya. I had a lot of hope that Coley would get over Sonya and learn her self-worth and towards the end of the book but unfortunately, they end up together. I think this book would have had a much more positive impact if she ended up walking away happier without Sonya. What was the message that was trying to be conveyed with this relationship?
If you ignore the romance in Girls Like Girls, it’s a cute book about a young queer girl learning to love herself and forgive her father after the loss of her mother. Unfortunately, the romance plot takes up most of the book and creates a harmful narrative that one should accept the type of treatment Coley got from Sonya. I hope to read more from this author, but I really hope that in the future she is more intentional about her portrayal of romance and doesn’t glamorize toxic relationships, especially in a book geared towards young adults.