A very cool coming of age story set in the time when I was in high school. All of the references to LiveJournal really brought me back, I had one as well. As someone who struggled as a teenager to come out as bisexual, I related to Sonya and Coley so much. I also love that she used the name Coley, it's not a name you see very often. This novel is really fun, a great read and I would reccomend to anyone who loves YA and romance. Hayley Kiyoko deserves props for this one, I hope to read more from her in the future. Going singer to writer is magnificent.

Thank you to St. Martins, Netgalley and the author for an advanced reader copy of this.

General description: Coley has to uproot her life after her mother's traumatic passing. Coley goes to live with her dad who's been absent her entire life. Coley has to escape the house and entires into the small town life. She turns into the cool crowd: SJ, Brooke, Trenton, Alex, and Sonya. Sonya and Coley have an instant connection that neither are particularly sure about wanting to explore or bring to the surface, but will their tumultuous relationship result in love or heartbreak?

The good:
- Fast paced
- I loved the group dynamic and found family vibes
- I was invested in Coley as a complex character and found her refreshing as a YA lead
- I love the representation that's in this book as well!

The loss of a star:
- The ending seemed extremely rushed. I was left with a ton of questions in an unsatisfying way. Honestly, if there is a sequel, I'd bump my rating up half a star knowing we'd be exploring Coley, Sonya, and the group even more.

Overall: pick this book up for a nice summer sapphic read!

This book was easy to devour. I enjoyed reading it and couldn’t put it down. It was a bit to teenager-y for me. So the characters were so mean. The content was really heavy at times, but the dialogue didn’t match. It was a little basic..

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko is a wonderful coming-of-age debut with some romance that’s based on her hit song GIRLS LIKE GIRLS.

This book is written very well. The swapping point of views between the two main characters highlights two very real and very different experiences.
Their character development was fantastic. And the vivid descriptions and details was something I haven’t felt in awhile. I was literally feeling every single emotion.
While I can’t connect with Coley and Sonya on a personal level based on experience, I did however feel what they were feeling especially Coley.
It was raw, emotional and do damn hard. Yet, it was beautiful, compelling and what needs to be read.
This book made me feel so many things at once.
The book has excellent pacing, great story telling, and an adorable cast.
The setting of a small rural twin in Oregon was perfectly described.
This is a great book about exploring and finding sexuality and then owning it.
A great Sapphic coming-of-age debut that totally won my heart.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Wednesday Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I’m really struggling with deciding what to rate this one right now but for now I’m going with 4 stars? The beginning of the book was very slow but once I got into it, I didn’t want to put it down! My main issue is that I really hated Sonya about 95% of the book and I had such a hard time rooting for Coley & Sonya to end up together even though I knew I was supposed to. Like my favorite parts of the book was when Sonya was at dance camp and Coley was able to start loving herself and trusting her dad and finding new friends. I kind of feel the same way I did about the movie Happiest Season, like I loved it but Sonya was Harper and Coley was Abby and both Coley & Abby deserved so much better than Sonya & Harper? And like a lot of the reason Sonya was the way she is makes sense and I felt bad for her but she was still ultimately awful? I don’t know, the four stars is mainly because I love Coley and she deserves the world 🤷🏻‍♀️

First, where was this book when I was in highschool? Second, there better be a sequel! I was not ready to let these two go! There is still so much to uncover, and so much to explore! If you like a cute summer fling, heartache, and learning more about yourself, then this is a great tale for you!
I look forward to seeing more books from this author, and hopefully more stories along these lines. It is not easy making it through highschool, having "not normal" thoughts and feelings make it all that much harder. It makes me wonder if these characters are with guys because they are bi, or if it was out of habit, expected of them? It is clear with Coley, but I wonder with Sonya.
Again, I hope there is more with these characters and this small town. I hope you enjoyed this review!

Ever since seeing the announcement of this book, I’ve been looking forward to diving in. I watched the Girls Like Girls music video right before starting to read and can say I did not expect the full storyline. The book was set in 2006, so it really brought back the nostalgia of my teenage years between Livejournal and AIM which I appreciated. Just a little warning, there are reoccurring heavy topics with Coley’s mom and her death, homophobia and internalized homophobia, depression, etc. I’m hoping there’s a second book as the story could’ve definitely continued.

I REALLY enjoyed this book! Girls Like Girls follows Coley, a teenager who has just moved to a small town after a family tragedy. She's exploring her sexuality and learning how to express her needs to the people in her life. The book explored themes of mental health and complicated family relationships. It is also based off of a music video of a song by the author who is also a musician Hayley Kiyoko. I had never seen the music video before reading the book but still felt all of the emotions of this story.

The writing is beautiful. I was so drawn to Coley as she works through all of the complicated emotions she was experiencing. My teenage self related to her in many different ways. I really really recommend to anyone who is a fan of hard-hitting YA. I was cheering for Coley especially in the end. I felt proud of her for opening up and demanding that she be treated right.

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

Despite never having listened to Hayley Kiyoko’s music nor having seen the music video of the same name, I was really excited to read Girls Like Girls. I went in knowing only that it was a Sapphic coming-of-age story and who doesn’t love those?

Kiyoko’s debut is a quick, easy read that had me and my inner teenager full-on sobbing at one point. As a queer teen girl (although I didn’t know it at the time), this book would have been everything to me in high school. I wish I could time travel to give it to 17-year-old Ilona. It definitely would have helped me come to terms with my queerness a lot sooner and would have saved me a lot of pain over the years.

While Girls Like Girls is not perfect, it handles themes like forbidden desire, feelings of abandonment, feeling unworthy of love, and second chances beautifully. I was particularly moved by Coley and her father’s relationship. He knows it won’t be easy to make up for years of being an absent father, but he’s here now and he’s going to do everything he can to be there for her and earn her forgiveness.

Even though the coming-of-age part of the story was well done, the romance part of the story was a bit of a letdown. I could not get behind how Coley talked about Sonya, the love interest. Coley claims to be the only one who truly sees Sonya but it felt more like she was projecting unrealistic expectations which ultimately felt like she was turning Sonya into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. At one point she compares Sonya to shifting sand—describing how you think you have a hold on her then the next thing you know she’s slipping through your fingers.

I think this is the first romance where I was disappointed the couple stayed together at the end. Coley and Sonya have the potential to make a good couple but they have more work to do on themselves first and I would have liked to see them come into their own a bit more before officially getting together. The ending of the book was abrupt and it felt like there were a few too many loose ends.

The overall message of Girls Like Girls overtakes and technical problems the book might have. Kiyoko’s first foray into the world of novels has only further solidified her as a queer icon. I’ve seen many people discuss how the Girls Like Girls music video helped them accept their own queerness, and now, with the Girls Like Girls novel, even more people will be able to connect with the story and maybe, just maybe, feel a little less alone.

I definitely wish I had this book available when I was a teenager. It would have saved a lot of heartbreak and shame from realizing my own feelings and who I am. This book had so many emotions: hopeful, heartbreaking, joyous, and everything in between!

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Haley Kiyoko writes. Yes, she writes song lyrics, but that is different than writing an entire novel. I especially felt her writing was the strongest when she was writing about Coley's grief over her mother's death or Sonya's feelings of shame in her LiveJournal posts. Kiyoko's writing didn't blow me out of the water, but it was an enjoyable and compelling story and an easy weekend (or summer) read.

How Kiyoko expands an entire story from a 5-minute music video to a whole book is quite impressive. I'm glad she included Sonya's public and private LiveJournal blog posts because I wouldn't have liked her character as much without them. I understand this takes place in 2006 in a small town in Oregon, but that's not an excuse to be a shitty person; Sonya comes up to that line quite a lot in the book. It isn't easy to come out, and you may want to pretend it's not real. As someone who grew up in a small town and tried to do this, believe me, I get it. But I didn't let that affect how I treated the people around me. Again, the insight into her blog posts helps mitigate any bad feelings the audience might experience about Sonya since we understand why she's acting the way she is and her struggles with her feelings for Coley.

I was underwhelmed by how it ended. I kept swiping (reading it on my Kindle app) back and forth to ensure I got everything. How the last chapters ended was almost exactly how the music video ended. Two key differences were that Trenton's actions made all the friends come out to the backyard, which made Coley leave, so the kiss happens in the next-door neighbor's yard. For a music video, it makes sense to end it with the kiss and Coley riding off on her bike, but for a book, it feels like a letdown after all that build-up. I would've liked to see the last chapter be of their first day of school or high school graduation to see how everything worked out, plus to put any questions the readers have to rest. How will Sonya's friends react (minus SJ cause I'm positive she's already figured it out)? Is Sonya's family going to disown her? What was the deal with Sonya and Faith? Even though it's minor, the last question, in particular, is a big one for me. Sonya's definitely an unreliable narrator with how she describes Faith compared to how she acts in the few scenes Faith's present in, so it makes me think she had a crush on her but convinced herself it was jealousy and pushed it down. Yet, it's never acknowledged or even hinted at. There were quite a few questions and concerns to answer or comment on, as Sonya's fears weren't resolved.

Actually, typing this up is starting to make me rethink my star rating, but I won't change it because the writing and characters make up for the ending. Plus, I don't know if Kiyoko has any plans to revisit these characters down the road (I wouldn't mind if she did).

I really enjoyed this book! I was really excited to read this because i grew up on the music video and i was interested in what the book was going to be like. of course it wasn’t perfect, but i do wish this had come out when i was growing up



Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc

Thank you to Wednesday Books for inviting me to an early copy of this book.

TW: homophobia, internalized homophobia, mentions of suicide

Early on, the book felt like it was written by a teenager. This is A+ amazingness because oh my God, I’ve been waiting for that in a YA book lately. I chose to read this as Coley getting more and more confident with her place in the story. I might have overthought that but it’s okay since the story was still easy to read. However, as the book continued, it lost that teenageness in the writing, but Coley was definitely a teenager. I didn’t have to remind myself that I was reading teenagers.

The use of LiveJournal entries (wow, way to date my age there) was amazing and absolutely loved it showing character through the public and private entries.

I want to be vague so I don’t spill when it comes to spoilers, but oh my God, I loved Coley and how she builds as a character in the third act (I think it’s the third, but maybe the ending of the second). I needed more of that group of people in my life.

I didn’t watch the music video until I was about 25% in because my curiosity got over me. I loved the video and if this is an adaptation, I think it fails in parts because it’s sticking to the source material (the music video) a little too literally. There are some strings that don’t get answered and that makes me a little sad about that. Basically, the ending felt way too rushed.

In the end, I liked it. Would I re-read it again? I don’t think so and just rewatch the music video a bunch of times. There were parts I liked and there were parts where I was side-eying it. I didn’t get the satisfaction that we’re supposed to feel in the last scene because it felt rushed and undeserving. I wish I could, but alas, nah.

I am interested in reading other Hayley Kiyoko books if she decides to continue.

DNF. A really interesting storyline, but unfortunately I do not think I am the targeted demographic for this. I found the voice to be juvenile and contrived, but I think younger audiences will relate to this narrative style. All in all, I think this is a good book just not for me.

I will always find it so cool that this book was based off a music video, like Hayley Kiyoko was kinda genius for doing it imo. Had to start with that before anything else even if the music video admittedly didn't alter my childhood like a lot of other people (Songs still amazing though). You can tell the book is written by a singer/songwriter but it honestly just made it easy to read for me, it felt like an old YA contemporary and as someone who thrives off the old dystopian books, I loved that so much. I also liked that instead of just making it dual POV, we instead got to read Sonya's online journal entries because multi media elements in books are my favorite thing ever and It also made Sonya feel less like a wonder or a wildcard. Still really wish she would have put Trenton in his place more often because every time she started to, it was kinda funny but she backed off pretty easily. I also wish the ending had more to it because it ended really abruptly and I really wanted to see more. Overall this'll be a fun summer read that you'll fly through and It will find its home with Hayley Kiyoko fans since I know theres so many dying to get their hands on it. Thank you to the publishers for the early copy of course.

I feel like this book was just okay! There were things I really liked and appreciated about it, and then there were other elements I felt were very weak. I didn’t love the book but I didn’t dislike it either. I guess you could say I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

As a mixed Japanese & white queer woman, I’m a big fan of Hayley Kiyoko and had really high hopes for the representation in this book. I really wanted it to speak to me deeply and to feel seen by it and I just… didn’t connect with it or with Coley that much. I feel like I wanted a bit more about what her relationship with her mom was like or more about any Japanese culture or that they may have shared. Sometimes it felt too easy to forget that Coley was even supposed to be Japanese.

I really appreciated and enjoyed the 2006 setting, and I loved the LiveJournal entries, which felt so nostalgic and served as excellent character work. All of the music choices were perfect throwbacks and I loved all of the references. The setting felt very realistic and made the threat of homophobia that much more high stakes.

However, having just read The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan, which also centres around the topic of a mixed Asian girl grieving her mother’s suicide, it felt like this story fell a little short in comparison. The writing felt a little young and a bit uneven; Coley felt more 13 than 17 a lot of the time. There were some lines that stood out to me, and some really poignant moments though! In particular I liked the development of her relationship with her father and the fights & disagreements they have felt visceral and raw.

This would be a good read for fans of Hayley Kiyoko or those looking for more sapphic YA stories!

I really wanted to love this book. The Girls Like Girls music video literally changed my life and that is not exagerration. However, this book was just simply...not good. I felt like I was forcing myself to get through it. The language and diction felt very 2023 Wattpad. It also never says anything on the marketing that this is historical fiction. And while I know we all hate to think about a book set being set in 2006 as historical fiction, that is what it is. They chat through AIM.

Girls Like Girls was a nostalgic read. Teenage Coley grew up in the same era of AIM Messenger and LiveJournal that I did. Hayley Kiyoko’s literary debut has prose that mirrors the lyricism of her music, and the occasional nods to her song lyrics were a fun touch.

That said, this is a heavy book. This is not a romance story. It’s a coming-of-age story with romance. I didn’t realize that until I was done with the book, and while reading it, the pacing felt off for a romance. However, I felt like some arcs needed more for a coming-of-age novel.

Overall I enjoyed it and rated it four stars. I recommend checking content warnings. This book could be a tricky read for some.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

~Girls Like Girls Review~
•
4/5
•
Lowkey the girls like girls music video was part of my queer awakening and i love hayley kiyoko so when i saw this i knew i had to read it!
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(okay, i definitely thought this was going to be a light and fun queer book but it definitely had some heavier themes and moments. please makes sure to check trigger warnings before heading into this book!)
•
Pros:
+multiracial main character slay (asian mom white dad)
+sapphic af
+gay panic
+sleeping in the same bed
+this girl is so touch starved (same)
+i’m SCREAMING at the intimacy omg. women are so soft i’m so queer
+ i <3 curtis
+stoner supremacy
+classic cut your hair off new me mindset. def been in that phase before.
+i SO relate to this phrase and love the irony “And there he is: the person who will absolutely make this terrible situation even worse.”
+showing both sides of the story
+aw coley getting a job i love it (family dinners almost made me sob)
+i love postive gay representation
+coleys character growth!!!!!!!
+i can fully picture the music video during some scenes
+triumphant end
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Cons:
-family trauma (check trigger warnings!)
-not liking the friend group vibes personally especially trenton and i know that’s the point but it doesn’t mean i have to like it
-denial
-i actually can’t stand people who stay friends with assholes like fuck no hold them accountable or don’t be friends with them at all it’s disgusting (resolved at the end but i would have called him out way sooner)
-miscommunication
-rich people rich peopling (lol)
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i’ll be honest this had a somewhat slow start and i got nervous about it. but then it got good and there was character growth and i became attached. i think this is a gritty and realistic story that really gives a more nuanced and richer back ground to the music video. hayley kiyoko didn’t let me down and even though this story had homophobia and angst it also showed how important positive queer representation is. being queer is not abnormal and we watch both main characters learn this. love is always going to be more powerful than hate and i hope all of the trenton’s of the world learn to change.

Took me forever to finish this book because I just didn’t want to pick it up and read it, that’s so not like me. The ending of the book was really good but everything else was a struggle to get through for me but maybe it’s because I’m just not into YA books anymore! Love that it was set in 2006 though, definitely felt like I was reminiscing my younger years!

Thank you for this ARC for an honest review.

DNF @ 10%

The writing style of this book was just not clicking for me. I'm struggling with who to even recommend it to because it just literally felt like I was banging my head against the wall while reading, unfortunately. I think it is one of those YAs that will be deeply impactful to teens, I was just the wrong audience for it.