It breaks my heart to say this but I really disliked this. I had high hopes and honestly was so excited to see this iconic video turned into book. But there is one factor that I cannot ignore in any book that immediately turns me off:

I do not like when the author is trying to tell me rather than showing me. And this book was a lot of telling, and very little showing.

I also believe that the characters didn’t have any likeable characteristics to them, so this was a very frustrating read for me.

However, this could perhaps appeal to a younger audience.

*
A special thanks to St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for the ARC to this book in exchange of an hinest review.

I came to this book as someone who had not seen Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls music video before, so I did not know anything about the story ahead of time. I’m a fan of Kiyoko’s girlfriend’s podcast ‘Scrubbing In’ and of YA in general, so I was intrigued to read this.

The story pulls you in pretty immediately, revealing Coley’s backstory and why she ends up in this town the summer before her senior year. I liked how all the characters in the story were flawed and often not nice people, it felt more realistic…even if you’re often rooting against the love story because of it. The complexity of emotions Coley is dealing with both with her family life and personal life really comes across, and I found myself tearing up at multiple parts. Really liked the characters of Alex and Curtis, and if a sequel is planned would love to see more of them. Agree with other readers that the ending felt rushed.

I recommend this to any fans of YA, queer fiction, and coming of age stories.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Girls like girls is the epitome of being a queer teenage girl. Coley lost her mom and is left no choice but to move in with her absentee father in a small town where she meets Sonya and her friend group. Coley who is already navigating grief now has to navigate her complex feelings for Sonya. The beginning was slightly jarring and insta lovey (which is definitely on par for being a first crush) but it does slow down a bit. Overall it was a good, albeit quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank You to Net Galley for the ARC
Girls Like Girls is the story behind the iconic music video created by Hayley Kiyoko; this novel was a shocking surprise as it is difficult to adapt a five minute video into a fleshed out story. The novel fallows two girls as they slowly fall in love and is perfect for fans of It's not like it's a secret and Paper towns; the mid way point of the book is a retelling of the music video and explores the feelings of first love and what it means to be queer. To be honest I am impressed by the ability of the author to transpose her story into a novel format and where there are some rough edges around the story but still a great first novel.

I really enjoyed this one! While it was slow to start, once things began developing between Sonya and Coley I was glued to my phone until the very end. I also really loved the nostalgic feel from the social media featured in this - it definitely brought me back to those v emotional 'first crush' days!

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!

so alot of people i know listen to hayley kiyoko so i knew of her and when i saw she was writing a novel especially a YA novel i was all in.. especially about finding yourself and living in your truth and dealing with grief and hardships i feel like alot of people can relate to so many of the things in this novel this was such an important novel from struggling to embrace your sexuality thinking of what people will say, how we want to be treated by a partner and what not to want also having to live with your father who was absent most of your life and a death bringing you together to try to patch up things that you've struggled with i can go on and on about this book but i want you all to read it first to avoid spoilers. I really loved reading about the main character and her relationships with friends and lovers etc. Also the AIM aspect and the journal and messaging chapters were my favorite because i love when that stuff is included in books its so comforting to read. This book also had people you will love and people you wont either so it was a balance between both. Younger people will see themself in this novel and i love that. I really enjoyed hayleys novel i hope she writes more novels because this one honestly was GREAT! Congratulations hayley! PS: Thank you for touching down on such important topics that will help alot of people for example, Losing a parent, Depression, Abuse, Struggling to live your truth etc.

dnf @ 30%… i really wanted to like this book :( the writing was definitely not my style. it was kinda cringey in my opinion. i think if you’re a younger reader you might love this book but it wasn’t for me. i think if it wasn’t based on the music video i would’ve been less biased on the story. i just couldn’t get into it. it had potential to be more than it was but sadly i couldn’t push through the writing. thank you for Netgalley and St. Martin's Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

ok. first off, i went into this read a bit biased, as the music video holds a special place in my heart, but i ended up disappointed :(

i found sonya extremely unlikable, defending her stupid ass "d¥ke" saying friend and always blaming other people for her issues. i get that there's a certain hatred, sadness and confusion that comes with being closeted but damn was she annoying!!!! don't get me started on other characters like blake (why would coley go to a stranger's house in the middle of nowhere) trenton or brooke. the only reasonable people were coley and her dad, whose relationship was very cute.

the romance was not bad, but you can tell you're reading about mentally unstable teenage girls : they didn't even try to understand each other, which led to lots of angst and to a weird dynamic. the yearning made up for it tho, and you can somehow understand why they act this way. their happy moments together were adorable too<3

i was really thrown off by the ending. i was expecting to see the scenes of the mv earlier in the book (i REALLY thought that would be their first kiss ?? idk) but it was condensed into 10 pages. it was SO RUSHED that i finished the book and was like oh! okay, no time to process anything

I really loved the concept of the book and was excited to read it… and then was super disappointed.

The book starts of with the main character claiming she’s not like other girls, but not in the way other girls say they’re not like other girls. All my hopes for this book kinda dropped off then and there.

The writing is pretty juvenile and the characters are unlikable, lacking depth and personality.

While the idea is there, the execution wasn’t.

As someone who the Girls Like Girls music video fundamentally changed, the book was pretty much what I expected. Coley was way more relatable than predicted, and her relationship with Sonya reminded me of Baker and Hannah from Her Name in the Sky. I liked Coley and Sonya's scenes, but I wish we got more scenes of Coley with Alex and Curtis. They were probably my favourite characters, and I liked those dynamics the best. I enjoyed the dated feel, but my biggest hang-up with this book was the writing, which was not the best and could feel juvenile. Also, the concept of lesbian Jesus being in it was so meta. I loved it.

I, like so many others who loved the Girls Like Girls music video, was excited to read a book with the extended story! 


Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think I thought it was going to be more lighthearted (that's on me and my expectations) and was not expecting how emotionally heavy this book would be. Once I re-navigated my expectations I found a book that I ultimately really liked that handled challenging topics well. 

The story is the build up to what we see in the Girls like Girls music video, we watch Coley and Sonya navigate their feelings for each other while also each navigating complicated pasts (challenging parent relationships, expectations, and ex-partners).  What I love about this book is that it doesn't shy away from tough emotions, even when its characters might prefer that. You get to see a lot of Coley's familial struggles and struggle with self-love through interactions with her dad. You get to see Sonya's emotions through private Livejournal entries (nostalgia hits hard here for millennials). You get to see them grow and face these challenges.  

Ultimately, I would have loved to see some of the story after the music video. However, I did enjoy the book. I think it did a good job telling the story. So if you are a fan of the music video, of Hayley Kiyoko, or queer YA books I’d recommend picking this book up. 

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me to review this book before being published. This has been one of my most anticipated reads since it was announced, I have been itching to read it since then!

Young queers everywhere remember when they saw Hayley Kiyoko's iconic music video for 'Girls Like Girls' when it premiered 7 years ago (I know I did). After the rumor speculating that Kiyoko was going to possibly make the video into a feature film was debunked (tragically) we got the announcement for the book and I have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!

The storyline, the characters, the nostalgic feeling had my soul crying and smiling at the same time. I don't know if this will make sense but you know that feeling when someone hugs you and says "don't worry, it's going to be okay"? That is the feeling in my head when I finished this book. I do admit, I might be just a tad bit biased, but that's okay. Please read this book!

Like many other lesbians, this music video meant and continues to mean a lot to me, so I was beyond excited for the novel. But while reading, I just didn’t feel any spark here. There’s nothing wrong with the book or the writing, but I still can’t say I loved it.

Still a cool project, but sadly not as satisfying as I hoped it would be…

As a younger teen I was absolutely in love with this song and music video that followed. It made me feel all the feelings I didn't fully admit yet and gives you a voice which is something we've all most likely struggled with when it comes to topics like this. I was super excited to be given a chance to read this book after all these years of listening to it on spotify haha. Now I think this book did what it aimed to do, which was give us a deeper and more evolved background to the two girls Coley and Sonya. It was like you were looking from the sidelines and watching every moment that led up to what happens in the music video. Which I enjoyed, I've always been heavy on the lore when it comes to things. I'm a bit sad that it didn't give us any perspective on how things go AFTER the events we all know from the video. It was a little rushed on the final moments and It's probably due to us knowing it all but I was hoping for a little more there. All in all It was what I wanted and I'm still SOOOO happy that I was able to read it and experience it.

2.5/5 stars

15 years old I was obsessed with the "girls like girls" music video so obviously, I was excited about this book when it was first announced and had great expectations for it but the book disappointed me.

first of all, the characters were not at all likable. Not even the main characters. Coley and Sonya had no personality and it was very hard for me to like them. Sonya's friends were all shitty apart from SJ. She was probably the most likable character in this book.

The dialogues were repetitive a lot of times and a lot of conversations Coley and Sonya had were weird. One second they were at each other throat and the next second they were all lovey-dovey. The whole book felt like it was just made up of random scenes.

The ending of the book is pretty much what happens in the music video. I was hoping it would be more than that but it felt very abrupt and the dialogues were very cringe sometimes.

Overall the book is as good as a Wattpad-level book would be and I wish it was better written.

This book is going to save someone's life.
An unsuspecting teen is going to stumble on this, and feel seen.
I'm tearing up thinking about how whole this book is going to make someone feel.

Exploration in a society that doesn't always allow exportation is terrifying. As with her music, Hayley does a fantastic job at putting all those fears, and first times into words that are just perfect and raw. While I HATED Sonya and was really hoping for a different ending to this one I had to remind myself of their ages. A totally fitting coming of age tale that really hits you right in feels.

Every character is someone that feels real. A person I could have known in high school. The journal entries really take me back to the early 2000's. Such a well developed world build, I instantly felt like I was back in the year 2006. Many of the characters have growth arcs, while some stay stagnant.

You'll love this story if you are questioning, or if you love reading books through different points of views, or if you want to be taking back to that first time that you knew but maybe they didn't. It hits home, and I can't wait for it to be out in the wild changing peoples lives.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this read.

I was not a fan of this book. I thought this writing was bad and so cringy. This writing felt very young. I wanted to like it because I am a fan of Hayley Kiyoko. But I personally think she should stay away from writing books.

I have to start of this review that there is a certain bias here and take this review with a grain of salt as I was in a sort of nostalgic haze while reading this. Overall, I really liked this book. It tackles a lot of serious subjects and I think it did so really well. I was really invested in Coley's storyline trying to connect with her father, and I related a lot to her figuring out her sexuality and coming out. Sonya also had some interesting personal struggles going on but we got very little from her perspective and I just wish we got to see a little bit more of her side of things. That might also solve my issue with the romance. I didn't think it was extremely healthy because both girls had so much going on personally that they were either projecting on the relationship, or they were running away from in the relationship. I feel like we got to see Coley grow from that and actually go into the relationship in a much healthier manor towards the end but Sonya's growth seemed to come completely out of nowhere. If we could have gotten a bit more from her perspective I think we could have seen that growth much, much better and would allow me to like the resolution of the romance more as well. The writing of this book was also quite simple but I actually think that worked really well. I feel like it made for a quick read, but also conveyed the emotions of these girls really well. It felt very stream of conciousness and really transported me back into the mind of teenage me. I especially liked the LiveJournal entries that told Sonya's perspective because they truly felt like a confused teenager's diary. But Coley's internal monologue also just felt very confused teenager and I just really liked it. Even though this wasn't a five star for me I do see myself revisiting this in the future because it was just such personal experience for me. I don't know how to explain it really. I definitely highly recommend this to everyone who spend their questioning years listening to this song on repeat, in love with the music video.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martian’s Press/Wednesday Books for allowing me to read this ARC!

While this book doesn’t have the best writing, I think it perfectly captures the emotions, cringe worth, dramatic moments of being a teenager. This really reminded me of all the crazy, and unnecessary, stuff my friend group got up to in high school. Which makes this book super realistic. This is definitely YA focused writing and character development which is exactly what it is supposed to be. If you are looking for a Sapphic Romance like Delilah Green in this book, then you are completely missing the point. Being a teen, and a teen figuring out their sexuality is always going to be drama filled and messy. Hayley Kiyoko has done a beautiful job at taking her song/music video and turning it into more.

Note: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was beyond excited when I got the email for this book. I remember being a teenager when Hayley Kiyoko’s music video came out. It was all I listened to/watched for months on end. I was even more excited when I read this book was based on the music video!

Girls Like Girls tells a story that many young queer people face: falling in love in an ignorant town. Coley has gone through a traumatic upbringing when she arrives to the scene, but so has Sonya (in her own way). However, Coley is prepared to ignore the hate she may receive, but golden girl Sonya is too scared to try at first.

I only wish that this story fleshed out its many characters more. I ended the book feeling as though I knew Coley and Sonya, but I desperately wanted to know more about the colorful side cast, like Curtis and Alex. Especially with Alex, we got basically a bomb drop of crazy information on him, just for him to barely show up afterwards. I also wish we had more climax— so much of the story focused only on Coley’s growth but not her actual journey’s end with Sonya until the final pages.

All in all, fans of Hayley Kiyoko and young queer individuals will love this story that brings such a famous video in recent history back to light.