Oookay Hayley, thanks for the emotional rollercoaster! I was not expecting that. This story was wonderful despite its small faults. It definitely packs a punch and the author creates realistic unreliable characters filled with angst. I don’t think the writing was 5 star worthy but the story itself was pretty dang close.

This was so much more than a YA sapphic romance. This was full of the struggles with growing up and learning to love and accept yourself, a total coming of age. It’s about heartbreak and feeling every feeling so deeply.

Overall Girls Like Girls is a quick read filled with important emotional moments and a sapphic love story that was a bit quick to wrap up!

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday books for an advanced copy!

This author may be a trailblazing LGBTQIA+ advocate with many accolades under her belt but sadly this felt like another case of someone with pre-existing fame who's style doesn't translate to a traditional book format.

Unfortunately this story's narrative read extremely juvenile, often unpolished, and was a struggle to get through. Nevertheless, I hope that the target audience will find great comfort and joy from this story but don't feel that it will be as impactful to older generations like other YA books successfully do.

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

One of the best books I've read all year. I loved the music video and I'm glad that it follows so closely with the book. The text conversations I wasn't as thrilled with but everything else was perfect.

high hopes, but ultimately disappointing

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

oh I had really high hopes for this book, but it was very disappointing. the writing wasn't the best & it was slightly predictable. I was just expecting a little bit more..,

i was really looking forward to reading this book because this music video was super formative to me as a 12yo lesbian but this was one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me.

i understand that this was based on a music video so there wasn't really that much material to go off of but the plot was so woefully underdeveloped- i felt like i was holding my breath waiting for something big to happen the whole time and by the time i got to the end of the book i was shocked that there was no more material. there were a lot of plotlines that were never really explored fully which led to me feeling underwhelmed.

i understand that this book was set in 2006 (which was like, why?) but there was a completely disproportionate amount of internalized/externalized homophobia on page. i don't think there's really any need to highlight homophobic gays in a book published in 2023. there is almost always more nuance to these conversations about internalized homophobia, and none of this was actually brought up on page. i don't understand why coley was so determined to see sonya as the perfect girl when she expressed so much homophobia towards coley while they were both figuring out their identities and why they ended up getting together.

the relationship between coley and sonya was severely underdeveloped too- we really only saw coley falling for sonya, who was determined to view sonya through rose-colored glasses for some undisclosed reason. sonya was consistently awful to coley because sonya thought "wanting a girl was wrong" but this didn't turn coley off of her at all. when the two finally start acting civilly in front of each other, there's almost zero buildup to their first kiss which is then immediately followed by sonya's ex-boyfriend physically assaulting the girls. there's no resolution to this either. sonya chases after a bloody coley and declares her love for coley, and the two end up kissing and presumably getting together.

in terms of positives, i thought coley's development as an individual was well-written and i liked seeing her relationship with her father progress.

I must say, when I discovered the music video, I watched it so many times, even now, years later, I still love it and always wondered what the story behind the characters could've been.

Now after reading Hayley Kiyokos story for her famous music video, I can say I am not disappointed.
Sure some scenes were cheesy and a little flat. But you could feel the gay panic and the longing between the characters very early on, and I thoroughly enjoyed the tension.

The end may have been a little rushed, but we could always appreciate a sequel.


Thanks to netgalley for an arc, in exchange for a honest review.

I was really excited for this book. Unfortunately, it let me down. Most of it fell incredibly flat, and while the writing style was what I expected, something about it rubbed be the wrong way. What was one of my most anticipated books of the year became a chore to read, which was really disappointing. I think there was a lot of potential, but there was a lack of significant editing that would've brought everything together.

I went into this book for the nostalgia factor of Hayley Kioko’s Girls like Girls music videos because as an early 2000’s lesbian it was such a corner stone of my identity but didn’t know what to expect of the book. I was afraid that it would tarnish my love if the original music video but it really lived up to everything I wanted it to be. I can’t wait to have another sapphic, young adult book on the selves.

Including my insta post for the book https://www.instagram.com/p/CpiBublLxAw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

this book made me so nostalgic for that just out feeling. the memory of watching this music video weekly, finally understanding all of the feelings i felt. reading sonya’s pov was so frustrating sometimes but her feelings were so understandable because i related to her fears so much.

A self discovery story, with a rollercoaster of emotions 🥰👏🏻

Coley had her world turned completely upside down & the fact that she was able to keep some of her cool was admirable. While reading I just wanted to give her a hug!! As for Sonya, I am so glad we got some of her inside thoughts because there were times she made my blood boil, but she was also going through so much as well!

The entire story was full of heartbreaking & heartwarming moments 💗 both Sonya & Coley were figuring out their own identity while balancing expectations thrown at them from family, friends, & society.

Read if you like:
✨YA coming of age
✨sapphic romance
✨early 2000s throwback
✨self discovery
✨summer vibes
✨open discussion of mental health (check TW)
✨new girl, new town

A perfect summer time read to add to your list!

✨What are you reading this summer??

I’ve been having a hard time rating this book, because there was so much excitement and anticipation in its arrival but sadly it just isn’t delivering for me. I think it’s really important for queer young adult readers to see themselves represented in books, but it’s equally as important for them to have good examples and life lessons presented in these books too. This book doesn’t appear to present anything but acceptance of toxic behavior which I can’t stand behind. It’s really unfortunate. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hayley Kiyoko's debut novel explores the crossroads of grief, first love, and starting over in a new town. I think this was a good YA story, and definitely fits well in the genre with other YA contemporary stories. The romance aspect was alright but I honestly wish they hadn't ended up together.

I think that Coley had done so much personal growth, especially with working through her grief and learning to trust her father, that it felt like she had outgrown the infatuation with Sonya. Plus Sonya was honestly so mean to Coley in several chapters throughout the book, and it felt weird to trust her with Coley in the end. But in a way, this ending felt more realistic to high school romances, and so I can understand why it ended that way.

Overall I think it was a pretty solid debut and I would be interested in reading any books she writes in the future.

Girls Like Girls is the novelization of Haley Kiyoko's "Girls Like Girls" music video. I watched it before I read the book and I loved it. It was fun to have a picture of what I was about to get myself into.

I’m always iffy when it comes to celebrities writing novels. I really enjoyed this one though. It was heavy! I was not expecting it to be so sad.

This novel is set in the 2000s and I absolutely loved that. We get two POVs Coley and Sonya. Sonya’s POV is her Livejournal entries and I can’t explain what that did to me. I actually went and found my own LJ profile 🥲

I love that we get to see how hard it is for some people to accept their sexuality. I think it’s so common with young people and not talked about enough. The love story was sweet and I only wish we had gotten more of it.

I highly recommend you listen to the playlist for the book. It helped set the mood.
Overall this was a good coming of age sapphic story.

this book was perfect until the end!!! i wanted an epilogue so badly, it was cut so short i feel! immensely relatable and important read

Oh man I so badly wanted to love this one, just from the author alone. And I definitely enjoyed parts, but it was overall just surface level to me. The characters felt flat and the dialogue was so base level. I do think it had great rep and if you're looking for an easy read, this would be it. I look forward to seeing what Kiyoko does in the future because it's clear she has a passion and is ready to develop it.

Going into this book, I knew little about Hayley Kiyoko, but I did know enough to know she was an actress who also sang Sapphic songs. I hadn't seen the music video of the same name and glanced over the part of the synopsis that said the book was based on the Girls Like Girls music video.

I think Hayley shows tremendous potential as an author. This was her debut, and it was kind of obvious. Coley was more developed than other characters, which made sense because the majority of the book is told from her POV. Sonya, however, wasn't very developed, and her unlikeability stopped me from getting invested into the story.

I did like how the book was set in the 2000s, with the mention of some of my favorite songs from that time frame. It was also fun that Sonya's chapters were told via LiveJournal entries, and the girls talked through instant messenger. It was a unique style that I really liked.

I don't think the book was bad, but it just didn't resonate with me. The pacing was off at times, and I just feel like the book needed a little bit more editing.

Girls Like Girls tells the story of Coley, who is trying to figure out who she is in love and life in the aftermath of a personal tragedy that uproots her entire life just before summer. Forced into a new town, Coley meets a group of friends - and one girl in particular - that makes her question who to trust, her feelings, and who to trust with those feelings. It tells a brave story of someone trying to make it through every day and plan for a future she never asked for or thought she'd have to ask for.

While I enjoyed the premise, this fell short for me. The characters weren't as well-developed as they could have been, and several aspects felt very forced within the characters' personalities. Action was abrupt, without real lead up or build up to support sudden changes or scenes. I had a hard time rooting for everyone - I sympathise or empathise with a lot aspects to some characters, but each one as an individual left something to be desired to me as a reader. What I do think was successful in this book though was the emotion - the absolute torrential downpour of emotions as you work through grief, the return of an absent parent, of questioning your place in the romantic world. That felt real, and I think shows a lot of who Hayley Kiyoko is.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the egalley.

This was a really good novel for a first time author! However, my issues were with the character Trenton. He was so unlikable that it made reading parts of it not enjoyable..