Fun, cute, something I think a lot of students will like but definitely wasn't perfect for me (as an adult, but I'm not the target audience!) I would be happy to have this in my classroom, but I'm not rushing out to buy it, either.

This is a little difficult to review. I liked the idea of this book, and I liked the song/video it’s about, but the execution wasn’t great. The book was so repetitive it was predictable. And then there was the end. That in itself ruined it all. BUT the narrators and sound effects saved it for me.

Ok so let’s talk about the writing style. I couldn’t put it into words, but as I was talking it out to my mom about it, it finally made sense. It was so repetitive. Like they kept cycling round and round. It was like a weird adult relationship and they wouldn’t leave each other because of the kids or some shit. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but it was also so toxic. One of them didn’t even want to admit that they liked the other and she was being hurt so bad. And I hated that. She didn’t deserve that at all. Then there was the ending. All the things that were building up and building up finally happened….. And then it was over. It felt so rushed. Like it hit the climax and then it was over. I would have liked it more if she had finally given us some time together instead of them fighting and all that. And then for the one person to give them an ultimatum and she still went the other way. I was so annoyed.

The romance was mostly nonexistent. It was so much of them going back and forth and her not wanting to out herself. Which, understandable, but you don’t get to continue hurting her and leading her on the whole time. You don’t continue to hurt someone you say you love. If she loved her she would have left her alone until she was ready. Especially since she knew she couldn’t resist her. It was hurting me to read that part. The actual romance didn’t exactly come out until the ending. And even then it wasn’t a good one.

The actual reason I rated this so high was because I read the audiobook version. The narrators were fire, there were multiple narrators, AND there was some special sound effects in there too. It made me feel like I was in the middle of the story. Like I was in Oregon with them. And it helped that one of the narrators was one of my favorites, Nadus. She has done so many audios and they’re all good. If nothing else about this book, I liked the audio and was really impressed by it.

This was ok, but I don’t think it was executed right. I do think it just needed a few tweaks here and there and it would have been ok. But without those things I was a bit bored and I don’t think it landed well. It’s unfortunate because I liked the song and the music video, but this just didn’t hit the same.

I loved this book. The characters were written incredibly realistic, as though they came straight out of reality. The main character of Coley intrigued me, and I loved seeing the character development throughout the book. There were moments were I felt so strongly for her as a character that I wanted to fight people for her. I also loved when I could place the book in the music video it's based on, which really took me back in time to when it was first released. I think these kinds of books are essential, not just about gay people, but about gay people still coming into themselves and figuring their identity out, as we see with not only Coley but more intensely with Sonya, especially in this small town where everyone knows everyone. Before I read it, I knew I would love this book, and I was right. The only thing that keeps it from a five-star for me, is that it almost verges on Insta-love, which I am not a fan of, and takes it out of reality for me slightly. This is remedied as Sonya and Coley get closer, and actually forge their relationship, but Coley seems almost obsessed with her in the beginning. Other than that, I truly loved my experience reading this, and will recommend it to everyone,

When Coley moves in with her father in a new town the summer before her senior year of high school, she has some unresolved trauma. Namely, her mother's death and her father's previous abandonment, but also that she is interested in women. When she meets Sonya, a beautiful girl with a terrible ex-boyfriend, she can't help but be drawn to her. The two develop a close friendship but after a kiss, Sonya pushes her away and denies her feelings.

This book is based on Hayley Kiyoko's song and music video of the same name, yet despite having seen the video I somehow didn't see the ending coming. This book was a struggle at first, with the character feeling immature and flat, but dang it, by a few chapters in I was HOOKED and dying to see how everything turned out. There was a not insignificant amount of underage drinking and drug use in the book, which at times felt over-the-top. But perhaps that just wasn't my youth, and in smaller towns there really is nothing else to do. The ending felt rushed, and perhaps, in retrospect, it strove too hard to match the music video. But I was enthralled by the story, and there was something about it that made me keep reading.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for my eARC and finished copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 7/10

The release of Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko is the culmination of a long-held dream of the lesbian pop star -- and it paid off in dividends. This is the absolute perfect continuation of Kiyoko's music video by the same title, and a much-needed and to be much-loved entry into the sapphic teen literary canon.

I’d first like to thank NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read this beautiful love story.

This was out the gate a five star read. I loved the characters so much and a true tell is when you can also form strong dislike for some of the characters as well.

This is a story of your first love as well as being confused in sexuality and a coming of age story all rolled into one. It is so beautifully told and really made my heart ache for the characters as they are trying to not only define themselves but also their sexuality and what that means to their friends and family.

Trigger warning for mention of suicide.
This was written so well and I cannot wait to read what’s next for Hayley. I highly recommend this book.

This one was wholly not meant for me. The writing is very 2011 and I am just not about that life anymore. Would recommend to someone who really liked that music video but I am not it.

If you want a Sarah Dessen book from your millennial childhood but make it queer, this is your book. Unfortunately the writing lacked the depth and description to pull my interest in as much as I would have liked.

This book put me through the wringer, I knew I'd enjoy it because Girls Like Girls was a formative lesbian experience for so many people, myself included, and an extended version of it in a book was a dream I didn't realise I could have.

I loved Coley, there was just something about her and her characterisation that hit home for me, and I wish I could say the same about Sonya. I spent half the book hoping they wouldn't end up together, only to let out a sigh of relief when they did.

I was conflicted, but at no point in reading this did I really consider myself having anything less than a good time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book one exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty decent debut novel, and pretty standard YA romance. I love the song and music video that were the inspiration for this book and it was really nice to see the backstory behind the characters in the MV. I just wish the supporting characters were a little more fleshed out- they all seemed pretty one more. I understand Trenton’s character being kind of flat because I have known guys like that, but the others deserved better.

This was also, as someone who was in high school in 2006, starting my senior year, an absolute blast of nostalgia. The AIM conversations? The flip phones? The LiveJournal entries!?! Complete with mood and music! And the music for public entries being all upbeat pop and the private entries being Sad Girl Music? Exquisite.

I loved this! I have been a fan of Hayley for a long time, so when I heard her announce a Girls Like Girls novel, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. The progression from song to music video to book just kept adding details to make the story more and more fleshed out. I loved how within the story both Coley and Sonia make mistakes and fumble their way through coming to terms with their sexualities and how they fit into the world around them. The story kept all of the charm and magic that made the music video so important, while still adding more layers to create a world in and of itself. This is the perfect pride month read, and I can absolutely see myself rereading this to hear Hayley's audiobook narration!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars

I was very excited for this, and I commend Hayley Kiyoko for branching out and trying something new, but Girls Like Girls was not just a disappointment, but also a straight-up chore to complete. I started this the first of March and couldn't bear to finish it until the middle of June, which I finally did because I was sick of it lingering on my "currently reading" shelf.

There were a lot of aspects about Girls Like Girls that I was ready to be lenient towards: 1) This is a debut novel, and everyone has room to grow after their debut! 2) Hayley Kiyoko is established as an actor and a singer, and sometimes it's difficult to break into a different industry. 3) This is YA, and the tone of YA can greatly vary since its target audience can really be from middle school to college. 4) It's set in 2006, so I'm sure Hayley Kiyoko intentionally put some references in her novel that would not be as relevant today.

Unfortunately, even with all of that in mind, I could not get past how fundamentally poor the writing was. And I mean like, all aspects of it. The sentences. The dialogue. The plot. The characters. The pacing. I understand the idea of the book (as it's one that's been replicated numerous times in YA), but the execution was far from great. Here are some examples:

~you don't understand, she's not like other girls~
The first time I got to a "I'm not like other girls" line, I genuinely thought it was supposed to be funny and ironic. And then they just kept coming. Profusely. I get it, this book is not set in 2023, but there's a reason the tables have turned and we now mock the "I'm not like other girls" girls (oh, and trust me, I was the BIGGEST Not Like Other Girls girl to ever exist, we all have a dark past LOL). That reason is that it's annoying, and quite frankly misogynistic! So to read it over and over again was exhausting; yes, those thoughts are valid, and again, I suffered from that kind of thinking for most of adolescence, but it was never suggested to be something harmful, and if anything, it was seen as a unique, pure trait from the narrator.

Here's a quote from Chapter 1: "Secrets that are more like truths when you winnow them down: I'm not like other girls. And no, not in that bullshit way guys use to try to compliment you. Please--give me some credit here."

It just felt very juvenile, and honestly outdated.

~someone turn on mcr because this girlie's emooooo~
I thought I was emo. I mean I've been rocking the same Justin Beiber haircut since I was 15 and I saw MCR three times last year. But our lovely narrator Coley takes the cake for emoest emo in emo town. It got annoying very fast.

Some quotes! "I learned the hard way that the only person you can need without getting hurt is yourself. or "I'm not supposed to be here, yet I am." or "The SJs of the world are definitely not fans of girls like me, and this SJ wasn't giving me any reason to think differently, but sometimes bitchy humor is universal." or "I don't fit here. At all. Oh my God, why did I come here?"

Okay I had a lot more highlighted but you get the point. I'm tired of typing them out.

~the toxic sludge romance~
The romance made me mad enough that I won't say much besides it was awful. Toxic, confusing, unhealthy, and really, just unbelievable. It's hard because, again, Coley's experiences are incredibly valid and I'm sure have some relatability to them, but there's nothing enjoyable about reading over three hundred pages of teenagers making awful decisions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, teenage love is messy. Teenagers make bad decisions as they navigate their first relationships. It's confusing. Sometimes we know things are wrong and yet try to ignore those gut feelings because isn't that what love is? Hell, I spent half of high school dating a guy who didn't believe in showering or brushing his teeth and would constantly tell him hentai girls were more attractive than me. Teenage romance can be rough!

But this romance was infuriating. I love unlikeable teenage characters. My favorite genre ever is coming-of-age YA. And by default, that genre is full of angst and poor decisions and partially developed frontal lobes. But there was such a lack of connection in Girls Like Girls that made it difficult to understand why Coley and Sonya liked each other, and why they'd endure so much pain for each other.

Also, at some points, I genuinely felt like Sonya was a bully. Or at least just concerning manipulative. Towards the end I had some hope because Coley starts to stand up for herself, but of course, in the last few pages that's all dissolves.

~everything else~
The side characters were flat and we really didn't get much background on them. The middle was very slow. Everyone was unbearable--both in the annoying sense, but also in the "oh you just might actually be a bad person" sense. Also, there was one tiny part that was full of missed potential. Towards the beginning of the book, Coley says, "So here's the thing: I'm not supposed to be here. Not like I've ever felt like I'm supposed to be anywhere. I'm never white enough. Never Asian enough. Never...enough." As someone who is also white and Asian, I was really excited to see how that in-between space of being biracial was going to be navigated throughout the book, except it just...was not. After that line, it was never mentioned again. I didn't want the book to be some commentary on race, but I was hoping it would show up again, but it never did.

~the bottom line~
This book was slow, toxic, and genuinely boring. If you took out all the poor communication and alcohol, you'd be left with an entire book of empty pages.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book not knowing the author and not knowing the music video so maybe that has me in a different headspace from others. YA coming-of-age stories aren’t my normal so that’s already a strike against this book. It is, like the genre tends to be, full of angst and over-the-top emotions and problems that could be solved with a conversation. This book seems particularly so, as the writing tends to be a bit blunt and clumsy. The relationship development of Coley and her dad was decent but can’t say that about any other relationship in the book. Trenton was the west to the point where it made it distractingly unbelievable that he had friends at all. Sonya was flat, especially when paired with choosing to make her an insta-love object of affection. Overall the plot just felt super flat and anticlimactic, and so much was left undone at the end that I’m both irritated I didn’t see wrapped up but also don’t care enough about to keep reading. A solid “meh” from me.

OMG! I loved this book! It literally felt like I was IN this music video for Girls Like Girls. I was so immersed it's unreal. There were characters I hated, characters I loved and characters I were half and half on. I loved the growth of Coley's relationship with her estranged dad. This book navigated grief and troubled parental relationships so well.

The book started off slow but eventually picked up just before the middle but the ending was quite underwhelming and rushed. I would love a second book to see how Coley and Sonya's relationship pan out. The story could have been developed a lot more to give it more depth, however, for a debut book, this was one solid book.

I like Hayley Kiyoko, I like her a lot. I grew up with her being on Disney Channel and I listened to her music all throughout my teens. I think she's a brilliant artist but she's not a writer. At least not yet.

While I love the mother-daughter/father-daughter dynamics in this book and I got a smidge emotional as Coley was talking about her mother's death, this book felt very lifeless. Like there were pieces of it missing. The narrative is all over the place and none of the side characters feel big enough for you to really care about them.

Sadly, this just wasn't the book for me but I'm glad I read it and I have hope for books from Hayley in the future.

I felt like this had potential to be really engaging, but fell really short and so cringey!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press/NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was very skeptical of a book based on a music video based on a song at first, but this book was absolutely a full story! If you are not familiar with the music video, give it a watch before or after reading to see some basic parts of the book in action!

Very interesting fun story of girls who like girls… but have to deal with that in a society that’s not always approving of that. Set in 2006- so you’ll see some old technology such as AIM ( look it up kids) and nostalgia. Very realistic, fast paced and fun.

I had a good time reading this book, and really appreciated the emotional journey that Coley went on. I especially loved the unpacking of her relationship with her dad, and the care with which that was handled. I think what kept me from really connecting with the book as a whole was just my pessimistic viewpoint and inability to believe that Coley and Sonya would ever really be able to make it work together.

It’s taken me a while to formally write this review, but I needed some time to collect my thoughts.

Firstly, I was super excited to find out this was being released, especially because I used to watch the music video a million times when I was younger. Secondly, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.

While reading, I was low-key trying to figure out which scenes from the book were in the music video, but in the end, this felt like its own story rather than a direct copy/paste of the video.

This was super fast paced as I read half of it in one day and the writing was easy to immerse myself into. I also loved the additional illustrations and AIM chapters from Sonya’s POV. And the scenes with Coley and her dad were very heartwarming, yet realistic considering the circumstances. I wished they were more of them.

My only issue with was with the friendship dynamics. I normally enjoy reading them in a YA contemporary, but I wasn’t the biggest fan this time around. Trenton was the worst and the rest were pretty toxic. I truly think Sonya deserved better friends.

All in all, this was probably one the best queer YA books I’ve read in a while. If she writes more books—I’m reading them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Net Galley and Wednesday books, for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Inspired by her 'Girls Like Girls' music video, Hayley Kiyoko wrote the story of 17-year-old Coley, who finds herself in small-town Oregon after the sudden loss of her mother. Upon moving, Coley meets Sonya, and the sparks fly instantly. However, Coley's inner struggles have her conflicted on whether love is possible for someone like her. This is a young adult novel and deals with heavy themes like suicide, grief, homophobia and substance abuse.

Girls Like Girls was a good debut for Hayley Kiyoko, with excellent representation and a great approach to difficult themes and conversations. Kiyoko's music video was a culturally significant moment, and I enjoyed the expansion of the storyline and its broadening to a new and younger audience.

I did find the overall experience to be fairly middling and anti-climatic, but I would continue to recommend this novel to younger readers.