Neurodivergent femme lesbian and autistic trans demi lesbian best friend make a summer love pact to find romance and end up finding each other. It was just as amazing as that one sentence makes it sound.

I will say this book is the most allo book I've read in a very long time. As someone who is demiromantic and asexual I feel like I had some whiplash from our main character's constant crush having ability. Like she immediately imagines herself with these people and it blows my mind that people actually experience that.

I've seen some reviews talk about how some of these labels feel forced but I think a lot of that is stemming from our own inability to grasp what teenage hood looks like now. Most of these reviews have been from adults and I know that a decade or two ago a friend group of mostly queer people who are out and loud and proud was non-existent and so to read stories about it are both heartwarming and heartbreaking for me personally. I love it though. I love knowing that kids now are able to know themselves in ways we could only dream of when we were their age. I love seeing all of the neurodiversity and acceptance of ADHD and autism and gender and sexuality and it just makes me so happy.

This book is the definition of queer summer joy and I relished it.

Perfect for fans of She gets the girl and The lucky list, this story was just the book to end my summer.

I'm not usually a friends to lovers reader but I have to admit this was really cute. I loved the story and how it evolved from two best friends trying to find a crush to their friendship evolving to something more and seeing things through a lens they hadn't considered before.

The characters were relatable and funny, it was so refreshing reading healthy friendships where there was no drama and everyone just understood each other, plus I loved how diverse these friend group was; it had it all, trans, autistic and bi and lesbian representation.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There was some great ADHD, Autism, and neurodivergent representation. It is a true friends to lovers story, and I do think this book fell into a common trap of the friends to lovers trope-- that it's hard to feel any chemistry between the characters. I liked the main character, her arc, and her bff/love interest, but I didn't feel convinced that they made sense together.

Ray Stoeve is an autobuy for our store and this title will be going on the list of our summer purchases :)

The Summer Love Strategy is one of those books where we as readers seem to get what’s going on before the characters do.
Hayley and Talia have been best friends since they were born. They know everything about each other, and have a seemingly rock-solid friendship. When they make plans for the summer they decide they are going to make a concerted effort to get dates and fall in love.
What follows is rather inevitable.
The Summer Love Strategy seems to be working, but neither Hayley nor Talia seem to be that excited by its results. In fact, they both seem to be struggling with things…and, of course, it’s because they each have a crush on the other and aren’t sure how to deal with it.
From start to finish this was a book that made me feel so old. Their attitudes to dating and life in general are unfailingly positive and accepting. Their angst stems from insecurity - which I’m sure many will identify with - but their everyday experiences of dealing with their identity were a long way removed from what I think the reality is for many. It shouldn’t be that way, so perhaps books like this are part of moving towards a less intolerant society.

This is a book I really liked! It's a great younger YA (the MCs are 15 and turn 16) all about falling for your friend. It's very neurodivergent friendly (one MC has ADHD and maybe autism; the other has autism; other major characters are autistic and that impacts their arcs) and queer, of course. The characters work through communication issues and feelings and it's a sweet summer romance!

Except.

There is a MAJOR error in this book multiple people have caught. You see, Ray Stoeve is very careful about the characters assuming what others' pronouns and genders are (a lot of some "I read as a girl," switching pronouns when found out, not assuming, etc). I admit that for the good first third or half of the book, some of the writing felt clunky surrounding this and other elements (the major events the girls plan around seemed to not be elaborated fully on the page?). But I got used to it later, I guess.

Anyway, a big highlight of this book promoted on social media from Stoeve themself is that the characters go to a MUNA concert and it's a big deal. Now, this book came out in 2024 which means the finishing touches were put on it at the earliest in 2023. I first started following MUNA in late 2021, and I learned literally by using WIkipedia--so it isn't anything new or hidden--that one of the members of the band, Naomi McPherson, uses they/them pronouns.

The book uses "she."

It's just one word in the whole book but it kind of undermines everything, you know? Plus, this is A REAL PERSON.

It's just frustrating.

- two queer bffs make a summer pact to both find love after struggling to find romance
- the representation in this book is INCREDIBLE! just about every character is queer, & really good mental health rep, too
- i would have loved this book as a teen, but it reads VERY young, especially reading this as an adult

I'm sad to give such a highly anticipated story for me a 2 star but the rating really boils down to the fact I just didn't enjoy this one.

When given the pitch and the marketing for this novel. I assumed the characters would be 16/17 and would act and talk like 16/17 year olds. But, the actual age felt like it was gearing to the very lower scale of YA which threw me. I think if it had been marketed as such I probably would've enjoyed it more as I went in with the wrong expectations. As well as this, the relationship felt like more of a convenience thing than because they actually had feelings for one another but my feelings on that were probably more because I was disappointed in the written age of the writing. The conversations felt stilted and cringey and the characters more so.

I was thrilled to see anxiety and autism rep in this book (as an anxious and autistic individual) and thought this was done well. And was happy to see all the queer rep in this book but there were times I felt it teetered more to ticking boxes rather than genuine rep. But again, younger readers will benefit so greatly from seeing this rep proudly discussed and a trans girl love interest in ya!! more please!! this is the rep I want to see!!

I'm truly so so sad this didn't work for me and I know it'll have its audience. I know to market it to my own audience as on the younger side of YA. This story has its home, its just not with me.

I'll admit, I read this mainly because I liked the sexy, curly mullet on the cover. But inside, there was a delightful friends-to-lovers romance that was tailor-made for Netflix queer from com content. If you love Sex Ed and the new reboot of Heartbreak High, then you'll devour this book up like ice cream.

First and foremost, I'll be honest and say I DNF'd this book at the start of chapter 2. I personally felt that the writing was immature, and contained a ridiculous amount of descriptors that took away from the story. Lots of useless information.

Now having said that, I still gave this book 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of the diversity of the story and my hopes that between the ARC I started reading and the final copy, there were some edits made. Either way, I cannot recommend this book personally, but because of the representation, I will be recommending it for my library's YA collection.

I absolutely loved this! Such great representation for queer and also other things, I really enjoyed the summer vibe and friends to lovers, would love to see more books like this

This book was so queer joy. It was a short and fast paced read that kept me invested straight through. This book did suffer a tad from making too many references to current trends which I always stray away from in books. I loved the protags though, and it was just so fun so I can’t fault it at all. Honestly definitely read this one if you want a fun pride month read.

This was precious 🥹 Adding this to the list of books that help heal my inner child. I loved reading about high school kids having a group of queer and neurodivergent found family type friends. It was more healing than I realized it was going to be 😭 Also, reading about how all of the friends really cared about each other and knew each other’s accommodations was so special. No one treated it like it was a burden and it was just so effortless and seamlessly integrated into the story. Stimming, meltdowns, panic attacks, not liking to be touched, new gender and sexuality realizations, consent, so many things that show care between friends that some people can make us feel like is “too much” or “too hard to learn” or “annoying” presented as so average to the friends in this book. I had a great time 😭✨ Thank you for this 💖

I love a sapphic love story.

This one was giving all the summer vibes. We have two besties who make a pact to find a summer romance. But instead they realize just how close they are and they might just fall for each other or realize that they have already fallen?!!

I think that the vibes were great in this book. It really captured the feeling of young queer love and honestly a perfect little queer summer.

I think that it was not super memorable, but I had fun while I was reading.

I would recommend this to people who want a good summer lesbian romance.

This was beyond good. Great if I must say. I can’t wait to rave about this to everyone. If you are looking for a good book, pick this up. We need more love stories like this.

A super fun queer friends to lovers YA summer romance with great neurodiversity and trans rep as two friends try to find love over the summer and discover they might just have it where they weren't looking for it. Great on audio by a new fav author! Highly recommended! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely adored this fun, bright and fresh queer YA. Needed and so well written. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy!

Sometimes when I read YA I ask: is this just what the adult author thinks teens are like or (almost too horrifying to consider) is this just what this ADULT is like? In this case, I suspect the latter and it's a shame! There's a good book hiding in the bones of The Summer Love Strategy, but it's choked out by caricatures of adult social justicey asides that go nowhere and say nothing of substance about homophobia, racism etc! And I was a teen on tumblr dot com so that's saying a lot to say these teens are over the top & unrealistic.

3.5/4

Synopsis: BFFs Haley (a lesbian cis girl) and Talia (a bi trans girl) are both determined to experience summer romance for the first time. They try everything to meet new people and find dates, but at the end of the day, romance may have been closer than it appeared all along.

Review: This was the perfect short and sweet YA summer romance for fans of Alice Oseman! I really loved the whole cast of characters, including the abundance of queer and neurodivergent representation. The cover is also absolutely stunning and I think it perfectly represents the story. If you’re looking for a cute, light sapphic romance, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

This review was a bit difficult for me to write. This book was well written and captured what it can feel like to be a teenager trying to figure out who you are and the best way to relate to others. For me as an adult, that wasn't very fun to read about. Being a teenager can be hard and overwhelming and it's not really something I want to revisit. However, I'm not the target audience for this book! I could see it being incredibly comforting for an adolescent to know other people shared their feelings and experiences.

I also thought the mental health issues were handled with care and accuracy. I dealt with generalized anxiety as a teenager and I worried about a lot of the things that Hayley worries about. A lot of Haley's worries are about relationships but adolescence is a very socially focused time. I did like that the book talked about learning how to have relationships with different people and communicating.

Thanks to ABRAMS Kids for the eARC! All opinions are my own.
I think if you want to know what it feels like to be this age and a bit anxious or you are a teenager this is a great choice! I think if you mostly enjoy YA with older characters this one won't be for you. The main character is 15 and definitely deals with 15-year-old problems.