Friends-Enemies-Lovers

I love the relationship between Birdie and Cass. It started out as enemies then they became lovers. The way that Cass was always there for Birdie when she needed her and how Birdie helped with Cass's family business.

I will always read LGBT+ books

Thank you NetGalley!

What an original & beautiful sapphic summer YA romance, which really set itself apart from all the other summer romance for this genre. I really loved this band of characters, the sweet romance that built over the course of the book; while still tackling heavy topics with such grace and being easy to disgust for the age demographic. Birdies character was wonderful, with such a great character development while still showing the mistakes that are learned from.

I honestly could not get invested in the story at all because the characters felt like archetypes from a bad 2000s movie. I also felt like the romance progression was super quick I was hoping for more of a slowburn.

decently cute sapphic summer romance that gives modern pride and prejudice. i didn’t love how much miscommunication there was and the fact that cass’s preconceived notions about birdie got in the way of their relationship at every step. i genuinely could not see them working as a couple long term, but the sappy summer romance moments were cute and did the job.

I loved Some Girls Do by Dugan and have many more of her books on my TBR, so I jumped at the chance to read her latest book!

💜 What I liked about it 💜
🏖 I really enjoyed Cass and Birdie as characters individually and together. I loved that the book is dual POV so we could get insights into both of their minds
🏖 It’s not just a light-hearted romance, as there are some heavier themes in this book. For example, there are discussions around gentrification, affordable housing and the impact of tourism and gentrification on locals, which are all important topics to raise. The book also touches upon money and social status - and the strain that has on Birdie and Cass’s relationship at times - and the difficulties of coming out (and feeling like you have to keep coming out as a queer person)
🏖 Birdie’s mom is a famous influencer and, by extension, practically forces Birdie to be in and make her own content. This is a very timely conversation to have with the rise of family vloggers and the impact this can have on the family itself
🏖 There are some great side characters - I particularly liked Cass’s friends Bentley and Six and the way they looked out for her

✨️ What to expect ✨️
🏳️‍🌈 Queer love stories
💜 Enemies-to-lovers
🩵 Complicated friendships
🤳 Family vloggers and influencer content
☀️ Summer setting
⛱️ Beach read vibes
🎙 Dual POV

This was an amazing book for young readers. This gives a good portrayal of what it's like to be a lesbian couple as teens especially when one doesn't really have an accepting family. I also enjoyed the little rivals to lovers bit in the beginning. I think this book is perfect for young teens who are looking for a fluffy LGBTQ book for the summer. My only problem was that it is a little childish in some aspects, especially when it comes to the fights, but that might just be because I'm older than the intended audience.

fun and well-written romance with themes of the wealth divide, family, and other such things. a lot of awesome vibes. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

Jennifer Dugan strikes again. While I didn't like this one as much as I've liked books from her in the past, this was a cute easy read. It's perfect for any beach trip as a short read. I did find the characters a little relaxing and I felt like there could have been more added to it because it did feel short to me. I loved that despite this being a YA book, they talked about topics that young adults face today—even if they don't realize it. Both Birdie and Cass did feel like well thought out characters with flaws that were relatable. I always hate when people expect teenagers in YA books to be fully fledged adults and know how to be communicative with each other. I like that that wasn't the case with this book. While I did love the topic of gentrification being spoken about, I did feel like that was probably the weakest element of the book. But other than all of that, this truly was a cute little summer beach read.

This story follows 2 girls from 2 different walks of life. A girl raised to be conscious of money and society. Another who was raised with more money than imaginable, as a daughter in the spotlight.
This story takes such a modern and truthful look at financial struggles, differences, and the housing crisis amid air bnb rising in popularity.
With the serious conversation at hand, it’s a light love story that follows two girls who was to hate each other so bad, but can’t seem to no matter how hard they try.
Jennifer Dugan brought back the writing I personally found in her earlier work of Some Girls Do. With a heavy topic behind and fluffy read.

Sun, sand, sapphic yearning—Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan is the kind of book that feels like a warm breeze and a bittersweet sunset all at once. It’s messy, heartfelt, and utterly unputdownable, capturing the intensity of summer love, complicated friendships, and the ache of wanting something (or someone) you’re not sure you can have.

The story follows a girl caught between past and present, old flames and new feelings, all set against the backdrop of a dreamy coastal town. Dugan perfectly balances angst and humor, giving us characters who are flawed but so easy to root for. The tension? Delicious. The emotional stakes? High. And the romance? A slow, simmering burn that feels so real it hurts in the best way.

What makes Summer Girls shine is how it explores love—not just the romantic kind, but the love found in friendships, in self-acceptance, and in the memories that shape us. The writing is sharp and witty, the chemistry between the leads is palpable, and the summer atmosphere is so vivid, you’ll practically taste the salty air.

If you’re looking for a queer coming-of-age romance that’s equal parts swoony and soul-searching, Summer Girls is an absolute must-read. It’s the kind of book that lingers, like the best summer memories do. ☀️💛

2.5 stars

I think overall the book was pretty much exactly what you’d expect based on the synopsis.

There were a lot of enjoyable moments throughout, particularly the ones that took place at the beach Birdie and Cass worked at. I really enjoyed that environment and it was probably my favorite part of the book. Unfortunately, I feel like there was not much character development which really bummed me out.

The book definitely reads Y/A, and though I would recommend it for a high school aged audience, I still found it to be enjoyable. I could never say no to a summery sapphic romance!

Summer Girls is an enemies-to-lovers romance novel, centered on the characters of Birdie and Cass.

Birdie is a "trust fund baby" and an aspiring influencer, following in the footsteps of her influencer mom. She lives in Boston and dreams of starting her own brand once her trust fund is released. Cass, on the other hand, is part of the working class. She lives in a small tourist beach town, and during the summer she works as a life guard. Cass also occasionally does odd jobs for Birdie's father, who also lives primarily in the beach town.

When Birdie gets herself into major trouble once again, she is forced to stay with her father in the beach town. Birdie's father employs Cass to keep an eye on Birdie and help her get a working class job. The two start off by hating each other, before eventually finding mutual attraction.

The chapters of the book alternate between the perspectives of Birdie and Cass, giving the readers a chance to more deeply experience both sides.

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The book was well written and the overall premise of the book was promising. However, both characters (especially Cass) were so unlikeable that it made it hard to root for either of them. For example, when Cass is first tasked with watching over Birdie, she is actually quite mean / rude to Birdie just because Birdie is wealthy. So it's quite hard to believe that Birdie ends up liking Cass even though Cass treated her so poorly, and basically bullied her. In fact, it was disappointing that Birdie put up with this sort of treatment and continued to like Cass despite it.

The pacing when they switched from enemies to lovers also felt too quick. One minute they hated each other and the other they were super attracted to each other. The book would have benefited from drawing this out a little more, which would have also helped with the believability.

Overall I liked the book, but I wish it had better pacing and more likable characters.

This would be a perfect Disney young adult rom com. They go from crushing on each other at the beach when they were little, to hating each other, to coming full circle again. It was a sweet story and being a beach kid it made me nostalgic and wishing I had a story like this when I was younger. I loved it. Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Dugan, and Penguin Group.

This book had so much potential—a dreamy beach town, a classic opposites-attract romance, and that perfect mix of summer tension and sapphic yearning. As a teenage girl, this is exactly the kind of story I crave. Why aren’t there more queer books like this? We need more!

That said, the execution left me a little frustrated. The miscommunication trope was overused to the point of exhaustion. It felt like the characters were arguing over the same thing in every chapter, with one of them constantly backsliding into the same bad habits and undoing any progress in their relationship. The emotional buildup was great at times, but the repetitive conflicts made it hard to stay invested.

Still, the summer romance vibes were on point, and I loved seeing a sapphic love story set in such a fun, nostalgic setting.

Average Romance with Predictable Tropes. Summer Rules follows the classic "opposites attract" formula, but unfortunately doesn’t bring anything fresh to the table. Cass, the no-nonsense townie, and Birdie, the spoiled summer girl, start off as typical rivals, and their slow-burn romance is pretty predictable from the start. While their chemistry is obvious, the tension feels forced at times, especially with the heavy reliance on the "opposites attract" trope. The writing doesn’t delve much deeper than surface-level conflict, and the characters—particularly Birdie—often come across as one-dimensional. Cass’s hard-edged attitude and Birdie’s rich-girl antics are familiar and don’t add much depth to their individual personalities.

Summer Girls was a super sweet and insightful story about two girls and former friends, who come from opposite upbringings, reluctantly spending the summer together working at a beach.

I loved that the two girls went through so much growth together, from understanding each other’s perspectives to actively making the efforts to change despite their semi-forbidden romance. The MCs make a lot of questionable choices throughout the story, but they always learn from them and come back together. At the end of the day, these are teenagers just trying to find themselves, and it was really sweet to see how much these two grew as people and loved each other in the process. Birdie has my heart and was the true star in this book in terms of character development (also social media, so it checks out).

The conversations about class and how that affects not only the social-economical differences of the kids born into different circumstances but also their states of mind and familial/personal relationships were really enlightening. I liked that most of the characters had many layers to their decisions, namely Birdie’s father, and actions that could have multiple different motivations; it really says a lot about people in business nowadays. Same goes for the world of social media and specifically family/mommy vloggers, especially with the 7 Passengers case/documentary coming out.

Overall the love story was the heart of this book and it left me feeling optimistic about the MCs future and even more inspired by how hard they (specifically Birdie) fought for love. It’s a super sweet YA romance perfect for the summer season!

This is a cute YA summer romance, perfect for lighthearted reading on the beach.

I wasn't expecting the main characters to already know each other when I started reading (that wasn't clear from the book blurb), but both Cass's and Birdie's characters are well-developed, and the challenges they face as their relationship begins to develop from mutual "I hate you" to mutual "I might like you...?" are believable, as are their character flaws that fuel many of those challenges--Cass's struggle to see Birdie as someone outside of her social status, and Birdie's struggle to figure out who she is when she's spent most of her life being told who to be and what to do. Seeing them grow up a bit (especially Birdie, who had led a rather sheltered life) as the story unfolds was satisfying, and I was rooting for them the entire way.

I'd recommend this book to readers looking for a cute, gay summer beach read.

I was ecstatic to read Dugan's latest following Some Girls Do, another sapphic YA story taking place during my favorite season!

Townie Cass has a rule about not dating "summer girls", aka the girls that flock to her beachy hometown on summer holiday. After vacationer Birdie crashes her ex-boyfriend's car, she's crushed to have to spend the summer working as a beach parking lot attendant alongside Cass. With summer heating up, will Cass stick to her tried-and-true rule? Or will these summer girls find their own kind of summer loving?

Summer Girls gave me similar vibes to Elin Hilderbrand, and I love the queer twist on such a classic trope. Both Cass and Birdie were handled with care, and I appreciate the gentleness that Dugan treats topics such as social media and queerness. I can't wait to share this book with my students - I have a flock that I already know will pass this one around and giggle over.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

A lovely light-hearted summer romance!

I had fun with this book, which follows a fun rivals to lovers romance by the beach. Cass and Birdie were fun, contrasting characters who both were dealing with their own family and money-related issues. The forced proximity of these two made them understand each others' circumstances more which I loveeeed. Unfortunately this did feel a bit insta-lovey to me because it seemed to take place over less than the whole summer. But still cute nonetheless.

This was my first Jennifer Dugan book, and I had a lot of fun.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an adorable and really wholesome summer romance novel. I thought the chemistry between Birdie and Cass was realistic, however I felt that them knowing and having feelings for each other as kids was kind of a lazy way to speed up the process of their attraction to each other. I would have liked to see them gradually build their relationship overtime as it did feel rather fast. Regardless i thoroughly enjoyed this and I would recommend to anyone that's into summer and wealthy x commoner romances. Overall 3.5 stars.