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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was enjoyable but wasn't amazing. I really disliked the ending but I thought coley was a fun protagonist. I enjoyed Haley Kioko doing the audiobook too
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide
This was the gay small town summer love story I never had in middle school. I adored it.
lighthearted
fast-paced
I wished this was better than it was. Only giving it 3 stars because telling queer stories is important. However, this book was quite all over the place with its plot. The main love interest was terrible, manipulative, and abusive — being closeted doesn’t give you an excuse to treat other people horribly. Additionally, the ending was quite rushed, with a “resolution” only in the last two pages. I didn’t enjoy this book very much, but I’m also giving to more credit since it’s YA, and Hayley isn’t much of a novelist.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wenn ich noch einmal "Girl" lese, springe ich aus dem Fenster.
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Minor: Abortion
Not what I expected, but still liked it!
Hayley Kiyoko's song "Girls like Girls" is very near and dear to my heart. It was one of the first queer songs and music videos I ever saw (& the music video came out on my birthday!). When I say she was writing a book based on GLG I was ecstatic.
Coley finds herself in a new state, with a dad she barely knows, and no friends. She's always felt different but never put words to her feelings and right now, that's the last thing she's thinking about. Until she runs into Sonya, or rather, Sonya and her friends nearly run over Coley. In a daze, Sonya becomes the only thing on Coley's mind. They start to hangout day after day & Coley feels the push a pull of Sonya everyday. But is it just her, or can Sonya feel it too?
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
While the MV of GLG changed the course of my life, they book didn't measure up as much as I wanted it to. Was it good? Yes. But I found my heart broken time after time. Unfortunately, Sonya falls into the trope of "curious queer" but tries so hard to keep herself closeted. While I do understand that coming out isn't easy and it can't just happen, Sonya's decisions and attitude gives Coley the shit end of the stick every time. I will say though, I'm glad that Coley didn't shy away from telling Sonya just that. We all love for stories to have the happy, cute couple together in the end, but I just didn't love it. I know we can forgive each other for getting treated like shit, but it just didn't sit very well with me. As someone who has gotten to great place with my queerness, reading about a young, queer person just starting out with one of their first major crushes, being treated like shit, and then forgiving the person to be together made me a bit sad. If the other person isn't ready, you shouldn't have to wait and put up with their bullshit.
Anyways, I did still enjoy it. We did get the iconic scene of Coley beating that jock's ass at the pool like in the MV. I was also happy to see Coley gain confidence, independence, have other queer/gay people in her life to talk to, and especially creating a better relationship with Curtis. Anything self-growth and positive for Coley I was 1,000% happy with.
Hayley Kiyoko's song "Girls like Girls" is very near and dear to my heart. It was one of the first queer songs and music videos I ever saw (& the music video came out on my birthday!). When I say she was writing a book based on GLG I was ecstatic.
Coley finds herself in a new state, with a dad she barely knows, and no friends. She's always felt different but never put words to her feelings and right now, that's the last thing she's thinking about. Until she runs into Sonya, or rather, Sonya and her friends nearly run over Coley. In a daze, Sonya becomes the only thing on Coley's mind. They start to hangout day after day & Coley feels the push a pull of Sonya everyday. But is it just her, or can Sonya feel it too?
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
While the MV of GLG changed the course of my life, they book didn't measure up as much as I wanted it to. Was it good? Yes. But I found my heart broken time after time. Unfortunately, Sonya falls into the trope of "curious queer" but tries so hard to keep herself closeted. While I do understand that coming out isn't easy and it can't just happen, Sonya's decisions and attitude gives Coley the shit end of the stick every time. I will say though, I'm glad that Coley didn't shy away from telling Sonya just that. We all love for stories to have the happy, cute couple together in the end, but I just didn't love it. I know we can forgive each other for getting treated like shit, but it just didn't sit very well with me. As someone who has gotten to great place with my queerness, reading about a young, queer person just starting out with one of their first major crushes, being treated like shit, and then forgiving the person to be together made me a bit sad. If the other person isn't ready, you shouldn't have to wait and put up with their bullshit.
Anyways, I did still enjoy it. We did get the iconic scene of Coley beating that jock's ass at the pool like in the MV. I was also happy to see Coley gain confidence, independence, have other queer/gay people in her life to talk to, and especially creating a better relationship with Curtis. Anything self-growth and positive for Coley I was 1,000% happy with.
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending felt a bit rushed but this undoubtedly captured the sort of yearning only a teenage lesbian can feel.
Also the family storyline was a lot more hard-hitting than I had anticipated, tears were shed.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this book but I just didn’t. I didn’t enjoy the banter, it was mostly cringy. I didn’t particularly like Coley, she was kinda an asshole for no reason a lot of the time and had some “I’m not like other girls because I’m *~sad~* vibes that I wasn’t here for. I really hated Sonya, and I hate that Coley just put up with all her bullshit. She did some really fucked up things. The only character I genuinely liked was Alex, but he was also pretty 1 dimensional. I wish there were more queer love stories with likable characters :(