Reviews

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It just felt very juvenile, and honestly outdated.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 me 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 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 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 rivka, you’re so real