Thank you to Wednesday Books for sharing a copy in exchange for my honest review.
Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life. Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers. Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl? This adorable queer romance has been on my most anticipated list for a long while now, and I'm so so excited that I got to read an ARC! Cool for the Summer follows Lara's senior year romance(s?) while she tries to figure out if the boy she's always wanted might be falling out of favor for the girl she just met. I enjoyed the storytelling--alternating timelines between Lara's current year in New York and her summer in Outer Banks allow us to see the buildup of Lara and Jasmine's relationship. Their friendship turns into something more during the summer, and this extra description was central to getting me to root for their relationship to begin again in the present timeline. My favorite chapter was their weekend with Jasmine's mother--Adler's account of their dinner made me feel absolutely starving! CFTS is also kind of a Grease retelling, which I enjoyed. There's a lot of mutual pining in the best of ways. Miscommunication tropes are so over, but CFTS genuinely has us in Lara's headspace while she's deciding how to be true to her heart. Good narration cannot be under-appreciated, so this point is just to say that I liked reading in Lara's voice. She reads like a real high schooler--there's a fair bit of friend drama, but she's got real heart underneath it all. This is tiny ( I kind of want to get into the habit of injecting doses of non-book-media-appreciation into my reviews) but Cool for the Summer also tuned me into its namesake Demi Lovato song, which I've listened to about 50 times since finishing the book. Definitely a bi anthem, and you should listen to it while you read a particular scene in the novel (you'll know it when you read it) I think this book will resonate with a lot of queer readers--it's so heartfelt and written with the best impact. This might sound weird, but it's just a really safe book. Cool for the Summer is a short but comforting read. Weirdly, reading it actually started a reading and reviewing slump for me. I've hardly turned a page or written a word since I finished. I'm just that stuck thinking about Lara, Jasmine, and the rest of their adventures. 5/5 stars for a beautiful novel that I can't wait to see out in the world.
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The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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