Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an 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?
Cool for the Summer is a cute YA summery romance that centres around Lara. Lara is torn between the guy she has had a crush on for years and a girl she met over the summer. We follow Lara as she navigates her sexuality, learns to love herself and be true to herself.
This story is told between past and present timelines, which I absolutely love in books. There is something about timelines that flip between two timeframes that have me so captivated and make me not want to put the book down. Cool for the Summer was exactly like this because I could not stop reading this book, I just had to know what happened next.
I’ve had this book recommended to me a number of times recently and I’m so glad I gave this book a go. It has such an important message about self-discovery and learning about your identity. It shows readers that not everyone instantly knows what their identity or sexuality is when they are younger. Due to the message this book gives I feel it will certainly impact a lot of readers.
Lara is such a wonderful main character. She is sarcastic, witty and just down-right hilarious. I can see so many people relating to Lara for a number of reasons. I want more books with Lara please! The secondary characters in this book are also excellent. Jasmine and Chase are both great characters. They are very different from each other but each of them have a little piece of my heart now. I wanted the best for both of them and I was rooting for them both the entire time. All the characters in this book are greatly developed and well-rounded!
I have to say, I loved how short this book was. It meant I could read it in just a couple of sittings and the story moved along very quickly. I enjoyed the writing style of this book as it lends itself to being fast-paced. Dahlia Adler writes with a sense of humour that is easy to connect to. I throughly enjoyed reading this book through Lara’s eyes with the amount of sarcasm she has and just watching her learn about herself and grown into her own skin!
Cool for the Summer is the perfect summer contemporary YA that would make the perfect coming of age film. It is quick to read, funny and extremely adorable! This book is wonderful and I highly recommend it!
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