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A review by sarahspils
Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I wanted to pick up something that'd be a fairly light read and that I could move through quickly, and I ended up reading this one in a day! If I'm being honest, I had somewhat low expectations for this book since I've moved a bit away from the more high school YA novels, but I have to admit this was a sweet read; like a proper romcom. This has a lot of those primary coming-of-age themes of self-discovery, dynamics with parents, mental health, and the staple here, of course, being navigating sexuality and how that impacts our identity. I think Hayley does a good job of developing her characters in a way that shows their young, restless nature through how they react to the situations they're faced with and to each other.
There's that balance of classic teenage angst, moving through grief, and girls realizing they're in love with each other that kind of gave me early-2000s romcom vibes for sapphics tehe. I personally wouldn't qualify this as a life-changing book per se, and there are some moments where I think there could be more to be desired. My one critique that comes to mind right now is that I might've liked a little more use of terms of sexuality, especially since 'lesbian' is only used once in the entirety of the book in reference to "lesbian Jesus" (lol), and I think that could've been an opportunity to normalize them even more, working alongside the ambiguous moments of Coley and Sonya discovering their sexualities while not being too cliche. But with the root of the work originating from the iconic "Girls Like Girls" music video, overall it was really nice to see this idea become fully dimensional. I liked it :)
I don't know if this really qualifies as a spoiler (we've all seen the music video 🤭), but:In regards to the relationship between Coley and Sonya, do I think they're representative of an ideal couple and are this profound illustration of queer love? No, definitely not, but I don't think that's what this was trying to be, either. There are key moments of back and forth uncertainty, distrust, and betrayal, but I think that pushes the high school narrative, anyways. Honestly that's kind of how high school romance goes, né? 🤷🏻♀️
A simple read handling more complex topics, kind of Emily Henry-level but way less boring 😌.
(is this too long of a review omg idk I just kept typing oh well)
There's that balance of classic teenage angst, moving through grief, and girls realizing they're in love with each other that kind of gave me early-2000s romcom vibes for sapphics tehe. I personally wouldn't qualify this as a life-changing book per se, and there are some moments where I think there could be more to be desired. My one critique that comes to mind right now is that I might've liked a little more use of terms of sexuality, especially since 'lesbian' is only used once in the entirety of the book in reference to "lesbian Jesus" (lol), and I think that could've been an opportunity to normalize them even more, working alongside the ambiguous moments of Coley and Sonya discovering their sexualities while not being too cliche. But with the root of the work originating from the iconic "Girls Like Girls" music video, overall it was really nice to see this idea become fully dimensional. I liked it :)
I don't know if this really qualifies as a spoiler (we've all seen the music video 🤭), but:
A simple read handling more complex topics, kind of Emily Henry-level but way less boring 😌.
(is this too long of a review omg idk I just kept typing oh well)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment