Book Review: Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler


**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Genre:  YA, Romance, Contemporary, LGBT
Release Date: May 11, 2021  
Description:
"Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It’s about the things we want and the things we need. And it’s about the people who will let us be who we are.

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 was a nice, quick read. Larissa is a high school girl who finally gets to date the guy of her dreams, just when the girl who she can't stop thinking about appears at her school. Although I'm not really a fan of the crowd and scene surrounding Larissa, I thought she had good character development throughout the story. Even though her feelings for Jasmine were obvious from the very beginning, her slowly accepting those feelings and figuring them out without making rash decisions, even when she was dating Chase, was well written. I also liked how the chapters alternated between "now" and "then"(her summer break) because it gave a glimpse of her relationship with Jasmine. 

Despite the core message of figuring out feelings and accepting them, the book was overall okay. None of the other characters stood out. In fact, it was even stated by Larissa that Chase started to like her out of nowhere, even though she's liked him for years, and even he was aware of her crush. As someone who was her boyfriend for a good portion of the book, he was a very underdeveloped character. We really don't know much about him other than his stereotypical jock characteristics and being a loving older brother (which is was only told, not shown). I even found most of Larissa's friends kind of annoying. 

Overall, it was a good short story with a good message, but it contained flat characters and a plot that got boring at times.

Overall rating:  3.5/5

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