Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!
It’s summertime and 17-year-old Coley has found herself alone, again. Forced to move to rural Oregon after just losing her mother, she is in no position to risk her already fragile heart. But when she meets Sonya, the attraction is immediate.
Coley worries she isn't worthy of love. Up until now, everyone she's loved has left her. And Sonya's never been with a girl before. What if she's too afraid to show up for Coley? What if by opening her heart, Coley's risking it all?
They both realize that when things are pushed down, and feelings are forced to shrivel away, Coley and Sonya will be the ones to shrink. It’s not until they accept the love they fear and deserve most, that suddenly the song makes sense.
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ (3)
I was really hoping that this would be a new favorite. While I did enjoy a lot of it, it sadly didn't live up to those expectations for me. Coley moves in with her father after her mom dies and has to adjust to living without her mother and in a new city. That's when she meets Sonya. The two quickly grow closer together to the point where they start to have romantic feelings.
The story is set in a small town in 2006, which you could definitely tell! There were not a lot of visible queer people, which made it hard for some characters to come to terms with their sexuality. The main character, Coley, seems to be comfortable with her sexuality and the love interest not at all. This is something that still happens. There are people who have fallen in love, but are struggling to come out of the closet. Kiyoko showed those inner struggles and internalized homophobia really well in the pages that were focused more on Sonya.
In the end, I found myself not really rooting for the love interest. I think that they both had a lot of stuff to work through first, before . Even though them not ending up together wouldn't have "fit" in the romance formula, I do think that would have worked better for Coley's growth arc. Now, the ending felt a little rushed, which is unfortunate.
Even though it was a very rocky relationship throughout the book, I did like the parts with Coley and her father. You could really see it develop slowly. I personally think that it was done very realistically, as Coley was grieving and hurting from her loss.
I do hope that Kiyoko continues to write. Even though songwriting and novel writing are two very different things, she has proved to be good at both!
'Girls Like Girls' is out now!