REVIEW: Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Genre: Young Adult | LGBTQ+

Release Date: 1st June 2023

Publisher: Penguin Random House

It's not that you're not like other girls. It's just that you've never met a girl like you. And then. You do. You meet her. And suddenly. The songs make sense.

It's summertime and 17-year-old Coley is alone, again. Forced to move to middle of nowhere Oregon after 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 by opening her heart, Coley's risking it all?

Okay first of all - Yes, I adore Hayley Kiyoko and Girls Like Girls is one of my all-time queer anthems. So I was very excited to read this and see if our girl could write a book as well as she writes songs; and it was pretty damn good.

Girls Like Girls is a heartfelt, tender story about love — not just romance, but finding love and acceptance in yourself too. It’s a coming-of-age and coming out story all wrapped up with a vivid summer dreamscape and plenty of angsty teen confusion. At times it felt like the script to an arthouse indie film but the style kind of worked.

Our characters were absolutely beautiful — they’re in no way perfect, and at times feel pulled from a sitcom high school but need I remind you these are teenagers. Teenagers are dramatic and intense and angry, remember what you were like? I found them so endearing and familiar, finding connection and understanding with them and the struggles about the many parts of their identity they’re trying to navigate. I loved the narration, it felt like a conversation with plenty of side bars whispered to the reader and tangents alongside media inserts like blogs that drew me in to the characters so easily.

There’s some difficult moments to read, but they’re handled so authentically with grace and talk about things that need to be talked about like the increase of suicide in LGBTQ+ youths.

Girls Like Girls … and this book. We like this too.

⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Please check content warnings before reading as this book contains subjects that may be upsetting or triggering.

Comments

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+ Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

" This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration. But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...

On Bee's Bookshelf

Search This Blog