The summer love strategy

Hayley and her best friend, Talia, are tired of waiting for love to find them. Hayley always has an unrequited crush--she has an unfortunate habit of falling for straight or otherwise unavailable girls. Talia is demiromantic, so it takes her a while and a deep emotional bond to feel romantic feelings for anyone. Together, they devise what they call their Summer Love Strategy: a plan to find summer love together. As the summer wears on, Hayley and Talia begin to realize that what's standing in their way isn't what they think and that they might have feelings for each other. This excellent addition to the slew of YA friends-to-lovers romance novels offers a nuanced portrayal of an autistic sapphic trans girl in Talia and a lesbian with ADHD and anxiety in Hayley. The novel sometimes gets lost in the characters' extensive social lives and many secondary characters, but it genuinely shines when it zeroes in on Hayley and Talia's friendship and blossoming romance. Readers will feel like they're in a teen summer romance themselves.

A plan to get over a crush is more successful than expected in this romance set in Seattle. Childhood best friends Hayley and Talia, both white, do everything together. They share a birthday, they have the same favorite ice cream flavor, and they're prone to saying the same thing at the same time. The main difference between them is that Hayley seems to have a new unrequited crush every week, and Talia has only ever had crushes on two people. Hayley is also a lesbian who struggles with panic attacks, while autistic Talia is trans as well as demiromantic and demisexual. After Hayley's latest heartbreak involving a straight girl from basketball, Talia suggests they spend the summer trying to manufacture meet-cutes as a way to jump-start both their love lives. With the help of their endearingly supportive friend group, Hayley and Talia go to the beach, attend Pride, rock out at a MUNA concert, and more. But when their plan starts to work, and Talia meets charismatic nonbinary Rose, Hayley can't ignore the fact that she feels jealous. Hayley and Talia's story has all the butterfly-worthy moments of first love. Hayley's voice is well executed: She's an overthinker who doesn't take herself too seriously, which leads to some funny one-liners and internal monologues. Readers will appreciate that neurodivergence is normalized and represented positively in the novel: In addition to Talia, two other members of their friend group are autistic. A charming friends-to-lovers summer romance. (Romance. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.