After the death of her mother, Coley and her father move to Oregon. That’s where she meets Sonya and her friends. Although she and Sonya have an instant connection, Coley is afraid that a romance would end just like every other love she’s ever had. Sonya has never had a girlfriend before, so is Coley really who she wants? It’s not until they both accept their feelings and open up to each other that they can find their true happiness. This book is set in the mid 00s and as someone who was this age at that time, I can attest to the fact that the teen experience depicted here was very recognisable. It’s a very heady, intense ride that tackles internalised homophobia, grief and the differences between toxic and healthy friendships. Despite its intensity, it’s a clean romance, making it ideal for all tastes and age groups.

Girls Like Girls was a highly anticipated release of mine, as I was a big fan of Hayley Kiyoko's song of the same name. However, the story in the song (and music video) didn't translate well to the book. The writing style was unfortunately immature and needed several more drafts. The characters I found hard to engage with, and I wasn't desperately rooting for their romance like in other queer romances I have read.

Overall, rather disappointing.

Lesbian Jesus does it again! I wasn’t expecting much from a book written by a pop star, but honestly - Hayley Kiyoko has done it again. This is a well-written gem of a book, depicting the anxiety that can sometimes come with sexuality and coming of age.

I loved it. You should read it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

A really fun and charming read with an enjoyable premise and gorgeous characters. I would highly recommend.

Wonderful and sweet tale of first love and coming out. Getting towards the end I was longing for it to be left unresolved so we could have a second volume to spend more time with the characters! There is some strong writing and charming ideas throughout.

Girls like Girls is a book I wish I had growing up. Many Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House childrens UK for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

So firstly I heard the song by Hayley, and then read the book. Some people read the book then heard the song, and I think which way you did it might impact the reading of it.
For a debut it’s very well written, the plot is well thought out and executed and the pacing throughout is great. I loved the struggles of Coley and how she was dealing with them and I initially loved the story between her and Sonya.
Character wise- I hate to say this but the reason I did not like the book as much was the love interest. She is extremely self destructive and honestly made me feel like the relationship was a bit toxic with some of her behaviours. I did love the dynamic between them and their individual developments throughout the story though.
It’s genuinely a wonderful YA story that I’m glad I read and honestly wish I had as a teen.

The music video for girls like girls altered my brain chemistry as a young queer person, so to see it spun out into a novel as an adult was so heart warming and filled me with all the fuzzies. The characters could have maybe been a bit more fleshed out, but they were lovable for all their flaws and humanity.

Girls Like Girl is a perfect summer read for when you're in your stressy & depressy YA mood. Based in the world of the music video of the same name, Hayley Kiyoko's book follows Coley, over summer break, who has moved to her Dad's in the middle of nowhere after her mum's suicide. She meets Sonya and her friends and feels a connection verging on more than friendship with Sonya.

You can tell very quickly this book was written by a songwriter, it's very lyrical in its language which can be beautiful at times but also slows the pace down too much at others. I liked Coley overall, I know I'd relate a lot to her in my teens. I liked that we got Sonya's side of things through the LiveJournal posts too.

I did enjoy this book but it felt like part of a larger story that I wish we'd got to see. It really is an extended version of the music video which is a little disappointing. If you like lyrical prose and summer angst though, this is for you. I'd love to see another book from Hayley Kiyoko but with a bit more depth and resolution cause the writing style is gorgeous.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Like most queer teenagers, I used to watch the girls like girls music video on REPEAT!!! So I was really excited to read this. However, the writing wasn’t great and it felt way too dialogue heavy. The characters were very one dimensional.

“Is this what it’s like to have a girlfriend? Do you just get to grow up and move in with them and wake up and have breakfast with them and be… happy?”

Like many, Hayley Kiyoko’s ‘Girls Like Girls’ song was a familiar teen anthem for young bisexual me but honestly reading the book, as well as being a generally great read, brought comfort in ways I didn’t expect.

For a debut, I was generally surprised at just how well-written this book was. Kiyoko may be primarily tackling young romantic sapphic exploration but there are a few complex issues that are also really well handled. Our main character Coley is struggling with a recent family death and grief, which wasn’t overdone and still tugged at the heartstrings, while additionally trying to get used to a new family dynamic and fit into a new community. It was messy and complicated and relatable. There a very few young adult books that I can name that tackle common drug use, intimacy and toxic male behaviour in a teen setting without stereotyping and creating ‘good versus bad people’. Instead, Kiyoko creates diverse and complex characters in realistic and familiar settings.

It is so important to have queer representation (not that it maybe needed to be said here) but that quote (see start), got me. Seeing it there, knowing how a lack of positive sapphic relationships in books and media impacted me as a teen, and feeling it when Coley feels that realisation that a future might be possible just hits. I fell for Coley and her story, her journey completely and I’m sure others will too.

I also really liked the structure of the novel. The narrative is from Coley’s perspective but from the inclusion of message boards and online journal entries we get to also see Sonya’s perspective and understand her relationship with her friends and others better. It also breaks up the book which is generally written in a language and format that just felt easy to pick up and get through.

'Girls Like Girls' is a perfect summer read. Short and easy to pick up with a hopeful story and a summer setting, full of trips to the lake, bike rides and romance. However, it also covers important topics and, like her original song, has the potential to matter to a lot of people (young and older) whether that’s queer questioning or not. Therefore, it’s a book I heartedly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy! I love the author's music a lot, but her writing in book form not so much. I found the writing kinda lacking and the characters were a little one-dimensional. I wanted to love it but I couldn't get into it.

Okay, I've never watched the music video for this song, so my review is purely based off this book and not based off how it relates to the video. I think this story had so much potential - there were a lot of great elements, and I enjoyed how the book was set in the early 2000s. There's a lot going on - Coley has just had to move in with her dad, who she has had no relationship with growing up, after the death of her mum, and she meets Sonya. There's an awful side character called Trenton, who I struggled to believe anyone would be friends with because he had no redeeming qualities at all. However, because there was so much going on, and considering the story is pretty short, it felt like there wasn't any true resolution to the plotlines. The ending felt very rushed as well, and the dialogue was straight-up cringeworthy at times. Coley has a very strong not-like-other-girls attitude, which, I understand the book is set in 2006 and that kind of attitude was a lot more popular then, but this book is published in 2023 - and it just made for Coley to be pretty unlikeable. I do think that Hayley Kiyoko has great potential as an author, but this just fell a bit flat.

3.5⭐️

As a fan of Hayley Kiyoko’s, and especially of the song and video by the same name, I was excited for this story. Maybe being such a fan of the video for years already tainted the experience as the book is definitely a fleshed-out version of that tale. But generally it was a really enjoyable, moving story that I would’ve loved to have read as a queer teen and would definitely recommend as a YA summer read.

3.5

Well it was a nice read.

Very YA, comfort lesbian romance.
The writing isn't perfect and I do agree with other comments saying that some storyline were a bit unfinished.
But considering this is a debut novel, I'm cool with it and I had a sweet time reading this little book !

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review

This was absolutely beautiful. I absolutely wish I had this book to read at 13/14. It’s everything I needed at that age, and it’s wonderful to read now knowing it will wholeheartedly help someone younger understand that it’s okay to be like this. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. None of my words will do it justice im sure, but all I can say is , it’s better late than never ☺️

2.5 stars
I was so excited for this one, having been a fan of Hayley Kiyoko since she was in Wizards of Waverley Place and Lemonade Mouth. The Girls Like Girls music video was everything to teenage me. This book, however, was an utter mess. There is no zero to one hundred, it starts at a drama-filled angry one hundred and never lets up. Girls Like Girls follows Coley through her first summer after losing her mum and moving in with her distant father; at first it’s very reminiscent of the first half of The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Then, as the book goes on, the characters don’t develop other than to become angrier.

Coley, amongst just about every other character, spends the narrative in a haze of teen angst and bad decisions, spiralling all the way down. Top tip for any young gays out there: don’t date internalised-homophobia-ridden closet-cases. It never goes well. Regardless of this, the content is most suited to older teenagers, as it is definitely mature, however the style of prose as well as the character personalities are closer to that of younger YA fiction. Them saying ‘olive juice’ instead of ‘i love you’ is something straight out of a middle grade. The romance itself is rather dubious anyway.

At the end of it all, I’m not sure who this book’s audience will be, as it clearly reads as a celebrity-written book rather than a fantastic coming of age story in its own right. It is also worth mentioning that the book just… stops. The ending is, in my opinion, unsatisfying and rushed, though my lack of support for the main couple of the book likely affected my opinion.

This story has been written before. It even has the same title… and the same author.
When I heard that Hayley Kiyoko’s debut was titled for her hit single and music video, Girls Like Girls, I thought it was a clever gimmick - I didn’t realise it pretty much was the music video, properly fleshed out. And, if I sound non-committal, I’ll be more clear: it works for me.

Like its namesake, the real joy of Girls Like Girls (besides, well, GIRLS) is its relatability - the OMG YES moments as each character is developed.

Even without the music video we know and love, this novel deserves to be on the shelf. In her author’s note, Kiyoko mentions that her song and music video were made to fill a void, so she could see people like her - queer people - in mainstream media. Girls Like Girls is the book my friends and I needed in high school, and I hope it will be that for current high schoolers.

Coley is struggling when she has to go and live with her dad who she hasn’t seen since she was 3 after her mom died. But she soon meets Sonya, and while Coley falls very hard very soon, she’s not so sure Sonya is into her too.



I want to start by saying how much I ADORE Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko. That song is amazing, the music video is great, it’s one of my all time favourites to blast in summer, and it was an eye opening moment to hear those lyrics ‘girls like girls like boys do.’

I loved how much of this book felt like that song and the music video. Riding around on bikes, swimming in the pool, those shy looks and tender touches. For a book based on a song, it definitely stays true to it.

I think it’s fair to say the plot of this book is not monumental, and it’s a little predictable, but I don’t think most people are going into this book for the plot. They’re going into it for the sapphic romance, the queer vibes, the validation of their feelings, and to feel the way the song and the music video made them feel.

I really enjoyed it, and hope a lot of young people get joy and reassurance from this book about their own feelings and identity.

What a fun summer read!

Honestly the perfect story to accompany the famous song that has been known as a wlw anthem. Girls like girls is the perfect read suitable for younger (14+ ) and older adults alike.

The main characters all are loveable, the relationships so interesting to read about, and the book so easily written. I've seen a lot of reviews about the writing reading as juvenile but honestly id like to disagree. No it's not purple prose but it's very acceptable and honestly adds to the charm.

A beautiful book I'd recommend for everyone actually.

I adore Hayley Kiyoko for her music and artistry that she constructs her videos with, so when I found out that ‘Girls Like Girls’ was being written I was excited but also nervous about how the storyline could fill a whole novel.
Overall the whole book feels well written and the characters feel well rounded in their own rights, so a great read for anyone regardless of whether they know the original video. The jumping off point is Coley’s move to rural Oregon, she is seventeen and attempting to deal with the loss of her mother. Sonya is a bit lost in the way she is simply going through the motions of high school but is still unsure about where she fits in. The two girls bond instantly, a magnetism that they cannot fully explain because they don’t yet have the words for how they feel.
There were some uncomfortable moments within this read such as the characterisation of Trenton. Throughout the novel he becomes more aggressive and manipulative with Sonya and although Kiyoko never shies away from the angst and backlash that can come with living freely and honestly, it did at times feel aimed a little more at an older reader. This lean away from the general YA audience does fit with the wider age range of Kiyoko’s fanbase which I completely understand. For me it was a really great read because I could relate so much to that teenage, intense, first love and the overcoming of obstacles.
All that being said the ending was so rushed and with the promise of a follow up I feel like there was enough scope to deal with the final scene in more detail, this would have added so much more depth to Coley and Sonya’s journey. Although one positive for me of ‘Girls Like Girls’ is that I think it will be an amazing first step for many into LGBTQIA+ literature and that is always a positive.