3.5/4

Synopsis: BFFs Haley (a lesbian cis girl) and Talia (a bi trans girl) are both determined to experience summer romance for the first time. They try everything to meet new people and find dates, but at the end of the day, romance may have been closer than it appeared all along.

Review: This was the perfect short and sweet YA summer romance for fans of Alice Oseman! I really loved the whole cast of characters, including the abundance of queer and neurodivergent representation. The cover is also absolutely stunning and I think it perfectly represents the story. If you’re looking for a cute, light sapphic romance, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

This review was a bit difficult for me to write. This book was well written and captured what it can feel like to be a teenager trying to figure out who you are and the best way to relate to others. For me as an adult, that wasn't very fun to read about. Being a teenager can be hard and overwhelming and it's not really something I want to revisit. However, I'm not the target audience for this book! I could see it being incredibly comforting for an adolescent to know other people shared their feelings and experiences.

I also thought the mental health issues were handled with care and accuracy. I dealt with generalized anxiety as a teenager and I worried about a lot of the things that Hayley worries about. A lot of Haley's worries are about relationships but adolescence is a very socially focused time. I did like that the book talked about learning how to have relationships with different people and communicating.

Thanks to ABRAMS Kids for the eARC! All opinions are my own.
I think if you want to know what it feels like to be this age and a bit anxious or you are a teenager this is a great choice! I think if you mostly enjoy YA with older characters this one won't be for you. The main character is 15 and definitely deals with 15-year-old problems.

"The Summer Love Strategy" by Ray Stoeve is a very sweet YA rom-com. Hayley and Talia, who are best friends, are on a mission to find summer romance, embark on a series of adventures inspired by movie clichés. As they navigate crushes, mishaps, and unexpected twists, they discover that love may be closer than they think. Stoeve's writing is witty and heartfelt, making this novel a perfect summer read. With its endearing characters and delightful premise, "The Summer Love Strategy" is sure to capture the hearts of readers young and old. Also, MUNA happens to be my favorite band, so seeing them featured in this book was definitely a plus!

I enjoyed this one a lot, but I expected nothing less because I've enjoyed every book I've read from this author before.
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The outcome of the plot was something I saw coming. It was slightly predictable in that regard, but that's not a mark against the book or any real problem, it's just something I've seen a lot before. That doesn't make it a bad concept though.
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I did really like that there was a range of neurodivergent characters though, several of whom were autistic and presented that in different ways. I also liked that there were various different queer identities represented too.
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Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was a very enjoyable experience and a lovely light-hearted read.
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Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book.

Again this problem I have a lot of YA comes up…I really do not find this a realistic depiction of how teenagers talk to each other. I am a few years older than these characters But i was just sixteen and have a lot of exposure to sixteen year olds whether through classes or my sister and i really have never heard anyone speak this way. The way they think about the world and interact with each other just seems like a caricature of how adults think teens talk to each other. Please give them some credit!
It also just seems there’s more analysis of plot/actions whether through dialogue or internal monologue than actual plot/actions.
Another thing that does not usually bother me but I know is a problem a lot of readers have is constant pop culture references. Here it seemed that they were not prominent enough in our culture to not become dated incredibly fast. With something like Harry Potter, at least it’s been a thing for a few decades. Or in a period piece, including music/artists/etc that were popular makes sense. I don’t think including a band that’s been around for a few years and has not necessarily cemented themselves is a great idea for a book set and released in the present day.

These are a lot of personal issues and there will be many who disagree and enjoy aspects I didn’t. However I think it is fair to point out the vast disaparity in how YA writers view and write teenagers because it bothers me now but has also bothered me since I was the same age as these characters and felt books targeted towards me were in no way towards me at all.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story!
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I'm not really a fan of the trope friends-to-lovers but I thought I'd try this novel out. I'm glad I did. It was better than I expected. (I know I rated it a three but it's a very STRONG 3 it's really more of a 3.75) Part of the reason I don't like friends-to-lovers is for the exact thing that happens in this novel. One of the girls (Hayley) realizes she likes her best friend (Talia) and then DECIDES TO NOT TALK TO HER FRIEND ABOUT ITS. I understand how nerve wracking it would be to suddenly have a crush on your best friend and NOT WANT things to change but the pain that the MC's of these kinds of novels face is NOT worth it in my opinion. Maybe I feel like this though because I actually took a shot and, although it didn't end how I wanted, I felt much better about everything in the end.

I really liked all the representation in this novel too. Sometimes it felt like people were being described with TOO MUCH detail but that's not a bad thing. Hayley sounds like a very perspective person so it made sense that she would notice so many details about people as she's people watching (which she does often).

A sapphic friends to lovers summer romance with a trans main character? Sign me up! This book was so up my alley that its no surprise I loved it. The diversity and discussions in this book is something we desperately need more of in media. This is definitely something other queer teens are going to read and really enjoy.

This was an interesting book. I thought that the premise sounded right up my ally, but the execution didn't work for me personally. Now will it work for teens who are in this stage of life? I absolutely think it will. I thought that the characters were very well fleshed out and acted appropriate for the age that they were meant to be. I think that books like this are so important for those who are queer or exploring their identity. I think that this is a fun book for the summer. I do feel like the basketball element could also appeal to a wider set of audiences.

Very wholesome and inclusive YA-teen story. Hayley and Talia were born the same day and have grown up forever as best friends. At fifteen going on sixteen neither has been in a relationship or even shared a first kiss. So this summer they make a plan (strategy) to go on outings to really put themselves in places to meet new people. It is simple things like going to the pool, beach, parade etc.

I like the easiness of the plan and yet things don’t go smoothly. The story was surprisingly more angsty than I was expecting. Not with big drama but including anxiety, a big panic attack and pressure regarding Hayley’s basketball dreams. Hayley is often very stressed. Both moms are accepting and Hayley's mother is a stand out for her understanding of Hayley and how she helps with her anxiety. But even with all that going on and likable characters I didn’t get butterflies for them or even need them to be more than friends. I’ve swooned over YA books for teens before and this one didn’t do that for me. Still this is a good read geared for younger teens and up. Thank you to Abrams Kids for the ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving an honest review. (3.5 Stars)

Having a romcom that features a trans girl so prominently is a gift. And it's friends-to-lovers, with messy feelings and it's sapphic? Yeah, this book is special.

While the writing style wasn't particularly to my taste, I still think this book is needed. I hope others fall helplessly in love with it, because it really is cute as heck.

this writing definitely isn’t for me unfortunately which is upsetting because it really seemed like a book i would enjoy. the diversity and representation was definitely there but it felt very forced and baseline, a lot of the characters only plot points and storylines were just that they happened to be queer. the real plot wasn’t prominent, at points it didn’t even feel like there was a plot, just that the author wanted to encorporate as many different representations as possible. it wasn’t enjoyable unfortunately

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I'll preface this by saying, I didn't realize how young the characters in this book would be. It is very YA and I probably am not the intended audience, but I still had fun with the story.

The main character did get on my nerves from time to time, but that's really only because she was written so well and I could really tell she was 15 and experiencing puppy love. I'm not ashamed to say that I probably acted exactly like this, if not worse, when I had crushes in high school.

This would be the perfect book for younger readers. There's so much inclusivity and representation which is important to be exposed to young. Younger queer readers deserve a story like this where being queer is normalized and not seen as something taboo.

💕 LGBTQIA+ romance
💕 Trans and nonbinary rep
💕 Demi-sexual/romantic and bi rep
💕 POC rep
💕 Friends to lovers
💕 Anxiety, autism, ADHD rep

There is a part in this book where one of the main character's siblings reveals something and the parents are so proud and happy and supportive and it made my heart hurt and happy at the same time.

This book had a good pacing and it was realistic. It really took me back to high school and had me reminiscing. It's a really quick and short read, but it'll give you what you're looking for in a queer read.

This is definitely a book I will be recommending to younger readers looking for queer reads, but it is probably too juvenile for adults.

The "Summer Love Strategy" follows Hayley and Talia over the course of a high school summer. Hayley and Talia have been best friends forever, they were even born at the same hospital on the same day! However, after a crushed heartbreak, Hayley, along with Talia, devise a "summer love strategy" for finding new girlfriends. After a double date, things crumble and Hayley has to admit her real feelings to her friends, family, and Talia. 

This book is definitely a Gen Z YA book. It has a bunch of different queer and neurodivergent representations, which I enjoyed. It is easily readable, and at times I felt it was juvenile, even for a YA book. Overall an easy read. 3/5 stars. I would recommend this book to students in our district's high school.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this one at 20%
I really wasn’t enjoying the writing style at all. There were far too many instances of stopping to state someones sexuality or neurodivergence or skin colour or gender identity and while these are important things to include and I love the effort at diversity, there are better ways to SHOW these things and naturally weave these things into the story rather than just stopping the narrative to inform the reader. The writing style felt very choppy and under-developed, perhaps because of this

What a lovely coming-of-age story with a friends-to-lovers romance! Ray Stoeve painted such a fun picture of their summer to-dos, and this book honestly took me back to my own high school summer breaks, and imbued this with a balance of delight and nerves!

representation:
-lesbian cis MC
-trans girl MC
-cast of queer SC too
-demisexual rep
-neurodivergent rep: autism, anxiety

This would make a fun movie :)

i'm struggling with this one.

when i heard that this book featured a femme lesbian and her trans best friend making a pact to find love during their summer on the beach, pride, and especially at a MUNA concert, i was in.

unfortunately, for as much this book did making sure you knew the very specific identity of every single character that walked through a page, a very real person, Naomi McPherson from MUNA, was misgendered around the halfway mark.

i do not know if this was the author or an editor that didn't do research but Naomi McPherson has been using they/them pronouns for years and for a book that's supposed to be queer and joyful i kinda think that's inexcusable.

i very much hope that this will be corrected in the final copy, which i will check out upon release and edit my review accordingly.

This book was so wholesome and precious! I loved the diversity and representation in this book. Talia and Hayley come up with a strategy to find girlfriends over the summer; just like the romcoms they see on TV. This romcom was so cute and I really loved how quickly I read it because I enjoyed it so much!

Trans Rights Readathon book 4/7, review 7/10✨

This book and I got off to a rough start, but after a few chapters I found myself enjoying it more than I initially thought!

First off take a look at the cover and tell me how old you think the MCs are? My thoughts were 17-20. So when I started the book and it was reading very young I was a bit put off, then a couple chapters in they mention the characters are 15. This isn’t inherently a problem but it does change the whole vibe of the book and I was disappointed it was going to be diffirent than I expected.

But once I adjusted to the appropriate age I started to enjoy it a lot! It’s such a happy younger queer teen story with so much inclusivity. My HS experience never would’ve been like this, so it was nice to know some teens now could have normal joyful queer HS experiences like these.

I wasn’t expecting autistic representation but loved that it was included with many characters💜 I also liked seeing the MC grapple a bit with looking queer enough but also acknowledging they are a lesbian so however they look is queer. I feel like that’s a stage in a lot of queer journeys and it was nice to see on page.

My only other issue with the book was the writing had a bit too much telling, not enough showing. Some paragraphs felt like a series of statements that read like a list. It that made it hard for me to feel immersed in the story at times.

When two best friends are unlucky in love they decide to make pact to find love over the summer. Hayley and Talia want to fall for someone who likes them back so they decide to go to the rom coms for help. They start putting themselves in situations similar to what they have seen in movies in order to find love. This is a cute little story with good representation. I enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams Kids Amulet Books for the opportunity to read this egalley.

THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY by Ray Stoeve is such a fun concept; it sounds like a great queer read for an afternoon by the pool. It does depict queer joy and queer friends enjoying a summer. However, these aspects are overshadowing by Stoeve trying to pack in way too many issues and way too many different representations in one book. It does seem very feasible that a small group of friends who are queer *and* neurodiverse would connect and develop strong bonds. It's all the friends' siblings and the basketball team and the other characters that are too much. I could not keep up with all the characters; in fact, most of them were interchangeable. None of the secondary characters had a story or arch of their own, which was disappointing. The other complaint I have with the novel is that tears/crying/sobbing are overused far, far too much. It's not unique to YA writers by any means, but it seems to be happening more frequently these days. The overuse of crying takes away all its power and meaning.

One item that is outstanding in THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY is the portrayal of the adult characters, especially Hayley's parents and her coach. They feel grounded, supportive, and well-rounded. It's clear they have their own lives and interests, which makes their scenes with the teens more dynamic and interesting. These adult characters offer guidance without being overbearing and, even when they can't stop the kids from making a mistake, they are there to helpdeal with the blow.