Thank you to Wednesday Books (via NetGalley) for the ARC!

4.5 stars

Lara has just had one of the best summers of her life, but it's left her a little confused. She spent almost every day with Jasmine, the daughter of her mother's boss, Lara is pretty sure she's not gay, but she definitely felt something for Jasmine, and she's almost sure that Jasmine felt something too. But with the summer over, and school starting, Lara is prepared to put it all behind her, especially since she's sure she'll never see Jasmine again.

Lara's long-time crush Chase has started to pay attention to her, so Lara decides to go for it, as much to put Jasmine out of her mind as anything. She's wanted Chase for years, so why not, right? But when Jasmine walks through the doors of Lara's high school on the first day, things get way more complicated than Lara ever anticipated.

This book was a lot of fun. I really liked the switches between present day chapters and the flashbacks to the summer. I loved that we got to see Lara exploring new aspects of her identity when she was away from her friend group. Personally, I know I've done that before. I've had that feeling where you feel like you're expected to be one person because that's who your friends know you as, but then when you're away for the summer or hanging out with a new group of friends, you suddenly feel a new kind of freedom to explore different aspects of your personality. In Lara's case, this also extends to her sexuality. She always assumed she was straight because of her years-long crush on Chase, but her summer with Jasmine opened up new avenues of possibility that she had never explored before.

I also liked that it was messy. There wasn't a clear-cut answer to everything, but that's how life works! Especially when you're a teenager! There are miscommunications, and things get ugly, and you assume things that aren't true because you're too in your head about your own problems. Plus, it's hard to talk about your feelings! Being vulnerable is difficult for people of any age, but when you're a teenager and you have SO MANY feelings?!?! Yikes! I know I couldn't do it, so no wonder things get messy.

I also liked the way Lara's relationship with her friends was examined. Lara's friend group has been together for a long time, and Shannon has always been the leader of the group. It takes Lara going away for the summer for her to realize that she's not always happy about the dynamics of the group and that she might need to stand up for herself so Shannon doesn't steamroll her. Lara also questions whether her group of friends would even be friends if they hadn't grown up together. They don't have much in common anymore, and it hinted at the group moving apart when they go to college, especially since none of them were considering going to the same colleges. I think that showed maturity on Lara's part because she had already accepted that there is a world beyond high school and that people change a lot after high school ends.

I liked that we got bisexual representation in Jasmine because give me all the bi rep in YA!!! But I also liked that Lara didn't put a label on her sexuality. There is a lot of pressure from outside the LGBTQ+ community, but also from inside it, to put a label on your sexuality to make it easier to understand and more palatable for other people. But if you don't have a label for what you are, that's okay! And I think that's important for young readers to see. Lara knew she wanted to be Jasmine's girlfriend, and that was enough for her, at that moment in time. Maybe somewhere beyond the confines of this book Lara will put a label to her sexuality, but it's not something that is explicitly said for the reader. And I really liked that. We need all different kinds of LGBTQ+ representation, so I'm glad this is one more example for young readers to see.