Cool For the Summer by Dahlia Adler
CW: Biphobia, Underage Drinking, Divorced Parents, Absent Father, Sexual Intimacy of Minors
I found this book while on a hunt for more Jewish authors to read and was blessed with a queer romance as well! While the book was slightly reminiscent of other stories like Grease or Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan, it quickly came into its own. This is not shaming the use of tropes or re-imagines, of course. If you're already a reader of my blog, you'll know how much I love tropes. I also have a book list for stories re-imagined with queer content coming up. Still, I do get a kick out of unique love stories. Dahlia Adler provides that, making me very pleased to add her to my list of beloved Jewish authors.
Larissa spent her summer in the Outer Banks thanks to her mother's job, falling for her mother's boss's daughter/housemate. Now she's back in New York for her senior year of high school. Riding the high of her new look and new confidence, both due in part to her summer fling, she grabs the attention of the boy she's wanted for years. Of course, if it were that easy, this wouldn't be a tale worth telling. Jasmine, her summer fling, has transferred to Larissa's school, stirring up the feelings that haven't gone away.
I think Cool for the Summer missed an opportunity for polyamory, however, the story is written in a way that it wouldn't have flowed. I do appreciate the aromantic asexual character and how her identity was explained without any implication that it was unusual. There was wonderful representation included for several members of the queer community, in fact! Queer people gravitate towards each other, that's just how it goes.
I was glad for the ways I related to Larissa and intrigued by the ways I didn't. Her experience in being a child of a divorce that happened quite early in her life was familiar. The internal processing of her romantic identity, as well as timing, was similar to mine. Plus the more obvious ones of being culturally Jewish and having a deep love for books. Dahlia Adler took me into the world of the popular crowd, the ones that got to go to parties, that were interested in football games and dances. That was never me in high school and I don't find it often in the books that I read. It's nice to get a peek.
I recommend this book for teens and up, especially if you love a good vacation story! Fair warning to adults: this book does toe the line of describing sex for its teen characters. I know from suggesting It's Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender to my mom after forgetting about the sex in it, that the further away from teen-hood you get, the weirder it can be to read teens being intimate. Being ace, I can sometimes forget what will unnerve allosexuals, as all of it unnerves me some.
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