Published: 11 May 2021 (print)/11 May 2021 (audio) 
Publisher: Wednesday Books/Macmillan Audio
Pages: 259/6 hrs and 20 mins
Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
★ ★ – 2.5 Stars
Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.
Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she’s finally got the guy, why can’t she stop thinking about the girl?
I am so glad this is my second Adler book because I have wanted to read her stuff for years and I’m glad I loved the first one because I’d be disappointed if this was my first introduction, though the sliding doors element of Going Bicoastal might have tempted me past this mediocre read. There is no real plot except Larissa having a crisis over her feelings. The benefit is it’s a fast read because I kept waiting for the plot to start and I realised it was already two thirds of the way through and nothing had actually happened yet.
Instead of having a character look on at the popular kids Adler has written this from the inner circle and perspective from those in that group. The characters are exhausting. The effort they go to to be in their friend group is so much more work than friends need to be with a lot more rules. The US American trope of popular kids is on clear display and they are vacuous and shallow. There are some examples where they show some depth, but they are all still shallow and showing compassion within your shallow and entitled group doesn’t hold much sway. Plus they aren’t given a lot of depth so most of them are easily forgettable. It doesn’t do much to break the stereotypes. I feel bad for Larissa even having these people as friends sometimes. It’s always a fascinating study reading these kinds of books. We didn’t have this in my school, we had groups sure, but not the hierarchy these US high school books always contain. It makes it a strange novelty and a tired trope to see it in these books.
There were some good moments. I enjoyed the stuff with Jasmine, it felt like the only time Larissa was her real self, less performative, which was possibly the point even though it’s never addressed. I did enjoy the casualness of Larissa’s bisexuality. It wasn’t an issue, dealing with it wasn’t the plot (technically), and it was an established thing. I do like it when diverse books can have a character have an identity but not make the entire plot about that identity.
It felt like a novella despite being a full length book, and could easily have been cut down to a short story. No plot would be lost since there isn’t any and with a tighter story it could have been a lot more enjoyable.
You can purchase Cool for the Summer via the following
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