ARC Review: Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
Book Content/Trigger warnings: mentions of suicide, parent death, homophobia & violence related to homophobia, feelings of abandonment
Despite never having listened to Hayley Kiyoko’s music nor having seen the music video of the same name, I was really excited to read Girls Like Girls. I went in knowing only that it was a Sapphic coming-of-age story and who doesn’t love those?
Girls Like Girls follows Coley, a 17-year-old about to enter her senior year of high school as she moves to rural Oregon to live with her father after her mother dies by suicide. Coley hasn’t seen or talked to her father since she was three so you can imagine how difficult that transition is.
Kiyoko’s debut is a quick, easy read that had me and my inner teenager full-on sobbing at one point. As a queer teen girl (although I didn’t know it at the time), this book would have been everything to me in high school. I wish I could time travel to give it to 17-year-old Ilona. It definitely would have helped me come to terms with my queerness a lot sooner and would have saved me a lot of pain over the years.
While Girls Like Girls is not perfect, it handles themes like forbidden desire, feelings of abandonment, feeling unworthy of love, and second chances beautifully. I was particularly moved by Coley and her father’s relationship. He knows it won’t be easy to make up for years of being an absent father, but he’s here now and he’s going to do everything he can to be there for her and earn her forgiveness.
Even though the coming-of-age part of the story was well done, the romance part of the story was a bit of a letdown. I could not get behind how Coley talked about Sonya, the love interest. Coley claims to be the only one who truly sees Sonya but it felt more like she was projecting unrealistic expectations which ultimately felt like she was turning Sonya into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. At one point she compares Sonya to shifting sand—describing how you think you have a hold on her then the next thing you know she’s slipping through your fingers.
I think this is the first romance where I was disappointed the couple stayed together at the end. Coley and Sonya have the potential to make a good couple but they have more work to do on themselves first and I would have liked to see them come into their own a bit more before officially getting together. The ending of the book was abrupt and it felt like there were a few too many loose ends.
Luckily, the overall message of Girls Like Girls overtakes any technical problems the book might have. Kiyoko’s first foray into novel writing has only further solidified her as a queer icon. I’ve seen many people discuss how the Girls Like Girls music video helped them accept their own queerness, and now, with the Girls Like Girls novel, even more people will be able to connect with the story and maybe, just maybe, feel a little less alone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: May 30th, 2023
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