e-Audio, 08:49:58
Narrated by: Mara Wilson
Release Date: June 13, 2023
Published by: OrangeSky Audio
Read from: June 16-18, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this e-audio from Netgalley, TLC Tours and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Divorce, Mention of past self harm (not graphic and was not actively on page), self harm scars, marijuana, mention of masturbation, sex in YA
For Readers Interested In: Romance, LGBTQ+ (Bi), Choose Your Own Adventure, Religious Diversity (Ashkenazi Jew), YAA queer Sliding Doors YA rom-com in which a girl must choose between summer in NYC with her dad (and the girl she’s always wanted) or LA with her estranged mom (and the guy she never saw coming).
In Dahlia Adler’s Going Bicoastal, there’s more than one path to happily ever after.
Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she’s been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?)
How’s a girl supposed to choose?
She can’t, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines – one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she’s always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I was a kid I used to read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown books where I was able to interact with the story and guess the Whodunit. I also used to read some books where I got to choose the end. But I was a weird kid because I didn’t ever want to pick. I always just wanted to read both. So imagine my surprise where I found a book that would do just that at my grown age lol
Obviously that was my favorite part of the book. I LOVED the feeling of being in charge of the narrative and I’m sure others will too. And what makes this even better, the timelines are near exact, but you don’t have to read both if you don’t want to. Like you can make the decision at her very first big decision. And then from there you can decide if you want to read the story separate or together. Adler essecntially wrote the same story twice and made them both 5 star reads.
The romances were cuteeeee! And the best part is your ship will sail no matter who you’ve picked. And Adler made sure to make both of them cute. Whether its about the red head or about the brother, I was enthralled in both of them. I loved that she had the cutest story about going all those places and seeinngred head or how she really thought the brother was a dick at sometimes throughout the other time line. It was amazing trying to keep track of the two of them. And the coolest part is, they both are different enough that you won’t get the m confused.
I know I sound like a broken record with all the ways the separate timelines made this book a masterpiece, but it really did make all difference. It was cool to feel like I was in the book and that I controlled it, even though I had the easy part with just deciding if I wanted to use it in one way or the other. This was a fun one and I really hope y’all get your hands on it!
Overall, I give this
