Lou’s Review: Girls Like Girls, by Hayley Kiyoko

I was thrilled to learn about Hayley Kiyoko releasing a novel inspired by her iconic music video, Girls Like Girls. Her This Side of Paradise EP blew my mind when it first came out, and I’ve been a fan of her work ever since. Kiyoko’s music features in the writing playlist for pretty much every sapphic book or story I have yet created. And it’s always a delight to find lesbian romance written by another woman of colour. So, of course I had to read her debut novel.

After losing her mum, 17-year-old Coley moves to rural Oregon with a dad she barely remembers. She’s lonely and feeling out of place in a very white part of the world. Out exploring, Coley nearly gets run over by the popular kids – which does nothing to endear them to her. But their Queen Bee Sonya likes Coley. And Coley is powerless to resist this offer of friendship, though her feelings are far from platonic.

Over summer the girls fall in love. And Coley knows exactly what she wants. But Sonya is terrified they’ll be found out. A sapphic relationship doesn’t fit with her demanding mother’s expectations, and will do serious damage to her social credit score. And Sonya’s on/off boyfriend Trenton doesn’t want to let her go. Sensing that Coley’s a threat, he does everything in his power to make her life difficult. But Coley can’t stop hoping. And the pull between them is too strong to be denied.

In some respects, Girls Like Girls is a good book. It evokes a particular kind of early noughties nostalgia. LiveJournal, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), and flip phones… This took me back. And while most of the book is shown from Coley’s perspective, Sonya’s LiveJournal entries – the distance between what she makes public and private – offer valuable insights into her character. Her blog posts work well, setting the tone and furthering the plot.

And through Coley, Kiyoko articulates the loneliness of what it means to be biracial in a rural majority white community: always sticking out, never blending in. Coley’s grief, all the what-ifs her mother’s passing left her with, create moments of deep emotional truth. If either of these themes had been developed just a bit more, Girls Like Girls could have been stronger.

But its main problem is the love story. I struggled with the idea of Coley and Sonya as a couple, which isn’t ideal for romance. Coley catches feelings very quickly – and while you could argue that instalove is typical teenage behaviour, it doesn’t feel particularly realistic. And Sonya. She’s so consistently awful to Coley that I spent most of the book hating her. Not exactly the feelings a love interest should evoke, even in Enemies to Lovers – which this is not.

Coley shares a traumatic event from her past with Sonya, who betrays her trust in an appalling way. Sonya also hooks up with someone else minutes after kissing Coley. Sonya leans into their relationship when it suits her, then denies their connection and acts as if Coley’s making everything up in her head when their romance is no longer convenient. And she’s never held fully accountable by Coley or anyone else. No amount of olive juice changes the fact that Sonya is toxic.

If Sonya were the male love interest in a heterosexual romance, she’d be written off as a fuckboy and widely hated by readers. Her being sapphic doesn’t justify hurtful behaviour. Yes, Sonya is afraid of the negative consequences attached to coming out. She’s also struggling with internalised homophobia. But Sonya doesn’t think about the harm her behaviour does to Coley until about 80% into the book. And for me it’s just too little, too late.

Also, the pacing is off. There are points through the midsection where this story seriously lags due to repetitiveness. Then the climax of the story is rushed, crammed into the last nine pages. It would have been better to cut from the midsection and give the conclusion – that last conflict, and the resolution – the space it deserves.

Kiyoko is an experienced actor, director, and – of course – singer/songwriter. She has earned her Lesbian Jesus status with consistently excellent contributions to the culture. But Kiyoko’s new to writing novels. And it shows.

Having a legion of loyal fans and a viral music video as part of her pitch, it was pretty much inevitable Kiyoko would get a book deal with one of the Big Five publishing houses. But the majority of new authors don’t have either of those things going for them – which puts them at a disadvantage in terms of access to opportunity compared with Kiyoko, but not quality. Because most debut novelists have already spent years honing their craft. And plenty of writers don’t sell their first book.

When you’re starting out that can be a terrible thought. It feels like all that work, all those hours planning and writing and editing, are trickling down the drain. But it is not a waste. The skill and experience you gain through that process are invaluable, enriching every future book and dramatically increasing your chances of success.

I’m certain that if Kiyoko keeps working at it, she’ll become a very good novelist. But there is no substitute for experience built through time and graft – no matter what the AI fanatics argue. And Kiyoko simply doesn’t have enough of it to write a truly excellent book at this point.

A more vigorous editor could have ironed out the book’s biggest problems. But the cynical part of me thinks the publisher didn’t push for a deep developmental edit because they were confident the author’s name would be enough to drive sales. And they were right – Girls Like Girls is already a New York Times best-seller.

It really pains me to leave a negative review for this book. Especially when lesbians of colour are so underrepresented in print. But this is Young Adult fiction, which means many readers will be young women still forming their ideas of romance and relationships. And Girls Like Girls does this particular readership a disservice by normalising and even romanticising Sonya’s toxic behaviour. Every young woman deserves to be treated better than Coley is during this story; to get consistent respect, truth, and care from her romantic partners.