ARC Book Review: Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Serena Kaylor
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Growing up homeschooled in Berkeley, California, Beatrice Quinn is a statistical genius who has dreamed her whole life of discovering new mathematical challenges at a school like Oxford University. She always thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. But while math has always made sense to Beatrice, making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents are worried about sending her halfway across the world. The compromise: the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of “normal” teenager and won’t spend the rest of her life hiding in a library.

Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don’t follow any rules, and there is no equation for teenage interactions. When she’s adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the popular—and, annoyingly gorgeous—British son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than calculus. With her future on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than your fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice realize that there’s more to life than she can find in the pages of a book?

In this sparkling debut from Serena Kaylor, Long Story Short is a YA rom-com about a homeschooled math genius who finds herself out of her element at a theater summer camp and learns that life—and love—can’t be lived by the (text)book.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

I had a few friends rave about this book so I was sufficiently hyped by the time I picked it up, and it did not disappoint. LST was incredible and I’m in awe at this debut.

I resonated with Beatrice so much. I love that she was a socially awkward heroine, who knew what she wanted, but needed a few more steps to get there. I appreciated that true support from her parents and how walking into the summer camp beautiful friendships grew. I LOVED the friendships and how supportive they were. And also how they showed making mistakes and apologizing. There’s room for growth in a safe space. Beatrice changed leaps and bounds, and yet still remained at her core, herself. The anxiety rep was one of my favorites too. I liked the approach to it and the openness of speaking to a therapist as well. The combination made for the best kind of read.

The romance (because we know I’m a sucker for romance) was perrrrrfect. The angsty hate to love vibes were off the charts. The banter and swoony moments, and gosh dang THE HANDS TOUCHING. A small hand touch moment IS THE BEST DANG THING. I don’t know how many times I started chanting, kiss kiss kiss. I was on the edge of my seat with Beatrice and Nik and it was everything I love in a YA romance.

This setting took me by surprise too. I’m hit/miss on summer camp books. Clearly this was a HIT. I was even enjoying all of the Shakespeare stuff too! And that Shakespeare line battle? GOLD. I think I could probably go on forever about my new found love for this book (and author). Read it. Read it. Read it.

Overall audience notes:

YA Contemporary romance
Language: a little
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: underage alcohol consumption, panic attack (on page), depictions of anxiety