Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Come As You Are is a YA Contemporary Romance from Dahlia Adler. I’ve read from Adler before, and this one has certainly bumped her up my Must-Read Authors list.
In this story, we are following Everett ‘Evie’ Riley, who has decided to transfer to a private high school after being betrayed by a trifecta of important people in her life: her boyfriend, her best friend and her sister.
Evie is desperate for a fresh start. She needs new scenery and new people. Her new start faces it’s first hurdle on move-in day though, when Evie finds herself mistakenly assigned to an all-boys dorm and wouldn’t you know it, there’s no room for her in the girls dorm.
Rumors and speculation regarding Evie’s unfortunate housing predicament quickly spread throughout the small campus. Unsure what else to do, Evie decides to lean into her enticing new reputation.
In order to do this though, good girl Evie is going to need some help, which she finds in the form of her grumpy, yet exceeding cool, dorm mate, Salem Grayson.
As it turns out, Salem needs a little help as well, repairing his relationship with his parents after he was kicked out of another school. Evie could be the perfect person to help him with that. It’s a win, win.
Sadly, even as Salem starts to turn his reputation around and succeed at absolutely everything he tries, Evie cannot seem to catch a break. As Evie comes to certain realizations about herself and her life, it turns out maybe she’s destined for a different path than she once expected.
I really loved this. I’m not sure how memorable the overall story will be for me long-term as far as the smaller details go, but there was so much I adored about it in the moment.
The characters were fabulous, both the main characters, and the side characters. Adler built this beautiful found family feeling into the story that I felt added a lot of warmth. With these kids being away from home at a boarding school, that element would make sense, and it was well done.
Additionally, the banter was fantastic and I experienced a full range of emotions over the course of the story. Dahlia Adler has quickly become a favorite for me.
Evie was such a great main character. She really was going through a lot, and I liked how she faced it all with an emotional maturity that was good to see. Having your boyfriend, sister and best friend betray you all at once, that could definitely cause one to spiral, but I liked how she took action to move forward from it versus dwelling.
Not only did she take action, she did it on her own. Her parents weren’t really aware of the full scope of what had happened, and Evie shouldered all the responsibility for forging her new path. I respected that.
Sure, a lot of the drama is still teen, but as it should be, it’s a YA book. Adler also always includes a diverse cast of characters, and I appreciated that representation, as well as some of the topics explored in regards to sexuality, relationships, etc.
Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I wish I’d have read it sooner. I recommend this to any YA Contemporary Romance Reader. It’s a good one!!!
