**I received an eARC of Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.
Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler is a young adult boarding school romance about a girl named Evie who mistakenly ends up in the boy’s dorm. It was set to be published on May 27th, 2025. I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads:
Here is the summary from Goodreads:
Hot on the heels of a broken heart, Everett “Evie” Riley arrives at Camden Academy ready for a new beginning – one far away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, the sister who stole him, and the best friend who let it happen. But her fresh start is stopped in its tracks when she’s accidentally placed in an all-boys dorm, with no choice but to stay.
When rumors and gossip about Evie’s housing predicament spread like wildfire, she decides the only way to survive is to lean into her questionable new reputation… but she’s definitely going to require help. Her grumpy emo dorm mate Salem Grayson isn’t exactly her first choice, but he does need her help to repair his relationship with his parents every bit as much as she needs his to learn how to be cool. And so they make a pact – he’ll teach her how to be bad, if she teaches him how to be good.
It’s a flawless plan, except while Salem thrives academically, even romantically, and – annoyingly enough – even physically, Evie’s quest feels like one dead end after another, and the girl she’s becoming certainly doesn’t feel remotely cool. But when Evie realizes what she wants more than anything, she’ll have to contend with her thrice-broken heart and figure out how to become someone capable of chasing happiness.
Dahlia Adler’s Come As You Are is about refusing to accept less than you deserve, and realizing that the best relationships are with people who know exactly who you are.
I actually ended up listening to this one as an audio arc, though I also had access to the eARC. I’ve just had more success with audiobooks lately. I’ve also been really enjoying romance books lately, so it was so much fun to read this book and get into the life of Evie as she tried to pursue her fresh start. The narrator for the audiobook was great, and really brought Evie to life as a character.
The meet-cute premise in this one of Evie ending up accidentally in the boy’s dorm and then striking up a deal with Salem to ‘better herself’ was such a fun concept. I found myself giggling a bit as she attempted to navigate the crisis that came with her trying to advocate for herself because her traditionally masculine full name caused a bit of a mix up. It was just the kind of absurd that I really enjoy. I also really enjoy boarding school stories, so that was a really fun aspect.
Evie was a really compelling character to me. She was well-written and well-developed. You knew a lot about her, and she demonstrated a lot of growth over the course of the book. I found her character arc really relatable, and I imagine it will be even more relatable for teens. I also enjoyed most of the side characters. Salem and his twin sister were both really interesting characters. I also liked the popular girls that Evie befriended. They really made the story come alive. I have students in my classes who very much remind me of these characters in some ways, so it’s wonderful to see such realism.
On the whole, I had a fantastic time reading this book. If you like cute young adult romances, I would highly recommend that you check this one out.
Leave a Reply