Lake Life coming May 26th, 2026 from HarperCollins Children’s Books; 352 pages
Content Warning: Swearing
About the Author: “TANYA BOTEJU lives on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, BC). Part-time, she teaches English to clever and sassy young people. The rest of her time, she uses writing as an excuse to eat pastries. Her debut novel, KINGS, QUEENS, AND IN-BETWEENS, was named a Top Ten Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association, as well as selected for the American Librarian Association 2020 Rainbow List. Her second novel, BRUISED, was selected as a Gold Standard book by the Junior Library Guild. Look for another YA novel, MESSY PERFECT, and a middle grade nonfiction book about allyship in 2025. In both her teaching and writing, Tanya hopes she’s bending the universe even the tiniest bit toward justice. Visit her at tanyaboteju.com” (Bio from author’s Goodreads profile).
Find Tanya Boteju on the following platforms:
Maya’s parents have dragged her back to Spruce Lake for the entire summer, a small town immersed in nature with a tight-knit community built on activism and a mutual love for the land—and that would be just fine if it weren’t for the fact Rashida, her best friend and unrequited love, is also going to be there. Maya hasn’t seen Rashida since her embarrassing confession a year prior, and getting over that would be hard enough already without everyone around her trying to nudge her into moving on. That’s when she meets Gabe, an incredibly rude and incredibly beautiful rich girl who’s been sent to Spruce Lake by her mother to keep her out of trouble. Gabe doesn’t care for the nature, or her quaint accommodations, but especially not her mother focusing on her fancy corporate job instead of her. Together, the two of them hatch a fake-dating scheme both to help Maya win over Rashida and help Gabe get her mother to think her summer getaway is changing her ways. At first their scheme works swimmingly, but even the best laid plans go awry.
This book became my cozy gateway drug into queer romance novels, wrapped neatly into the nature-rich and inspiring package that made up Spruce Lake’s small-town community. Boteju makes the most of the work she put into her characters with Maya and Gabe, showing well-placed restraint in entering the fake-dating arc. It really feels like Maya is here on a summer vacation taking walks through the woods and only stumbling upon the true plot herself rather than being rushed into it. The narration of the characters, even if a bit overwhelming at first, does incredible work characterizing them between both Gabe’s and Maya’s point of view and immersing the reader into their thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Gabe’s unapologetic and self-aware valley-girl narration keeps her unreasonably charming, and she’ll be a favorite for any reader who enjoys a well-executed, abrasive character with a good soul underneath it all. That said, I do wish the arc toward the end with Gabe’s mother was given a little more time to play out alongside the environmental protest plot, but I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying these characters on their journey regardless. I’d absolutely recommend Boteju’s book to anyone looking for a queer romance focused on the emotional growth which comes from accepting rejection.
Lake Life releases on May 26th, 2026.
Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change before final publication.
Julia Smith, Pine Reads Review Writer and Editor