Throughout June, GeekMom has been celebrating Pride Month with lots of LGBTQ content. Follow the Pride Month tag to find all the content in one space and keep checking back for more throughout the month. Today’s book review is Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye. A trigger warning for forced outing applies to this book and review.

Everyone at Kai Sheridan’s high school knows about The Dare. Bryson Keller—rich, handsome, star of the soccer team Bryson Keller—will date the first person to ask him out each Monday morning for one school week. On Friday, it’s over. There will be nothing physical, not even hand-holding, and if he cannot find a date one week, he loses. One rule that was never mentioned is that only girls can ask him. When Kai’s Monday morning is ruined by the Bryson Keller dare and he finds himself partnered with Bryson for an assignment, Kai—who has been hiding in the closet for years—finds himself asking Bryson to date him for the week out of little more than anger and disappointment.

Surprisingly to Kai, the pair hit it off immediately and within only a few days it’s obvious that something more than just joke dating is going on here, but Bryson is straight, isn’t he? Soon, Kai is getting more and more confused and with the editor of the school paper snooping around trying to find out who Bryson is dating this week, he is at risk of being outed against his will. With religious parents at home and even his best friends unaware of his sexuality, Kai’s life is about to change in ways he could never have dreamed of, but with Bryson by his side, perhaps the changes might be worth the risk…

Date Me, Bryson Keller was a sweet if slightly predictable romance. It’s full of cute moments that will make you remember your own first steps into dating—taking pictures in a photobooth, going to the beach, and that heady rush of finding yourself in a new beau’s bedroom with only them in the house—although all these moments are marred by the tension running through them thanks to the risk of being seen, something LGBTQ readers will find very familiar.

Despite its sweet and summery romance-fluff nature, the book does come with a hefty trigger warning for someone being outed against their will which makes the latter half of the book into far more uncomfortable reading than the more rom-com style first act. It also has one of the more realistic depictions of coming out of all the books I read this month. When one of the main characters is outed, they have to deal with a lot of prejudice which manifests in a variety of ways, some more damaging than others. However, they also discover that they are not alone and it is in these moments that they find out who they can rely on most through difficult times.

It was also great to see an LGBTQ romance that wasn’t between two white boys. Kai is of mixed race with a South African father and feels “caught between two races,” expected to like certain things, and perpetually “not Black enough for some and not White enough for others.” This marginalization makes the reality of Kai’s sexuality feel even more difficult for him to live with. He’s already feeling like an outsider because of his race which makes him worry about adding another layer of ostracism by becoming “the gay one” too.

One of my favorite characters in Date Me, Bryson Keller was Kai’s younger sister Yazz who he describes as “thirteen years old but has the personality of a middle-aged woman who yells at the neighborhood kids to get off her lawn.” Yazz knows her own mind and her response to their parents after their initial reaction to the forced outing is brilliant. She is exactly the type of person I would want in my corner during a crisis and I’d love to see another book in this universe with Yazz as the main character.

There are some problematic elements to this book. First, sexuality is presented throughout as far more binary than it really is. Kai constantly wonders whether Bryson is really gay or straight, never once thinking that he may be bisexual, pan, or anything else. Bryson offers up the suggestion of bisexuality once but it’s very much a throwaway line and never mentioned again with the story immediately snapping back to binary options only. Secondly, the premise bears very strong similarities to a 2009 manga called Seven Days by Venio Tachibana. I haven’t read that manga myself (I didn’t even know it existed until after I finished this book) but concerns have been raised about male authors “profiting off the ideas of women of color” and so you might want to read through a description of the plot line of both books and also the author’s comments on the accusations against his story, before diving in.

Date Me, Bryson Keller wasn’t the greatest book I read this month and its problematic elements are enough to give some folks pause before picking it up, but if you choose to, this was largely fun and very easy to read too, taking me just a couple of sunny afternoons to get through it which will hopefully make it a great summer read.

GeekMom received a copy of this item for review purposes.

Oh my, this was an absolutely gorgeous read, in which I completely and utterly fell in love with the story of Bryson Keller and Kai Sheridan. If this doesn't get made in to a movie, then I'll be very shocked!

This book made me ugly cry through pretty much most of the book. It's absolutely heartbreaking that gay teens still feel afraid to come out to those they love and that society still judges them for being who they are.

This is not the first LGBTQ+ book I've read, but it is the one that made me feel the most for the protagonist. Kai is such an authentic character that you can't help but feel joy when he falls in love, heartbreak that he feels like he can't share it with those he cares about, and anger when he is outed to the entire school before he is ready.

I wasn't expecting to feel so much when I started reading this book but I'm so very glad I did. I can't wait to read Kevin's next book, he is definitely an author to watch.

I absolutely flew through this book - it was a very quick read. But I ended up with some mixed feelings.

The first half of the book was ADORABLE. It had big To All the Boys vibes and was so so cute. But then in the second half, the tone of the book really shifted, and there were suddenly all these involuntary outings, and homophobia from Kai's parents (especially his mother). I'm glad I'd read some reviews before reading this, so I could be prepared, but otherwise it would have really taken me by surprise.

So that was my main issue. The second issue is that I just felt like Bryson Keller, the love interest, wasn't really all that flashed out. He very much seemed like a larger-than-life, idealized version of a character than a well-developed one. Not only would it have given the story more depth if he'd been more fleshed out, I also feel like the book would have been less binary in its thinking if Bryson's sexuality was explored more. Of course it's fine not to label a character's sexuality, but here it very much felt like Bryson had to be either gay or straight.

Rep: mixed-race gay MC, questioning love interest

CWs: (public) outing, homophobia, bullying, car accident of a side character

This book is absolutely brilliant! It is easy and fun to read, emotional, and honest. It is about friendship and about discovering yourself and just accept one another as the people we are.
You easily fall in love with all the main characters. It is a book full of diversity and the story is the most reliable one that I have read in a long time. From the positive as well as down to the not so nice situation.
Kai is the purest soul and so unsure until his brain paused for a second and then he had to face what he has done, asked out the famous boy at his school out of a dare that was going on. From that point on it is just the nicest roller coaster ride. God, words cannot describe how much I love every word of this fantastic book! Truly a gift!

This was an unexpected delight in a time of pain and uncertainty. The story and characters were beautiful and honest. Kai’s experiences were painful, moving and hopeful. At times I was crying and laughing at the same time. I hope people reading this will feel as affected as I was reading it and that it makes them think a little before they speak or judge.

Next book is already on my watch list.

***Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!***

It started off as a cute, queer take on the fake dating trope but it quickly became so much more. Don't get me wrong, it's still an utterly adorable book but in this candy sweet package it hides so many important truths, especially about coming out and being mixed-race.

Let's focus on coming out, though, because that's the major theme in this book. I love how it shows that even in 2020 California, in a seemingly liberal environment, it's still important for queer people to think about their safety first. It hurts but it's true and it's the truth that needs to be told. It's not the first queer book published this year that issues this warning, that just because so many people come out it doesn't mean it's always safe to, becuase it's always an important reminder. It also considers the importance of being ready to come out and that it doesn't need to happen as soon as you discover your identity. It also portrays many different reactions to coming out which is also great. I'm sure that many people will see themselves reflected in these characters.

My heart ached for Kai in the first half, when he was so happy to finally have a (fake) boyfriend but knew it would be over sooner than later. I think the emotions were written really well here - the yearning to be out and to let yourself be happy but also the caution and certainty that you don't deserve to be happy. Might have made me seriously tear up at one point.

I've heard some voices about bi-erasure but I didn't read it this way. Bryson specifically says that he isn't sure about his sexuality and he says that he might be bi or might be repressed gay, he isn't sure. He never settled on label which is more than fair since the book spans less than two weeks.

Overall, I completely loved it and I recommend it for everyone who's looking for a cute love story, an OV queer YA by a BIPOC for this Pride Month (or anytime) or just looking for a great queer read in general.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

Rating: 3.5 stars
Rep: mixed race gay mc, mlm love interest
Triggers: homophobia, outing, violence, bullying.

"Date Me, Bryson Keller" was 100% one of my most anticipated novels of 2020. The premise, cover, queer rep and OV representation sounded absolutely amazing and I couldn't wait to read it! And overall, I did enjoy it, but I had a couple of problems.

First off, this book was super fast-paced and engaging, I flew through it in one sitting! Kai and Bryson (the two main characters) were extremely loveable and I was rooting for them from the get-go. Bryson was literally the perfect boyfriend (maybe a little too perfect at times and I would've liked to see a bit more depth). This book is very character-driven which I really like.

Another thing I really liked was that this book touches on some really important topics, like how straight is the default and toxic masculinity.

Now onto the things I wasn't a massive fan of. One thing being that the tone completely switched around the 70% mark, all of a sudden Kai and Bryson were threatened, outed etc by multiple people in the space of a super short period of time and things just got so...bleak. I'm not saying that outing shouldn't have been in this book, but the tone shift was so jarring and the amount of hatred being bombarded onto the main character all of a sudden was a little unexpected.

Another thing was that I wish Bryson's sexuality was explored a bit more. Obviously it's completely fine to not want a label or to be questioning, but this book was very binary in its view of sexuality and labels (basically just gay or straight and mentioning bisexuality one time).

Overall, I did really enjoying reading this and I would recommend to people looking for more queer YA!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a book which had a lot of potential but it just didn't deliver. The story follows the main character Kai who, following a dare, ends up secretly dating the most popular guy in the school.
What I Didn't Like;
Time Frame. The biggest downfall of this book is that it takes place over a 2 week period and the romance has to start, develop, end and start again all in this short space of time. This meant that after just 4 days together they were at the stage of thinking about "love" and also prior to Kai, Bryson had no idea he was gay. This made the story unbelievable, surface-level and utterly ridiculous. This book claims to be inspired by "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" however, that relationship develops over many months as opposed to a week in this book.
Subtlety. Now this may be my age showing, because at 21 maybe I just don't need a book like this, which doesn't take away from the fact that other younger teens might, but this book had the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I agree with everything that was highlighted in this book (the themes of bullying and discrimination) but the condemnation of these inappropriate behaviours was so heavy handed that it was almost painful.
Public Outings. There was not one, but two non consensual outings that occurred in this book. I don't think a book aimed at teenagers should contain these events at all, let alone 2, Also the hardships Kia went through felt too tragic at some points as he lacked almost any support.
What I Liked:
The Romance. If I blocked from my mind the fact that the 2 main characters had only been dating for a week, then the moments between them were genuine and sweet. Had the relationship developed further I really could have rooted for it.
Overall this was a book I wanted to love but simply didn't. It had too many major problems, which outweighed the few positives. I would read this authors second book, as hopefully Kevin van Whye will improve his craft.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the e-arc.

This was super fun! It really is a blend of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and To All the Boys I've Loved Before- so if you read and enjoyed either of those books I would whole-heartedly recommend you pick up this book. It's also important to read #ownvoices m/m romance, and this is an example of one that's lovely and feel-good!


<u> Characters </u>

The characters were all a lot of fun! I enjoyed the side characters that ranged from friends and family, and how their reactions to Bryson and Kai's love story differed. The balance of family-friends-love story was also well balanced.

Bryson himself was super loveable! If anything, maybe a little too sweet? But I enjoyed that, and it's what led this to be a really easy, light and "fluffy" read that I needed. Though fluffy reads like this are very important in their own way!


Plot

The plot can be summarized to the two comps I listed in my opening, but neither plot-thread overwhelmed the story, but acted as a foundation to the main characters. I will say the set-up of Bryson's dare to date someone new every week felt a bit forced to begin with, but I found I didn't care once the story was rolling and enjoyed the fake-dating troupe.

First off I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's no coincidence how similar this whole book is to Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda, and it is full of borrowed tropes and cliches (very Blaine and Kurt in the early stages, I felt), but despite all that I couldn't help but love this book!

It featured one of my favorite tropes, the fake dating trope, and did it deliciously. There was tentativity, bashfulness and a developing self-confidence in Kai throughout their dating and I found it endearing. It even had me sobbing at the end and I had to put the book down for a while and wipe my eyes, just to start sobbing all over again. It has been a long time since a book has done that to me.

While I can see some might find issues with how the LGBTQ+ teens are treated and judged in the book, it happens, and it's terrible. Not to say all cis/straight people are this way, but some still are. And to read the authors note and find out how much of this story was taken from the authors own experiences was heart-wrenching.

If you loved Simon, I think you will enjoy this one. It's very similar in theme and atmosphere, but stands in its own right and deserves its own place on the shelf despite its similarities.

4 Stars

I loved everything about this book. I’m not normally the fastest of readers, but I read this in two days, which is testament to how good it is! The characters were all really well developed, they had a complexity and depth which you don’t always see, which meant that I felt like I knew them, like they were my friends. They were (for the most part, except the antagonists), all very likable characters, I got attached to Kai and Bryson very quickly.
Bryson is not the stereotypical jock. Whilst he does fit in many ways, he plays sports and has the cockiness at the beginning of the book when the dare starts. Other than that though, he is sweet, caring and kind, and he is a lot more complex than jocks are often portrayed as. Whilst the boys are getting to know each other, the reader gets to know them too, their likes, dislikes and quirks. I think that the fake dating trop really helped with developing the characters, because it allowed for Van Whye to tell us things about the characters without it seeming forced.
I can’t help loving the fake dating trope, so I knew I was going to love this straight away. The concept is pretty original and it worked really well. It was a fun and easy read and was extremely cute, but it also touched upon some more serious themes – homophobia and outing. There is also great representation, with a mixed race, gay main character, a gay love interest, an Indian-American minor character, and gay side characters. I think it was really well executed, both with plot and representation. As I mentioned it does touch upon heavy subject matter, as both Kai and Bryson are closeted at the beginning of the book and deal with outing and unsupportive family and friends. There is definitely a trigger warning there, but it is dealt with well, and works for the story.
The parents were also complex too. Through out the book they are portrayed as a loving and supportive family, but they struggle to deal with Kai being gay because of how religious they are. It’s interesting, as the tight and lovely family at the beginning contrasts the later bits, meaning they are not purely evil or homophobic, but more complex.
Overall, it was a very sweet book, and I would love to read more about Kai and Bryson ASAP. I highly recommend it

An enjoyable, easily readable contemporary novel about the struggles of being LGBT+, fake dating and a really cute couple at the centre of the story. However, I generally found it a bit underwhelming.

I went into this book thinking the premise seemed a bit forced, but that it could be a cute story. Overall, I would say the story, and the main relationship was cute. Overall, I thought Kai was a well fleshed-out character. I found the majority of the other characters, however, to be mainly one-dimensional. In Bryson's case I just felt he was too perfect. We didn't really get to see any of his flaws, which meant he ultimately didn't come across like a real person. A lot of the conversation in the book also seemed a bit off and I would think to myself, 'do people really speak like this?' My last criticism is the pacing, in the sense that characters would sit down for lunch, say a couple of sentences, and then suddenly lunch is over. I noticed this in a few places.

To end on a positive note, this was a very easy read and while I had my issues with the relationship and the characters, it was nice to read about such a sweet relationship. It was nice seeing how the author touched on coming-out, religion and ethnicity too. I would give this 3.5 stars, but I unfortunately have to round it down, rather than up.

This was so much fun to read!!

Our main character, Kai, is closeted. In his school there's a popular boy called Bryson Keller who's part of a dare which means he has to agree to date whoever asks him first each week, which means every Monday girls line up to be the first to ask him but with only a few weeks left on the dare Kai asks Bryson to date him and Bryson unexpectedly agrees.

Kai is a great main character who I really loved but Bryson was just the cutest cinnamon roll- he's the popular jock but also an absolute sweetheart! I loved how well-developed the secondary characters were aswell, especially both Kai and Bryson's families. So often when I read YA the parents are never around so it was good to read a book where not only is the family there, but they're also well-developed and explored as characters.

This book discusses a lot of subjects - race, sexuality, being queer in a religious family - but it manages to discuss them all whilst keeping an overall light tone to the story which I really enjoyed.

It definitely is a little unbelievable, the whole book takes place over a week which is obviously rather fast-paced and a little insta-love but it didn't bother me too much here.

Overall, a cute and fun, quick read that i'd recommend to anyone looking for an ownvoices read.

Huge Thank to Netgalley and Penguin Books for approving me for an early eARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this book a lot! It was the perfect cute, fun and awkward RomCom I needed!
Think To All The Boys but GAY.

I read this pretty quickly, in one day. What I liked was how lighthearted, quirky and fun the story was while still being able to address serious topics! The writing was so easy to digest and Kai was a very likeable protagonist! I liked how we explored Kai and Brysons relationship, how Bryson was like the opposite of what we expected him to be. I also enjoy the dynamics between Kai and his religious family, and thought it was handled very true to life!
I loved the South African representation, as a South African reader, it was an extra fun element I really enjoyed! I think Kai's sister is amazing, and she gave me strong Kitty from To All The Boys vibes!!

Over All I found this story very wholesome, quirky and romantic in that cringe highschool awkward kinda way! I was rooting for Bryson and Kai's relationship the whole time, and found the ending very satisfying and pleasant!

I really wanted to like this book. On the surface, it looked perfect. Adorable cover, diverse characters, classic rom-com premise. Sadly, Date Me, Bryson Keller lacks the heart and substance all great rom-coms need.

When Bryson Keller is dared to date someone new each week - the first person to ask him out on Monday morning - few think he can do it. He may be the king of Fairvale Academy, but he’s never really dated before. Until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.

Narratively, Date Me, Bryson Keller starts off strong with the classic fake dating set-up, but quickly spirals. Plot points which didn’t fit the premise were forced in at the expense of believability. The relationship between Kai and Bryson developed from them hanging out together to professing their love for each other in the span of a couple of days. And awful things (forced outing, unsupportive parents, homophobic attacks) seemed to happen to the main pairing just so that the ‘good guys’ could turn around and point out how awful they were.

Which brings me to the second major problem I had with this book - the characterisation. None of the characters felt like real people; instead, they read like the author’s mouthpieces. I lost count of the number of times either Kai or Bryson gave an impassioned speech (to seemingly no one) about bigotry. I also found the speed at which Kai’s parents went from being openly homophobic to accepting of their gay son jarring. It felt like they were only homophobic when the plot needed them to be; when the story needed to be quickly wrapped up with a happy ending someone gave them a rousing speech about how they should be ashamed of themselves and they magically became better people. I'm sure the author meant for Kai's happy ending after so much hardship to be seen as a positive, but it came across as dismissive of the issues it was preaching against, since everything was solved so easily. All in all, it was uncomfortable to read.

Many thanks to Penguin for providing a copy of Date Me, Bryson Keller. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Publisher: Penguin
Rating: 1 star | ★✰✰✰✰
Review posted to Paperback'd Reviews

It’s not often I review a book straight after reading but… I had to. I needed to. This book was so good! I’m not going to lie, I was excited about this book anyway, I was planning on buying it as soon as it realised but when I saw I was approved on Netgalley, who was I to say no to reading it early? I’m so glad I did because this just gave me all of the happy feelings, it was exactly what I needed after a week of feeling grumpy and unmotivated. It’s not often I read YA now, I just don’t feel as much of a draw to a lot of YA releases, but gems like this one remind me why I always like to go back. I would like to say, I haven’t even tried to avoid spoilers in my review, there’s just so much I want to talk about



The premise is simple, Kai Sheridan is in the closet, his friends and family know nothing about him being gay. Bryson Keller is one of the most popular guys in school and he got roped into a silly dare where he must say yes to the first person who asks to date him at the beginning of each school week and they will then date for exactly 5 days. Kai probably doesn’t sound like he should be asking Bryson out at all, but impulsively he does. Bryson Keller becomes the only person in the school who knows Kai is gay and (apart from Kai’s friends) he couldn’t have picked a better person. Bryson could easily have been some popular douche who grows and develops and becomes a better person through the book (kind of Peter K type development, don’t even lie, I love the boy in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before but he needed a touch of emotional growth) but Bryson is popular and a genuinely lovely guy. He was so supportive of Kai, even before he realised he had feelings, he was there to help Kai realise things about himself. He joked with him and had fun, even talked about a crush that Kai had. And not once did he reduce down to Kai simply being ‘the gay one’ as Kai worried would happen when if he came out.



I did wonder how this book would effectively write Bryson, a straight character falling for Kai (because we all know they’ll end up together) but, actually, that was a narrow-minded assumption on my part. At one point in the book, Kai is talking about how his crush is straight and Bryson full-on asks him why he assumes guys he has a crush on are straight? It’s something which Kai ponders a lot too. Straight is defined as normal based on societies expectations. From a young age, we are taught that normal is a man and a woman in a relationship, we see it on TV and in magazines, it’s everywhere. But why is straight normal and anything else deemed as different? At no point are we told that Bryson is straight, it’s just an assumption I made and an assumption that those at his school make to. When the dare was made for Bryson to date people no one said it had to be girls, but only girls asked him out. I consider myself to be pretty open-minded, I don’t want to be that stereotypical white girl here, but one of my best friends is gay, yet I realise that I do tend to make the assumption about people I meet being straight and why should that be the case? I liked that this was brought up in the book because it’s a valid point, I know I’ve seen before that it’s unfair that coming out is not something you get to do just once, but instead is something you must do again and again because as you go through life you will meet more people and they will once more make the assumption you are straight, but having it rephrased to question why you assume people are straight, it’s crazy but true.



Anyway, it was a refreshing take for me and I appreciated reading it. I suppose I should have noticed more of the hints about Bryson. He was such a great and accepting person, and maybe he hadn't considered his sexuality at that point. I mean, his sexuality is not explored as in-depth as Kai’s as this was very much kai’s story, but it was silly that I made an assumption. I mean, Bryson showed hints of jealousy at one point, and he held Kai’s hand! Bryson didn’t even need to pretend to date kai really, but he did, he took him out for breakfast, he bought him lunch! I mean, Bryson was an amazing fake boyfriend and who would put in that level of effort if he didn’t have to? I just thought he was an amazingly good guy, but I think he realised quite quickly there was something there.



I think it’s obvious that this book also addresses Kai coming out to those around him. He was scared to come out, the only people he’d tried come out with before were his best friend’s in middle school and they rejected him and blanked him after that. It’s easy to see why he was unwilling to try that again. Unfortunately, he ends up having to. many things happen which mean he comes out to his parents and his school before he was willing to and that was sad. His parents' reaction is probably one which isn’t as uncommon as we might hope it to be. It is not all hugs and kisses and we accept you, not immediately. I got that, I suppose Kai’s parents had their own dreams and expectations about how Kai’s life would go and Kai’s family are regular churchgoers, he even says he’s heard his parents discussing how homosexuality is a sin. You get why it kind of went down like a lead balloon. Thankfully, Kai’s little sister, Yazz, is an absolute darling. She’s the hero in this one instantly accepting Kai and showing her support and she helped to bridge the gap between Kai and his mom and that was brilliant. I will say, Kai’s parents do show support in the end. Kai’s dad accepted him quite quickly after the shock wore off he was there showing his support, but Kai mom? She was a bit slower. And then the fact that Kai was forcibly outed at his school by nasty ass witch and she goes all mama bear. She was slower to come around and remember Kai was still her soon who she adored completely, but she got there and then she was on it being the parent she had always been.


It was interesting to see a very different reaction from Bryson's family. They were just so chilled about it and lovely. They took everything in their stride and that level of acceptance was amazing. I especially loved how Crystal, Bryson’s sister, was all smirking and teasing about it as any self-respecting older sibling would be. I think I liked the acceptance even more because Bryson’s mom was quite absent. She worked and she was successful but this meant sometimes she was away and wasn't physically there for him but you could tell she was always emotionally supporting him. That was obvious from how she called him at least once a day checking in and I liked that. It wasn't that his mom was absent she certainly cared but her work meant sometimes she wasn't there. It was good to see this didn’t fall into the trope of absent parents which I always hate in YA, but instead showed a different kind of parenting.


And Kai’s friends! I worried when they were acting a little funny around him that there would be some shaming when Kai came out but they were instantly there to support him. I think I appreciated that with the characters you saw people's true colours with how they acted. Some of Bryson's friends were idiots before with their homophobic remarks which were 'just jokes' and when they reacted badly to being called out you could see they just didn't get it. But then Donny and Priya, Kai’s best friends, just did. They knew their best friend and they were there waiting for him to be ready to talk to them. They had his back and they would have fought for him if that’s what he needed. Love best friends like that.


This was an adorable romance and I had a great time reading. I would have read it in one sitting but honestly, I needed to sleep. This is definitely a book where you need to read the author's note and acknowledgements because they just made me appreciate the book even more. I didn't realise the author was also from South Africa, like Kai's dad, and mixed race, like Kai, and the book was partially inspired by his own experiences. Got to show some love an excellent own voices read. I strongly recommend reading it. It started a little slow setting the scene with the dare but as it progresses and Kai's awkward adorableness came out swinging I was a goner.

<i> It’s all so unfair:
because you’re so-called different,
you need to stand up
and say that you’re so-called different.
What makes everyone else normal?
Who gets to decide that?</i>

Story 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Bryson Keller thinks dating in high school is stupid. So a bet is placed.
Bryson will date for three months,
each week it’s a new person
and it only lasts from Monday to Friday.
No attachments. No touching.
He will date the first person who asks him out. He can’t ask himself.
Everything seems fine until Kai comes along and brings chaos with him.

That was so so cute. I really really liked it.
It was an cute romcom with serious topics like racism and homophobia.

<i> People have an idea of what love should be, and my parents loving each other doesn’t fit into everyone’s perfect vision.
Dad has always said that racists are sad people trying to make the rest of the world just as sad.</i>

Character 🌟🌟🌟🌟

<i>For me, though, it feels like I’m waiting for my very own letter to my very own Hogwarts. Magic and adventure await me, too, in a city where no one knows me, and where I can be my true self.
It’s a powerful fantasy.</i>

I’m not so sure what to say about the characters.
On one hand I loved Kai, Yazz, Bryson, Priya, Donny... I cared what happened to them.
But I’m not so sure I loved them.
I can’t explain why.
I did love Bryson Keller. He was the perfect boyfriend, supporting, caring - a nice understanding cinnamon roll.
I would’ve loved to have a boyfriend like that in my high school time.

Relationships 🌟🌟🌟🌟

<i> I don’t have a Prince Charming on a white horse.
Instead, I have one in a white Jeep.</i>

Have you ever seen a movie or a tv show where there are two people (like two girls or two boys) and there is this sexual tension everybody probably feels between them?
And those two had a lot of tension going on.
I liked it. I loved those super cute moments between them. It made me so happy and giddy.
But sometimes it felt like too good to be true.
Still it was nice to read it and to believe in something so pure and cute.

Writing style 🌟🌟🌟
Even though I had fun reading this book, I think the writing definitely could’ve been better. It was like someone was telling me a story word by word.
When you start reading the book, you’ll probably get what I mean.
It was a pretty simple writing.
Still serious topics were mentioned and put into the spotlight.

All in all I liked this story and can recommend it you want to read some cute fluffy story.

<i> I know that my family loves me,
but I’m a puzzle that’s incomplete.
If they ever see the full picture,
will they feel the same way?</i>

This. book. is. adorable. I don't think I have ever smiled at a book this much while reading it!

Bryson Keller is the most popular boy in school. To win a bet, he has to go out with a new person every week, more specifically the first person that asks him out Monday morning, and be the perfect boyfriend until school ends on Friday. It's supposed to show that dating in high school doesn't mean anything, and that relationships won't last.
But then Kai asks him out--not expecting Bryson to actually agree--and everything changes.

Three words. Fake. Dating. Trope. Kai and Bryson are paired for a theatre project, so pretending to be in a relationship for the week just makes sense, as they will be spending time with each other anyway, And even if Kai starts developing a slight crush on Bryson it will never lead to anything. Because Bryson is straight. Isn't he?

The main thing to say about this story is that it will completely melt your heart and have you a smiley mess by the end of it. Hng. Hnnnng. Seriously, be prepared for your face muscles to start hurting because you've been grinning at the pages for about ten minutes. That said, this book is not all sunshine and rainbows. I'm going to go ahead and leave a couple of warnings here: this book deals with homophobia, unsupportive parents and public outing. It deals with the fact that even in a more open-minded society homophobia is still very present, and a horrible thing to deal with on a daily basis. Kai struggles a lot with coming out, because he knows that being gay is a label that will be attached to him forever, eclipsing all other traits. In addition to the realities of (involuntarily) coming out in high school, this book deals with the identity struggles of being mixed-race and a gay son to conservative Christian parents.

I finished this book in a day, and it left me with a happy, fuzzy feeling in my chest. If you are looking for a fluffy, adorable YA romance that has more layers than you'd expect, I can really recommend this book to you!