Date Me, Bryson Keller is a fun, diverse read, that I can recommend to anyone who just wants to have a good time. Even though the story takes place over quite a short time, the development of the relationship doesn't feel rushed and even natural. I enjoyed the banter and the friendships and it felt realistic all the way through.
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Catching up with reviews that have caught up with me.
I wasn't able to finish this arc in the time I had it however from what I did read this was fantastic, and I really do want to get round to purchasing my own copy in the future! 
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a free copy to review.

It was a fun and cute read that reminded me all old romcom with a heartfelt romance. But I don't know what to think about all the drama surrounding it.

Date Me Bryson Keller is really cute and such a feel good story, but not in an unrealistic way; the story deals with serious issues like homophobia, racism and interracial relationships, religion, etc. I appreciate the way the author emphasises that whilst we have come a long way when it comes to LGBTQ+ acceptance, there is still a very long way to go and that many people still are not safe to be open about who they are. There are some wonderful and very funny supporting characters in this book and I hope there's a Bryson out there for every Kai and vice versa.

A lovely, sweet LGBTQ+ romance, perfect for fans of other books in the genre, like Simon vs... and Heartstopper, etc. I love a good coming out story, and it's nice for young people to have this kind of literature to read to help them come to terms with their sexuality. Triggers for homophobia, outing and bullying, but otherwise, a lovely read.

Let’s be clear, this is not the pinnacle of LGBT+ YA fiction. It’s amateur hour for sure. I had to overlook a lot of authorial choices in order to proceed, and often it felt that there was an endgame in mind but no understanding of how to navigate towards it. I mean, obviously there was an endgame, the whole plot and outcome was given away within the prologue and whilst that might have worked for Romeo and Juliet, it doesn’t fly here.

For the first three quarters of the book, we’re mostly just coasting through with rose tinted sunglasses having a grand old time. As soon as you hit 76% though, we spin out of control and it kind of becomes irredeemable. It’s this poor narrative structure that led me to feel anxious for almost the entire duration of my reading experience. Conflicts are a necessary part of fictional narratives, and it’s important that they’re interwoven well so that the pace of the text can be set. Here, there’s very little build up towards a conflict, and most importantly there’s only the build-up for one incident. The others all came out of left field and without pause. We’re hit with incident after incident which absolutely decimate Kai. It’s completely unforgiving, and unrealistic.  

If I were a teen again and reading this, it would not fill me any sort of confidence around coming out. It would potentially further exacerbate my fears around being outed or disowned. These subjects shouldn’t be thrown about and resolved within pages; they’re traumatic events. Young people need to be reassured that yes, their fears may be real, but love and support is available to them. This may not be through their family, but through teachers, friends, and found families. Kai doesn’t have an established support system, and so it’s dangerous to have him exposed to these situations. 

I would have had a more favourable response to the inclusion of these situations had resources been provided at the end of the book. Young people deserve to be provided with access to information that can help them cope if they are in similar situations; there’s no magical resolutions for them, and it’s dangerous to suggest that parents just need a day or two to come around and that schools will offer the perfect response to the situation. Having young people believe that can easily lead to them blaming themselves for any abusive situations that they may face.

This rush to have conflict and resolution indicated that the author wanted to complete the book and guarantee a sequel. They needed to have a surface level resolution so that the next book has an immediate framework to jump into. 

The supporting cast of characters were flat and acted as window dressing to Bryson and Kai who themselves were devoid of personality. Here, the reliance is on the reader to fill the characters in and ride the wave of the fake dating trope. We can all imagine a jock and a loner and bring them to life, it’s not a big ask. 

As a final problematic point, Kai never once considers that Bryson could identify outside of the gay/straight binary. The word bisexual is only brought up once, and it’s just in passing as Bryson is essentially grilled on how he identifies. Representation in YA books is essential. Be better.

--

My review aside, it seems that the plot for this text has been lifted from a manga called Seven Days. Not cool.

After reading two big books back to back (the angsty Midnight Sun and the balls to the walls sci-fi thriller To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini) I really wanted something a bit shorter and something fun, something cute, something contemporary, which is weird for me as I am not normally a contemporary type of guy. I'm here for fantasy and complete and utter make believe. But this book is totally what the doctor ordered and I fell head over heels in love with it! Honestly, this book is ADORABLE!

Bryson Keller is dared at a party to date the first person that asks him out every Monday at school, for one whole week. After that they are to go their separate ways and someone else has to take their place. Everyone knows about the dare. It has its own hashtag, girls queue up to get the opportunity to be Bryson's girlfriend for the week, and why wouldn't they? Handsome. Athletic. Popular. Bryson is everything the girls want. But after a disastrous morning, and with the dare affecting him, Kai decides that he wants to take a pop at the whole thing and asks Bryson out.  I mean, no one said it was just girls that could ask, right? For the next five days, Bryson is his. He's the first person that Kai has come out to (not counting his ex-best friend who did a one-eighty on him after he came out...) and he's shocked by the reception he gets. But Bryson is just being the good guy that he is, right? He's straight. Of course he is... Isn't he?

Honestly this book felt like a warm hug, apart from the moments when everything just goes wrong and even then it felt like a safe space. It made me laugh, it made my heart swell, it made me cry. Oh it made me cry, alright! Yikes. This book gave me all of the emotions and I cannot recommend it enough. The characters were all great, both Bryson and Kai themselves who were different to your standard jock/nerd pairing. Bryson isn't just a meathead like most jocks are portrayed to be. He has heart, he's kind and gentle and super-swoonworthy. Kai wants to be a writer but he isn't your stereotypical nerd. He's not too bad at sports. He has other interests. Bryson is the kind of guy you can see yourself falling for, just the little things he does, you can't help it. And Kai is the kind of guy that you feel for. You want him to have everything good in the world. And then there is the supporting cast. Kai's family were a particular highlight in particular his younger sister, Yazz. Bryson's mum and his sister. Kai's best friends Donny and Priya were great. Even the bad guys, or as they are often referred to, assholes. The sort of characters you just know from the off are horrible people.

My only problem with the book is that when I got to the end I wanted more! More, more more. I turned the page and was actually sad that it was over. Hopefully we get a sequel one day. There was so much left unresolved. The book spans just 2 weeks and there are so many questions I want answered. I need to know!

It was nice to see an own voices coming out story. The market is getting better but it still too overly saturated with the straight white female offerings which can be good but sometimes feel slightly fetishised. So it was nice to feel like you were in good hands, someone who knows exactly what they are talking about. Their lived experience. More of this please! Coming out is hard. As someone who has been there and done that, I know. 

The only reason this got a 4 and not a 5 was just that in some places it felt a little clunky and awkward, which I get in parts was due to Kai being awkward anyway, but it sometimes drew me out of the story a little bit. Sometimes the dialogue was a little too clunky and I'm not a fan of when someone is called by their full name ALL the TIME. Bryson Keller. Bryson Keller. Bryson Keller. It gave me slight flashbacks to reading The Fault In Our Stars when we were subjected to Hazel Grace Hazel Grace Hazel Grace every five seconds. We get that that is your name. Your first name will do. But that was a very small problem just one that got on my nerves slightly. But still, I adore this book and demand that you read it now. It's fun, cute, SUPER cute! I cannot recommend it enough!

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found the storyline and characters to be just dull. It's a shame as I really wanted to like this book!

Date Me, Bryson Keller was just the perfect swoon worthy, heart warming romance that I needed to get me out of my reading slump! It obviously tackles important themes and problems (and it does it well) but aside from that it is just such a good love story! 

Thank you for the review copy!

I went into this excited to read a cute queer ya contemporary featuring a biracial protagonist. I wanted so badly to enjoy this but unfortunately it just didn’t really deliver. 

I found the the writing was very clunky and the dialogue so laboured. It really didn’t feel like something which would come out of a teens mouth most of the time.

Also I felt like beyond Kai, the other characters were entirely two dimensional. They felt almost like caricatures who were merely written into the story to move the plot or to allow a particular point to be made.

Probably the thing that frustrated me the most about this story was the lack of communication. It really irritated me that Kai wouldn’t just ask Bryson if he liked boys. Look I get that that lack of communication in order to move a plot and create tension is a trope for a reason. Yes it does happen in real life. Unfortunately I, however, have reached the point that I have read so many books that centre around this that I’m sick of seeing it. A book needs to be really phenomenal in other ways for this not to ruin the book for me or they at least need to do something new with it. This book unfortunately did not.

I think it’s really important that we get more #ownvoices queer YA romances with protagonists of colour written by authors of colour but unfortunately this one just didn’t hold up because of the overall quality of the writing. 

*arc recieved via netgalley

This book has instantly became a favourite. Read entirely in one sitting, this book had me laughing, crying, and almost rereading it immediately after finishing.  Perfect for fans of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

I started reading a little tentatively as the basic premise is the same as the Seven Days manga, but the more I read the more I saw the differences between them until I found myself sobbing and cheering on Kai and Bryson full-heartedly.

While I found the writing to be a bit clunky, this isn't a book that shied away from the heavy stuff, and it was while dealing with the heavier aspects of the narrative, including trigger warnings for homophobia and forced outing, that the story really shone. 

There were a few minor loose ends, so I wonder if this book was written with a sequel in mind, but the absolute wholesomeness of the romance brought it home, and made me so glad I persisted through the slower beginning.

I have reviewed this book as part of my June Reading Wrap Up on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/EeHywG9jLmg

It has also featured in a book haul: https://youtu.be/qfHiiOeGHwQ

Thank you!

I was pre-approved for this book on Netgalley, and as it sounded super adorable I just had to read it! I was a little skeptical when I found out it was based on a yaoi manga, as yaoi is written for teen girls who fetishize gay men and is usually super problematic. I read some yaoi and watched the anime adaptations when I was around 14, and looking back on it now it was pretty problematic, and I pretty much avoid yaoi like the plague now (if you want manga or anime with good gay rep I recommend Given and Yuri on Ice). However, as the book is own voices I thought I’d try to put my thoughts on the book's roots aside and give it a chance!

The book follows Kai, a boy in his senior year of high school who is still in the closet. Kai is witness to a dare given to his classmate Bryson, who has agreed to date someone new for a week for the rest of his senior year. If at any point he breaks up with someone early or no one asks him out, the dare is over and he must ride the school bus for the rest of the year instead of driving his snazzy white jeep. The plot is somewhat silly but I found it completely adorable. A lot of this book is just straight up fluff and I loved it!

The relationship between Kai and Bryson developed naturally, and although the whole book happens over the course of two weeks, nothing felt rushed. The boys feelings for each other grow over the course of the book, but there are no proclamations of love, which I adored as I hate instalove. I feel like you need to get to know a person for an extended period of time before you can truly be in love with them, so I loved that there were no ‘I love yous’ and both boys wanted to take the relationship slowly.

Something I loved was that Bryson never labeled himself. He has feelings for Kai, but he is still figuring things out and isn’t sure which label fits him. I feel like we put too much pressure on young people to label themselves when they’re still figuring everything out. I actually went through a few labels before finding one that felt right, and honestly, I wish I hadn’t felt so pressured to choose one as a teen. I feel like we need more characters like Bryson so teens know it’s ok to not have everything figured out yet. Teens should be free to come to terms with their sexuality on their own rather than feeling pressured to accept a label that doesn’t feel right.

Even though I knew it was a coming out story, I was disappointed with how it was executed. As the romance was adorable fluff I was hoping the rest of the book would go the same way, and Kai would have a positive coming out experience. I was disappointed when Kai’s religious mum reacted negatively and made Kai feel horrible. So many YA coming out stories have the characters go through a bad experience, and I feel like this could put LGBT+ teens in a negative mindset. Having to read about a character who is like you have a bad coming out experience over and over again can easily make you believe the same thing will happen to you. The sad thing is that these negative experiences happen, but if that’s all they ever see in books and the media, they will assume the same thing will happen to them and be reluctant to come out.

Another thing I didn’t like was that Kai was outed against his will, and was forced to come out first to his family and then to his whole school. It felt like this was added just to create some drama, and I honestly hated it. Kai was bullied both verbally and physically, and I felt like it just wasn’t needed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a cute fluff romance just because, and sometimes that’s exactly what LGBT+ teens need rather than the constant reminder that some people hate them for something they can’t control. The outing and bullying is the one thing that stopped me giving the book a 5 star review as I was hoping to get away from this negativity for a while!

Even though I had issues with the book and it didn’t turn out to be the escapism I was looking for, it did give an overall good message about the importance of accepting those who are different from you, and I loved the first 75% of the book. It was just a shame that the adorable romance I thought I was reading had to take a dark turn. I would definitely recommend this book, but it’s probably best to avoid it if you’re not in the right headspace for darker subjects like homophobia and bullying.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book... was like a warm hug? Like truly so very adorable.

First of all, the premise is so unique and I really appreciated that. It isn't fake-dating, I was cheated of that, but it was super fun. The dialogue was SO FUNNY OMG! I laughed so hard. It gets an A+ for banter. And I really loved all of our main characters.

The relationship dynamics were all super well written. The romance was of course super adorable. I loved how healthy it was, especially Bryson who is my sweet son who must be protected at all costs.

Also very much appreciated that this author was South African, we love to see it, especially some of the slang.

And I mean, this book got me MAD toward the end, I had A LOT of emotions. Trigger warning for being outed btw. And I AM READY TO FIGHT THEM, HOMOPHOBES. Truly my fists are out. Oof I was so upset. 

Overall, I just really appreciated it. I thought that all the discussions it had were so valid and important, although I wish they could've been incorporated more seamlessly. And the writing was nothing special, was a bit plain. And I would also have liked bisexuality to be discussed more. It was left out which... nope.

But it was sweet and I could just get lost in it for hours.

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

I really love this book. It starts out as a pretty general rom-com, with the lovely addition of being queer, which always makes everything better. It then starts dealing with the serious reality of the homophobia in the world we live in and the hardships of coming out. Nothing extremely bad happens, but just because the worst case scenario doesn't happen, doesn't mean it doesn't still get bad. Weirdly enough, it felt very comforting to read about the bad though. I guess that's mostly because a lot of stories are either really dark and serious or are fluffly romantic comedies that kind of gloss over the bad parts reality. It was nice that this was a fluffly romantic book, but that it still dealt with the bad stuff too. I'll leave this review with my favourite little quote from the book:

"Gay means happy, too, you know."