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onceuponanisabel 's review for:
Date Me, Bryson Keller
by Kevin van Whye
Date Me, Bryson Keller has absolutely one of the wildest premises I've ever read in a teen rom-com. The titular Bryson Keller is dared to date whoever asks him out first every Monday for the rest of the week to prove that he could get a date, even though he was against dating in high school. After several months of girl after girl, our main character, Kai Sheridan (who is a boy! gasp!), asks Bryson Keller out on a whim one Monday.
Even overlooking how insane this dare is, Kai isn't actually out as gay, so he and Bryson embark on a relationship that is both fake and secret. I have never, ever, read a book about a secret fake relationship, and honestly, for good reason. What possible reason is there for a SECRET, FAKE relationship? It comes together in the story but man did I just genuinely spend entirely too long thinking about how weird that is.
Bryson and Kai were interesting characters, although I will say that after reading a couple of interviews with the author, I wholeheartedly believe that Kai is 100% a self-insert character, which was simultaneously a little weird and made his story more believable (the author and the character have the same hobbies, interests, mannerisms...).
I will say this though: there are two main reasons why I didn't like this book as much as I honestly expected to. Firstly, the writing itself was in need of another round of revisions. I don't love to point this out given that I read an ARC and not the final product, but it did affect my enjoyment. I encourage you to take it with a grain of salt, though, since this book will obviously be getting those revisions before it's published. Secondly, this is a coming-out story. I want to be very clear that this is just my personal opinion and why I didn't enjoy the book, not a criticism of the author or even the story. I, though, am frustrated with books like this, in which characters are forced out of the closet and then treated with homophobia from family and schoolmates. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and I know these types of stories are important for some people. It just hits too close to home for me to enjoy it fully.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley
Even overlooking how insane this dare is, Kai isn't actually out as gay, so he and Bryson embark on a relationship that is both fake and secret. I have never, ever, read a book about a secret fake relationship, and honestly, for good reason. What possible reason is there for a SECRET, FAKE relationship? It comes together in the story but man did I just genuinely spend entirely too long thinking about how weird that is.
Bryson and Kai were interesting characters, although I will say that after reading a couple of interviews with the author, I wholeheartedly believe that Kai is 100% a self-insert character, which was simultaneously a little weird and made his story more believable (the author and the character have the same hobbies, interests, mannerisms...).
I will say this though: there are two main reasons why I didn't like this book as much as I honestly expected to. Firstly, the writing itself was in need of another round of revisions. I don't love to point this out given that I read an ARC and not the final product, but it did affect my enjoyment. I encourage you to take it with a grain of salt, though, since this book will obviously be getting those revisions before it's published. Secondly, this is a coming-out story. I want to be very clear that this is just my personal opinion and why I didn't enjoy the book, not a criticism of the author or even the story. I, though, am frustrated with books like this, in which characters are forced out of the closet and then treated with homophobia from family and schoolmates. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and I know these types of stories are important for some people. It just hits too close to home for me to enjoy it fully.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley