Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC I received of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This one didn't appeal to me. I loved the premise and I think it was very cute, but it felt a bit heavy handed with the discussions of both sexuality and race. When Kai ruminates on the struggles he feels being bi-racial, I was really disappointed because while the sentiment sounds true, the speech was so stiff. It's like the author took these great, important topics that I really want my students to discuss and consider, but he couldn't quite build the characters that needed to say these things. Both Kai and Bryson felt cardboard and cliched, not like people.

This was a really fun and cute contemporary read. Contemporary isn't my usual go to genre, but I really enjoyed how light hearted and funny this story was. I also felt like the LGBTQ representation was good and felt natural, though I do not identify this way and am not the best judge of that.

I loved this. So much. So very cute but still very much straddling that real world line. More thoughts soon (I promise!!!) TW: homophobia

This was a nice story, not a great story. I didn't feel like there was anything exciting or special about the romance. It was two normal teenage boys going to high school and figuring out what it means to be together as a couple. I wish there had been more content to the story.

My review will be live on the Book COnfessions blog on May 19th.

This book is so, so darling! Sweet, flirty, fun, and at times even heartbreaking, as a rom-com diehard, this own voices romance about a biracial teen coming out and falling in love really got me in the heart.

Heat Factor: So pure. Like, shy first kisses pure.
Character Chemistry: Off the charts.
Plot: Teen boy has no interest in dating, is dared by his peers to date anyone who asks. Other teen boy asks.
Overall: I am dying of the sweetness.

First, the cover of this book is completely adorable. It is why I requested to read it. I did not realize that I would be crying real tears when I did.

The story is told from the perspective of Kai Sherridan, a mixed-race, half-South African, gay teenager who is still completely and entirely in the closet in his senior year of high school. He’s not even out to his best friends. Other than contributing to the teen angst of being an outsider, Kai’s race and his father being from another country doesn’t play a huge part in the story. It’s a part of who he is, but it’s not the focus of the story.

Kai is terrified of being rejected. Personality-wise, he’s super shy, so it makes sense that he’s sort of folded in on himself. He’s known he was gay since he was thirteen, and he’s only told one person ever - his best friend who never spoke to him again after his confession. His parents attend a church where the pastor condemns homosexuality, and he’s overheard his parents talking about how homosexuality is a sin. Parental rejection isn’t an uncommon theme in these coming-of-age sorts of stories, but I don’t think I’ve read one since I became a parent, and I couldn’t help thinking that my heart would break in a thousand pieces if my children felt like they couldn’t be themselves for fear of me rejecting and not loving them. Heterosexist assumptions can be truly harmful, and I just wanted to wrap Kai up in a hug. Cue all the tears.

Fortunately, Kai’s friends have hearts of gold. And his little sister, who is thirteen and drinks coffee every morning (?!), is fabulous. Also fortunately, Bryson Keller is an unqualified cinnamon roll.

The story begins when all these high schoolers are at a party and talking about dating and love, and the most popular boy in school, Bryson Keller, poo poos dating. In the way of ridiculous teenagers, he is then dared to date the first person to ask him out every week for three months. The possibilities for this premise are excellent, yes?

Flash forward a few weeks. The dare has become a talking point at school and girls are actively competing to catch Bryson first thing on Monday mornings. Which is how Kai ends up having a very bad morning--a series of unfortunate events that Kai attributes directly to this stupid dare. For this reason and this reason only, when Kai finds himself in the position of being the first person to ask Bryson Keller out, he does it. A revenge ask, if you will. And opens a can of worms.

Suddenly Bryson is the only one who knows that Kai is gay. But Bryson’s dare is so popular that, even though Bryson agrees to date Kai and keep his secret, other kids at school simply can’t resist trying to figure out who exactly Bryson is dating for the week. Meanwhile, Bryson seems to be signaling that he’s actually romantically interested in Kai. This budding romance is so adorably high school I could hardly stand it. Remember when holding hands with the person you liked was a big deal?!

The contrast between Kai, who has known himself and has been struggling with his identity for years, and Bryson, who suddenly realizes he’s interested in another boy and is super comfortable with it, brings home how much external factors can influence us. Bryson still has to come out, but he doesn’t fear rejection for doing so, even after he realizes how heterosexist or homophobic his world is once he starts dating Kai. Kai, meanwhile, has been living in a world of recognizing every heterosexist and homophobic thing for years, and feels like college will be the only safe space for him to finally be himself.

It’s sort of unfortunate that van Whye limits sexuality into a binary gay/straight narrative. Human sexuality is fluid and this outlook is unnecessarily limiting. BUT the story is told from the POV of a teenager, so it’s really not unreasonable for such an outlook to exist. Without robust and proactive sex education (either at school or at home or whatever, but someone has to be educating, right?), how likely is it that teenagers are going to understand just how big the world of sex really is? I have been learning for decades, and I still am. I could readily buy in to Kai’s feeling that if his peers were dating members of the opposite sex, then they were straight. Van Whye creates a space in which we can see that what we observe on the surface is not the whole story, but we make assumptions based on the superficial information. I should note that Bryson doesn’t suddenly realize he’s gay. He realizes that he’s attracted to Kai and is open to exploring what this means to him.

TL;DR - This book is totally sweet and gave me all the feels. Check it out.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Wow. This was a 24 hour delight. Queer, emotional, fast paced, and insta-love-ish without that feeling like a negative. Would totally recommend to a teen with the caveat of it being a bit too perfectly tied up in a bow. Loved the biracial lead, especially with the family context being provided and the author being a biracial South African himself,

Date Me, Bryson Keller was delightful from start to finish. It’s a coming-of-age/coming out story told from the perspective of a teen boy named Kai who is coming to terms with his own sexuality while growing up in his somewhat conservative and religious family. In the opening scene of the book, Kai is at a party where another student at Kai’s school—Bryson Keller—is dared to date for one week the first person to ask him out each Monday morning. A chapter (or maybe two?) in, Kai ends up being the first person to ask Bryson to date him, kind of on a whim, and from there, hijinks ensues.

This book was really sweet and fun, and I spent most of it swooning over how adorable Kai and Bryson were together. However, there is some serious fallout for one character when they are outed by another character; some friends and family members act/react badly to learning about their sexuality. I will absolutely be recommending this to lots of young readers, but I also think it’d be worth putting a trigger warning label on the book (re: a character being outed) just in case some readers want to avoid it.

Absolutely love, love, loved it!

This was a great coming to age story that deals with being in the closet and coming out while in high school. Everyone has different experiences and with our main character, Kai, he didn’t want to come out until college. As he waited though, he didn’t feel like himself and until he started dating the popular guy, Bryson, he did not understand how much he was suppressing himself by not letting the people he loved know about his true self. I like how this book talks about how people are more accepting of the LBGTQ community now than in the past, but there will always be people who are ignorant and will try to tear down people who are just trying to be themselves. Kai was such a cute and shy character compared to Bryson who was confident and didn’t let anyone tell him how he should think or feel. They’re personalities went very well together and Bryson was able to get Kai to break out of his shell and see that hiding who was inside was making him lonely and afraid of everything around him. Read this when it comes out May 19th; you won’t regret it!
*Thanks to @netgalley for this advanced copy.*

I was happy to receive a copy of this book for review. I am a huge fan of the Seven Days manga and had heard of the controversy around this novel, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think the author read something that resonated with him and wanted to write his version of the story. He used the main starting point of Seven Days, but after that the story is different.
Kai is a closeted gay student in a private high school. While at a party a dare is given to another student that he must accept the proposal to date from the first person who asks him every Monday. If he loses the bet, Bryson will have to ride the bus to school for the rest of the year. (Gasp, shock, horror!) Kai and Bryson begin their week by slowly getting to know each other. As they get to know each other and try to keep their dating a secret they start to wonder if they are developing feelings for each other.
The story had many elements which made it enjoyable. The teasing between the characters, the supportive friends, the true to life experience of coming out, and how mean peers can be. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel, but it is an own voices novel so maybe I should have expected to be able to see it as something that could happen.

This was so adorable! Kai is a cutie, a good friend and son, and I felt so bad that he was hiding himself because he was afraid of what his family and peers would say. I'm glad he decided to befriend Bryson and that Bryson was kind. Their whole relationship was sweet and watching them grow closer and develop feelings was fun. The story was well written and flew by. I liked the LGBTQ representation and the multiracial factor also. This dealt with tough issues, but also stayed pretty light.
I definitely recommend checking this out!

Thank you so so so so so so so so much for Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book!

I'm speechless. I just loved it so much. It's still fresh in my brain so i'll update my review later

This delightful high school LBGTQ light romance follows Kai, a closeted gay senior just trying to stay under the radar until graduation; and Bryson, the most popular boy in school who accepts a dare to date the first person who asks him out every Monday for only one week.

After several months of mass mania every Monday because of the dare and the girls of the school clamoring to be the next girlfriend-of-the-week, Kai's week is off to a terrible start. He's late to class because an overly excited female classmate dumped soda all over his uniform, he's got dress code demerits, and now he has lunch detention so he won't be able to finish his script assignment. But Bryson was also late to class because of family issues, so he has missed all the hopeful young ladies. In a surge of either courage or insanity, Kai asks Bryson to date HIM for a week instead. The dare never specified it had to be a girl, just the first person to ask Bryson out, right?

Although lighthearted in tone, this book delves deftly into the fears and social roadblocks a closeted teen must face every day in American high schools. Kai constantly feels he needs to lie to his family, his friends, and his peers to hide who he truly is. Kai's narrating voice throughout the story is unvarnished as he discovers both the warm, fuzzy, stomach butterfly inducing experiences with Bryson and the mortal terror he feels at the very thought of being outed by his own foolish impulsive action. The story flows well, and even the tertiary characters feel well developed and believable.

I highly recommend this book for fans of Mason Deaver, Venio Tachibana, and Ngozi Ukazu.

* Special thanks to NetGally and the publisher for granting me an eARC in return for my honest review. *

Loved everything about this delectable YA romance, from their amazing sisters, to the honesty in which it was presented. Never take for granted that while love IS love, some relationships just have more hurdles than others. I was rooting for them the entire time :)

Very, very cute but definitely younger YA. Was not my personal favorite but would highly recommend to fans of Becky Albertalli or Kasie West.

I absolutely love the premise of this novel, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Bryson Keller was also one of the most cardboard cutout love interests I’ve read recently; he was the perfect boyfriend and... that was it. I do love other aspects of this book like the exploration of being mixed race and how coming out stories are still relevant in modern day. But overall, I found this debut lacking in many areas. It’s a quick read and it’s cute — if tries to be too cute at times — though, so maybe give it a shot if it sounds like your thing and you’re not a tough critic.

This was an incredible read that managed to give a balance of both the lighter, sweeter sides of teen romance, with the darker, scarier sides of coming out. The main character, Kai's, inner monologues and reflections on why he hasn't come out yet are worded in such a way that it rekindles an otherwise watered down understanding of what it means to be closeted. We ourselves might be incredibly accepting, but with that acceptance also comes a blindness for how bad it still is for so many in the LGBTQIA+ community. The writing itself and Kai's words are strung together in such a way that it hits home all over again how truly terrifying it is to be a teen in any non-normative or binary category. I know for me, homosexuality is just as common and normal to me as anything. There were so many LGBTQIA+ kids at my middle school, high school, college, grad school, and my hometown overall; I grew up seeing this as so ingrained in my life, that I'm still shocked when I see certain things happen right in front of me. But this book REsensitized me to how it still is for teens elsewhere, and it also makes me see how fortunate I am to live in such an accepting community. That being said though, it was still light-hearted and entertaining. Your emotional balance won't sink with reading this one, but you won't leave without a deeper understanding of an important issue either.

I love love love this book and can't wait for it to come out. Bryson is absolutely wonderful throughout.

Regardless of where the author took his inspiration for this plot, this is well written Young Adult novel. I appreciate that this feels like an accurate portrayal of the fear and pain involved with coming out or being outed. Kai and Bryson are adorable and Kai's has one kick ass little sister. The highlight of this book is really the connection between Kai and Bryson. Their relationship feels like it builds through small moments and simple gestures of affection and support and these small, private moments aren't always shown in a lot of YA novels that seem to focus more on attraction and grand gestures. I will definitely be reading this one again in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read this entire book in one sitting, and what an adorable, sweet, lovely book it was! It's a super sweet romance that celebrates gay identity, friendship, and first love. I loved how the main character, Kai, reflected on the ways that being gay can still be difficult, even in an era of increasing acceptance of queer identity. I appreciated the way that the religious parents were written, and the role that religion played in Kai's reluctance to come out, as it resonated a lot with my own experiences. I also loved how van Whye wrote the relationship between Kai and his sister, Yazz, who was one of my favorite characters in the book. But I loved, also, how the story wasn't at all tragic, and how I sighed and squeeee'd at the romance of it all! Overall, this is a lighthearted, fun read.