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Date Me, Bryson Keller

Kevin van Whye (Goodreads Author)

3.98 · Rating details · 7,501 ratings · 1,857 reviews

What If It's Us meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before in this upbeat and heartfelt boy-meets-boy romance that feels like a modern twist on a '90s rom-com!

Everyone knows about the dare: Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new--the first person to ask him out on Monday morning. Few think Bryson can do it. He may be the king of Fairvale Academy, but he's never re ...more

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Hardcover, 336 pages

Published May 19th 2020 by Random House Books for Young Readers

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Aug 02, 2019 Mai rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It's really offensive to take a Japanese woman's work and try to pass the story off as your own. You can write #ownvoices and critique Japanese queer works without stealing another author's plot. Give credit where it's due.

EDIT: The author only provided justification after the comments called him out on being heavily inspired by SEVEN DAYS. This is still a hard no from me. The Japanese gay comics industry is riddled with issues, but you have no place as a Westerner to take this work and reclaim ...more

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May 06, 2020 Claudia Ramírez rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, i-ship-them

This book was ADORABLE.

First of all, I love the fake dating trope, so I was excited when I read the synopsis! And the book itself did not disappoint.

It's about this teenage boy, Kai, who is in the closet, he hasn't tell anybody that he's gay. Then there's this guy, Bryson Keller, who is very popular and is currently on a dare in which, each week, he has to date a different person. The most important rule is that the person has to ask Bryson to date them, and he has no choice but to agree.

This i ...more

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Feb 07, 2019 Anna marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I'm tired of male authors profiting off the ideas of women of color... This is extremely reminiscent of Seven Days by Tachibana Venio (author) and Takarai Rihito (illustrator).

Seven Days is a two-volume Japanese graphic novel series—otherwise known as manga—that features a high school romance between two male characters. The plot follows the most popular boy in school who has a reputation for dating the first person who asks him out on Monday morning, then breaks up with them at the end of the ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Mrinmayi added it

Removed my rating because this book was plagiarised
I would like to thank my friend MJspice for bringing this to my notice
the plot was stolen from the Japanese manga Seven days: Monday- Thursday"
But the author did not give enough credit to that Manga

I will leave some of the reviews which pointed this issue out:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

TBH..I am disappointed
I had really enjoyed this book
It was gonna be o ...more

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Jul 10, 2020 ☆ Todd rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This YA story was without a doubt one of the most fluffy, adorable, feel-good tales that I've read in the last year, and I completely fell in love with both Kai and Bryson.

Unlike the usual jock/nerd trope, Kai wasn't a brainy social pariah. He was just an average, awkward, mixed-race kid with dreams of becoming a writer.

Also, Kai wasn't initially all closet case swoony over Bryson. Instead, for years, he had been interested in one of Bryson's terminally-straight soccer teammates, Isaac.

So I neve
This YA story was without a doubt one of the most fluffy, adorable, feel-good tales that I've read in the last year, and I completely fell in love with both Kai and Bryson.

Unlike the usual jock/nerd trope, Kai wasn't a brainy social pariah. He was just an average, awkward, mixed-race kid with dreams of becoming a writer.

Also, Kai wasn't initially all closet case swoony over Bryson. Instead, for years, he had been interested in one of Bryson's terminally-straight soccer teammates, Isaac.

So I never was quite sure why Kai, on a complete whim, decided to make use of Bryson's "I'll date the first person to ask me out every Monday" bet to ask his private school's most popular "It Boy" out; however, that scene totally gave me goose bumps, as I would've never found the courage to do the same back then.

One of my very favorite aspects of the book was how completely comfortable Bryson was in his own skin, even when he found himself contemplating dating a boy, and then again when he found himself liking said boy. That unrelenting, unflappable courage was extremely refreshing to see from a jock character in YA.
“I promise we’ll talk more.” Our eyes lock. “Soon.”

“Okay,” I say as I climb from the Jeep. I watch as Bryson drives off. He stops in front of the neighbor’s house and reverses. Bryson rolls down the window and I bend to look into the car.

“To answer your question,” Bryson says. “Yes, I think I might be.”

Kai though, after hiding in the closet for years, fearing rejection by both his religious parents and his bullying peers at high school, may have been momentarily brave when asking Bryson out, but he was much less sure about letting his secret out for general consumption.

A large part of the moderate angst in this story was derived from Kai's fears of coming out, which sadly, turned out to be fairly well-founded when the shit inevitably hit the fan.

The proverbial Bad Guys here turned out to be an overly-privileged, entitled, rich girl who wanted Bryson for herself, willing to go to any lengths to get him, and another person close to Bryson. I may or may not have wanted to light them on fire by the end of the book. Allegedly.

As far as side characters who were safe from my incendiary thoughts go, I absolutely loved both of Kai's younger and Bryson's older sisters, who were teasingly awesome on quite a few occasions.
Yazz sighs. “You know what trope I really hate is when the main character decides to give up on the person they love in the name of protecting them. That’s what you’re doing right now. You’re trying to protect Bryson, but you don’t realize you’re hurting him instead.”
Same, girl. Same!

So yes, there was a *brief* bit of martyr behavior in the book, which thankfully wasn't allowed to linger for very long.

Another thing that I liked about this story was that, in spite of the fact that it was a YA Coming Out tale, at least for me, it did not read like a preachy "How To Be Gay" manual, for which I was extremely grateful.

I was mostly okay with the Happy For Now ending, but I would've killed for an epilogue from a few years in the future, with them in college, still together and living in the same city.

I was also desperate to find out if The Bad Guys fully got their comeuppance, and if Bryson had to ride the bus for the rest of the school year, after losing the bet, but oh well...

As you could probably tell from my enthusiastic review, I found this story both refreshing and entertaining, so I'd rate it at around 4.5 stars and recommend it to fans of YA who are willing to blow a whopping $10.99 of their book budget for a single M/M story.

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Apr 24, 2020 anna (½ of readsrainbow) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-authors-of-color, 2-mlm, 2-protags-of-color, 2-lgbt, 5-young-adult, 2-ownvoices, pub-2020, 3-fake-dating, arcs, first-person-pov

rep: mixed-race gay mc, mlm li, gay side character, Indian side character
tw: homophobia, bullying, fights, outing, another very public outing, unsupportive parents

ARC provided by the publisher. Review also on my blog.

In a word, in a phrase? It’s a preachy bulshit. If you’re looking for a light, cute gay romcom, you should keep looking. This book is not it.

The thing we can all agree on is that stories need angst to actually make sense. You can call it conflict or whatever else, but something in ...more

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Aug 09, 2020 Lauren Lanz rated it did not like it

Shelves: author-of-colour, young-adult, 1-star

I'm completely baffled. The writer of this book stole another author of colour (Tachibana Venio)'s unique prose from a manga called Seven Days and claimed it as his own without giving credit until he was called out for plagiarizing. He claimed this novel is "born from [his] own critique of the work," ??? If your intent was to critique an original, published, well loved story using it's exact creative concept, fan fiction is the route to go. I can't believe this book was published as an original ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Sahil Javed rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bookshelf, poc-aoc, contemporary, lgbtq

Date Me, Bryson Keller is a contemporary upbeat and heartfelt gay romance. At Fairvale Academy, there’s a dare. Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new, the first person to ask him out on a Monday morning. Not many people think he can do it, but Bryson has been consistent with the dare. That is, until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.

This book made me realise just how much we need cute gay contemporary romances. We need so many more books like this and I’m so glad we’re finally Date Me, Bryson Keller is a contemporary upbeat and heartfelt gay romance. At Fairvale Academy, there’s a dare. Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new, the first person to ask him out on a Monday morning. Not many people think he can do it, but Bryson has been consistent with the dare. That is, until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.

This book made me realise just how much we need cute gay contemporary romances. We need so many more books like this and I’m so glad we’re finally getting them. So, the novel starts with introducing this dare that Bryson Keller has agreed to do, which is to date someone new every week, whoever asks him at the start of the week. And Kai Sheridan, who is currently in the closet, decides to ask Bryson on a date. And he’s the first boy to ever do so. These two characters were unbelievably cute and I can’t express just how much I loved them. I’m so glad the author didn’t turn Bryson into one of those cliche jock-type characters, because although he plays sports and is really popular, Bryson couldn’t have been cuter if he tried. He was beyond lovely, really understanding about Kai’s wishes not to be out yet, and just the sweetest character I’ve ever encountered in a contemporary novel. And Kai. I think Kai is basically me? Daydreaming about potential events with his crush? Me all over. I really, really enjoyed Kai as a protagonist, all of his anxieties and worries over his own personal problems and Bryson just felt so real and it was refreshing to read about.

I have to announce that Kai Sheridan and Bryson Keller are my OTP and I am hopelessly in love with both of them. The amount of cute moments between these two were never-ending and I literally swooned so many times. I read this book within a day, as soon as I finished it, all I wanted to do was erase my memory so that I could read it all over again for the first time. The cute moments between the characters, the dates they went on, the realistic issues they both discussed with one another, all of it combined to make such an enjoyable novel that was so much fun to read. I recommended that fans of Jenny Han and Becky Albertalli absolutely pick this one up. You’ll love it.

My favourite aspect of this book was its honest portrayal and discussion of sexuality. I like reading books where sexuality isn’t a big deal and where labels aren’t given much importance. Kai doesn’t think that he has a chance with Bryson because he thinks Bryson is straight and Bryson himself just says that he likes girls and now he’s realised that he likes boys as well because he’s formed a connection with Kai. And I loved that. I liked that it wasn’t a big deal and that there was no pressure for Bryson to label himself immediately. There was also this moment when Bryson asks Kai why he assumes that every guy is straight and I honestly loved that conversation. The refreshing view of sexuality in this book warmed my heart and made me feel unbelievably happy.

Overall, Date Me, Bryson Keller is one of the cutest contemporary novels I have ever read. The characters were really well developed and felt really good together, the discussion and portrayal of sexuality was really honest and authentic. I would recommend that everyone picks this book up when it comes out on May 19th. The cuteness will overwhelm you and the minute you finish it, all you’ll want to do is read it again. Kevin van Whye is seriously an author to watch out for. ...more

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Feb 08, 2019 Sara rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: never-in-a-million-years

Are you fucking kidding me?! This is basically plagiarism, how does stuff like this even get published?

UPDATE: so this review started getting attention and it reminded me of the existence of this book and that just brought back all the rage
Also I made the mistake of reading the author’s review and just the bullshit excuses made me want to scrub my eyes clean

First of all, there is a difference between being inspired by a story you read and shamelessly ripping it off and this falls in the latter c Are you fucking kidding me?! This is basically plagiarism, how does stuff like this even get published?

UPDATE: so this review started getting attention and it reminded me of the existence of this book and that just brought back all the rage
Also I made the mistake of reading the author’s review and just the bullshit excuses made me want to scrub my eyes clean

First of all, there is a difference between being inspired by a story you read and shamelessly ripping it off and this falls in the latter category 100%

Is there room for improvement in the portrayal of lgbtq characters in asian bl? Yes, but it doesn’t justify plagarism.

Are own voices stories important? Yes, it still doesn’t justify plagarism though.

And that idiotic article he linked to justify copying Seven Days almost gave me an aneurism. Let’s get one thing straight, plagarism is not some super complex foreign concept that people don’t understand and need to be educated on. It’s taking other people’s ideas or words and passing them off as your own without crediting them. Not hard to understand. And how do you know if something is plagarism you may ask? Well, if you read something and you’re like ‘hmmm this seems like plagarism’ there’s a 90% chance you’re right.

Also all the examples in that article were like super vague story descriptions that can fit a million stories, but that’s not the case here. This isn’t a case of an author getting inspired by Tolkien and writing a hero’s journey book where a character and a ragtag group of friends go on an adventure to save the world, this is the case of an author writing a book about a character going on a journey to throw a ring into a vulcano. I think we can all tell which one of these is ok and which one isn’t.

If this was a story about two boys fake dating for a week because of a bet or idk any other reason nobody would have found any fault with it, but it isn’t this is literally stealing the complete set up of Seven Days and claiming it wants to explore different themes. Well guess what genius, that’s what fanfiction is for.

And the fact that nowhere did it mention that this was “inspired”/based off of Seven Days until the author started getting called out for it is kinda not sitting right with me, at least if it was mentioned from the beginning i would have just thought everyone involved in this was an idiot, now I feel like they all knew it was wrong but they just didn’t expect people realizing it.

Also, can we talk about the whole ‘stealing a story from an asian author and adapting it to western standards’? Cause that made me vomit a bit in my mouth. No one would have done this with Call Me By Your Name or Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda or any other western story and gotten away with it but somehow this book not only got published but it got published by Penguin Random House no less.

Burn this shit ...more

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Feb 06, 2019 lexi added it · review of another edition

man are we ripping off manga now. sorry but this is literally seven days by takarai rihito. even the synopsis sounds the same

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May 20, 2020 h ♡ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: insert-rainbow-flag, fiction-romance, the-fucking-worst, 2020, age-young-adult, reviewed, fiction-contemporary

oh man. i wanted to like this so bad. i set aside at least five other books in order to get to this one immediately. of course, i realize now that the plot seems to be taken from a japanese manga—and i am not a connoisseur of japanese manga, so i can't speak to their similarities. what i do know that it was a massive, unbelievable disappointment.

date me, bryson keller is about kai, who's gay, but closeted. in a funny turn of events he ends up in a fake-dating pact with bryson keller, one of the ...more

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Jun 09, 2020 Larry H rated it it was amazing

This adorable, good-hearted debut novel by Kevin van Whye totally hit the spot! It was the perfect antidote for all of the heaviness and emotion I've been experiencing lately.

Bryson Keller is captain of the soccer team at Fairvale Academy and the most popular guy in the senior class. He’s never really dated anyone because he isn’t sure he believes in love, and he's afraid of hurting people.

One night at a party his classmates come up with a dare: he has to date the first person who asks him out e ...more

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Jun 10, 2020 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it really liked it

Shelves: queer

3.5 rounded up to a 4 bc this was VERY FUN. It was the perfect mix of light hearted fun and sassy drama and honestly it was exactly what I was in the mood for. Highly recommend if you want to read something that is the best kind of fluffy YA rom-com.

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Apr 27, 2020 Kai rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, queer

Cute, awkward, full review to come

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May 05, 2020 C.G. Drews added it

Shelves: read-2020, ya-male-narrators, contemporary, young-adult

This book just asked you on a date for soft warm cinnamon waffles and told you that you're doing your best. 🥺 It's a soft one, peoples!! It's got: fake-dating, sexuality questioning, coming out when your family is religious, being mixed-race in a mostly-white highschool, and all the super cuuuute dating tropes your heart could want. Kai is the most adorable blushing disaster gay who spends like 10mins looking at a text with a kissy emoji from his crush and being like "THAT WAS PROBABLY AN ACCIDE This book just asked you on a date for soft warm cinnamon waffles and told you that you're doing your best. 🥺 It's a soft one, peoples!! It's got: fake-dating, sexuality questioning, coming out when your family is religious, being mixed-race in a mostly-white highschool, and all the super cuuuute dating tropes your heart could want. Kai is the most adorable blushing disaster gay who spends like 10mins looking at a text with a kissy emoji from his crush and being like "THAT WAS PROBABLY AN ACCIDENT DOES HE LIKE ME???"

I definitely call this a cute feel-good contemporary, but it's not all perfect and easy going. The ending tackled some deep harshness but it leaves such messages of love and hope.

Did I mention it has FAKE DATING!??! Bryson Keller (loveable golden retriever style popular soccer player) agrees to a dare where he dates someone new each week for 3 months. But other people have to ask HIM. It's all superficial and fun and the highschool is in on the game...until Kai Sheridan (resident awkward writer) gets annoyed and asks Bryson Keller to date him. This is complicated because Kai is closeted. But, for some unknown reason, Bryson says yes. And look, we know up front our son Bryson cannot be super straight (he's like the DREAM kind sweet boy too by the way; your new fave unproblematic white boy) and I so appreciated the unpaking of "not knowing". Some people just don't know or think to question their sexuality, so I appreciated how the book tackled this.

I also hear people say they've "read enough coming out stories", but it's a conversation that still needs to be said and there are still so many versions to tell. Kai is mixed race (South African dad and Caucasian mother) and they are also heavily religious. My heart wrenched for Kai as he wondered if he could tell his happy-easy-going-jokey parents this deep and pure truth of himself.

You can also see how deeply #ownvoices this is with all the love and aching on the page (the author's note in the ARC is amazing; about how he wrote this to encourage teens and to inspire more POC and queer authors to tell their stories).

There's also several times in the book where someone talks about how unfair it is that gay teens can be outed, or treated badly, or rejected, or abused. "I can't believe it's still happening!" they say. Which is, you know, super privileged to even utter. It does happen still, all the time. The anxiety that queer teens face every single day is represented so palpably in this book; it IS unfair and ridiculous, but it's not a thing of the past.

One thing I would've liked to see, though, is a bit more flow to the dialogue, and while I think romcoms are cute, I personally prefer a little more plot?

Super cute, feelsy and loveable -- this is the kind of #ownvoices queer romcom that you need to try! It will definitely make you smile and your heart just go sQUisH. ...more

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May 07, 2020 AnnaLuce rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-edelweiss, favourite-romances, my-feelings, 5-good-reads, 2020-reviews, light-reads, lgbtqia, own, ebooks-i-own

3 ¾ stars

“But what does normal even mean? Who decided that? And why are gay teens still forced to keep secrets and live double lives?”

It seems I'm not an Ice Queen after all...this book melted my heart.
Date Me, Bryson Keller is an incredibly sweet and thoughtful YA romance that can be easily read in one sitting. Before I move onto my actual review however I wanted to address some of the bad rep this book has been getting. Some reviewers (who haven't even read it) are insinuating that this book is a rip off of Seven Days a BL manga. The two works do share the same premise and Kevin van Whye acknowledges this in his author's note. In fact he says that a number of stories influenced him:
“I owe a great debt to all of them, including the Norwegian web series Skam (particularly season 3), To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (as well as the film adaptation, Love, Simon), the manga Seven Days: Monday-Sunday by author Venio Tachibana and illustrator Rihito Takarai, and the '90s romcom She's All That. Date Me, Bryson Keller is my #ownvoices take on these prior works.”
YA romances are not renown for their originality so I'm not sure why some are crying 'outrage' without even having read Kevin van Whye's book. His novel reworks the 'popular guy dates different people each week' premise of Seven Days. These two works have very different characters, settings, and themes (also, most BL and GL mangas do not realistically portray the struggles of those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community).

Anyway, moving onto my actual review: Date Me, Bryson Keller is a delightful and surprisingly heart-rendering read. Kai Sheridan narration is compelling and I deeply felt for him. In spite of his awkwardness he's capable of admirable self-respect. Due to a dare the most popular boy his private school has to date someone new every Monday. The first person to ask him gets to date him for a week. Although Kai wants to keep his head down, and is not ready to tell his friends and family that he's gay, he finds himself asking Bryson out. To Kai's surprise Bryson agrees. Over the course of the week the two secretly fake date. They meet up in the morning, go out for breakfast together, study together, and quite quickly they get to know each other. As Kai's feelings towards Bryson intensify he begins to question whether they are reciprocated.
To begin with this struck me an impossibly cute and lighthearted story. Bryson is an actual Cinnamon Roll™ and it was so refreshing to see his relationship with Kai develop without any unnecessary angst. I also really appreciated Kai's character arc. Things do eventually take a turn for the worst, and Kai has to deal with a lot. Through Kai's story Kevin van Whye dispels this myth that homophobia' no longer exists or that if it does it never originates from young people. Kevin van Whye maintains a wonderful balance between love story and coming of age, and alleviates the more heart-rendering parts of his novel with humour. The interactions between Kai and Bryson had me smiling like an idiot.
I will definitely be reading this again and I'm looking forward to Kevin van Whye's next novel.

Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads ...more

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Sep 06, 2020 Meags rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bi-ofy-gfy, mm, book-boyfriends, borrowbox, lgbt, athletes, best-of-the-fricken-best, mm-faves, romance, best-couples

5 Stars

This was a read-in-one-night kind of book—which are far and few between for me these days, and subsequently deserves all the stars for entertaining me so completely.

I absolutely adored and devoured this sweet, funny and heart-warming LGBT themed YA book. Featuring relatable characters and telling a fun and romantic, but also very poignant and relative story, Kevin van Whye has delivered a wonderfully memorable debut here—one that might just take the cake as my favourite YA release of the 5 Stars

This was a read-in-one-night kind of book—which are far and few between for me these days, and subsequently deserves all the stars for entertaining me so completely.

I absolutely adored and devoured this sweet, funny and heart-warming LGBT themed YA book. Featuring relatable characters and telling a fun and romantic, but also very poignant and relative story, Kevin van Whye has delivered a wonderfully memorable debut here—one that might just take the cake as my favourite YA release of the year.

The story tells that of a queer, mixed-race teenage boy named Kai, as he experiences the highs and lows of an unexpected first love, in what is ultimately his coming-out journey, filled with moments of joy, hopefulness and a show of great personal strength and resilience in face of social adversity.

I adored both Kai and his love interest Bryson, who initially came together in the midst of a well-meaning, fun-loving high school dating dare, wherein Bryson was dating the first person who asked him out each week, just for that week. Although the situation was new and unexpected for both of them, Kai and Bryson built a quick but powerful bond, falling hard and fast for one another with blissful ease, making those dare rules all but obsolete.

I loved the bravery constantly shown by Kai, even when didn’t feel so brave, and I loved how completely accepting and eager Bryson was, not only in embracing who Kai was upon coming out, but also in embracing his own new and unexpected feelings towards another boy. Bryson unashamedly accepted his attraction to Kai with grace and humility, going with the flow and following his heart above all else, and I adored him for it. He was a bit of a dreamboat and a total sweetheart, and I can’t help but feel cheated that I was never lucky enough to know a Bryson Keller when I was in high school.

Despite, for the most part, being a fun and romantic story, it also managed to pull at my emotional heartstrings. It had me smiling and swooning one minute, and raging and rallying the next. Although I referred to this as Kai’s coming-out journey, disgracefully, for those responsible, many of his significant coming-out moments were stolen/forced on him by other people, and for that I became a total rage-monster of indignation and disgust on Kai’s behalf. No one should ever have such a personal and meaningful experience taken away from them, but poor Kai did so on more than one occasion. To this, all I can say is that, however frustrated and heartbroken I was on Kai’s behalf, I was also proud of the way he handled himself and I was thankful there were enough supportive people in his life to rally around him.

At this point, I want to give a special shout-out to Kai’s thirteen-year-old sister Yazz, who was an absolute champion of a secondary character, acting as Kai’s biggest support and most vocal advocate to his fundamental right to simply be himself without fear of rejection or judgement. She was something truly special and we should all be so lucky to have family like her in our lives.

Kai’s and Bryson’s story was an absolute pleasure to read and easily one of my favourites of 2020. I enjoyed every single minute of this reading experience and I now await Kevin van Whye’s next offering with overly-eager grabby little hands! ...more

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May 26, 2020 Optimist ♰King's Wench♰ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boys-who-like-boys, lgbtq, contemporary, young-adult, ng

Where's the com in this romcom?

I was waiting for it. I wanted it. But not one chuckle did I have.

Ironic since this story bursting at the seams with social justice issues one of which being how queer kids never get the romcoms, HEAs and the like, instead being relegated to the funny friend or killed off. So I was surprised that not only was Date Me, Bryson Keller not funny but Kai, our protagonist, was put through the gauntlet.

Don't get me wrong the relationship between Bryson and Kai is sweet an ...more

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Feb 15, 2020 Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ marked it as to-read

Ohhh this sounds exactly like my kind of book!
A dare and two guys dating?
For only a week and they begin to like each other?
I'm so here for this!!!

Why is May still so far away?!
(I swear I didn't mean to rhyme again! It's totally coincidental. It just... happens. *lol*) ...more

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Apr 30, 2020 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.25/5 Stars

Trigger warnings for homophobia, bullying, a character being outed

Full review HERE

This was such a heartwarming and fluffy read, it's definitely the feel-good book I needed right now and I'm so glad to have read it!

The premise was quite fun and interesting, but what really did it for me were the two main characters, Bryson and Kai. I just liked them so much! Even though this book take ...more

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Jul 26, 2020 peachygirl rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2020

Awkward and adorable, I loved this couple so much!
RTC.

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May 20, 2020 Jessi ♥️ H. Vojsk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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?

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 com ...more

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May 20, 2020 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs, smilings-my-favorite, teenie-bopper-books, tropey-yum-yum, read-in-2020

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

If you know me you are aware that I’m not much of a television watcher. Especially since the invention of subscription services - mainly because I’m terrified that I might become one of these people . . . .

At this point in quarantine I’m finding myself easily getting through a book in a day and since I am an old lady my eyeballs be B.U.R.N.I.N.G. and begging for a reprieve. Now comes dilemma #2 – the husband and I have remained (f ...more

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Jan 09, 2020 tappkalina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star, lgbt-read

19 June 2020

You know you spent your time wisely when the book you've just finished makes your whole body grin.
Also, Bryson is on the sweetheart boys list with Nathan from I Wish You All The Best.

At every 10 percent I needed to post how this is the softest shit ever, that I'll die from softness and I'm too sigle for this. If that hasn't convinced you to pick this up, I don't know what will.

I have to tell you, I hesitated to pick this up despite being one of my most anticipated reads, because I sa ...more

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Apr 01, 2020 Tucker (TuckerTheReader) marked it as not-released-tbr

Shelves: romance, young-adult, lgbtqia

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Jul 04, 2020 Teal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtqi, m-m, reviewed, young-adult, read-in-2020, ntma-2020, ebook, fiction

A charming and upbeat debut by an author I hope to see more of.

From the blurb:

Everyone knows about the dare: Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new -- the first person to ask him out on Monday morning. Few think Bryson 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.

That brave boy who does the asking is the POV character, Kai Sheridan. And it wasn’t actually bravery on his part, just an impulsive (and A charming and upbeat debut by an author I hope to see more of.

From the blurb:

Everyone knows about the dare: Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new -- the first person to ask him out on Monday morning. Few think Bryson 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.

That brave boy who does the asking is the POV character, Kai Sheridan. And it wasn’t actually bravery on his part, just an impulsive (and immediately regretted) moment of exasperation. Kai has long known he’s gay, but always intended to keep it a secret until he was away at college and starting a new life. Coming out to anyone — much less Bryson, whom he barely knows — was never part of the plan.

But once their fake (and secret) dating is underway, it swiftly acquires a momentum that sweeps them both into uncharted territory.

I loved Kai’s combination of confidence and vulnerability. Although you can't tell by the cover -- #coverfail -- he's mixed race, with a black South African father and a white American mother. Sometimes YA characters feel off to me, but I found both Kai and Bryson credible -- even though the latter was perhaps a little too perfect to be true. But I forgave that because he was so adorable. They were both adorable. There was a lot of adorability to go around, and I was here for it.

There’s also a strong supporting cast of friends and family members, some of whom are quite perceptive, some oblivious. They’re well-drawn, and even the “villains” are more than caricatures. Although I do not like the device of (view spoiler)

The most significant weakness, for me, was the nature of the big crisis near the end. There’s simply no way that particular action could have happened outside the realm of adult supervision. I couldn’t suspend disbelief, and I was sad to see the story stumble that late in the game. Still, overall this was a treat, and it made me glad I hadn't given up on reading contemporary YA, like I’ve so often sworn I would do.

A note: The author has pointed out, and some readers have picked up on, the fact that this story was inspired by the manga Seven Days: Monday–Sunday. Recycling story ideas is as old as time (which is probably why ideas aren’t copyrightable). Transposing stories to new media, and into new settings, makes them available to a new audience. For example, plenty of people who were never, ever going to sit down and read a Jane Austen novel got to experience Emma by way of Clueless. I see this book in the same light. I sampled Seven Days, but I’m extremely sensitive to art style, and the manga aesthetic is not for me. I'm happy that Kevin van Whye creatively reimagined the concept into a Western setting and a written format. ...more

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Sep 12, 2020 Oscar rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, 2020-releases

"It was real then. And it's real now. I wish you were here."

I thought I was so over with all these cheesy YA romances but look at me now!!

The story all started with a dare to Bryson Keller, famous star athlete at Fairvale Academy. According to the dare he has to date the first person who asks him out every Monday morning until Friday. In short, different person every week. What happens when a guy named Kai Sheridan asks him out?

Basically nothing new just cute and swoon worthy romance. Two te ...more

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Jul 08, 2020 Lisa (Remarkablylisa) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: july-2020, lgbt-books

THIS BOOK IS SO PERFECT IN EVERY SINGLE WAY AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL I LOVE IT SO MUCH PLEASE EVERYONE GO READ THIS NOVEL. THANK YOU PENGUIN TEEN CANADA FOR SENDING ME A COPY FOR REVIEW. ...more

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May 22, 2020 Brenda Waworga rated it liked it

Dawwwww.... that was so cute!!! if you love Simon And The Homosapiens Agenda or Heartstopper.. THIS BOOK IS JUST FOR YOU!

It's a coming of age #Ownvoice book about Kai Sheridan, a gay boy who are affraid and feel insecure for his sexuality then someday he "accidently" date Bryson Keller.. the high school "IT" boy aka The most Popular, handsome captain sport team boy as part of his weekly dating dare.. so it's like a fake date trope thingy

It was fun and light and make me happy while reading this t ...more

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May 19, 2020 Angelica rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2020, romance, release-2020, contemporary

this was a little cliche, a little dramatic, but it was SO GOSH DARN CUTE!!!!!

I was smiling like an idiot the entire time!

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About Kevin van Whye

Kevin van Whye

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Kevin van Whye is a writer born and raised in South Africa, where his love for storytelling started at a young age. At four years old, he quit preschool because his teacher couldn’t tell a story. Kevin’s love affair with stories led him to film school to study script writing. Kevin currently lives in Johannesburg. Find him at: www.kevinvanwhye.com ...more