Review: Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye

Hi all my Bookworms!

My name is Chiara and I am a Bookworm.

How are you all?

I have done so much arranging and planning and re-arranging of thing this month so if there was a book that I have talked about or said that I have read and you really want to read my review of the book, don’t worry! It is coming. I’ve just moved things round so that it works better for me.

And that means that we are starting Pride month of right. I read this a couple of weeks ago now, right after it was released. I loved every second of it and I couldn’t wait to share it all with you! So … I’ve jumped this review to the top of the queue.

Disclaimer: The Waterstones links below are affiliate links meaning, at no additional cost to you, I earn commission.

Published by: Random House Books For Young Readers

Date published: 19th May 2020

Format: e-book

Pages: 336

Genre: Romance, YA, LGBT, Contemporary

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads | Waterstones

When I read the synopsis I thought that this book was going to be really tropey and cliched. But I read it anyway, I guess that was what I was in the mood for. Except it wasn’t as tropey as I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of tropes and clichés but, it wasn’t tired and warn and all the book was about.

The book is a fake-dating trope and it follows Kai and Bryson. Kai is closeted gay, not even his best friends know and he feels like he is living a lie. Bryson is the most popular guy in school. He is captain of the football team (soccer for any Americans) and all the girls want to date him. At the beginning of the book Bryson is dared to date one girl each week. He can’t ask the girl and he has to say yes to the first person who asks him. He has to complete the dare for three months. If he doesn’t finish the three months he has to give up his precious jeep for the rest of the school year and ride the bus to school. When they set the dare no one explicitly said that only girls were aloud to ask. Two months into the dare, in a moment of very rare courage, Kai decides to ask Bryson out.

As I already said Kai isn’t out to anyone and coming out to Bryson was so easy, mostly in part because Bryson made it easy. Everything Bryson does seems easy. Dating Kai, coming out, going to concerts, first kisses. The only thing he doesn’t make look easy is trying to win prizes on stalls at the pier. Kai makes up for that though.

Recently I have read quite a few instalove stories one of which I have already reviewed and another I have planned for next week. This book was everything I wanted, the slow burn, the will-they-won’t-they, it was everything that I want in a romance book.

This is the sort of book that I could see being made into a film. It really along the lines of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. As long as they don’t twist and ruin the story, this would be an amazing rom-com.

This book also made me feel really lucky about how I came out to my parents. Their reactions were amazing and they were really supportive. I suspect that they had been suspecting something for a while, but I am so grateful that my parents reacted the way they did. That I can be honest and open with them and not have to hide who I am in my own household like Kai had to.

My only complaint (of course I have a complaint) is the ending. It was very sweet how it all got resolved. I would love a boyfriend like Bryson. But it was all very sudden. They got back together and there was a bit about some of the other characters, and that was it. I wish there had been slightly more. But it wasn’t enough to detract a star from this amazing book.

I really recommend you read this book this pride month. Actually I hope that you read this book full stop. A great book that we all should read. I recommend for readers young and old, despite it being a YA book (or even because).