“One of the most adorable, big-hearted, charming books in existence.” –Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaWhat 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 … 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 really dated before.
Until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.
Kai Sheridan didn’t expect Bryson to say yes. So when Bryson agrees to secretly go out with him, Kai is thrown for a loop. But as the days go by, he discovers there’s more to Bryson beneath the surface, and dating him begins to feel less like an act and more like the real thing. Kai knows how the story of a gay boy liking someone straight ends. With his heart on the line, he’s awkwardly trying to navigate senior year at school, at home, and in the closet, all while grappling with the fact that this “relationship” will last only five days. After all, Bryson Keller is popular, good-looking, and straight . . . right?
Drawing on his own experiences, Kevin van Whye delivers an uplifting and poignant coming-out love story inspired by classics like Venio Tachibana and Rihito Takarai’s manga Seven Days: Monday-Sunday and the ’90s rom-com She’s All That. Readers will root for Kai and Bryson to share their hearts with the world–and with each other.
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I loved this story. This is a sweet coming out story that left me with a full heart and a smile. Our hero Kai Sheridan is a quiet mixed race kid who blushes easily. Kai has known he is gay for a while but is in the closet because of his family and high school. Bryson Keller is Mr. Popularity and king of the soccer pitch. About as opposite as you can be but they work. I’m still smiling.
It was a good story. Too bad it was plagiarized and written for straight people to feel like they understand what LGBT people go through. It was pretty “quirky” like that.
I literally just finished reading this book after starting it last night. I could not put it down!!!! This book is everything. I fell in love with Kevin Van Whye’s writing style from the first page and head over heals in love with the characters the moment I met them. It is a powerful and important story that I implore every single person to read. It tugs at your heart strings, makes you listen, makes you feel, makes you swoon, my goodness will you swoon, it is absolutely gorgeous. It is one of those books that as an author made me go ‘I wish I could write like that’.
I feel like I can’t write more as like Kelly mentioned above, I don’t want to give any spoilers and I actually don’t think I can articulate more words, I’m just currently swooning and swinging around on my chair as I write this. Kai and his awkwardness, hate for maths, dream of being a writer and his penchant for blushing made me smile so big, there were so many things about him I could connect with that I instantly wanted him as a best friend and don’t get me started on his best friends, Priya and Donny, they were just wonderful. The family dynamics in this book are raw and real and beautiful and I found myself feeling connected to Bryson’s Mom and loving Yazz and Crystal so much, they make you aspire to be like them. Kai’s parents were also rather special. I’m not even going to talk about Bryson Keller because back to the ‘I can’t form words’ part of my review and the ‘I don’t want to give spoilers’, please go and read it and then we can talk.
I cannot wait for more stories from Kevin Van Whye and highly recommend that you check out this beautiful and incredible debut now!
“Being a gay teenager stuck in the closet is so lonely and isolating.”
It’s been a while since I read a good young adult book. This one had me feeling all the feels of liking someone. The butterflies in my stomach, the obsession of checking your phone to see if they had texted you (in my case if they will call!… yes, I’m old! ). All the up’s and down’s and the uncertainty of liking someone. I felt it all!
I could totally picture Kai’s Character. Everything was ok with him. He was sailing by. He had it all planned out how he wanted to come out. So when Bryson came along. Kai’s perfect plan went out the window.
“That’s the thing with labels: they tend to stick to you like unwanted gum. It’s why I’m so careful not to be labeled. More than anything, I do not want to be Kai Sheridan, “the gay one.”
Kai never expected Bryson to be so open. They both let their guard down and fully embraced each other. But to Kai… he thought it was just about the date with Bryson. He never in a million years thought there could be more. He found himself falling.
“That’s the problem with liking straight boys. The story always ends the same.”
Kai was going through a lot. He loved letting himself be open to what it would be like to be with a boy so openly. Someone to share the little things with. But he was also so scared to come out.
“Sometimes hiding is the difference between life and death. It’s why the closet still exists. It keeps us hidden and, more important, it keeps us safe. Living your truth is important, but sometimes living the lie is what keeps you warm, fed, looked after … breathing. Which is something a lot of people looking in from the outside don’t get.”
“It’s unfair how heterosexuals get to love, laugh, and live so freely, while we second-guess everything. Our actions are always cautious.”
I loved Bryson! He jumped in with both feet! He went above and beyond with Kai. He was also figuring things out. Kai opened his eyes. Things clicked with them.
“I choose to be happy. Because I can be. Because I deserve to be. Gay means happy, too, you know.”
I really enjoyed this book. All side characters and all. Donny and Priya were the best friends I wish everyone could have! Yass… was the annoying little sister. But, She would defend you no matter what! I loved Bryson’s mom and sister. Kai’s parents are good people. They had a honest reaction. But made up for it.
It’s been a while since I totally devoured a book in one sitting. I wish there was more! I would love to read more of Kai and Bryson!!! The College years!!!!
“We deserve to be loved, supported, and accepted. We deserve to be happy. Always.”
*ARC provided by Random House Children’s via Netgalley*
This is a great coming out story. The portray is real and while it’s not all smooth sailing, it is a wonderful story with an HEA. I enjoyed reading this very much and was really rooting for these guys.
Awesome book from a new to me author!
Kevin van Whye’s debut novel, Date Me, Bryson Keller, is, in a word, fantastic, and exemplifies everything a good book should be. It’s sharp in its observations; its message is heartfelt and uplifting; its protagonists are sweet and funny and genuine, and their obstacles and dilemmas are met with a warmth and understanding that only someone familiar with those experiences could write with such care and attention. If this novel is indicative of the author’s overall gift for storytelling, I want more.
Fake boyfriends is not a new or unique trope, but rarely has the concept charmed me the way it did in this novel. The dreaded dare is given a workout when the most popular boy at Fairvale Academy, Bryson Keller, accepts the challenge to date someone new every week until Spring Break to prove that high school romance is overrated. As the competition heats up to be the first girl to ask him out each Monday morning, it’s that frenzy which unintentionally leads to Kai Sheridan getting there first to do the asking one fateful day. After all, the rules stated someone new, it was never specified that that someone had to be a girl. Not that Kai—the very much not out to anyone Kai—had planned to ask Bryson to date him. That challenge happened in a moment of pique, so imagine Kai’s shock when Bryson—the very straight, popular soccer star Bryson—accepts.
The process of Kai and Bryson spending time together, becoming friends, and Bryson taking his dates with Kai every bit as seriously as he did the dates with the girls who’d come before, reveals something so much deeper than this being a simple game. In fact, it isn’t long before Kai begins to wonder if Bryson isn’t as straight as he’d thought. When Kai discovers that Bryson is taking their dates much more seriously than it being a mere means of fulfilling a bargain, the tenderness in the story and the way van Whye communicates it with patience and sincerity, crystalizes. This novel isn’t all fluff and romantic tropes, however, and it’s when the story touches upon some of its heavier topics—being in the closet, the deeply ingrained fear of coming out, the questioning and exploring of sexuality, and, ultimately, the horror of being forced out—that this book truly shines.
Date Me, Bryson Keller deals in a forthright way with its representation and the importance of a story that its teenage audience may be able to see themselves in, or see in themselves. It’s made up of high school angst and pathos and happiness and first love at its most elemental, and while I am far from the book’s target audience, I still found a personal and profound connection to it that made me love it all the more for its honesty and the immense sensitivity and compassion with which Kevin van Whye tells a story that is so obviously personal to him.
Kai Sheridan immediately grabs your heart. He’s a wannabe writer trying to get his play performed and get into Tisch. He’s also trying to determine when he will come out to his friends and family. One thing Kai knows for certain, he wants to control his own narrative, much like the play he’s trying to finish writing.
Kevin van Whye’s characters feel like the sort of kids you’d meet in a high school. Most of them, anyway. I’ll get to Bryson Keller in a bit. Kai, his best friends, his parents, his guidance counselor and teachers, though? They feel legit. I’ve taught students like Kai before, kids who write in their class journals about their struggles with coming out. I kept thinking of those students as I read this book and how they need it. How I need it in my class library.
I cried (more than once), and I also felt hopeful that people like Bryson Keller can exist in this world. He’s the fantasy here, almost too good to be true. There is a subplot with one of his parents that sort of goes nowhere. I think it’s intended to show us how it formed Bryson, but it doesn’t work.
Still, though, this is a must-read for kids who feel hopeless, and it’s also important for parents and friends of kids who come out. Kevin van Whye creates characters who live in this world, and it’s important that we get to know them.
My Thoughts:
Date Me, Bryson Keller was such a sweet and cute love story, and while I expected this, it also delivered a depth to it that gave me so much more! Bryson Keller appears to be the stereotypical wealthy, and popular sports star. At Fairvale Academy, all the girls fawn over him, and all of the guys want to be his friend.
While at a classmate’s party, Bryson accepts a dare. He will date the first person to ask him out at the beginning of each week for five days. This dare will span for three months, and if at any time Bryson doesn’t get asked out or gets tired of dating, he loses the bet. The price of losing is having to forsake his beloved white jeep, and instead riding the school bus for the rest of senior year.
Kai Sheridan has known he was gay for several years, but has been in the closet. He’s not popular like his best friends Donnie and Priya, but prefers to stay under the radar of his classmates. On a whim, Kai asks Bryson out, and thus begins an adventure in to self- discovery, friendship, romance, heartache, and best of all, love…
I adore the fake relationship trope, and was so excited for Kai to have the chance to experience a fake boyfriend/undercover relationship. It was obvious from the beginning that there was so much more to Bryson than Kai had originally thought. As Kai learned more about the many layers that made up Bryson, I fell in love with him, right alongside Kai. Bryson was very thoughtful, caring, compassionate, and governed his life by a strong sense of fairness. The strong friendship that Bryson and Kai developed had me excited and giddy, as I saw it begin to bloom into more!
Kai was trying to figure out who he was as a person. He was of mixed ethnicity, as well as being closeted, which lead to his inner struggle. Bryson made him stronger, and braver. He helped Kai find his voice, and the both of them were a strong sense of support for one another. The secondary cast of characters were fantastic. I loved Kai’s best friends, as well as Bryson and Kai’s families. However, my favorite secondary character was Kai’s 13 year old sister, who was like a little mini grown-up. She managed to deliver pep talks, life lessons, and sass, at times when it was needed most! I loved this little girl’s spirit, and sense of self.
I could tell that Date Me, Bryson Keller was an #ownvoices story. It came through as being sincere and authentic. This story tugged on my heartstrings, and more than a few times, my husband wanted to know why I was crying. It was such a beautiful story, and I can’t recommend it enough. The story balanced out the adorable, sweet and swoon-worthy moments, with the challenges, emotional pain, character growth, and life lessons. If you are looking for your next good read, look no further!
4.5 Stars!
I adored this book! I have not been reading a lot of YA lately and this was the perfect one to return to the genre with. Date me, Bryson Keller! was an adorably sweet coming of age, coming into ones own tale of Kai, and closeted high school senior, learning to own his life and be truthful with himself and his community. From the first page this book played like a movie in my head and I want to watch it so badly (think: To all the boys I’ve loved before, The kissing booth, 10 things I hate about you, She’s the man…) ATTN Netflix: Snatch up this book and make it into a movie! This is the first book by Kevin van Whye and his writing style, POV and all the characters in the book. I want to send this book to middle schools and high schools across the country, because the message of acceptance is so important. Love is love and “jokes” about sexuality are not funny they perpetuate discrimination. I hope Kevin van Whye keeps writing and expanding on these characters. I want Donny and Priya’s story! I want more of Kai and Bryson, I hope even the sisters get their own books! I encourage everyone to read this story and share it with a teen or preteen that they know! I received an arc of this book and voluntarily give my review.