Book Review – Date Me, Bryson Keller

Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. Today I’m bringing you a review of Date Me, Bryson Keller, a YA gay romance. I listened to this audiobook in December, mostly during a bout of insomnia!

Synopsis
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?

Review
This book managed to be happy-go-lucky and carry an important message at the same time. It was at times absolutely beautiful and at others so on point with just how awkward the teenage years are, especially as a gay teen. Oh the memories.

Kai is the most adorable protagonist, and strongly realistic. When he asks out Bryson from sheer annoyance, his immediate thought is “what have I just done?” level panic, which really made me cackle, because I could see myself doing exactly the same thing. (I function on spite and sarcasm most of the time, with a side of books.) When Bryson saus yes, however, he has absolutely no idea what to do with the situation.

And this is where Bryson – a cinnamon roll is ever there was one – came into full play. He might have been hesitant at first, but a deal is a deal, and he accepts. What he also does, which made me want to wrap him in bubble wrap forever, was to completely respect Kai’s boundaries (and later reveal he’s always respected the boundaries of everyone who has asked him, as he should). He checks every single time if something is too much, if Kai is comfortable, what he can do to help him, and all the while promises to be the best fake boyfriend Kai has ever had. He goes out of his way to flirt, make him blush, and take care of him, and it was just adorable.

Kai allows himself to utterly revel in having a fake boyfriend, and do all the things he has always wanted to do, starting with flirting back, and ending in falling in love.

This is the kind of love story, with the kind of characters, that you just want to protect forever. In my head, Kai and Bryson live happily ever after.

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to check out some of the other posts from across my blog – you’ll make me very happy!