Date Me, Bryson Keller: TikTok made me buy it!

Product Information

Token Trio: Kai (mixed-race and homosexual) and his two best friends Donny (wealthy, caucasian) and Priya (female, Indian) form this.

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. KVW: I was glad that my publisher supported that because that is an important movement. We've spent, I don't know how many years, watching non-own-voices actors who aren't gay play gay characters and win Oscars for them. And it's like, "But there are actual gay actors out there that could play those roles." And I think that it’s also [true] with audiobooks, that there are queer narrators out there who could read queer stories, but they've never been given the chance. So I'm glad that that was on my side, and we got an amazing own-voices story on both fronts. I did love Bryson Keller. He was the perfect boyfriend, supporting, caring - a nice understanding cinnamon roll. KVW: Thank you. It's been a weird experience. Writing is just you and your computer, you're isolated, and having the book out and having readers actually read what you've written is such a… I don't actually know how to describe that experience. It's taking some time to get used to, but it's exciting… Actually, I today woke up to a message from a reader who said… there's one scene in the book where Kai's mother finds the strip of photos with him and Bryson, and that leads to that big confrontation. Even though it was a fluffy book for the most part, there were also some awful moments that Kai especially had to go through. It was devastating to read and I'm quite glad with how things turned out in the end, even though some resolutions felt a bit rushed and easy.So that was the start of the journey of own voices. But when it came to this specific book, I must say that Love, Simon, the film, and obviously the book, showed that these stories can make it, and they are marketable. There are readers out there for it. So I thought, "Why not shoot my shot and tell an own-voices story?" And, of course, we owe it all to Jenny Han and To All the Boys [ I’ve Loved Before] for reigniting the wave of rom-coms for teens. So it's a really exciting time to write rom-coms. 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 takes place in just two weeks I appreciated how Bryson and Kai's relationship started and then developed. Also, I was surprised to see that to me it did not feel rushed, it felt quite organic actually.

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. There are a lot of complaints I could make about the story itself: Bad dialogue ran rampant. The boyfriend was ‘too perfect’– definitely one we might dream up, but can’t exist. The flow of the story was choppy. The narrative too simple most of the time, the majority of the characters 1-dimensional... Cool Teacher: Miss Henning whose literature lectures are never a dull day when she teaches, wearing snazzy Shakespearian costumes and doing plays instead of textbooks, and defends Kai against Issac's harassment of the former should be playing Juliet by pointing out it's historically proven men played both genders in theatre. Even though I had fun reading this book, I think the writing definitely could’ve been better. It was like someone was telling me a story word by word. Kai is the narrator and, though his narration is a bit choppy and oddly formal for a 17 yr old initially, he is likable which integral to this story. He's tenderhearted, loves his friends and family, is awkward in that adorable, blushing way and is terrified of being rejected once he comes out. Bryson is king of the school who was dared into "dating" anyone who asks him out on Monday for one week. Though we don't get his perspective it's clear he's kind, generous, honest, loyal and incapable of artifice. I liked him a lot. I also loved the secondary characters: Priya, Donny and Kai's amazing and possibly preternatural sister, Yazz.

Featured Reviews

Small Role, Big Impact: Louise Keaton, is mentioned sparingly in the novel but if it wasn't for her spilling soda on Kai's blazer, he would have never been late for drama class, get paired up with the equally late Bryson and initiated The Bet out of frustration.

Extremely Short Timespan: Other than the prologue which happened two months before, the entirety of Kai and Bryson's relationship, and the drama that comes with it, takes place over the course of about two weeks. Other than that, I really liked it and would recommend it. It will make you smile and your heart will melt. A more in dept review will come soon in my Youtube Channel.So even though they're friendly on the surface, you weren't really a part of it. And that's what Kai goes through. He's never really been a part of it because his class is different, his race is different, his sexuality is different, so he doesn't fit in. He was always invited as the plus one, as the extra. But this year, thanks to his lab partner, he was invited by name. And that's an important moment for Kai, because in a sea of richness, he was the odd one out. KVW: Yeah. It was that. I wanted to give that, "Yes, there will be trials and tribulations, but there will be a happy-ending story." And I mean, Bryson Keller's practically Prince Charming. And how many times can you get, in real life, to meet Prince Charming? So I wanted that form of escapism for closeted teens and queer teens, that, "You know, in this moment, we can romance Prince Charming." Thursday Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Friday Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Saturday Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Sunday Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Monday Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Tuesday Chapter 32 Wednesday 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 . . . .

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. Their interactions were everything and on multiple occasions I found myself laughing alongside them and deeply caring for these two young boys.

Don't get me wrong the relationship between Bryson and Kai is sweet and romantic which I enjoyed and kept me engaged but (a) I wish it was more the focal point and (b) every time I turned around Kai was being subjected to yet another awful event in his short life. Para qué voy a leer Date me Bryson Keller? Si quisiera releer Seven Days, voy a la estantería y cojo mis tomos de la obra de Venio Tachibana y Rihito Takarai (de la que hay hasta un live action), no me pongo a perder mi tiempo con una novela que es un plagio. Porque, querid@s mí@s, esto, es un plagio, por mucho que una vez que han pillado al autor con “el carrito del helao” ahora hable de “inspiración” y que mejora los aspectos del manga y tal. KVW: With Bryson Keller, it was first love, whereas with this one, the main character has already been in a relationship, so he's moved on. So it's like, though it's not the big wow of first love, it's another aspect of it. So that's been a fun relationship to explore. And I'm also a fan of friends to lovers, so yay tropes. 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?