Let’s Talk Books #3: Date Me, Bryson Keller

If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember that Emma and I cohosted a feature called Let’s Talk YA. We decided to revamp this during this world-wide pandemic to become a weekly series where we highlight books that are being published during this time that may not get the release they deserve. We will often feature a review or some other exciting bookish content. This was started last week with some awesome recent releases.

We strongly encourage other people to join in the conversation and promote upcoming books they’re excited about!

Today’s post highlights the romantic contemporary Date Me, Bryson Keller.

I was lucky enough to be allowed to share an extract by Simon at Penguin.

Date Me, Bryson Keller:

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?

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Extract:

“It’s amazing how the dare has spread,” Donny says. When it first started, it was mostly the girls from cheerleading and the soccer team who asked Bryson out. Then the girls from drama class. But now the dare is out there, and people with no real connection to Bryson and those activities are stepping up to ask him out for fun.

“I heard Eric say that if he could ask Bryson out, he would,” Priya says.

I try not to react to the news of another boy wanting to ask Bryson out.

“Eric?” Donny asks. “The gay one?”

I’m pretty sure, like 85 percent sure, that Donny will be fine with me being gay. Generally, he seems really supportive. It’s him saying stuff like this, though, that makes me hesitate.

Priya smacks Donny on the arm. “Eric Ferguson,” she says. “That’s his name.”

I plan on telling both Priya and Donny … after we’ve graduated from high school. I don’t plan on coming out until then, because even in a school with out-and-proud students and an active LGBTQ+ club, “gay” is still a label. It doesn’t matter that Eric is a state champion in chess or even that he’s the vice principal’s son. Those are all second to his sexuality. 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 labelled. More than anything, I do not want to be Kai Sheridan, “the gay one”.

Let’s talk! Have you read Date Me, Bryson Keller? What are some of your most anticipated upcoming releases in the next few months?

Also don’t forget to check out Emma’s Let’s Talk Books post.