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. 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. 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. This adorable, good-hearted debut novel by Kevin van Whye totally hit the spot! It was the perfect antidote for all of the heaviness and emotion I've been experiencing lately. But Kai Sheridan never expected Bryson to say yes to him. 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?

KVW: If you'd asked me a couple of months ago, my answer would probably be different, but given everything that's going on in the world, it's a very strange experience. There's a lot of excitement, but there's also anxiety because I feel like it came out and there's really so much going on. Did it get the attention it needed? It’s weird to find the joy in that moment, but I'm happy and proud of what I put out. And I'm glad that readers are finding it and have been messaging me that it's resonated with them, so that makes it all worth it. But being a debut author during a global pandemic is really an experience.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?

MC: I definitely agree. This feels just like one of those '90s rom-coms, which, who doesn't love them? KVW: Yes, that was important to me. Right off the bat, I was glad that... Actually, what happened was, my audiobook producer sent me a list of potential narrators, and he recommended Vikas. And he said he doesn't usually, but having read the book and knowing the narrator, that he would be a perfect match. And when I first heard his audition, I was like, "Yeah, that's Kai, that's who I want to tell the story." So it was a perfect blend of everything. MC: I love the tropes. They, like we were saying, make the story just feel that much more rich, more relatable, and they add that extra layer. There's so much you can do with tropes and they’re so much fun. MC: It's so exciting to get these different perspectives. Like, yes, we got the American story first, and now we're going to get that second one that feels more home to you and more natural to you. I'm excited to see what you have next for us. That brave boy who does the asking is the POV character, Kai Sheridan. And it wasn’t actually bravery on his part, just an impulsive (and immediately regretted) moment of exasperation. Kai has long known he’s gay, but always intended to keep it a secret until he was away at college and starting a new life. Coming out to anyone — much less Bryson, whom he barely knows — was never part of the plan.

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But once their fake (and secret) dating is underway, it swiftly acquires a momentum that sweeps them both into uncharted territory. Becoming the Mask: Bryson was pretend-dating Kai like he usually does with the girls who initiated The Bet until he gained actual romantic feelings for him and ended up dating for real. A large part of the moderate angst in this story was derived from Kai's fears of coming out, which sadly, turned out to be fairly well-founded when the shit inevitably hit the fan.

The Beard: Louise Keaton was Kai's ex-girlfriend of two weeks before he couldn't pretend to be straight anymore. As short as The Beard was, it did the job well in convincing Kai's family he was straight but not interested in dating until proven otherwise.Let me?" With ease, he places the book in its rightful place. He pauses and whispers, "What's the point of having a tall boyfriend if you aren't going to use him?" The absurdity makes me smile. MC: That's really interesting. Another layer that I wouldn't have necessarily considered. I was a public-school student myself. It's just a different world. MC: Yeah, and since the story does take place in the States, how was writing that, coming from South Africa yourself? MC: I couldn't agree more. And thank you so much for telling your story and giving us this amazing lesson. 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.

Another thing that I liked about this story was that, in spite of the fact that it was a YA Coming Out tale, at least for me, it did not read like a preachy " How To Be Gay" manual, for which I was extremely grateful. What 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! Kai is obviously the best example of that, though. We’re told (by him, since the book is written in first person pov) that he’s shy, but then we literally not once get to see it. We’re told he’s not popular, but his two best friends are part of the popular crowd and he gets invited to parties thrown by those kids, and the most popular guy in school knows his name. It’s impossible to pin down anything actually real about Kai. (Apart from the fact that he’s a pretentious asshole, like a lot of teenagers are, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t actually author’s intention.)MC: Definitely. I want to talk about Bryson Keller a little bit more, because he's like the perfect popular it-boy. I think he's probably one of those characters that every queer teen can look to and be like, "Wow, I wish I had someone like that." So what went into crafting this character? The most significant weakness, for me, was the nature of the big crisis near the end. There’s simply no way that particular action could have happened outside the realm of adult supervision. I couldn’t suspend disbelief, and I was sad to see the story stumble that late in the game. Still, overall this was a treat, and it made me glad I hadn't given up on reading contemporary YA, like I’ve so often sworn I would do.