Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Summary from Edelweiss:

**A New York Times Best Romance Book of the Year** A swoony, heart-melting YA romance from beloved author Rebekah Weatherspoon about two awkward teens who decide to practice dating in order to be good at the real thing. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jenny Han.

Sixteen-year-old Bethany Greene, though confident and self-assured, is what they call a late-bloomer. She’s never had a boyfriend, date, or first kiss. She’s determined to change that but after her crush turns her down cold for Homecoming—declaring her too inexperienced—and all her back-up ideas fall through, she cautiously agrees to go with her best friend’s boyfriend Jacob. A platonic date is better than no date, right? Until her friend breaks up with said boyfriend.

Dumped twice in just two months, Jacob Yeun wonders if he’s the problem. After years hiding behind his camera and a shocking summer glow up, he wasn’t quite ready for all the attention or to be someone’s boyfriend. There are no guides for his particular circumstances, or for taking your ex’s best friend to the dance.

Why not make the best of an awkward situation? Bethany and Jacob decide to fake date for practice, building their confidence in matters of the heart.  

And it works—guys are finally noticing Bethany. But things get complicated as their kissing sessions—for research of course!—start to feel real. This arrangement was supposed to help them in dating other people, but what if their perfect match is right in front of them?

So, I LOVE Rebekah Weatherspoon’s adult romances – super sexy, kinky, and funny. And I was super-excited to have made my one visit to The Ripped Bodice (since I don’t live in California) when Rebekah just happened to be picking up a shift. (I got my copy of Rafe signed, eeeee!) So I was really interested in Rebekah’s debut YA romance. And it sounded so cute.

Fear not! It does not disappoint! Her Good Side is an adorable but extremely relatable fake-dating romance between Bethany, a self-described late-bloomer who wants a little romance, and Jacob, the photography whiz who gets a rep as the hot guy who gets dumped. After Jacob gets dropped by Bethany’s friend for being “boring” (aka quiet and not overtly horny) and Bethany gets turned down for a date because that guy doesn’t want to be her first date (uh, sorta gross my dude), Jacob and Bethany concoct a plan. They will fake date to raise each other’s romantic profile in the school’s gossip network. Does this involve cute Halloween costumes? Yep. Does this involve joint babysitting of rebellious younger sisters? Yep. Does this involve yummy cooking exploits? Yep. And does this involved kissing for “Science”? Double-yep. And then those pesky feelings had to go and get involved.

Oh, these sweet, awkward babies. Look, I know horny teenagers are a thing, but as someone who was also very much “I don’t get the hype” and didn’t date until college because, like, idk I was more into talking and less into doing #iykyk, I heart Bethany and Jacob forever for this. Being a teenager is so weird. You could not pay me enough to go back. But also…would I have liked some “practice time” dating a cute person who wasn’t going to shame me or anything for not being experienced or super-horny or anything? Oh, for sure!

On top of the A-plot, Bethany is working through the process of figuring out who she is and who she wants to be. She’s got two moms and two sisters were/are incredible basketball players and Bethany herself is really good at it…but she doesn’t love it. And since the expectation is that she will also go off to play elite college ball and then pro, she’s so worried that it’s going to change how her family thinks about her if she quits. Her true passion is cooking (yall, her sandwiches sound amazing). The way Weatherspoon explores the process of figuring out yourself through Bethany is so good. Also a great group of diverse friends in this book which is always super fun in a YA. Definite recommend.

CW for some implied fat-shaming/food-policing because Bethany (who is plus-sized) is told she needs to fuel her body better (paraphrasing) for elite basketball.

Dear FTC: I swiped the paper galley from the bookstore.