ARC Review: Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon

I received this book for free from Bookish First in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Published by Razorbill on May 30, 2023
Genres: YA Sports Romance
Pages: 304
Source: Bookish First
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:

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 Saylor 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?

My Review

I thought this sounded like a really cute fake dating YA romance, and I was right! I adored Bethany. While I’m not a crier like her, or good about just saying what I think like she does with most people, I totally understood her feelings about when she got rejected, as well as her crush and not being able to talk to the guy she found really attractive. Her friends were all really good friends, honestly for the most part, there weren’t any really mean or evil people in the story. Sure there were gossipy teens, and some that may have taken that and their teasing of her or Jacob kind of far, but really the characters seemed real to me. Even her moms, in the end, were really just supportive, and wanted what was best for her.

The whole film side of Jacob was really neat to have as his side of the story. I loved the way he did the documentary type of film to help convince her parents about her cooking. I also enjoyed how she wasn’t necessarily considered a perfect cook, and that she knew she might need to take more classes to get better. And I like the way the ending came about, it was perfect! Really this was just a perfect story for me, and I can’t wait to share it with my students next year!