Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Pub Date: 5/30/2023

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GoodReads Synopsis: 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?

Review: I love Rebekah’s romance books and was excited to hear that she’s releasing her young adult debut, Her Good Side. This YA contemporary romance contains fake dating, late bloomers, self discovery, and friendship. This was my first read of 2023 and I thought it was a cute read. I loved the budding relationship between Bethany (a star basketball player who wants to be chef) and Jacob (a skater boy/want to be filmmaker) who decide to fake date for a homecoming dance. Bethany and Jacob’s families and friends were all wonderful supporting characters and really loved how the author showed healthy relationships among them. I also really liked the dimension that the author gave to each character. I also thought it was pretty cool that Bethany loves Chef Evie’s show (Evie is from Cowboy to Remember). Definitely recommend picking this one up if you’re looking for a fun high school romance read!