Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon
What's It About?
Bethany Greene — who is a late bloomer when it comes to relationships — and her best friend’s ex-boyfriend, Jacob Yeun — who just had a shocking summer glow up — decide to fake date for practice, building their confidence in matters of the heart. But things get complicated as their kissing sessions start to feel real.I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to be in the popular clique in high school. I’ve seen them in various movies (possibly written by decidedly unpopular nerds or geeks like me) as mean, extremely confident and very heterogeneous. Those mean girls (and boys) are nothing like the wonderfully-represented, fully-complex teenagers in Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Now, these are the popular kids I’d want to hang with.
Sixteen-year-old Bethany Greene is a star athlete on her school’s basketball team. She’s super chill on most things, except maybe relationships. Before the past summer, the boyfriend stuff wasn’t even on her radar. But when fellow athlete Oliver Guitterez lifted her onto his shoulders at a pool party, all of that changed. And now that she’s finally gotten through last year’s phase of being called “Cry Baby Bethany,” she’s ready for a boyfriend. Well, at least a date to the homecoming dance.
Jacob Yeun is never without his camera, using it almost like a shield to hide behind during social events. But even more so, he’s got #goals to get into USC film school and to be a full-time filmmaker. But since he grew into a total babe over the summer, it’s forcing him from behind the camera into being looked at as potential boyfriend material. Except he has no clue how to be a boyfriend — hence why he got dumped by hot new girl Poppy Carlisle. Now that he’s with the hottest, most popular girl in school, Saylor Ford, maybe he can figure this whole boyfriend thing out.
It’s Always About a Dance
Who doesn’t love a good high school dance? The formal wear, the gaudy decorations, the before-dance and after-dance activities that provide a little bit of risk and a lot of fun. It’s finding a date that’s nerve-wracking. Bethany keeps getting rejected by everyone she’s dared to ask to their upcoming homecoming dance, and Jacob’s girlfriend Saylor has already promised Rhys Hayes she’d go with him … as friends of course. Saylor — who’s also Bethany’s best friend — comes up with the perfect solution: Bethany and Jacob should go to the dance together.
What? Well, it does actually solve both of their problems. They agree to attend the dance together, but days before the event, Saylor dumps Jacob. When Saylor assures Bethany it’s cool to still take Jacob to homecoming, Bethany and Jacob decide to take it a step further. Why not announce they’re dating? Nothing like a good fake relationship to help erase all those misconceptions that they’re undateable.
But is their relationship really fake?
A Fun Read That’s Safe to Recommend
While several YA romances have been known to be problematic recommendations over the years, Her Good Side is not one of those. The representations here of marginalized groups, the body positivity, and the well-written, normalized portrayal of all of these characters take out any hesitation in recommending this book. These teens have teenage-sized problems — puberty, college readiness, being popular — and deal with them in a healthy way, complete with the communication you wish all teens had. It helps to have supportive and positive adults in your life, as the ones in this story are.
Though a few of Bethany and Jacob’s friends are mentioned as being sexually active, the hero and heroine have decided to take things slow, which is another reason adults can feel reassured recommending or gifting this to teens. The way they deal with their feelings and hormones and the decisions they make regarding how they’re going to deal with “the whole sex thing” is mature but complete with characteristic teenage angst, so these characters stay real.
Rebekah Weatherspoon’s YA romance debut is light and fun for all ages of adults, young and young at heart.
Nerdy Romantics Podcast interviewed Rebekah Weatherspoon in which we talked about Her Good Side and her other romance novels. Listen to the episode here or on your favorite podcast provider.
About Rebekah Weatherspoon:
After years of meddling in her friends’ love lives, multi-award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon turned to writing romance to get her fix. Raised in Southern New Hampshire, Rebekah now lives in Southern California where she will remain forever because she hates moving.
With over twenty titles under her belt, Rebekah has covered sub-genres from suspenseful paranormal romance to steamy romantic comedies, and now young adult romance. With everything going on in the world she still believes in love, the fluffier the better. You can find Rebekah and her books on Twitter and her website.
