Her Good Side

By: Rebekah Weatherspoon

Narrated by: Marcella Cox, Daniel K. Isaac

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

**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?

©2023 Rebekah Weatherspoon (P)2023 Listening Library

Critic reviews

“Queen of romance Rebekah Weatherspoon is blessedly making her YA debut with this fake dating triumph.”—Buzzfeed

“Rebekah Weatherspoon delivers a fresh, addictive read full of pitch-perfect dialogue; fun, likable characters; but most of all, heart.”—Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries

“The biggest chef’s kiss for Rebekah Weatherspoon’s funny, tender, utterly charming YA debut. Her Good Side is the kind of book that leaves you giddy.”—Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author

I was surprised how sophisticated yet youthful and relatable this book was.

I'm just waiting for a sequel. I love the courage that Jacob had to love Bethany and show her a new perception of herself.

V cute

I like how cute this story is and how she really goes in depth with their personality. it's cute and fresh 😍

I am so glad i gave this a chance

If you are looking for something short and cute this is it!
I an usually not a YA girlly but this was really cute! I really resonated with the fl.

such a cute, quick, fun read!

I love of a friends to lovers, fake dating story! Both of the main characters are so lovely and awkward, and their chemistry was off the charts. I adored this book! Also the narrations helped immerse me so well, well-casted!

Love, basketball and sandwiches

Loved the 'we're only faking it' to 'uh-oh I caught feelings' storyline. What was also central was Bethany's feelings about basketball and the importance of sandwiches. A quick, feel good story. I appreciated the separate voices for the main characters. It really helped bring the story to life.

Absolutely adorable

This book was a much needed break from the more mature listenings I've been doing. Thank you.

Cute inclusive story

I love all the inclusion and how cute this story was it made me laugh and smile love it

cute teen romance!

I loved this book and the rapport between Bethany, Jacob and her friends! ❤️

I love this book

I love the plus sized black women lead. The awkward cute moments are my favorite I can relate so much.

Perfectly Charming!

I don’t often do YA romance anymore but randomly picked one of my Weatherspoons off my TBR list. I was prepped for cowboys. I’m so glad I gave it a few chapters because I became GLUED to this charming story.

Bethany & Jacob are high schoolers who want some practice dating and in the process of deciding they can do that with each other, also get really honest. Their friends are a help, not a hindrance. Their families aren’t perfect (they get close) but love their kids. Its about finding out who you are and what you want when you’re already good at other things (her), or not always excelling where you’d like to excel (him). There’s social media & influencers. It’s about friendships that come with romance, and romance. It’s great.

At risk of sounding like faint praise, here’s what’s NOT in the book: cringe & shame. So much popular YA media relies on cringey interactions to portray the angst of being a teen & figuring yourself out. This book, thankfully doesn’t. While a cis straight romance, it features a multiracial cast & LGBTQ characters as a matter of course. They are never cringe. They are not jokes. Among adults, there are parents in varied professions & a teacher who understands teaching. None of the adults do stereotypical teen movie weirdness. There are “embarrassing” talks about safe sex that are fine. You can trust the author to treat all her characters respectfully. (We just don’t spend quality time with the slightly malicious gossip hound. We move on.) There’s content that discusses fat shaming that’s related to plot but it’s not truly shaming so much as it’s a thing that needs addressing in our diet obsessed world and no one is deliberately made to feel bad. There’s a brief reference to the pandemic & the tattoo shop still masks (yay!!) even if the HS doesn’t, but that too reflects our reality of Terrible Public Health, and is better than most. So what I’m saying us that while it’s a very teen romance dealing with teen problems, they’re real problems handled respectfully enough that adults like me won’t tap out. It’s a safe read, emotionally. The kids are alright.

Steam: Appropriately low. There’s on page kissing & petting but it’s not overly detailed. There are safe sex discussions & discussions of options, but the characters are together here because they’re novices who want to take things slow & that is respected. Consent is clear.

Narration: Very well done. Even though the male & female narrators switched off, their voicing was so good I sometimes forget I could use them to know whose POV it was (I was sleepy, and stayed up too late listening.) Just an overall pleasure to listen to.