• About
  • Masthead
    • Editorial Board
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News
    • Residential halls experience maintenance issues
      Residential halls experience maintenance issues
    • Wellesley community grapples with ChatGPT’s implications
      Wellesley community grapples with ChatGPT’s implications
    • Students protest for trans and nonbinary rights
      Students protest for trans and nonbinary rights
    • News in Brief
    • Senate Report
  • Features
    • ES 300 Conducts Waste Audit
      ES 300 Conducts Waste Audit
    • Scholar-advocate visits Wellesley to discuss women and incarceration
      Scholar-advocate visits Wellesley to discuss women and incarceration
    • Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
      Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
    • Alumnae Spotlight
    • Faculty Focus
  • Opinions
    • Navigating Anonymity-Seeking Apps at Wellesley
      Navigating Anonymity-Seeking Apps at Wellesley
    • Trans people are not your culture war
      Trans people are not your culture war
    • The Silicon Valley Bank collapse has exposed how the government chooses to spend its money
      The Silicon Valley Bank collapse has exposed how the government chooses to spend its money
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Arts
    • Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP
      Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP
    • Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
      Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading
    • “Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies
      “Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • No image
      What even is a BORG and why does it matter?
    • What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
      What even are BORGs and why do they matter?
    • What video games can teach us about self-care
      What video games can teach us about self-care
    • Athlete of the Month
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Miss Me With That Gay Shit
      Miss Me With That Gay Shit
    • Tower House Prez Emails
      Tower House Prez Emails
    • Worst Human Being You’ve Ever Met Validated by Stone Center Therapist
      Worst Human Being You’ve Ever Met Validated by Stone Center Therapist
By Ann Zhao Arts, Books Before Boys, ReviewsApril 20, 2022

I just keep on reading fake-dating romances (Books Before Boys review)

Books Before Boys is a curated list of reviews, written by Ann Zhao. Graphic courtesy of Kalie Holford.

It’s so funny that I once made a TikTok about how I don’t care for fake-dating because I just checked my Goodreads reading challenge for this year, and I think “The Feeling of Falling in Love” is at least the third fake-dating book I’ve read this year. Against all odds, I think it’s actually growing on me.

Or maybe it’s because I just love reading anything that Mason Deaver has written. Who knows.

“The Feeling of Falling in Love” depicts a delightfully queer take on the fake-dating trope when Neil, one of two out trans people at his boarding school in North Carolina, takes his roommate (Wyatt) as a plus-one to his brother’s wedding after his friends-with-benefits declares his love for him. 

You know what comes next.

(Neil and Wyatt fall in love. Big surprise.)

I honestly think Deaver should just be in charge of coming up with all YA love interests from now on. Raised by loving gay parents, dreaming of becoming a musician and constantly wary of the entitled rich people at school, Wyatt is absolutely lovely, the perfect foil for Neil. The two of them had wonderful banter and the most adorable interactions together. 

In contrast, Neil is a very flawed main character who makes a lot of mistakes that all kind of compound on each other. He comes from a rich family and thinks throwing money at problems will solve them; he’s quite impulsive; he tends to push people away instead of opening up to them because that’s just what his whole family does. 

But when you have a character with so many flaws, they also have more room to grow, and Neil’s growth is incredibly apparent by the end of the novel. Deaver writes very candidly about the teenage experience. When you’re a teen (or even a tween), every single bad thing that happens to you feels like the end of the world, and Neil’s feelings are no exception to that. 

Needless to say, it’s extremely fitting that the cover of this book depicts a person falling into an on-fire dumpster. That’s just how intense teenage emotions are. I remember being in high school and feeling like the world was ending at every slight inconvenience. 

I can’t write about this book without mentioning the fact that this is a T4T romance; Deaver has been very open in their promotion of the book about Wyatt’s character arc, in which they come to realize they’re nonbinary. As much as a lot of people might consider this a spoiler, it’s really important to the point of the novel — trans kids deserve to read love stories about people like them. 

Deaver’s third novel captures the teenage experience like no other, wrapping it all up in an unabashedly queer story. I absolutely cannot wait for more people to experience it.

“The Feeling of Falling in Love” comes out on Aug. 2, 2022. I received an early copy of the book from the author! (Thank you, Mason!)

Tags

book reviewsbooks before boysromance books

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous article“Our Flag Means Death” & its Unexpected Feel-Good Romance
Next article“Bridgerton” Season 2: a Romantic Fantasy Worth the Watch

You may also like

Hozier stuns with “Eat Your Young” EP

Diana Khoi Nguyen leads workshop and poetry reading

“Cocaine Bear” indicates the return of camp movies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top