My Fair Brady By Brian D. Kennedy

Wade is selfish, confidently so, or at least that’s what everyone tells him. He wants the perfect senior year, the perfect boyfriend back, and the lead in the school play. Though when casting doesn’t go his way, he knows he has to do something big to make sure the rest of his desires come true. Elijah, a shy, trivia-obsessed boy, wants to be confident. So, who better to ask for help than the most confident boy at school?

Over the last few years, I’ve read quite a few YA books and was starting to believe I’d outgrown the genre. So many books in the genre feel OTT,  blocky, or have made me roll my eyes to the point of ache. My Fair Brady has broken this trend, making me fall in love with the genre again.

With eccentric but lovable characters, I found myself falling in love with this book with each page turn. Elijah is adorably shy, but with an eagerness to be accepted that I’m sure we’ve all felt at some point. Wade is over the top and selfish, though deep down he has a heart which means well. Both characters feel real, authentic in a real-world sense and in the context of the world in which they are written.

The plot of this book is a fun one, something that could have been handled poorly by so many authors. Brian D. Kennedy knocks it out of the park with a slow-burning narrative that hits all of the highs and lows right at the point where they are needed. Everything feels earned; there’s none of the insta-love themes that so many YA novels seem to rely on. You can pinpoint each movement in Elijah and Wade’s relationship, from strangers to acquaintances to friends, and then to more.

Although there are many side characters, none of them really gets in the way of the story. They are used when needed, and then step back when not. None of them feels shoe-horned, making perfect sense narratively. It’s nice not to have a distracting b-story about characters you don’t know or care about.

If there were a change I’d make to the novel, it would be to cut a few of the chapters at the end. Brady and Wade’s falling out felt rather tedious, especially from Elijah’s point of view. A few of them felt like world count fillers, I’d have maybe gotten rid of the drinking scene. I don’t feel like Elijah really needed to get dry humped to know he doesn’t want sex.

Overall this is an excellent read with which I’m sure many could fall in love.

4/5 stars!!!