So... Nate Plus One...

 

So, I’ve read Kevin Van Whye’s other book, Date Me, Bryson Keller, and it’s one of those that I know I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t tell you what happened in it. Like, I remember the concept, but no idea what happens in it. Anyway, because I know I enjoyed Whye’s other book, that’s why I’m talking about Nate Plus One today.

Our blurb starts with how Nate Hargraves – stage-shy singer-songwriter – is totally stoked for his cousin’s wedding in South Africa, an all-expense paid trip of a lifetime. Until he finds out his sleazeball ex-boyfriend is on the guestlist. Then Jai Patel – hot-as-hell high school rock-god – has troubles too. His band’s lead singer has quit, just weeks before the gig that was meant to be their big break. Nate then agrees to step in to sing for Jai’s band, so Jai volunteers to be Nate’s plus one to the wedding, and the stage is set for a summer of music, self-discovery, and simmering romantic tension.

I will say, the very first thing I thought about this was that it was yet another book revolving around a singer. I don’t know what it is, but singers, or people in the spotlight, have been very heavily present and main characters in stuff I’ve read over the past few months. But from reading this blurb, I wasn’t sure how prevalent the press or fame would be when it came to this book. Because the blurb didn’t mention Nate having fame, and for Jai, it suggested that perhaps he and his band had some level of fame, but they weren’t like selling out venues or anything, and in this one, the media wasn’t really there since the story wasn’t particularly about it.

Chapter one open on both of the boys at a house party, and we actually find out that Nate and Jai are besties, which wasn’t the impression I got from the blurb, since it doesn’t actually say anything about it on there. Still, we find out Nate has a crush on Jai, like, homeboy straight up admits it to the reader. We also find out that he’s stage shy from music camp when he was twelve. And he was also offered the chance to audition for Jai’s band, but his shyness stopped him. Chapter two has Jai turn up to the diner that Nate and his other bestie, Gemma, work at. And it was in this chapter that I noticed we got given a lot of details about places and the people in the US. And I will say, as I read on, with how much of the book was set in South Africa, I really don’t think the book needed to go into as much detail as it did for places and characters that were really only in the first chunk of the book. It was very much, what’s the point of giving us these details for places we’re not going to stay in long? It was very much, "Thank you for this, but I don't need it".

I will also say, the chapters in this book are all pretty short, but in chapter three, we get the detail that Nate is going to South Africa for a cousin’s wedding, and then in chapter four, the lead singer of Jai’s band leaves to join a rival band, weeks before they are due to perform this event that, like the blurb said, would be massive for them. I’m personally quite happy with short, or shorter, chapters, because at least when the chapters are shorter, the book doesn’t feel like quite as big a commitment.

Anyway, when Jai ends up offering to with Nate to the wedding, you get the obvious, “Just a friend?” eyeball emoji moment from members of his family – both his mum in California, and then his aunt when he gets to South Africa.

When Nate is staying in South Africa, he’s staying on this farm that his dad grew up on, and there are moments where he and Jai are doing bits of farm work, and being completely honest? I wish there had been more of the farm era included in the book. It’s fairly short for a novel, clocking in at around 240 pages, so there was the space for it. It could have been a cute little era of domesticity for Nate and Jai. Especially since there are two different points in the book where they do farm work. Again, I wish a little more time could have been spent on the farm, because I think the moments where the two of them were just spending time together, just doing things like this, were where the book was at its strongest.

Also, Nate and Jai end up getting Nando’s, as in the chicken place. And the first time they get it, Nate talks about it like it’s the greatest food that has even been invented. Now, maybe it’s better in South Africa than it is the UK, but here in the UK, it’s nowhere near as good as Nate made it out to be. Like, when I’ve been, it’s been fine, but not as gaggy as Nate seemed to think it was.

But to stay on the food train for a moment, there is plenty of reference to South African food, and culture, and the terms that they use for different things. I appreciated the inclusion of it, because even if I didn’t know what some of the things were, the answers were a simple Google search away. Like, when this book started out in America, I was worried that it was all going to be hyper-Americanised, and there was going to be no inclusion of culture, but there was, thankfully.

As a minor gripe, I felt like this book was sometimes a little more formal than it needed to be, and I mean that in the sense of word choices. Now, I write with an extremely casual voice, because the way I write is the exact same way that I think, so maybe when I read something that feels rigid, it’s something I notice. And I say this because, like I said, some of the word choices felt like they could have been changed to give the book the opportunity to let down its shoulders and just relax a little bit.

And I feel like as it got closer to the end, and this may well just be a personal thing, but I never felt like the book let itself relax. And since it didn’t, when the drama and conflict happened towards the end of the book, there was something that, although everything on paper was correct, I just didn’t connect to. I don’t know how to word it other than it felt like there was something missing from it, but I can’t figure out what exactly it was that was missing.

Like I mentioned earlier in this post, I felt like this book was at its strongest when the characters were just hanging out and doing stuff, like when Nate and Jai were on the farm, and now I’m writing this final part of this post, it’s almost like this book didn’t really let me into the characters as much as I’d have liked it to. I don’t know. Again, on paper, it all the points it needed to, but I don’t know whether the execution was as good as it could have been.

Okay, bye.