Beth Reekles

Beth Reekles (pen name of Beth Reeks, born 7 June 1995) is a Welsh author of young adult fiction.

Beth Reekles
Born	Beth Reeks^[1] (1995-06-07) 7 June 1995 (age 28) Newport, Wales
Alma mater	Exeter University
Notable works	The Kissing Booth (2012) Rolling Dice (2013) Out of Tune (2014) The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance (2020)
Website
www.authorbethreekles.com

Biography

Beth Reekles was born on 7 June 1995^{[note 1]} and grew up in Newport, Wales where she attended local primary school Mount Pleasant Primary and comprehensive Bassaleg School.^[4] She graduated from Exeter University with a degree in physics.^[5]

When Reekles was 15, having grown tired of stories of "vampires and werewolves", she wrote her first young adult novel, The Kissing Booth, publishing it chapter by chapter on Wattpad, a story sharing site.^[4][6][7] The novel was immensely popular, winning the Wattpad 2011 prize for Most Popular Teen Fiction,^[1] and when she was 17, she was offered a three-book contract by Penguin Random House.^[8][9] The Kissing Booth was published by Penguin Random House in 2012, followed by Rolling Dice and Out of Tune.^[10][11] A year later, she was named by Time magazine as one of "The 16 Most Influential Teens of 2013".^[12][13] She was named in The Times as one of the "Top 25 under 20 The new icons of a generation" in 2014.^[14]

The Kissing Booth was adapted for film, also titled The Kissing Booth, which premiered on Netflix in 2018.^[6] A sequel The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance was published in 2020 and a film adaptation, The Kissing Booth 2, premiered on Netflix the same year.^[15] A third film The Kissing Booth 3: One Last Time accompanied by a book was released on 11 August 2021.^[16] Reekles's first adult novel, Love, Locked Down, was published by Sphere Books in February 2022.^[17]

Major works

• The Kissing Booth (2012)
• Rolling Dice (2013)
• Out of Tune (2014)
• The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance (2020)
• The Kissing Booth 3: One Last Time (2021)
• Love, Locked Down (2022)
• Seven Days of You (2022)

Notes

1. Beth Reekles confirmed her birthday to be 7 June in a tweet of 7 June 2018.^[2] Separately, in a blog post, she confirmed that she was 25 in 2020.^[3]

References

1. Gibson, Megan (19 March 2013). "Book Publishing's Latest Success Still Has to Do Her Homework Every Night". Time. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
2. Reekles, Beth [@Reekles] (7 June 2018). "happiest of birthdays to my OTP of BFFs, Lee and Elle!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
3. Reekles, Beth (June 2020). "Vlog: Thoughts on turning 25 and 10 years of being a writer". Beth Reekles Author, blogger, popcorn lover. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
4. "The Kissing Booth: How a Newport teen author inspired Netflix". BBC News. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
5. Westbrook, Caroline (24 May 2018). "Who is The Kissing Booth's author Beth Reekles and is she in the film?". METRO. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
6. "Beth Reekles' The Kissing Booth now a Netflix film". BBC News. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
7. Vincent, Alice (31 July 2018). "The Welsh teenager who wrote a hit film: how Kissing Booth author Beth Reekles conquered Netflix". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
8. Lodge, Sally (3 April 2013). "Random House Acquires Novel by Teen Wattpad Star". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
9. Davies, Andy (21 April 2013). "Teen author Beth Reeks on her major book deal". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
10. Mallenbaum, Carly (27 July 2020). "'Kissing Booth 2': Meet Beth Reekles, the young author behind the popular Netflix rom-coms". USA Today. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
11. Rao, Sonia (13 July 2018). "How 'The Kissing Booth' went from a teenager's passion project to a Netflix sensation". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
12. "The 16 Most Influential Teens of 2013 | Beth Reekles, 17". Time. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
13. Morris, Steven (25 November 2013). "Welsh author Beth Reekles named on list of world's most influential teenagers". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
14. "Top 25 under 20 | The new icons of a generation". The Times. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
15. Weston, Christopher (24 July 2020). "The Kissing Booth 2 book ending explained: Netflix adaptation finally here". HITC. GRV Media. Retrieved 18 August 2020. As you'll be aware, the latest film is an adaptation of the novel The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance, written by Beth Reekles.
16. Boucher, Brooke (11 August 2021). "Beth Reekles The Kissing Booth 3 released on Netflix". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
17. Hackett, Tamsin (21 April 2021). "Sphere acquires lockdown love story from Reekles". The Bookseller. Retrieved 20 May 2021. Beth's novel Faking It was published on 2 February 2023