This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story audiobook

gay childhood best friends to lovers is literally the only reason i am still alive3.5 ☆things i loved:- diversity! both main characters r poc and lgbt (i'm assuming bi and gay based on what we know, but no one rly uses labels), as is mc's best friend and ex-gf- ollie is hoh and it's never forgotten in the story. the part i liked most is how nate learned asl for him as a kid & all the signs would get described every time they talk but the author would give meaning to them only once. after that, it was up to the reader to rmbr- the idea that an epic love story doesn't have to be Epic™, u just have to be happy & in love & keep trying

this is kind of an epic love story... that's what makes it epic. You don't need to die for each other to make this exciting. Just the fact that you're here together- that's enough. That's epic enough. After reading Callender's latest work, Felix Ever After, I decided they should be a 1-click author. The ringer that I was put through reading Felix's epic love story is one I will gladly sign up for again. Because while there is young adult angst, there is payoff, surprise, closure. And that's all I want in my romance books. This book didn't turn me into a wrung out marshmallow like Felix's story did but I related with Nathan rather viscerally. He is a neurotic, antisocial writer... well, screenwriter.... he wants to be a screen-wright. He did have an overbearing best friend/ex (the kind of drama I'd rather die than endure), and other friends that were picked straight out of a typical American high school movie. But these little- annoyances- didn't matter. Because the best things about this book are Nate's wariness of happy endingsHappy endings aren't real. American Beauty. The Departed. Melancholia. Memento. They've got it right;his love for movies I choose The Matrix (third favorite movie of all time) ...the film club moderator gives us Pan's Labyrinth to watch with its English subtitles- my tenth favorite movie of all time..."You wouldn't stop talking about Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind for months.""Eighth favorite movie of all time"; and Oliver James. Ah Oliver James, another most precious cinnamon roll. I just wanted to smush him in heart emojis and ugh Nate describes him best. He's got brown hair tumbling into his face, brown eyes that shine with the kindness of a thousand nuns, the kind of dimples that'd make even a cold-hearted soul want to pinch his cheeks. This is kind of an epic love story. But I did have a few issues with it. The ending is rather abrupt. And not in an ambiguous literary way. But more of an "Is that it?" moment because I could have used a few more details. Florence, the ever present bff, needed to learn about this thing called boundaries and frankly I found her pushiness very offputting. This book has been compared to Simon v The Homo Sapiens Agenda but I wouldn't go that far. It's quite the cavity inducer but it's lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. If you are in the mood for a lovely low stakes young adult contemporary romance with great lgbtq representation with a socially awkward film nerd protagonist, look no further.

AHHH so cute and sweet and such a fun romance--definitely underrated and I would totally recommend!!!

First, I want to throw all the characters out of the book. Not the book because I still wanted to read till the end. And I did.The writing is good. But then there comes a point I want to throw one very frustrating side character out of this book. And yes, we are talking about very confused teenagers who seem so confused about what they feel and are in relationships they aren’t sure about.There’s nothing outstanding about the characters or the romance or the chemistry of whatever relationship they are trying to have. But the writing is good and the story is realistic. Sometimes it gets too much knowing what the main character is thinking. It’s almost like TMI most of the time.It is the story of a guy who was in a relationship with his girl best friend. She cheated with a girl and now they are friends again. Also, the bi rep could have been a lot better.A childhood friend returns home and they make out while the friend is in a long distance relationship. So here’s the issue everyone is talking about this book.I read the book. I liked how horribly realistic the characters are like the unbearable typical teenagers we all can think about. They are exactly that but we also know they are young adults trying not to mess up things but messing them more in the process. Just like we all usually do. So yes it’s a good one for me. What I like the most about the book is regarding the realistic flawed characters behaving their ages, becoming true to themselves after making mistakes and acting accordingly which I truly appreciate.

Between the books referenced in the synopsis and the too cute for words cover, I knew I had to read this book, and Callender delivered on everything that was promised.Nate was one super sweet and wonderfully awkward hero. Gosh! I loved him to bits! Nate was down with love, and feared letting himself fall again. He spent a lot of the book wrestling with his complicated feelings and complicated relationships, but that was all part of his journey. His exploration was honest and thoughtful, and I know I was rooting for him to take a chance on love.Nate was lucky and had a pretty awesome squad by his side. First of all, they were all so interesting. Flo was an animator, Ashley was a gamer, Gideon was an athlete, and Oliver James was a photographer. Each person had something they were really passionate about, they each had something that was theirs, but they also shared in some way with each other. Their group dynamic was really interesting too. They had their ups and downs, like everyone does, but in the end, they were always there for each other, and the love they shared was really special.I loved Nate's sister as well. These siblings shared a special bond, and Nate's sister was a great cheerleader for him. She encouraged him to pursue his screenplay writing dreams, as well as nudging him to follow his heart.A lot of people are going to talk about the diversity in this book, because let's face it, there are not a ton of books out there featuring queer POCs, and even less featuring queer POCs, who are hard of hearing. Callender organically worked in descriptions of signs and other ways the characters communicated with Oliver, which I loved. But what really stood out to me, was how Callender allowed their characters to just be who they were. There was no coming out and no labeling. It's sort of how it should be, where people just love who they love. No explanations necessary. And why did I love that? Because this book was not about being queer per se, it was a love story, and it was a sweet and adorable love story at that.This book was near perfection for me. The one thing that would have put this over the top is if it had an epilogue. The ending was good, but too brief. It was like the beginning of an ending, and I just needed a little bit more. Don't misunderstand me. I was smiling with tears of joy in my eyes, when I finished this book, but I needed to know a little bit more about the near future for the characters, because I cared so much about them and their future together.This book was about so many things. It was about second chances and following your heart. It was about friendship, being a friend, and family. It was about pain, grief, and loss. But mostly, it was about love, and the different ways it can permeate our lives.*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review. BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS

3'5 en realidadReseña completa: AQUÍ'Una historia de amor épica' es un libro que nos presenta a Nate, un adolescente con sentimientos confusos, ganas de independencia y libertad, una madre algo protectora, una hermana que lo adora, buenos amigos y que vive un reencuentro muy especial. Él no cree en los finales felices porque tiene miedo a la pérdida, a sufrir, a que las cosas no salgan bien, y eso le lleva a dudar a la hora de tomar decisiones y arriesgarse en el amor. Pero poco a poco irá cambiando, encontrando la manera de convertirse en adulto, de que su madre lo tome en serio sin ese miedo a perderlo, de aceptar lo que siente y hacerle frente, y, sobre todo, de ser feliz sin miedo a lo que pueda pasar. Es un libro que me ha gustado mucho, en el que los personajes actúan y hacen idioteces como los adolescentes que son, y que tiene una historia de amor muy bonita, con inclusión, aceptación, normalidad y naturalidad. Os lo recomiendo si os gustan este tipo de historias porque os va a emocionar seguro.

The writing was a bit clunky, and Nate made me want to throw the book across the room on occasion, but it also had a really freaking cute romance, and the characters were (mostly) great. Also it made me tear up. Not that it was *that* emotional but,,, it somehow did anyway.RTC.

Nate is an aspiring screenwriter dealing with grief and guilted with feelings for a close friend. Due to his own insecurities and pessimism, he may lose everything if he can't find his way out of his own head. Re-Enter Ollie James, the ASL signing friend and passionate photographer, who left five years prior, dealing with divorced parents, and his own insecurities too. Supported and encouraged by friends and family, things go awry, but it may just turn out to be...kind of an epic love story. Featuring a diverse cast of well-crafted characters, a flawed protagonist in Nate, a quick-paced novel with a big heart and very real situations, this book serves as a love letter to movie buffs and anyone who has ever wanted to root for a happy ending...though it may not happen like it does in the movies...or does it?

It’s impossible not to go into a book that’s been compared to other titles in a genre with a healthy amount of skepticism. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and one of my all-time, hands down, always and forever faves, Boy Meets Boy, are two novels that set a higher standard in the LGBTQ YA Romance genre, so I may have gone into This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story with a hyper-critical eye as well as inflated expectations. I disagree that this book is a romantic comedy, at all let alone on par with the other two books, but I did come out of it, in the end, charmed by the story and its characters, and that’s always a worthwhile exchange for my time. Sixteen-year-old Nathan Bird is a cynic at heart. He has some issues with the concept of happily ever after—namely that he doesn't believe in it in spite of everything the movies he adores have to say about the subject. Nate has firsthand, real life experience that love always ends badly, and when it does, it always hurts epically.Nate's mom still mourns the loss of his dad seven years ago, hasn't moved beyond her loss, and has a difficult time not projecting her worry and grief into a stifling yet understandable protective streak. More recently, Nate's ex-girlfriend, Florence, cheated on him and broke his heart, leaving him painfully confused but still determined to be her friend. As a matter of fact, the subject of cheating comes up more than once in the story, so be aware, if that's a hard pass for you, but I have to say I found it fairly innocent in context, in the way the heart and emotions are a bit more fickle when we're young and living to learn from our mistakes.Years before this most recent heartbreak, however, when Nate was just eleven years old, he made the mistake of kissing his best friend Oliver James Hernández, mere moments before Ollie was set to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his parents. And Ollie was never heard from again. So, Nate’s pessimism, where love is concerned, is well-fed in the short span of his existence. He’s been conditioned to expect the worst and believe that giving his heart away will do nothing but leave it in tatters. It stands to reason that his best and only option, then, is to keep his emotions locked down tight, to keep his heart in check rather than risk the journey that's bound to leave him feeling like hell.Nate's struggle to accommodate his lingering feelings for Florence is complicated when, five years later, Oliver James unexpectedly returns to Seattle, and Nate realizes, much to his dismay and confusion, that his rekindled friendship with Ollie is starting to look and feel an awful lot like he still loves the boy to whom he’d given his first kiss. Nate's story exams the relationship between friends and significant others and how, in a thoroughly plausible and confusing-to-Nate way, it's possible to feel romantic love and longing for two people, simultaneously. In doing so, the fear of losing both Florence and Oliver James causes Nate's anxieties to become self-fulfilled prophecies as he lashes out, believing self-preservation is his only means of keeping his heart intact. Because falling in love is easy, sometimes it isn't at all pretty and perfect, and it's staying in love that's the hard part. Kheryn Callender doesn't promise things that her characters can't deliver. It’s admittedly been a helluva long time since I was a teenager, but who doesn’t remember their first love, their first kiss, their first time, their first breakup—all the emotional complications, entanglements, and the moments fraught with the belief that nothing would ever be okay again, when everything felt like the end of the world? I thought Callender did a lot of things right in this book, including portraying those moments authentically. The characters read like teenagers with genuine teenage angsts and embarrassments. The avoidance of over-romanticizing and unrealistically portraying Nate and Ollie’s first sexual experiences was appreciated, and Callender offers a perfect in-the-moment ending that doesn’t over-promise things the characters are too young to convey. The diversity in representation is authentic to life in a real-world setting, and Oliver James being hearing impaired but not tokenized is yet another facet that made this story special. The way in which communication was so integral to participation in the story for readers sets the book apart. Nate scripts his life into story and his story into life. His love of films, filmmaking and his goal to become a screenwriter himself, plays an important role in the telling of this short but significant chapter in what will be the whole of his life’s journey, a journey to adulthood through surviving the complicated and sometimes overwrought emotions of being a teenager.

Full review: https://bookpeopleteens.wordpress.com...In conclusion, I really liked This is Kind Of An Epic Love Story, and I think it was a really relatable and fun book that many different kinds of readers can enjoy. It is an awesome novel for fans of Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera, Julie Murphy, and Dear Evan Hansen (which is going to be a book soon so it counts (also the only real reason I’m including it is because Bird wears an arm cast for most of the book and Evan has made casts iconic)) Rating: Five/FiveFavorite quotes:- “I have a thought that’s starting to become more and more of a recurring theme in my life: I probably should’ve just stayed home and watched Friends with my mom.”- “If you feel the need to do it - to write, or paint, or take photos, or anything - then that’s what you have to do. That’s the one most important thing you can do. Because if you don’t, then there isn’t any point to anything, right? You’ve got to do it.”- “I’m realizing it doesn’t really matter if we have a happy ending or not. We’re happy right now. That’s the important part, right?

"Epic" is a pretty big word to describe this "Love Story". I found it a bit confusing at times. Nathan loved Ollie, but since Ollie moved, he ended up with Florence. That didn't work out so well, they're now best friends. But did they not workout because Nathan is gay or bi? I must be showing my age because sexual orientation wasn't an issue in this book. I wonder if that's the case for today's high school kids? So it took me a while to accept when Nathan said he still loved Flo and also the recently returned Ollie. I only had minor feels and was pleased with the ending. 3.50 for big sisters.

Very sweet and very queer! I so want these babies to live all their artistic dreams. This brand of high-hormone hot-and-cold romance in YA stresses me out a bit, though. (Side note, I absolutely loved that the main character was very indifferent to using his smartphone, busting every stereotype of his generation.)

I liked this book a lot, but I just didn't love it. Like, I really liked the characters and their relationships because they were super messy and real, but they could get incredibly frustrating at times. I just have quite a few feelings on this which I'll probably express in a longer review, but I'd definitely recommend this book! 2 QPOC? Falling in love? The LI being Deaf? Just, YES