Name: Amy Buckle's review of This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender
Item: This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story
Rating: 4
Author: Amy Buckle

Kacen Callender

~Lambda Literary Award finalist for the best LGBT YA novel of 2018~ A fresh, charming rom-com perfect for fans of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Boy Meets Boy about Nathan Bird, who has sworn off happy endings but is sorely tested when his former best friend, Ollie, moves back to town. Nathan Bird doesn't believe in happy endings. Although he's the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate's seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life. Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel--but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend. After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after?

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story

Amy Buckle

~Lambda Literary Award finalist for the best LGBT YA novel of 2018~ A fresh, charming rom-com perfect for fans of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Boy Meets Boy about Nathan Bird, who has sworn off happy endings but is sorely tested when his former best friend, Ollie, moves back to town. Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings. Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life. Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel—but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend. After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after?

Bria

The way nobody communicated properly in this book...

trixie

Rachel Evans

(3.25/5) Audiobook - 3 hours 57 minutes - I have an affinity for LGBTQ YA contemporary books, even if they don't end up being amazing pieces of literature, which is why I keep reading them, and will continue to keep reading them, regardless of how low the average rating I give them may be. This book was nothing groundbreaking - it followed the same sort of pattern that a lot of YA contemporaries do. Some good points: it included a lot of diversity without the book being focused on the diversity. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it is nice to see books where the characters can just be, and have problems outside of discrimination. For example, the two of the main characters in this book are bisexual, but there is no plot/sideplot about coming out/struggling with self-acceptance. As I have previously said, there is nothing wrong with books which do focus on these issues, it is just a nice and refreshing change, making for a more relaxing read. However, this book did feel repetitive at points. The main character often repeated the same trains of thought over and over which became a little tedious and boring at times. On the whole though, this was a perfectly decent book, nothing special, but okay and fun to read.

anderson elizabeth

I really wanted to like thos book, but the only thing I liked about it was the diversity of the characters. Other than that all of the characters fell flat and cheating is heavily glossed over throughout the entire book. There's not anyajor character development of the main character and the author gave away so much i formation instead of actually showing it through actions of the characters. I thought it was a great concept that was just followed through poorly.

A fresh, charming rom-com perfect for fans of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Boy Meets Boy about Nathan Bird, who has sworn off happy endings but is sorely tested when his former best friend, Ollie, moves back to town. Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings. Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life. Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel—but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend. After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after?

Gabriel Noel 

[2.5 stars]
So with a title like this I would hope it actually would be an epic love story. Honestly I was bored most of the time. The characters are like-able but not at all fleshed out by the end of the book, which comes to an ABRUPT halt btw. Some cute scenes and cool representation saved this from a one star rating. I would have loved to see Nate practice learning ASL through the story but that didn’t happen. Overall not something I’ll pick back up again.

Tânia Borges

** spoiler alert **
           Actual Rating: 2.5/5 stars.
So. Positive things: ASL representation, yaaaaassss. Sign language has always fascinated me, and it's on my list of things to learn as soon as I get the Korean basics down. I loved that the author described every gesture in detail. Ollie is a cinnamon roll, thanks. Now, off to everything else: I didn't like Nate. Not one bit. I get his reasons, trust me, I do; but no amount of fear or insecurities should EVER give anyone the right to be borderline abusive with anyone, even less family, friends and boyfriend/girlfriend. I didn't like how the cheating stuff was handled, because it wasn't healthy at all. Actually, all the relationships in this book are kind of messed up one way or another, with maaaayyyyybe one or two exceptions. So. There's that. It was kind of meh overall, but not the best. Especially considering I had my expectations through the roof after reading Felix Ever After. This one is disappointing and not at all what I was hoping it would be.

Mandy Friedrich

** spoiler alert **
           I really liked the book, until the ending, I felt like it would've made a better end if the two main characters hadn't ended up together, since for the last couple of pages it felt like they wouldn't and all of the sudden they did make up which made it feel kinda rushed and didn't really allign to the message the book gave me(sometimes people just don't end up together and that's okay).

Nikki Sojkowski

***This review and more can be found on my blog Love at First Write***

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Book Rep: Deaf (elaborate ASL use and detailed descriptions of signing), POC, LGBT+ (obvious via relationships but no labels are used) 

You know that special kind of magic that happens when you read a book at the perfect moment for you? This is what happened for me with This is Kind Of An Epic Love Story. It’s not EPIC-epic, but cherishes the great and fabulous occurrences in normal relationships. If you’re looking for a meet-cute couple that struggles a bit with navigating physical intimacy and potential long-distance, this is the book for you!

Nate is a junior in high school, trying to figure out his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and best friend, while also realizing he has feelings for the new guy in school that Nate already has a bit of history with. As someone who’s tried staying friends with their ex, I really felt what Nate was going through. I’d recommend this for anyone who’s experienced similarly, and/or have been in a complicated romantic dynamic. 

An added layer to the story is that Nate is interested in the creative arts as a career path- Screenwriting in particular. This needs extra work (projects, summer classes, etc.) to get into any good colleges, and it was so nostalgic to read his experiences prepping for summer applications and pulling all-nighters to get his script ready in time. Many of my friends had gone through similar process while we were in high school, and I could easily place myself in Nate’s shoes.

The most emotional part of the story was Nate’s views on relationships. He’s a bit of a pessimist, and thinks happy endings only happen in movies. Watching him being scared to commit to multiple relationships, and struggling between expressing his emotions and trying to avoid getting hurt, was so powerful. He was so caught up in the future, that he wasn't paying attention to how happy he could be in the moment, and that no matter what the future was perhaps the present would be worth it. As someone who is about to leave my home for 6 months and am about to enter a long-distance relationship myself, this book couldn’t be more inspiring. 

But the book doesn’t simply revolve around Nate’s romantic relationships! We are also given dramatic scenes where he discovers how to be more emotionally available to his friends and his family, and honestly is was so cute.

Anina

** spoiler alert **
           I really wanted to like this book. And I tried, I did. But the only reason I even finished it is because I wanted to know whether the ending would be better than the beginning. Spoiler: It wasn’t.

This book is packed with cultural references, you could play a drinking game with them and you‘re probably going to suffer from alcohol poisoning after one or two chapters.

The characters seemed very dull and boring to me. Nate‘s only character traits seemed to be his sexuality, his race and his ability to speak sign language. And while having some poc and bisexuality representation is awesome, those aren’t even character traits, but Nate still seems to define himself by these three things.

I really enjoy books with good LGBT+ representation, especially as an aro-ace person who craves some representation, I do think it’s important. But I‘d rather read a book with only white heterosexual characters any day over this. I wanted the plot to be about their relationship, but their relationship in itself was rather boring, snd the only ‚interesting‘ things about them were their skincolors, the genders they liked and that Ollie was nearly deaf. 

Most of the characters, including Nate, were also rather unlikable, which really didn’t help at all.

Wouldn’t recommend and definitely won‘t read again.

Jobananareads

Abi Baker

this book would be infinitely better if oliver james hernández was the protagonist instead of nathan bird...

honestly everyone in this book was either annoying and/or underdeveloped and the fact that (view spoiler)[ollie gave nate multiple chances after nate treated him so poorly (hide spoiler)] throughout the book was just so baffling that having the pov from his side would have just made more sense. 

nate never seemed to know what he wanted, which i guess is true of a lot of 16 year olds but nothing about his character was compelling and i spent the entire book just thinking “why do i care?” short answer: i didn’t

Lotta

Sooo I don't have any strong feelings about this book. I definitely enjoyed it, as it was a fun read. It wasn't a masterpiece though. 
First of all, I really appreciated the representation of different races and sexualities. It is always nice to see a story about queer main characters where it doesn't revolve around the coming out stage, especially in YA.
There were a few things I didn't like though.
- The references felt a little outdated to me, talking about Tumblr, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who (I think a few other things as well). For a book that was written in 2018 and no indication that it was set earlier than that, the references basically all were things felt very millenial, which was fun for me because I related to it, but a little inaccurate for teenagers in 2018. This is only a minor thing though.
- I don't mind a flawed main character, but it was very frustrating that Nate didn't learn from his mistakes throughout the book, despite constantly being called on by friends and family. I understand that he's a teenager and therefore makes mistakes, but another big part of being a teenager is learning how not to do things if you do them wrongly. 
- Finally, why is everybody so obsessed with relationships in this book? I get it, hormones are raging and you're horny, but damn.

I love a slushy romance story, so this sounded right up my street! Nathan Bird absolutely love films and is relatively happy hanging with his best friend (and ex girlfriend) Florence, watching Netflix and trying to get through high school. But when he sees Florence so happy in her new relationship, he can’t help but feel he wants a bit of that too. However, after his dad died, he saw how much losing love can break a person, and he’s always tried to steer clear of love in order to not get his heart broken. But when an old friend moves back to their road, Nathan needs to make a choice: does he continue to avoid getting close to anyone, or should he take a chance on Oliver and see if he can achieve his own happily ever after?

If you’re a fan of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Gravity of Us, Everything Everything, They Both Die at the End, or any young adult romance, then trust me when I say you’ll love this book! There was teenage love and infatuation, plenty of anxiety-inducing awkwardness, and I loved how imperfect the characters were.

Nathan is a typically awkward teenager and Callender was fantastic at giving him a character arc throughout the plot. As the book progresses, you see Nathan change, and I liked how, as a reader, we could go on that journey with him. In fact, all of the characters in this book were fab, Florence and Ashley were my favourite because they were complex but loyal and they’re just the kind of friends you want in high school.

Callender’s descriptions of ASL (American Sign Language) throughout this book were really insightful too. As Oliver is deaf, he communicates mostly via lip-reading or texting, but when they were kids, he taught Nathan some ASL, and it was not only heart-warming to see them reconnect by signing, but Callender’s descriptions play an important role in representing a necessary form of communication for some people.

Oliver and Nathan just warmed my heart a lot. Even after they’d been apart for five years, I loved how they easily fell into step with each other again, and it’s definitely one of those books which makes you want to reach into the pages and interfere in the plot to make sure they get together and live happily ever after!

This book was subtle in its storytelling but powerful with the impact it makes. It reminds you of being a teenager and feeling confused and weird, and like everyone else in the entire world is just better than you are (which is 100% not true). It was a great escape from real life, and while the title infers it to be an epic love story, I’d describe it more as cute, but definitely one worth reading. If you’re looking for something heart-warming and fun, then I’d recommend this!

Amy Buckle &
This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender

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Amy Buckle &This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender

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