This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story
by Kheryn Callender
Publication Date: October 30th 2018
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Find This Book: This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story
Rating: 5/5
I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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 ling-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.
Book Rep: Deaf (elaborate ASL use and detailed descriptions of signing), POC, LGBT+ (obvious via relationships but no labels are used)
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