This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story (edició 2018)

I really enjoyed the fact that the two main characters of this book are bi/pan - but that's not the focus of the book! Its a typical teenage romance/coming of age where the LGBTQ part of it is just that - one small part of their lives. ( )

Dit is best wel een episch liefdesverhaal. Door: Kacen Callender.

Eén van de eerste boeken uit de geweldige Glow-reeks van Querido; een reeks bedoelt om queer-boeken in de schijnwerper te plaatsen.

Dit debuut van Callender is queer én zit boordevol diversiteit. Maar nog belangrijker is dat het een verslavend goed verhaal is. Waar queer zijn een belangrijke rol in speelt, zonder dat het ooit echt een rol speelt. Snap je?

DIBWEEL vertelt het verhaal van Nate, filmfan, maar niet van die met een happy end. Hij zit in de put sinds het uit is met Florence, die hem heeft bedrogen met Lydia. Als een tijdje later Oliver James (terug) in zijn buurt komt wonen groeit de verwarring en onrust alleen maar.

Zoals de titel al zegt is dit best wel een episch liefdesverhaal, maar dan zoals het in het echte leven meestal gaat: met misverstanden, onnodige ruzies, spijt, pijn en veel onzekerheid.
DIBWEEL is een hartverwarmend, realistisch, romantisch verhaal dat schreeuwt om een verfilming. Ik ben fan! ( )

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. ( )

This book is the perfect representation of what relationships should and shouldn't be like today. It shows the story of a guy who thinks it's better to get out of relationships before he can really get hurt. I know that a lot of people have that mindset and the journey Nate, the main character, goes through shows how he grows out of his pessimistic mindset and learns how to be happy right where he is. Although, while reading this was enjoyable, everything did feel a little rushed. It felt like some of the characters were suddenly acting irrational for the sake of moving the story along. Also, Nate acted like a real idiot throught the story. He continuously set up almost all of his relationships for failure and never really stopped until the last few pages. While he did learn his lesson and finally settled things with the love interest, Oliver, it seemed a little quick. I understand that he suddenly knew what he had to do to win Oliver back after throwing their relationship out the window but, most of the actions the characters took didn't seem thought out. They all kind of went wirh it and didn't really take a step back and thought until it really counted. It was still a wonderful story though! ( )

2.75 Stars

I had a hard time with this book. I wanted to love it so much, and I did enjoy it - I think. But so many of the characters frustrated me, and the story felt rushed at times so I found myself apathetic during long stretches of reading. This is Kind of an Epic Love Story follow Nathan Bird and Oliver James Hernandez, childhood best friends, who reconnect and discover they many have more than friendly feelings for each other.

I really loved the diverse representation in the story, both Nathan and Oliver James are queer MOC, and Oliver James is a HoH characters who uses sign language. I thought that the use of ASL translated incredibly well onto the page and I appreciated seeing the representation. This story did bring out a lot of emotions while I was reading - often sadness or frustration, but I did get incredibly happy and joyful seeing some of the beautiful romance and friendship moments play out. But I really did not like most of the characters in the story. I didn’t like Floor Ashley most of the time, and Gideon wasn’t really in it enough for me to form an opinion on him. And Nate also had some not so great moments where I wanted to yell at him for being so dumb.

My frustration at the characters really did bring my overall experience down, And while the story did easily draw emotions from me, they were always positive ones. I still enjoyed This is Kind of an Epic Love Story, but it was not the easiest or most enjoyable read.

I received a copy of the book from Epic Reads in exchange for an honest review. . ( )