This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Cheryl Callender
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
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?
MY OPINION: ***
I loved the various character dynamics and diversity in this book and how it portrayed the dramatic and overly emotional lives of the youth of today. I did think it was a bit slow-going at times and overly melodramatic and unrealistic but overall, the book was satisfactory and I liked the plot.
Nathan "Bird" is an aspiring screenwriter who is reunited with his childhood best friend, Oliver, a few years after they had a falling-out. Although Bird's character was aggravating and sometimes plain dense, I did like seeing the overall development and maturation of himself as he struggled to come to terms with his father's death and the sudden reappearance of his ex-best-friend. He also is "in love" with his best friend and ex-girlfriend, Florence, who cheated on him with another girl, and it was interesting to see how this storyline played itself out.
Oliver was such a sweetheart. He is hard-of-hearing after a childhood illness and I loved seeing the bond that he and Bird had though their shared communication of sign language, especially since barely anybody else could understand them. I loved seeing his relationship grow with Bird as he started to realize that he actually had feelings for the boy in front of him, despite the many obstacles the two face. I loved the awkward-falling-in-love story between the two of them and seeing how they started to come to terms with their feelings and advance past their trust issues and other conflicts.
The diversity in this book was impeccable. So many races, sexual orientations, and disabilities were built into each of the characters without making it seem like they were just added to the characters to make them more unique. It genuinely felt like these were parts of the characters that couldn't be changed, rather than something the author just labelled them to give readers the diversity factor. I also loved seeing how grief was represented in this book and how it caused trust issues and an inability to form close relationships without pulling away, because this is very accurate to many people who are dealing with grief and trauma.
My biggest problem with this book was the cheating. Florence cheats on Bird with another girl and although she seems apologetic, she doesn't realize the fact that Bird is still hurting about it and believes he's still in love with her. She was my least favorite character because although she is supposedly his best friend, she didn't even see what was right in front of her and I wanted to chuck something at her half the time. Additionally, Bird kisses Oliver when he knows that he has a boyfriend, which I did not at all appreciate. Cheating isn't something to be taken lightly and I hated how it happened in this book. I also didn't like the fact that they never resolved anything with these characters, most specifically Oliver's ex-boyfriend.
I liked the whole screenwriting/photography element of this book because it added another aspect to both Oliver and Bird that allowed us to see more about their interests and how it brought them together in the end.
Although this book is more of a sappy romance novel than anything with real plot lines or substance, it was so cute and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought. There were a few things I didn't like, but overall, I would recommend this book to readers looking for a cute LGBTQ+ romance novel with lots of diversity, cheesy lines, and an epic love story.
Main Character: Bird
Sidekick(s): Ollie, Flo, Ashley, Gideon, etc
Villain(s): Cheating, trust issues, grief, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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