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? (Via Goodreads.com)
Pages: 286
Expected Release Date: October 30th, 2018
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Review:
This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story is Kheryn Callender's debut Young Adult novel and it did not disappoint. It was one of my most anticipated YA debuts of the year and I was fortunate enough to read an advanced copy of it. One of the things that amazes me so much about the novel is its length. Although it is less than 300 pages long, the characters and plot-lines were extremely well developed and it felt as though I spent 500 pages with the characters instead of less than 300. I loved the story, the characters and their relationships, as well as the writing style. I would highly recommend preordering or purchasing a copy on October 30th.
This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story follows Nate Bird, a teenager content with hanging out with Flo, his best friend and ex-girlfriend. His normalcy, however, ends when his childhood best friend, Ollie, returns to town and uproots the reason for their estranged relationship. The dynamic between Nate and Ollie was adorable. Although the novel ultimately follows their romance, it also captures them reacquainting themselves with one another and reestablishing their friendship. The novel perfectly captures the awkwardness and struggles of reforming friendships with ex-friends. It was nice for them to have a fresh start but it was also interesting seeing their past relationship explored as well.
The novel featured a lot of diversity in race, disabilities, sexuality, and sexual-orientation. While racial diversity as well as diversity in sexual-orientation and sexuality are important to represent, I hope to see more disability representation in novels moving forward. Ollie suffers from a hearing impairment and while he is able to read lips at times and can communicate verbally as well as through writing, he does struggles with lip reading and if he is not directly facing whomever he is talking to them he is unaware they are speaking to him. Throughout the novel he uses ASL and Nate does on occasion as well. Ollie taught Nate some ASL as a child and Nate is reacquainted with it as his and Ollie's friendship redevelops. While diversity in novels generally lacks in numerous capacities, I have read maybe one other novel with a character that suffers from a hearing impairment and I hope to see more representation of that and other disabilities in the future.
One of my favorite parts about Nate and Ollie's relationship was their encouragement of each other. Nate has a passion for movies and screen writing; however, he is unable to finish a script and feels poorly about his abilities as a writer. Although Nate feels this way, Ollie encourages him to finish a script and submit it for a scholarship contest for summer classes at an arts school in New York City. While Ollie feels more confident in his photography skills than Nate does in his writing, Nate still gives the same encouragement to Ollie with his photography.
Another great component of the story is the dynamic between all the characters. Ollie and Nate have a large friend group at school and the readers continuously see their relationship with Ollie and Nate as well as their relationship with each other and their significant others. Similarly, the family dynamic of both Nate and Ollie are also explored. I am still shocked at the size of the novel because Kheryn Callender manages to fully develop so many characters and their relationships in such a short length. It is an extremely impressive feat and I commend them for that, their work is truly amazing.
I loved This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story. It has fantastic characters, a great plot, and it is truly an epic novel. It features a multitude of diversity and is overall a fantastic Young Adult contemporary novel. I would highly recommend ordering a copy. I am excited to see what Kheryn Callender is working on next. My only complaint about the novel is its incorrect titling. It is not kind of an epic love story, it is an epic love story.
As soon as I saw that fans who liked Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda, I already knew I was hooked. Just from the summary and your review alone, I’ve already fallen in love with these characters and I am extremely tempted to pre-order it right now, immediately. This is a very well done review!
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