DISCLAIMER: When writing a negative review, it is never my intention to sound like I don’t think ANYONE should read a book I**spoiler alert** [REVIEW]
DISCLAIMER: When writing a negative review, it is never my intention to sound like I don’t think ANYONE should read a book I rated one or two stars. If I discouraged you, I might be taking away your chance from discovering your newest favorite book. Therefore, please don’t let my review TOTALLY deter you from reading This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story. This is simply a collection of my thoughts and opinions on the book. This is me saying, “I didn’t like This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and here’s why.” I’m not saying, “I didn’t like This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story, and here’s why you shouldn’t like it/read it.”
(On that note, I am aware some people need to read others’ thoughts and opinions to help them to decide whether or not to buy/read a book. If this review does help you, and that’s what you needed, that’s fine! However, don’t just take my word for it. Look at what others are saying, and decide from there.)
*Trigger/content warnings in this book for audism, cheating, death of a loved one (in the past), Harry Potter references, and underage drinking. If you decide to listen to the audiobook, Kacen Callender is referred by their dead name*
This book just wasn’t for me. I grew incredibly frustrated with the protagonist, and I felt like the plot dragged at times. But I do understand the appeal, and why some people would like this! And there were a couple of things I did like! But for the most part, I had a hard time with this.
WHAT I LIKED:
•Sometimes protagonists in books will mention that they have a hobby, but rarely mention doing said hobby throughout the story. Nate, however, constantly talked about his love for movies! I liked that he had a list of his favorite movies, and anytime he referenced one of them, he had to add where it was on the list (“my third/sixth/eighth favorite film of all time”). That always got a chuckle out of me!
•I loved when Nate and Oliver kissed like Amelie and Nino from Amelie. SO MUCH BETTER than just a kiss under the moonlight or any other cliche romantic time and location. Nate and Oliver’s kiss was much more personal because Oliver knew how much Nate loved Amelie. IT WAS PRECIOUS, OKAY?!
•I always love reading about protagonists who are writers of some kind, whether they like writing books, scripts, or newspaper articles. They all talk about writer’s block and other writer struggles that I can FULL-ON relate to. Nate was no exception. My favorite line about writing had to be, “I’m in the middle of writing, and by which I actually mean staring at the screen.” I mean, RELATABLE?!
MY CRITIQUES:
•I know contemporary books aren’t typically fast-paced, but there comes a point where even I want the plot of a contemporary to pick up. That was the case for this book. There were a few scenes that could’ve been taken out and it would’ve picked up the pace (in fact, taking them out wouldn’t have changed much the main storyline). One example I can think of is the whole Ashley and Gideon subplot. I just didn’t see the point in it? I thought it would somehow connect to Nate and Oliver, but it was just…there. And I didn’t even ship Ashley and Gideon. Ashley deserved WAY better.
•This book was also very repetitive. Look, I GET that Nate was afraid to fall in love fully. He mentioned why many times, and it made perfect sense. But it just felt like the whole book was Nate never learning from his mistakes, and Oliver kept giving him another chance. Nate pushing Oliver away, and then they got back together.
•Going off of that, as much as I love Oliver, I don’t think he should’ve given Nate so many chances. Nate said some pretty hurtful things to him. Again, I KNOW why Nate said them: because he was afraid of falling in love. But Oliver just kept forgiving him, and it bothered me.
•The ending was kind of abrupt. It’s literally Nate was watching FRIENDS with his mom and sister, and that suddenly made him realize that he didn’t want to lose Oliver. So Nate wrote a letter confessing his feelings, Oliver read it, and then they were back on good terms.
Need I remind you that Nate and Oliver had been hot and cold the entire book? I was confused what was different this time. I was confused how Nate had this sudden character arc when he’d consistently been worried about dating Oliver. I know some people do just have random revelations. But it just felt like it wasn’t earned here? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all, while I struggled to like this book, I do recommend this if you’re looking for a short, queer contemporary romance. This is my first Kacen Callender book, and while I didn’t LOVE IT, but I do want to try their other works.
Merged review:
[REVIEW]
DISCLAIMER: When writing a negative review, it is never my intention to sound like I don’t think ANYONE should read a book I rated one or two stars. If I discouraged you, I might be taking away your chance from discovering your newest favorite book. Therefore, please don’t let my review TOTALLY deter you from reading This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story. This is simply a collection of my thoughts and opinions on the book. This is me saying, “I didn’t like This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and here’s why.” I’m not saying, “I didn’t like This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story, and here’s why you shouldn’t like it/read it.”
(On that note, I am aware some people need to read others’ thoughts and opinions to help them to decide whether or not to buy/read a book. If this review does help you, and that’s what you needed, that’s fine! However, don’t just take my word for it. Look at what others are saying, and decide from there.)
*Trigger/content warnings in this book for audism, cheating, death of a loved one (in the past), Harry Potter references, and underage drinking. If you decide to listen to the audiobook, Kacen Callender is referred by their dead name*
This book just wasn’t for me. I grew incredibly frustrated with the protagonist, and I felt like the plot dragged at times. But I do understand the appeal, and why some people would like this! And there were a couple of things I did like! But for the most part, I had a hard time with this.
WHAT I LIKED:
•Sometimes protagonists in books will mention that they have a hobby, but rarely mention doing said hobby throughout the story. Nate, however, constantly talked about his love for movies! I liked that he had a list of his favorite movies, and anytime he referenced one of them, he had to add where it was on the list (“my third/sixth/eighth favorite film of all time”). That always got a chuckle out of me!
•I loved when Nate and Oliver kissed like Amelie and Nino from Amelie. SO MUCH BETTER than just a kiss under the moonlight or any other cliche romantic time and location. Nate and Oliver’s kiss was much more personal because Oliver knew how much Nate loved Amelie. IT WAS PRECIOUS, OKAY?!
•I always love reading about protagonists who are writers of some kind, whether they like writing books, scripts, or newspaper articles. They all talk about writer’s block and other writer struggles that I can FULL-ON relate to. Nate was no exception. My favorite line about writing had to be, “I’m in the middle of writing, and by which I actually mean staring at the screen.” I mean, RELATABLE?!
MY CRITIQUES:
•I know contemporary books aren’t typically fast-paced, but there comes a point where even I want the plot of a contemporary to pick up. That was the case for this book. There were a few scenes that could’ve been taken out and it would’ve picked up the pace (in fact, taking them out wouldn’t have changed much the main storyline). One example I can think of is the whole Ashley and Gideon subplot. I just didn’t see the point in it? I thought it would somehow connect to Nate and Oliver, but it was just…there. And I didn’t even ship Ashley and Gideon. Ashley deserved WAY better.
•This book was also very repetitive. Look, I GET that Nate was afraid to fall in love fully. He mentioned why many times, and it made perfect sense. But it just felt like the whole book was Nate never learning from his mistakes, and Oliver kept giving him another chance. Nate pushing Oliver away, and then they got back together.
•Going off of that, as much as I love Oliver, I don’t think he should’ve given Nate so many chances. Nate said some pretty hurtful things to him. Again, I KNOW why Nate said them: because he was afraid of falling in love. But Oliver just kept forgiving him, and it bothered me.
•The ending was kind of abrupt. It’s literally Nate was watching FRIENDS with his mom and sister, and that suddenly made him realize that he didn’t want to lose Oliver. So Nate wrote a letter confessing his feelings, Oliver read it, and then they were back on good terms.
Need I remind you that Nate and Oliver had been hot and cold the entire book? I was confused what was different this time. I was confused how Nate had this sudden character arc when he’d consistently been worried about dating Oliver. I know some people do just have random revelations. But it just felt like it wasn’t earned here? I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all, while I struggled to like this book, I do recommend this if you’re looking for a short, queer contemporary romance. This is my first Kacen Callender book, and while I didn’t LOVE IT, but I do want to try their other works....more
It was SO GOOD to be back in Percy’s POV. Not just that, but his POV in FIRST PERSON. I didn’t realize hPERCABETH FOR LIFE!!! Also, 4.5 stars.
[REVIEW]
It was SO GOOD to be back in Percy’s POV. Not just that, but his POV in FIRST PERSON. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I read this book.
Is this Rick’s best work in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles? No, but I did enjoy WAY more than I had with some of the other recent books I’d read by him. Daughter of the Deep was fine. The Sun and the Star was good, but it didn’t HIT the same way some of Rick’s other post books have. And I was starting to get worried when every novella I was reading (9 from the Nine Worlds, Camp Half-Blood Confidential, and The Demigod Diaries) were all three stars. So going into this, I was a tad hesitant.
From the first line, thankfully, I was HOOKED! I wouldn’t say this is a low-stakes story (we’re still dealing with monsters and gods here), but compared to saving the world TWICE, Percy doesn’t have as much on his plate. And strangely, it worked??? I like that Riordan was able to satisfy everyone here: Readers could still enjoy Percy going on adventures while Percy didn’t have to stress about going up against vengeful Titans. And it still FELT like a Percy Jackson book: Hilarious chapter titles? Check! Cute Percabeth moments? Double check! Percy getting into strange situations (like turning into a baby and promising a god to recommend whale yoga to his dad)? Triple check! I’m still amazed that Riordan is able to find more Greek gods to write about. At one point, I was on the same level as him, recognizing every Greek god and monster he included. Now, I’m learning more than ever!
The reason I’m not giving this five stars is because it did feel slow at times. I know that’s basically counterintuitive to say after I said that this is a lower stakes story. But there were a few times when I felt like Percy wasn’t in a rush to find the chalice, which would LITERALLY help him get him a letter of recommendation to get into his dream college. Or at least start searching for other gods who could give him a letter of rec. Other than that, though, I loved this! We’re so back, baby!!!
I don’t think you NEED to read both Percy Jackson and the Olympians AND The Heroes of Olympus to understand this, but it having those in context helps some of the scenes and references in this book either make more sense or feel more impactful. At least read PJO before reading this. You won’t be disappointed!
This was excellent! If you’re able to listen to the audiobook, I highly encourage you to do so. The author, who’s also a stutterer, reads the [REVIEW]
This was excellent! If you’re able to listen to the audiobook, I highly encourage you to do so. The author, who’s also a stutterer, reads the book, and you can hear his stuttering in real time. It really enhances the story, in my opinion. I recommend this to everyone, children, and adult alike!...more
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