Never Been Kissed
Books | Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Gay
3.6
(104)
Timothy Janovsky
Dear (never-been-quite-over-you) Crush,It's been a few years since we were together,but I can't stop thinking about the time we almost...Wren Roland has never been kissed, but he wants that movie-perfect ending more than anything. Feeling nostalgic on the eve of his birthday, he sends emails to all the boys he (ahem) loved before he came out. Morning brings the inevitable Oh God What Did I Do?, but he brushes that panic aside. Why stress about it? None of his could-have-beens are actually going to read the emails, much less respond. Right?Enter Derick Haverford, Wren's #1 pre-coming-out-crush and his drive-in theater's new social media intern. Everyone claims he's coasting on cinematic good looks and his father's connections, but Wren has always known there's much more to Derick than meets the eye. Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about the infamous almost-kiss that once rocked Wren's world.Whatever. Wren's no longer a closeted teenager; he can survive this. But as their hazy summer becomes consumed with a special project that may just save the struggling drive-in for good, Wren and Derick are drawn ever-closer...and maybe, finally, Wren's dream of a perfect-kiss-before-the-credits is within reach.A feel-good summer LGBTQIA+ New Adult RomCom, perfect for fans of Red White & Royal Blue, Boyfriend Material, and What If It's Us.
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Author
Timothy Janovsky
Pages
288
Publisher
Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published Date
2022-05-03
ISBN
1728250609 9781728250601
Community ReviewsSee all
"This is book is more of a 4.5 rating for me. It is a gay take on To All The Boys I've Loved Before, but a college-graduate version. It is incredibly cute and romantic and although I was first annoyed by how much it was harped on how Wren was 22 and never had a first kiss, but it was explained later on in the novel. I loved how sweet the explanation was and how well it fit into the book. The conclusion was absolutely perfect and this is a second chance romance that is really worth reading. "
L
Lauren
"i didn't really like wren.
he struck me as self-serving when he snooped for more information on alice's history when he didn't know her that well to serve his own agenda, dredging up the past, unknowing if it would be painful for her or even something she wanted. his inner monologue often came across as judgmental to me, especially toward derick at the beginning, regarding derick's coming out.
wren's anti-social media stance also made it extremely hard for me to connect with his character, as i am an avid social media user.
but more important than my not finding wren relatable, i didn't find him believable. a movie-lover so steadfastly against streaming services? you expect me to believe this man hears his friends and family raving about the newest media sensations and isn't intrigued enough to watch himself? there is so much cinema he's missing out on, not to mention tv series. not to mention longtime favorites now available to stream!! i'm sorry, i just cannot believe this dichotomy of his character.
aside from my issues with wren, i also didn't feel particularly invested this romance. i considered dnf-ing this book many times, not because i hated it, but because i didn't CARE about it.
the characters don't feel real. mateo nearly gets hit by a car, and he's completely unaffected, going right back to using his phone. alice tries to destroy all her things when told her house won't sell. they feel like caricatures. i had a hard time believing them or their behavior.
rachel lynn solomon and alison cochrun, two of my favorite authors, are quoted praising this book on one of the first pages. i find myself wondering what they liked about it."
"Twenty-two year old Wren Roland has never been kissed and he is ok with that. There have been some almosts, four to be exact, but something always went wrong. Maybe it was the guy? Maybe it was not being out? Maybe it was…him?<br/><br/>After celebrating another kiss-less year, tipsy Wren makes that cringeworthy mistake—he opens his draft emails and sends his ‘why didn’t we kiss’ notes to the four almosts. Unfortunately for Wren, one of those almosts is Derick, and they will be working together at Wiley’s Drive-in all summer. <br/><br/>As Wren and Derick stumble through the summer together, they take on cranky movie producers, an exhausted business owner, homophobic parents, and a growing realization that they may want that almost to become a reality.<br/><br/>Timothy Janovsky’s debut New Adult love story is cute and has just enough angst to keep the reader on their toes."
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