Thank you to Netgalley and and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited when I saw a book with demisexual rep, as I don't feel we see it often enough; and as someone who identifies as demisexual this was refreshing to see, as it is often over looked in the media, or completely misunderstood.

We follow Wren who is on summer break from College, and has gone back to work at the movie drive in back at home. One night while drunk he ends up sending emails to all of the boys he has nearly kiss. What he does not except to find is when he wakes up to Derrick his high school crush having replied. He then finds Derrick will be doing an marketing internship over the summer at the movie drive in as well, just to make life more difficult. They end up working together to help a local female director bring her film back to life and give it the premiere it deserves. Over this time the boys fall for each other, and Wren discovers why he has always struggled to kiss someone.
The book did a really good job exploring demisexuality, and I also loved the discussion around representation in film. I am now excited to read the next book.

This was a sweet new adult-y romance. I did struggle to get into it a little, though I wonder if that was me and not the book. I liked Wren and Derick individually and as friends, but I never really bought into their romance. I also didn't care for Wren's friends, Mateo and Avery. Mateo was immature, and because Avery talked in code (FYI, LOL. ILY, etc.), I felt like I had to pause to decipher her sentenced, which kept throwing me out of the story. And the whole subplot with Mateo's work ethic and the fact that Wren did the apologizing when it should've been Mateo who did so...it just didn't sit well with me.

I really liked the drive-in setting, though, and the subplot of getting a film premiere at the theatre.

3.5 - 4 stars? tbh this was really really promising to begin with and i adored the first handful of chapters. the characters were extremely charming and their banter and friendship was so well executed and loveable. i really thought this would be five stars because of that but i feel like somewhere along the way that charm kinda took a backseat? regardless, this was still good and i did enjoy it. i just think there were so many things happening that it became hard to focus on what the book was actually about. it also had a very y/a vibe about it which was fun until it felt like i was actually reading a y/a book instead of a romance. still very enjoyable though!

Very sweet LGBTQUIA+ new adult/young adult novel about second chances and finding yourself. Wren has never been kissed. He's had a few close calls, but he's never actually followed through. He's a recent college grad, working at the nostalgic [money pit] drive-in theater in his hometown and he's waiting for the right person, in the right moment. When he drunk emails his list of *almost* kisses, he wants to crawl into a hole. But, one of them, Derrick, is going to be working at the drive-in with Wren all summer. When an opportunity arises to screen a long-lost local movie, Derrick offers to help Wren woo the reclusive (and now elderly) director, in hopes of creating a big event that will save the drive-in. In the process, Wren comes to terms with WHY he's been holding off, and maybe it's time for a second chance with Derrick. Of course, it's not all that simple and lots of complications are thrown their way.

I sponsor the Gay Straight Alliance at my school and I think my students would enjoy this one.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Never Been Kissed by Timothy Javonsky was such a fun read! If you are a fan of the hit show Heartstopper, this book is a must read. I loved this cast of characters and the setting of a drive in movie theater. Roland was such a fun main character! I am looking forward to future book releases from this author!

the more i think about this one, the more i think it’s a 3.5/3? idk, it was cute but i didn’t connect with it as much as i wanted to. also!! the best friend was annoying

This book just recently came out on May 3rd and if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet it is a super sweet, feel good queer romance story.

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.

I loved that this story tackled the feelings of unsureness and vulnerability that some queer people feel when they aren’t 100% sure what their identity consists of yet. Although I’m sure these feelings have been around for ages they are just recently becoming more mainstream to discuss. As a straight person I love reading these perspectives because it is not something I’m familiar with but I want to know more.

This is the kind of feel good story that makes you feel warm inside when you read it.

Never Been Kissed is a queer take on To All The Boys, and also reminded me somewhat of Felix Ever After. The characters are a little older, and I liked that it felt more adult than YA but still had a nostalgic, young-summer-love feel.

The best part of this book is the lovable characters that you can’t help but root for. Wren was so sweet and funny. I particularly enjoyed his internal discussion as he figured out and grew into his sexuality–this is the part that reminded me of Felix. There was great ace spectrum/demisexual representation and discussion.

The side characters were amazing too–I always love a snarky older person to bring some humor to the page.

There was one thing I thought was missing: didn’t Wren send these emails to more people than Derrick and Matteo? We never saw any other reactions besides theirs, and even Matteo’s was extremely understated. If I sent a love letter to my best friend, there would at least be some extensive teasing about it!

As this is a debut, I am extremely excited to see what else this author writes in the future.

This is such a perfect rom-com.
⁣
The first chapter was slow and I definitely struggled through it a bit. But after a while, I became hooked. ⁣
⁣
This friends to lovers trope is done really well, and I'm usually not the biggest fan of it, but this was so, so fun.
I loved the discussion around Wren’s sexuality, as most queer romcoms don't touch on that. It was great to watch Wren evolve and understand different identities. ⁣
⁣
I loved the characters. I loved the plot. Its everything a good romcom should be.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc.

#NeverBeenKissed:⁣
⁣
Hopeless romantics unite. Oh my gah y’all, this is heart eyes, swoony, name every amazing romcom and make it in book form!⁣
⁣
First and foremost, I adored Wren. Wren had me cackling and loving every second. I cringed in embarrassment when I knew something embarrassing would happen and I would giggle like a school girl whenever any flirting happened. I was such a fan. I honestly imagined Wren as Noah Galvin and couldn’t get it out of my head the entire time. ⁣
⁣
I will admit, the first chapter I just kind of trudged through it and listened to listen. But after the night out and Wren woke up on a keyboard, I became immediately hooked. I listened to the audio when I could. When I actually had to pay attention to humans around me, I would sneak in a page or 6 of the egalley. ⁣
⁣
This friends to lovers is done really really well. I usually just kind of roll my eyes at friends to lovers, but this was so fun. I also really enjoyed the conversation around Wren’s sexuality. I think it was The Charm Offensive (I could be wrong) that basically said, “Sexuality isn’t always a straight line from closeted to out of the closet. It takes time to figure out what kind of queer you are” It was awesome to watch Wren evolve and understand the different identities. ⁣
⁣
I just loved these characters. I literally was blushing for them. I loved the scenario, it’s why my romcom dreams are truly made of. I absolutely loved the audio. Mark Sanderlin had me in all the feels and swooning hard. I’m just going to gush all day. That’s all you need to know. This was absolutely phenomenal on audio and highly recommend. I preferred listening when I could.⁣
⁣
⁣
I loved Never Been Kissed. This really had me wanting to go find the drive in and sit in the back of a pick up in the hot ass GA weather and sacrifice my swollen eyes because of the pollen. I need this book on my shelf and have to purchase it now. Thank you so much @sourcebookscasa and @dreamscape_media for the gifted copies. Never Been Kissed is out now.⁣
⁣
QOTD: Favorite romcom. Sock it to meeeee. Please.

* Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for the advanced reading copy. Review contains my own thoughts and opinions.*

A funny, lovely queer rom-com and a fantastic debut novel!

Summer after college graduation, Wren and Derick are working at the local drive-in together. They used to be close friends, but after a maybe-kiss that almost but didn’t happen, Derick ghosted Wren for several years.

Their friendship grows again over the summer and as they get closer and support each through important decisions about the future - could they actually fall for each other?

Never Been Kissed has two stellar, vulnerable leads and a cast of wonderful found family (my favorite being Alice!)
I highly recommend you pick up a copy today!

4.5

This book is adorable, a very comfort reading. I fell in love with the characters, especially Wren. He's so relatable, I just love him! And the love story is so soft! Really, I love every pages, every lines! So happy this is a debut, I will expect a lot of romantic books from this author. I count on it!
However, I also like the atmosphere and the cinema's storyline, the growth of Wren, and the rep is so on point! Thank you for this book! Really, thank you!

Never Been Kissed is a cheerful and uplifting romance featuring an insanely relatable main character and his struggles finding love and keeping his job. When I initially read the summary for Never Been Kissed, I was thrilled. The story sounded right up my alley; an lgbtq+ romance following a “late bloomer” (ahem, relatable) who’s had a few close romantic encounters with love(/like), but who, even after multiple failed attempts, still finds himself unable to stop thinking about <i>what could have been</i>.

What I liked about Wren is that he is an asexual who thinks a lot about romance. He was painfully relatable to me in the first half(-ish) of the book. I connected a lot to the scene with the drag queen at the very beginning. Kissing someone or not kissing someone shouldn’t be a big deal, but the reality for Wren, for me, is that it is. Being pulled between conflicting feelings like “just get it over with, it shouldn’t be a big deal,” but also “it should be perfect” and ultimately just not being able to do it even casually, and then being overcome with anxiety over it was so real to me, and definitely a situation I’ve found myself in before. I loved how this entire scene played out, and gave an initial glimpse into Wren's asexual mentality.

I mean—I could wax on for hours about all the moments I related to Wren and his asexuality. I won’t. I will say that I enjoyed the romance bits, and that I <i>wish</i> finding someone as patient and openly accepting as Derick is of Wren’s asexuality was as easy it seemed to be for Wren. And I do wonder what will happen with Derick and Wren when Derick eventually wants to have sex, and what that conversation would like like between them. I want to see what the more difficult conversations could look like. I don't know if i'm just being selfish and wanting the whole book to be about wren's asexuality, but I did wish that the sexuality plot didn't have to take a back seat to the work/business drama plot. I don’t know if that would fit with the overall light hearted vibe of this book, but it’s definitely something I hope to see in future romance novels that feature asexual characters.

I look forward to seeing what Janovsky's next novel brings!

I loved this book! It nurtured the soul of the hopeless romantic in me and harkened back to the sweet nervousness of my first crush, and that wild feeling of figuring out who we are. This was a wonderful, deep, emotional, and impactful read!

I ended up thinking that this was a very good book. I'm going to be honest and admit that it was kind of slow going at first and I had to push myself to continue but once things get going, I found myself truly enjoying it. I thought the author did a great job of balancing a cute and fun romance with the deeper more serious issues that were addressed. In the end you end up with a romance that delivers The Feels and The Swoon while also inspiring some interesting thoughts and opening your mind to some things that you might have never given any thought.

Wren Roland is graduating from college, returning to his summer job and stepping into the world of adulthood. The only problem is: he doesn’t feel like his life is progressing at the pace that it should, starting with the fact that he’s never been kissed. Wren has had a few almost-kisses that haunt his romantic heart and have prompted it to write emails to boys from those encounters. Of course, he’d never send them… until the night of his drunken birthday celebration, when he does. The leading man of these moments was Derick Haverford, a man Wren thought was his closest friend and best possibility for more than that. But Derick ghosted Wren when they went away to college and Wren’s heart has never forgotten. This summer features Wren in a promotion at his usual summer job at Wiley’s Drive-In, where he’s convinced he can help save the business with a grand gesture at the end of the summer. Unfortunately, Derrick is suddenly working at Wiley’s too, and Wren can’t seem to escape his former crush or the feelings that resurface from his emails. Can Wren, and Wiley’s, get the Happy Ending they deserve?

This book is a little too earnest. The characters are likable, but they talk and act like those of a teen television drama: the conversations and inner monologues feel scripted and unrealistic. For that reason, it took some effort to get into. The plot is good, and the inclusion of the Alice Kelly storyline keeps it from falling completely into the “save the small town business” cliche. The journey to self-discovery, and the conversation around other possibilities of sexuality, are all commendable and done well.

Wren Roland is graduating college with a degree in film studies. He still doesn’t know what’s next for him, though he does know he will be spending his summer in his happiest place, the drive-in theater that is practically his second home. Even better, he will be a manager this summer and joined at work by his two best friends. The one negative for Wren is his lack of a romantic life. Wren is turning 22 and has never been kissed, something particularly hard for him given he has long dreamed of the perfect first kiss, one like so many he has seen in the movies. So when Wren gets birthday drunk, he decides he will email his four “almost kisses” that occurred before he came out and share his thoughts on those past events. Wren is, of course, horrified when he sobers up the next day, but he hopes no one will mention it and he can forget all his embarrassment.

Of course, that plan falls apart when Wren learns that his former close friend and almost kiss recipient, Derick Haverford, is working social media marketing for the drive-in this summer. Wren and Derick were close for years, until Derick ghosted Wren in college. Now, not only does Wren have to face the stress of seeing a former crush who dropped out of his life, he has to deal with the fact that he sent Derick such an embarrassing email. Not to mention that Wren’s crush on Derick never quite went away.

Even as Wren and Derick deal with the awkwardness at work, things are in upheaval as it is clear the drive-in is struggling financially. Wren would love to help keep it open, as it is both historically significant to the town, as well as a place much beloved to him personally. It leads Wren to try tracking down a reclusive local director, one who hasn’t been seen in public for years. Her old film may be just the means to drive attention to the theater, but getting her to agree isn’t going to be easy.

As the summer goes on, tensions thaw between Wren and Derick, and soon they are becoming friends. Even more than that, they are falling for one another. Derick even helps Wren with his project to save the theater, and Wren begins to dream of a future for them together. But even as the men are building their relationship, the future of the drive-in remains uncertain. Not to mention there are secrets that could pull Wren and Derick apart just as they are getting started.

Never Been Kissed is a charming, new adult story with some fun movie references and a light, humorous tone. Wren is our POV character and we learn right away he is passionate about movies, and the drive-in in particular. He practically grew up there and returning each season feels like coming home, something he particularly needs as he graduates college without a clear direction. Wren is an entertaining narrator, a bit quirky and high stress, but also sweet and funny. The set up here has a bit of a lovers reunited vibe and a bit of an enemies to lovers feel, though it is not quite either. Wren and Derick were close friends growing up, and their kiss was sort of a near miss, though they were never officially dating or even obviously romantically involved. Wren is also quite angry at Derick for dropping out of his life without a word, and Derick knows he screwed up, so the guys have some sorting things out to do before they can ease back into that friendship they once had. And things are complicated at the start by Wren’s drunk email, made worse when he realizes Derick will be working with him that summer. I did like the set up here, though it doesn’t play out quite as well as I’d hoped. We never get to see the email or hear any details, so I didn’t get enough sense of what exactly Wren said or why it was so awful. Also, it really doesn’t amount to anything, as even if he never sent the message, Wren would have been forced to reconnect with Derick anyway, since they are working together. So this is sort of set up as this big, embarrassing event, but I don’t think the story makes as much out of it as it could.

It doesn’t take long for Derick to apologize and the guys to rekindle their friendship. Wren is still very into Derick, but he doesn’t think his feelings are returned, so the guys start with a friendship that slowly builds to more. There is a sweetness here, particularly as Wren starts to realize some aspects of his own sexual identity for the first time. We don’t get to know as much about Derick as I would have liked, other than having sort of generically bad parents. Given how things play out across the story, I feel like more time spent getting to know him and his family would have rounded things out a little better. The story has a very new adult feel, which I enjoyed, though I do think at times these guys read as a bit younger than their age. And while the transition into “real life” post college is touched on briefly, it isn’t really explored much given the way it is affecting both men.

The plot here moves beyond the relationship to focus on two areas that begin to intertwine. The first is the fate of the drive-in, and the second is Wren tracking down and befriending this reclusive director, Alice. I enjoyed the friendship that develops between Wren, Derick, and Alice, and the way her part of the story plays out. Things are a little bit clunkier at the end and come together a little patly, but there is a nice feel to this part of the plot, almost as if we are watching a movie of the town that rallies together, and I think that Janovsky plays with this tone and vibe in ways that work well with the storyline.

Overall, I found this one cute and fun, with a nice charm to the book and the characters. This is Janovsky’s debut work and I was quite impressed. It looks like there will be more books in this series to come and this is a great start.

I loved this one! Ace-spectrum representation is so rare in romance, and I loved to see Wren’s journey to that. Very cute, love the second-chance element as well.

A book with a thousand movie reviews at a drive-in movie theater is good enough without adding a group of queer friends living together or a second chance from someone who couldn't be....So clearly I love it and enjoy it very much
.
Never been kissed is the story of Wren Roland who just finished college and prepares for a new start as manager of the drive-in movie theater that shaped his childhood and his career path, this time including his friends and Derrick
.
Derrick and Wren used to be best friends but one summer before finishing school something changed between them and they both went their separate ways until the night that a couple of too many drinks sends him an email with unsaid things bringing possibility and old wounds afloat
.
Wren is so sweet, romantic at heart, addicted to movies and has a huge heart. The whole book is based on his perspective and at the same time that he shares his craziest ideas with a cinematographic structure, he also makes you fall in love with love, possibility, friendship and the magic of movies on summer nights
.
This book is a young adult romcom that talks about love, self-discovery and acceptance on the way to starting adult life
.
I really enjoyed this book a lot, I really liked that unforgettable group of friends, Barbra Streisand because it's Barbra and Wren navigating the different relationships with her family, friends and love
.
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Timothy Janovsky for give me this Beautiful Book in exchange for my honest opinion I really loved this book and I will be looking forward to more books by Timothy Janovsky

After graduating from college with a degree in film studies, Wren is back at his long-time summer job at a historic drive-in movie theater. His high school crush Derick has been hired to do the drive-in’s social media, and the two work together to try to save the failing drive-in.

Wren realizes pretty early on in the book that he’s demisexual and his actual experiences and feelings around relationships and intimacy have been different than the expectations he had for himself based on all the rom coms he’s obsessed with. I really liked that aspect of the story. The second-chance romance is slower paced but very sweet. I liked that Wren was not in a rush to have sex and really wanted to feel comfortable with someone before getting intimate, which for him meant kissing too. I thought it was sweet and nice to see a romance that’s not just about two people ripping each other’s clothes off and getting busy. Not that I don’t enjoy romances like that too, but it’s nice to show all different kinds of experiences in books and I think this is something we don’t see as much, which makes it important AceSpec representation in my eyes.

A major part of the plot revolves around planning a screening of a 1978 zombie movie with queer undertones made by a local woman who was blackballed in Hollywood before the movie was released. I actually really loved this part of the story. It goes into how misogynistic the movie industry has been and really celebrates female directors.

Even though I quite enjoyed this book, the reason I’m not rating it higher is that it’s just packed with jokes, and none of them are funny. Just page after page of jokes that really fell flat for me. I’m not sure whose sense of humor this was written for but it wasn’t mine.

I’d say this book was new adult because the main characters are just graduating college and figuring out what they want to do with their lives, but the book has zero steam, no sex at all, on or off page. This is in no way a judgment, just want to let you all know what you are in for, if you want a steamy read, this isn’t it! If you like reading about a movie-obsessed main character, or are interested in the demisexual representation I’ve mentioned above, maybe give this one a try.