Cute story. There were issues with the audiobook copy I received from NetGalley. It kept skipping throughout the book. I would assume that would be fixed in the final version so that the story is more cohesive. Otherwise it was sweet and an easy fast read. I actually think it would make a fun summer movie.

📖 Never Been Kissed
✍️ Timothy Janovsky
💕 Romance
#️⃣ 288 pages
🗓️ 05/03/22

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to NetGalley + Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Wren Roland has never been kissed, but it’s not for a lack of opportunity. On the eve of his birthday, he drunkenly sends out emails he’s written to all the boys he’s almost-kissed, including his first “pre-coming-out” crush, Derick Haverford. When he wakes up the next morning and realizes what he’s done, he tries to brush it off as no big deal. But when Wren learns that the drive-in movie theater he both loves and manages has hired Derick as their new social media intern, he has to come to terms with the fact that some of those teenage feelings are still lingering - and he may not be the only one who feels them.

If you are looking for a beautiful queer romance full of heartwarming moments, lovable characters and witty banter, then you need to add this to your TBR asap!! I absolutely adored this story. The backdrop of a small-town drive-in movie theater gave me all the cozy, nostalgic vibes (which makes no sense bc I’ve never been to a drive-in theater, but that’s just how good the writing was!!). In my opinion, the most successful romances have great side characters, and this story was no different. Though heartbreaking, I loved Alice’s storyline and how her story connected to Wren’s; I also loved Wren’s friends! They were lovably fallible in a way that made them completely believable.

I especially appreciated the amount of representation this book had, including both romantic and sexual identities. I also loved the amount of direct communication involved in the more romantic scenes; it was so earnest! And the epilogue gave me all the warm fuzzies. I read the audio version and I highly recommend it.

💋 New adult romance
💋 Second chance romance
💋 Movie buff MC
💋 Found family
💋 Only one bed
💋 LGBTQIA+ rep
💋 Aspec rep
💋 Poetic writing
💋 Cute banter
💋 Epilogue
💋 Great on audio

#cqpromances #caitsquietplacereviews #caitsquietplace #neverbeenkissed #timothyjanovsky #dreamscapemedia #netgalley

I have been lucky enough to read this one early. This book. This was such an emotional rollercoaster, I genuinely haven’t felt so connected and loved by a book in so long. The writing style is perfect and a thought process that is just so real, people tend to overthink, over analyze, make their own narratives out of fear. It was a very eye opening experience for me. This book also just explores queer identities in the best way possible, umbrella terms, and others that just aren’t talked about nearly enough. This is the type of books that are needed to challenge such a heteronormative society that we live in. Also this was the first time I ever read about the experience of attraction and how different that is for people.
“Complicated coming out experience, being queer prompted a crisis of conscience.” We get fear of commitment, forced proximity, ONE BED, trope, and such a dynamic trio of friends and chosen family.
We follow Wren, a queer 22 year old who is taking on life at his own pace. The pressure from falling behind in this race called life hit me a little too close to home but it just made me feel so validated. I also think that this is such an amazing insight for the Queer Community, so many books have had representation in a sense that there are queer characters, but they are always so loved and accepted so easily and so sure of themselves. Wren is just trying to figure himself out and explains how hard it is to come out, to accept yourself, to find confidence. And on top of all these interpersonal struggles and relationships, he’s just trying to figure out what to do with a college degree. It just all felt so real and validating to me. I loved every second of it and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on it.
This book isn’t even out yet and I’m dying for more from Timothy Janovsky, this is an amazing debut novel and I am so excited for more to come.

DNF this book.

I'm sorry I really tried to like this book, to get into it. The story felt very much like a college copy and paste of To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Which is ironic, given the history that white gay men have with co-opting or full on stealing ideas and culture from BIPOC women...

The first red flag for me was when the MC casually thought it would be a "funny prank" to take the wig off of a drag queen on stage. You know, a hate crime.

I made it about 10% of the way into this before I gave up entirely. Not worth my time.

The audio file for this book is, unfortunately, quite buggy. There are numerous places where it appears to skip over a few lines (distracting, but manageable). However, Ch 5 plays completely out of order, jumping forward and back several times in the narrative. I've noted other reviews mention the same issue, so it's not just the individual file/player. It's difficult to give a fair review of the book without being able to listen to it in order. I tried contacting Netgalley about the issue, to no response.

Of what I was able to follow of the book, it seems very sweet. I believe this is classified as New Adult, given that the characters have just graduated college. But I think, in part, due to the structure of Wren remembering his high school crush as Derek comes back into his orbit for the summer, it felt VERY YA to me- all the reminiscences of high school, combined with the summer job in the home-town drive-in definitely aged them all down in my mind. The audiobook narrator was enjoyable.

Never been kissed was a fun time! In short, it’s almost like the queer version of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before but instead of letters make it emails and instead of crushes over the years make it the people who you almost kissed but didn’t.

I loved the story line with Wren figuring out his sexuality and the conversations surrounding demisexuality. I think the author did a good job of highlighting the fluidity of sexuality and figuring out your identity are various stages in life.

The book lost me a bit with the setting. I kept thinking multiple times that this had to be a YA but then I checked and it was in the romance section/the MCs are in their early twenties. It was definitely cute but I found the main conflict with Wren and Derick are the beginning when they were dealing with their high school past to be a bit immature. It felt very high school to me even tho it was set after they graduated college. I think the movie theatre drive in didn’t help with that either. It felt like a summer in-between high school and college instead of post grad college? It just didn’t work for me.

I thought Wren and Derick were super sweet and I really enjoyed their relationship development. I just didn’t feel super invested in any of the other characters and honestly found them to be quite annoying. I enjoyed some of the other story lines in the book surrounding the podcast, films and what not but it felt like a lot was going on.

Overall, I did have a fun time listening to Never Been Kissed! The narrator was wonderful and if you’re looking for a lighthearted and sweet queer rom-com this may be for you! Aside from it being cute, there are some serious topics discussed which I thought the author handled well.

Aside from the book itself, the audio version of this book kept skipping parts and then going back at times so it was hard to keep track of what was happening. Obviously this is more of a technical issue and not to do with the book but worth noting for the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"never been kissed" is a super sweet and short read that queer movie buffs will probably love but i wasn't a huge fan. i really liked the aspec representation but i wasn't really sold on the relationship.

the plot was interesting enough but nothing too special. the background characters were very underdeveloped even though they had a lot of potential. they were just very basic and didn't stand out to me at all.

the relationship was alright but it didn't have much lead up. i usually don't like second chance romances like this and this wasn't any different. despite me not rooting against them i just found myself not caring about them that much.

the demi representation was probably the highlight of this novel. i enjoyed the main character's journey of discovery his demisexuality and found it very relatable.

overall, this was a decent book but nothing that sticks out in it's genre.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

To start, I’m not sure if it was an issue with the audio through the NetGalley app, or a problem with the actual book audio, but every once in a while the audio would cut out and skip ahead mid sentence, but the time stamp didn’t jump, which threw off the flow of the story. 

Aside from the audio bugs, “Never Been Kissed” was a simple, cute, LGBTQ+ romcom. The story itself was sweet; Wren reconnecting with his high school crush years later and coming together with him to save the local drive-in. Even though the characters are in their twenties, their personalities and interactions felt very young and sometimes immature, and it felt a lot more like a YA book. I found most of the side characters to be lacking in personality and depth until the end of the book when they all came around to support the cause of saving the drive-in. The first two thirds of the book didn’t really do it for me; it felt like certain scenes dragged on a bit too long and relationships I wanted to see more of weren’t developed as much as I would have liked.
However, around 65-70% of the way through, it felt like the writing took a turn and everyone and their actions became more interesting. Once Wren and Derrick went on their trip together, it suddenly felt like their (and the side characters’) actions and relationships had more meaning and depth to them than they did for the first two thirds of the book. I loved the way that Wren described his demisexuality and the way that Derrick reacted and supported him. Seeing demisexual rep in books doesn’t happen very often, but I love to see it, and especially see it done well.
The story was a bit predictable, but it’s a romcom and that’s to be expected. I’m glad I listened through to the end because the last third of the book was easily the best part. Regardless of the bits that didn’t work for me, “Never Been Kissed” was a cute LGBT romcom that left me smiling and glad I decided to listen to the whole thing. 
 The narration of “Never Been Kissed” is performed by Mark Sanderlin and it is very nice to listen to. His voices are all unique and easy to follow and the emotion he puts behind the words makes the listening experience very enjoyable.

Rep: demi gay mc, gay li, gay scs, bi scs, sapphic scs, Black scs, gay Filipino sc, jewish scs

Rating: 4.5 stars

I like the setting of this book. It takes place in a drive in movie theatre that Wren and his friends/roommates work at. It’s a pretty light and fluffy queer romance.

Derick is so sweet and nice. I love that he was always calm and understanding when Wren would tell him stuff, even if he didn’t fully understand or know the meaning of what Wren was saying. He never said like “What does that mean?” or get defensive and question him a lot. He would just nicely say “ok cool, would you maybe be able to elaborate on this please?”. He’s so sweet.

Alice was pretty great and made me laugh a lot. I like that we learned more about her and her back story & love life. Avery was pretty cool too. Mateo bugged me at times though not gonna lie lol

It’s always nice to see characters figuring out their sexuality (or gender) as an adult. Not everyone figures it out as a teenager, and that’s ok. I think a lot of people actually only figure themselves out after high school. And for those who do have it all figured out as a teen, your labels can still change or be added to, even though that can be scary and new.

As always, I loved all the queer rep! Especially the demisexual rep. It’s always nice to see ace characters in books, as it’s pretty rare, and it was definitely handled well here. There’s also a lot of pocs.

The narrator did a good job. I found a few spots the audio skipped, but it’s not the narrator’s fault.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I feel like it would be a good summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

**I always appreciate being able to listen to e-galleys, as chronic migraine can cut into my reading life. Not sure if the app was glitching or the actual file is corrupt, but I had a few instances in this book of the audio splicing in a different section then jumping back to the original point in the narrative. Confusing at first; eventually I was able to figure out where those sections were meant to go.**

Wren Roland might not know exactly how he wants his post-college life to go. But he's got a film studies degree in hand, an apartment with his two best friends, and the whole summer as manager at his favorite drive-in to figure things out. Maybe he'll even finally buck up and get himself that movie-perfect first kiss he's been waiting for. The summer hasn't even started when he throws a wrench in things with a night of drunken revelry, sending email drafts from a folder that contains letters he's written each of his major crushes over the years. Further complicating things is the theatre's new social media intern, Derick Haverford: Wren's former best friend, and one of the crushes who just got a mortifying email confession.

If you're thinking this sounds exactly like the queer boy version of To All The Boys I've Loved Before . . . yes and no. The book veers from that premise pretty quickly, becoming its own complicated tale that involves a hermetic septuagenarian director who was blackballed out of Hollywood by her jealous husband, small town haunt vs big bad corporation, a rekindled friendship, and a generous exploration of what it is to love along the ace/demi spectrum.

NEVER BEEN KISSED is classified as 'New Adult,' and there were moments when I felt VERY beyond its target audience. But I adored the summer drive-in vibes and was fully invested in seeing Wren find his way. Highly recommend this book for readers of any age who have ever felt bored or unseen by unquestioned heteronormativity! And excited to read whatever Janovskey writes next.

Thanks to Source Books Casablanca for the ARC and thanks to Dreamscape Media for the ALC--love being able to listen to galleys!

well. I loved this a freaking lot.

Never Been Kissed is a new adult rom com with an out gay MC who maybe doesn't relate just quite with gay. He's been saving his first kiss for something special but he's 22 and feeling behind the game. Of course we all know that there isn't a timeline and whichever romantic or sexual acts you choose to partake in are not a symbol of adulthood, but I digress.

Wren ends up drunk sending out emails to his past almost first kisses. One of whom is an ex best friend and who also just happens to be in town working at the same drive in the for summer.

As Wren and Derrick reconnect and grow closer, Wren still isn't sure about physical contact. At some point, the terms demisexual and demiromantic are mentioned to him and he is shook. Because he never had the words, he couldn't have realized that it might fit.

This is why education is important. It's why we need LGBTQIA+ education in k-12 schools and beyond. It's why we need representation and advocates. It's why we need allies to step up.

I related hard to Wren in a lot of ways. I was in my mid twenties when I finally heard the term aromantic and started deep diving into other aspec labels which eventually led me to find comfort and validity in the terms arospec and asexual for myself.

3.5 Stars

This was a cute book. It was good, I liked the characters, I liked the premise, but for me it was just good, not great.
I think that maybe what didn’t quite work for me was that there is A LOT going on in this book. I feel like I can’t really mention much because of spoilers, but there is just a lot.

Geez, I don’t even know if I can do a synopsis without spoiling it… 😅

I guess, the book is about Wren who has just graduated from film school and is heading back to his hometown to work at the drive-in for the summer. He’s also hoping to have his first kiss, as he’s now 22 and it hasn’t happened yet. He drunkenly sends out emails to the 4 guys he had almost kisses with, thinking/hoping this might start something. Kinda cringy, but ya know, he’s 22 and trying to figure his shit out.

Like I said, over the course of the summer A LOT happens; discoveries are made, movies are screened, Wren starts figuring out his shit.

One thing I didn’t like was that the author used the term ‘totem pole’ when Wren is talking about the long list of things they’ve been neglecting to update at the drive-in. Using that term really isn’t cool, especially when there are so many other terms you could use instead, without appropriating Indigenous culture.

Overall, this was a pretty light read and I did enjoy it. I’ll definitely read his second book when it comes out in the fall.

I first want to the thank Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this book. While I’m not part of the LGBTQ+ community I loved this book, the characters and the development for all of them. This friends to lovers book gave me “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” vibes but in a new way.

I will admit it took a little time (maybe 7 chapters) to get really involved however I read this in audiobook format so that may be why. Once I connected to the characters I was hooked.

I absolutely love Alice and this she is hilarious! There are also a couple places I laughed out loud. A few of my favorite quotes were “Satan’s syrup” and “Emotional water wasting”

This is a fast easy read with a lot of character development. I would highly recommend this book to new readers or people that love a slow burn friends to lovers trope.

Never Been Kissed is a wonderful queer romance. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. It’s such a sweet and heartfelt story. I loved all the characters and the plot was funny. This is definitely not a spicy book, I mean it’s literally called Never Been Kissed and that’s accurate. Wren has been waiting out for his perfect first kiss. I really liked the book. I also love to see ace spectrum rep in romance books so I was happy to see that. Definitely would recommend reading this once it is released in May!

This was such a cute, fluffy and heartwarming gay rom-com. I'm used to so many gay romances being drama or trauma heavy but this was just pure delight. It's technically New Adult since they are in their 20s but would be appropriate for teens, no spice all warm fuzzy cuteness. There is also demi-sexual representation an orientation I'm not too familiar with so it was informative as well

This is a very sweet and adorable book! It did start a little slow, and I think it could have been edited down in places, but overall I enjoyed it.

Wren, with his amazing friend group, his anxiety, his constantly wanting to understand his complex feelings toward love and romance is such a relatable and lovely MC.

I liked the audiobook and I think the narrator was also excellent at giving us a full spectrum of voices for the different characters. I am a movie lover so beyond the obvious love of drive -ins, I ate up the storyline about Alice and I loved when Wren discussed his degree and his film studies.

I think this book it totally worth a listen! Thank you to Dreamscape and NetGalley for the ALC!

Thank you Net Galley and Source Books for the advance copy of the audiobook for Never Been Kiss in exchange for a honest review.

This debut novel by Timothy Janovsky was a enjoyable and light hearted read. The book was a second chance m/m romance between recent college grads Wren and Derick. They both find themselves working in the old drive in in their small town for the summer. A lot of the story is Wren’s journey. Not only his goals now that he graduated but also exploring more of his sexuality. You also can’t help but root for the relationship between Wren and Derick in this. There was a comfort to the way that their relationship was written that I love. I also found my self very invested in the side character and side plots, Those people and what they where dealing with where made to feel so important to Wren as the person POV the story was in that they became important to me. It was a little of a slow start for me but I will say the last 20% of the book I adored.

For the audiobook narrator Mark Sanderlin did an awesome job with this book. I especially felt his emotional scenes. In fact they made me tear up a little. Thought he did a great job with all the different character. My personal favorites was when he did Wren and Alice..

.My personally rating for this is 4.25 star but marking it for 4 stars here.

This was a fun second chance romance between two queer young men as they work together trying to save a beloved drive-in theatre from closing one memorable summer. While these characters aren't in high school anymore, they do deal with their high school baggage and the book overall gave off strong young adult/coming of age vibes. Definitely don't go into it expecting a love story between two adults.

I enjoyed the demi-sexual rep but at times the book felt almost textbook, with a lot of definitions and explanations rather than more personal feelings. If you loved the movie Never been kissed and enjoy a good underdog story this is one to add to your tbr. I liked this on audio but did feel like the narrator sounded pretty young (which I guess made sense since these characters were newly graduated). Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copies.