Book 981: Never Been Kissed (Boy Meets Boy #1) – Timothy Janovsky

In all honesty, I had no intention of reading this. I didn’t even know it existed, but when I stumbled across You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Janovsky, and realized it was a series (that’s not connected as far as I’m aware) and the library had this one I grabbed it too.

And OMG am I glad I did.

I was a little annoyed at first as this is a bit of a copycat of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but queerer and with a lot more humor (or at least my taste in humor). Wren sends emails to his four almost first kisses after a night out and the chaos ensues. After I got over that I was beyond invested because Janovsky was hilarious.

The main characters Wren and Derick were so well written with distinct personalities and they both grow so much throughout this relatively short novel. And the minor characters, Earl, Alice, Mateo, Avery, Brandon, Derick’s family, Goldie the drag queen, all of them were just so well written and distinct and just gave me so much queer joy and happiness that any issues I had with the book were thrown out the window pretty quickly.

Alice was by far my favorite. I loved the older generation queer representation and her story arc. She provided a safe place for Wren and Derick to figure out their shit, but also pushed them to be better people and learn valuable skills to not only stand up for themselves but to move their lives and careers forward with confidence.

Maybe this is my superpower:  electromagnetism. Except instead of supercharged metallic objects, I attract distressing, emotional situations at every turn. (Chapter 4)

When I say Janovsky is hilarious, I mean it. That line above nearly caused a spit take and there were so many other great quips, often when Wren and Derick were mad at each other or when Mateo was being dramatic or anyone was being snarky with each anyone else. So much sass and love and witty barbs.

Wren’s obsession with his first kiss and films was a tragedy set up from the beginning, but the a-ha moment when he has a conversation with Brandon (Mateo’s boyfriend) about demisexuality was so well done and just wonderfully written.

I’ve always wanted commitment, yet I’ve never imagined it would be this scary. Handing your heart to someone else is an act of frightening defiance. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan should’ve warned me about that. (Chapter 21)

And then when he talked to Derick about it, I just had a huge smile on my face from Wren’s anxiety and expectation of what Derick would say or do and the love and support Derick provides. Just so well done.

The big bad of the story and the crises were just sort of ho-hum. I figured it out really early and was like okay let’s get to it. I feel like this could’ve been a great dual narrative book hearing from Derick as he’s falling for Wren and having to deal with his family at the same time while reading Wren’s point of view would’ve balanced the story more.

I was happy with the conclusion and the Instagram epilogue was just the hint and teaser that we needed to know Wren and Derick’s happily ever after was still going

Recommendation: I adored this book. Was it perfect? No. Did it give me all the queer joy I needed in this grossest of months? Absolutely. Wren and his found family and his family and the small town gave me all the feels and Janovsky did a great job of keeping it humorous while having the characters evolve and grow without overdoing it. Honestly, this one is up there with Heartstopper, Check, Please!, and Two for Trust for me when it comes to giving me all the happy feelings and queer joy. Plus it’s perfectly set up for a film adaptation even if it would be a little naval-gazing with Wren being a film studies major, it is set in a drive-in, and has a major plot around an old film. I’d still totally watch it.

Opening Line: “Every perfect first kiss has three key elements . . .”

Closing Line: “It’s bigger, bolder, and better than I ever could’ve imagined.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Never Been Kissed
“My anxiety reminds me that I’m not getting any younger. Twenty-two is halfway to forty-four, and forty-four is halfway to eighty-eight, and if I’m one-fourth of the way to being nearly ninety, it might be time to put these lips to the test. Use them the way God intended. Even if some people believe God intended for them only to be used in monogamous, heterosexual matrimony.” (Chapter 2)

“That’s the thing about queer longing. In high school, you think you’re hiding it so well, until you come out and everyone says they saw you slogging through it but didn’t think it was their place to bring it up. If only he’d let me down easy then, maybe I wouldn’t have kept these feelings so close.” (Chapter 9)

“Voicing my fears has always been hard for me. I work overtime to ensure people see me as the confident leader I want to be after so many years of being background actor invisible. They set the tone for me to be a bumbling idiot rather than someone to look to for guidance and support.” (Chapter 9)