Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. I have never listened to the podcast that is the basis for this, but I have a feeling my students would enjoy it. As for the book, it alternates between two narrators - Caleb and Adam. Caleb is a football star who distances himself from his peers because he can fee their moods. It turns out, he is Atypical. Adam is a super smart son of doctors who won’t tell him what they actually research. They form a relationship and together discover that Caleb’s therapist knows more about Atypicals that she has let on, and that Adam’s parents may be involved in something darker than he realizes. It’s out 9/24/19, and I would peg it at grades 8+ for a load of language.

This book, wow! The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen is a unique and diverse book—blending science fiction, romance, mental health rep, and LGBTQ+ rep.

I've been seeing this book frequently on Twitter and when I saw the synopsis, I was truly intrigued! When I found out my NetGalley request was approved, I dived into it right away!

But first things first. The Infinite Noise is based on the author's audio drama podcast The Bright Sessions. This is really what intrigued me in the first place! This podcast is basically recorded sessions between Dr. Bright and her patients with supernatural abilities. I've already listened to a couple of episodes, and it was such a unique story. One of her patients is Caleb, and The Infinite Noise explores his story. 

The writing
The writing style of this book was great! The story is told in alternating points of view between and Caleb and Adam, and for me the author did a great job in narrating the story in their perspectives.

The writing style captured what it felt like to be a teenager, what it felt like to struggle with a mental health illness, and what it felt like to be someone who's going through a life-changing event and abilities you can't control. And of course, it also captured what it felt like to be someone discovering the friendship and love. I really loved that. 

The characters
I adored the characters! Caleb and Adam are just too precious for this world, and with every chapter, we get to know more about them. 

I also realized that this book is more of a character-driven story. There are a lot of scenes involving Caleb's sessions with Dr. Bright, scenes where there are soliloquies and just the characters processing their thoughts and emotions, scenes where the characters are just simply talking to others with little plot involved. That said, I really liked this setup. It allowed me as a reader to fully understand and connect with these characters and get attached to them and their journey. 

The plot
As I mentioned  above, The Infinite Noise seems more like a character-driven story so I feel like there's not much plot involved. There is a plot, but it was the characters that really drove the story forward.

The climax took too long to build up and when it was finally there, I needed more answers and explanations. It left me a bit unsatisfied, but at the same time, I'm really curious and excited for the next book because maybe we'll get to know more about this plot-related element in it!

I also love the concept of Atypicals and I just really feel like we'll get to know more about them in the next book! (Or in the podcast haha!)

Overall, this book was a great read! 4 stars!

Review posted on my blog: https://enthralledbookworm.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/arc-review-the-infinite-noise/
Review posted on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2942069752

Caleb Michaels seems to be a normal teenager. He is in the football team, have average grades and is one of the popular students. However, there is something about him that even he doesn’t know about. He has a very big issue to stay focused and anger. He also feels overwhelmed if he’s surrounded by too many people.
After he got into a fight with one of his classmates, his parents make an appointment with a therapist for him. This day explains everything that he felt for a long time. Therapist discovered in his characteristics of people called Atypical. He’s an empath. It means that he can feel people emotions. At first, it’s very hard because he cannot see a difference between his emotions and people emotions. His therapist teaches him how to see them as the colors so he can differentiate them from each other. It’s not getting easier for him as he is surrounded by a lot of students every day at school. He tries to find a getaway from it. One day, he catches feelings of one person that helps him to get rid of other people emotions.

Adam Hayes’s life isn’t the easier one for a long time. He struggles with depression, school bullying, lack of friends and the absence of his parents that work all the time. He’s one of the smartest people in the school but it doesn’t help him with popularity. He doesn’t see any upcoming light to his life until Caleb Michaels comes to his life and tries to befriend him. At first, he cannot understand how this is happening. He has a crush on Caleb for a long time and as much as he dreamed about spending time with him, he still thinks it’s just a kind of prank.

They are both light and a getaway for each other. They also both have secrets that can turn them from each other.

My thoughts:

Let’s start with both the main characters of the book that I admire more than anything else. I can’t even say who I like more because both were just so unique and perfect. Adam on one side sarcastic and confident and the other soft and broken. Caleb as much as he seems confident, he also has his doubts and issues. They both needed someone who will help them to get through life and they found each other. They never thought how it will turn out at the end and that’s the most beautiful part of this story. The story shows that gender doesn’t matter if it comes to love. Love is love and that’s the only thing that matters.

I love the aspect of Caleb being an empath in the book. The way he knew people emotions and he used it for his advantage in the conversation is priceless. The book has two sides: the sad one and a humorous one. I laughed a lot but also cried during reading it. It reminded me about the book Will Grayson, Will Grayson because it had a similar vibe as this book. I love both so I need more books like this in my life.

I think a part of the story when they get to know each other more is my favorite one. Their thoughts just were so hilarious. As much as you think Adam will be the shy one, Caleb struggling with it at the beginning as well. I don’t know if it’s because of Adam’s emotions but it’s still very cute how much they blush next to each other.
I think this book is a perfect read for anyone that likes to read high school love stories, LGBTQ books, and unique stories. I can’t wait until the book will be published so I can buy a copy for myself and read it again. This book is a need on our shelves and believes me I am not saying it often.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates for providing me this copy in exchange for an honest review. I was enjoying a book more than I thought I will.

This is a sweet, slow-burn story that proves empathy really can be a superpower. Unfortunately, it wasn't the story I was expecting from the blurb/premise, so I wasn't a very good fit for it. But that's not the book's fault, and I suspect this will find legions of delighted fans come release day - I'd definitely point fans of the Simon Snow books in this direction, although Lauren Shippen's book is deeper and more complicated, more emotional than Simon Snow's unabashed wackiness. Fans of Dante and Aristotle Discover the Universe might enjoy this one too, if they're willing to allow a little bit of fantasy/sci-fi into what's mostly a contemporary story.

These quiet fantasy books are absolutely killing it! I came to The Infinite Noise completely new, I've never listened to the podcast it's based on, but I am 100% going to do so now! This was quiet and understated but engaging and had so many scarily real quotes about depression.

The Infinite Noise comes from the podcast The Bright Sessions, a podcast series featuring people with super powers in therapy. The episodes follow several characters across number therapy sessions, and in The Infinite Noise we meet Caleb, a young empath. Following Caleb as he learns to control his abilities, we meet Adam, the only person outside of Caleb's family who seems to be able to calm Caleb's emotions. Interspersed with therapy session with Dr Bright, psychologist to the superheros, we discover the world of hidden Atypicals, and the danger lurking beneath the surface.

The Infinite Noise is not about action or superheros. It's about the characters beneath the powers and very much focuses on Caleb and his development. Full of Caleb's emotional turmoil as an empath, the book excellently expresses his struggle and really gets across the mess of emotion Caleb feels pretty much all the time. We have both Caleb and Adam's POV, and though Caleb's is intense in its unpredictability and overwhelming feeling of different emotion, Adam's was even more poweful. Shippen really managed to throw some uncannily familiar and distressing quotes about Adam's depression which made such a huge impact.

I so enjoyed the quiet nature of the book, and loved the character focus but in saying that, I did get caught up in the mysterious organisation watching Atypicals and wanted to find out more about the AM group who seem to be doing creepy and unethical experiments to Atypicals. Perhaps more will be revealed in the later novels in the universe!

All in all this was a really enjoyable read, and it has definitely sold me on the podcast! Very keen to hear more from Caleb and Adam.

I was so excited to see The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen available on NetGalley because I love Shippen’s podcast “The Bright Sessions” and had just finished listening to the full run. In the first of a trio of novels, Shippen expands upon the story told in the podcast "The Bright Sessions," a world where people with superhuman abilities, known as atypicals, are studied and controlled by a shadow-organization called the AM. The Infinite Noise follows the love story between Caleb, a high school football player dealing with the sudden development of empathic abilities, and Adam, a classmate struggling with depression whose emotions have an unusually strong draw for Caleb. Although Caleb initially tries to befriend Adam as an assignment from his therapist, their friendship soon becomes more important than either of them could have predicted.

I know there are varying opinions on novels that continue or flesh out podcast narratives and I was a little hesitant because I wasn’t sure how well the story would translate from podcast to novel. Having read the book, Shippen’s writing translates well between mediums and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In season 1 of "The Bright Sessions," the progression of Caleb and Adam’s relationship mostly happens in the background of the main storyline, through details shared in Caleb’s therapy sessions, while The Infinite Noise flips that and places the main focus on Adam, Caleb, and their lives, with occasional scenes that hint at the wider story of the podcast’s narrative. For those already familiar with "The Bright Sessions," the novel provides a sweet love story for characters you already know and love. The characterization in the novel is consistent with that in the podcast and provides welcome insight into Adam’s character that was missing from the podcast. I loved finally getting to see Adam’s perspective on the beginning of his friendship with Caleb and falling into Shippen’s descriptions of the almost synesthetic way Caleb experiences his powers.

As a fan of the podcast I cannot speak to how well this novel would work for someone who is unfamiliar with the podcast and the wider story. On a few occasions, Shippen seemed to miss perfect chances to explain concepts that would already be familiar to podcast fans but might confuse those coming to the book without that background, when she would have Dr. Bright be about to explain something to Caleb and then have the explanation happen off-page. That said, this is entirely consistent with the way the podcast treats this kind of information and most of it becomes clear through context, as it did in the podcast. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read and a sweet YA romance.

There are many books that teach empathy and ways to be empathetic; however, I've never come across one that features a person with enhanced empathetic abilities until now. Knowing nothing of the podcast, I was taken in by the book's premise. It started of well; however, neither Caleb nor Adam grabbed my attention enough to form a connection. The book begins a few weeks prior to Winter break, but when school resumes, the football team is still playing. High school football is no longer in season then, so that confused me. Plus, the continuous reference to Caleb's empathetic abilities as superpowers grated on my nerves. Empaths do exist and to me the multiple superpower references trivialize their gifts. I loved the fact that the book's protagonist is an empath, but this book just wasn't for me. It was a struggle, but I made it 71%, skimmed from there to 75%, then skipped around to 79% before finally calling it quits.

You know that picture of a horse that starts really beautiful & detailed and ends like something drawn by a three-year-old? That's this book.

It starts really good, fun even, with a dual first person pov. It’s engaging, it’s interesting, it’s intriguing. You think you’re safe. You think you’re reading a solid four stars book. And then, in the last fifty pages or so, the spell breaks. (And you catch yourself thinking of all the little things you were overlooking up until now, because on the whole the book still was good.)

So first of all, even though there’s dual pov, it’s Caleb’s story. It never felt like Adam was an mc too, like this was his story too. Caleb can feel other people’s emotions, which is a great concept for a story, let’s be real. And for the most part the book was doing a pretty decent job of balancing the science-fiction aspect & the romance aspect. It worked, they were blending together pretty well. The romance was usually winning, but still.

But then we get to a conclusion in the romance sub-plot, all that tension leading up to it gets released, there’s a beautiful, sweet moment and… We’re left with ¼ of the book. Now, I’m not against books taking the time to develop an actual relationship, in fact, those are some of my favourites. It didn’t feel like that here, though. The relationship didn’t actually progress, or at least: we weren’t shown that progression.

Because in that last part of the book, the author tried to fit in so many new characters & conflicts alongside the gaping problem of the relationship. There was so much going on, we didn’t have time to actually pay attention to anything. The pacing just went and died on us. It kind of seems like the author was too comfortable with her characters and the story as a whole, due to having written The Bright Sessions podcast before. It’s like she already knew it all & had time to flesh it out in the podcast, so then didn’t think twice before dropping it in the book, as well. Only, we don’t get that same introduction here.

The solution I would see to this is either getting the Romantic Conclusion sooner, so we would have more time for all this other stuff, or just being brave and making two books out of this. As it is, it makes no sense.

There’s no emotional punch behind it! There’s no space for angst. Literally. The guys go on the summer break and the chapters suddenly get shorter (and by shorter, I mean like paragraph long). And then the whole conflict gets resolved in one conversation, basically. No! Emotional! Punch!

It doesn’t make it better if you just think of The Infinite Noise as a companion material to The Bright Sessions podcast. The book doesn’t actually shine more light on anything, doesn’t introduce anything new, doesn’t give us another perspective. Even with the Adam’s pov, we still don’t learn more than from the podcast itself. It’s rather simply like the podcast in book form, actually. (And the podcast is better, even if only because it gives us time-jumps, so we can fill in all the angst in our heads ourselves. Which the short chapters were probably trying to do and failed miserably.)

And then there’s the fact that Adam’ and Caleb’s voices are pretty much indistinguishable. If not for the plot, I couldn’t tell them apart. Which makes one wonder, what was the point of a dual pov in the first place? It doesn’t really give the readers any extra insight.

All in all, The Infinite Noise is a disappointment. It starts really well, gives you hope for something great, only to snatch it away near the end. It’s a weird potluck of good writing, great main characters, a really cool story & absolutely awful pacing. Just listen to The Bright Sessions podcast instead.

The Infinite Noise is a quiet book. It's pitched as if the X-Men went to therapy and I think that's pretty accurate. The pressures of growing up, dealing with bullies and first loves, all balanced with power we cannot control and the danger of being exposed. I've never heard of The Bright Sessions before this book, but after The Infinite Noise I'll have to delve into it! You absolutely do not need to listen to it to adore this book. The Infinite Noise is one of the most realistic portrayals of being a super-powered teen I've ever read. Told in dual perspectives, we witness Caleb's frustrations with his power - how it changes his family dynamic and how he has to be careful not to abuse his power. All balanced with Adam's depression and own complex relationship to his parents.

Featuring a m/m relationship between Adam and Caleb, we're able to see, from both perspectives, how it would function to be friends and romantic partners with a super-powered teen. While there's the danger of telling everyone about Caleb's powers, there's also the pressure of being a teen, high school, social situations, and college. Adam's chapters could be seen as more relatable, because how many of us are super-powered empaths, but Caleb experiences this complex fear of being vulnerable. Of telling Adam and others about his power.

This started out as a decent read but quickly descended into trite romantic feelings that were meant to be new and different because they were occurring between two high school boys. After awhile, it became nothing except a diary of emotions felt that day, character by character, chapter by chapter. Overdone metaphors and similes, phrases such as "gently smirking" "adorable" made me want to quit reading and go wash the overdone sweetness off. I had a hard time remembering if the chapter was about Caleb or Adam as the feelings descriptions took over everything. The other plots in the book were not well represented and felt unfinished. Not my first choice of reading material.

[The review will go live on my blog, at the link given on 11 September, two weeks before the release date]


The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen is a novelisation of The Bright Sessions podcast. More accurately, it’s the novelisation of one particular storyline, primarily following two of the characters. I initially thought it was going to be a sequel, but it actually goes into more depth on events from the first two (I think) seasons of the podcast.

Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.”

Caleb is an Atypical, an individual with enhanced abilities. Which sounds pretty cool except Caleb's ability is extreme empathy—he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb's life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam's feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb's feelings in a way that he can't quite understand.

Caleb's therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist—who seems to know a lot more than she lets on—and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be.

In essence, this is a YA romance book, featuring two male protagonists. The speculative element is clear: one of the protagonists, Caleb, has an empathy superpower, which allows him (forces him) to sense other people’s emotions. So on the one hand, we have Caleb’s very unique view of the people around him. On the other hand, there’s Adam, who is a normal teen that happens to suffer from depression. Despite one being a it of a nerd and the other being a it of a jock, the two of them form a connection. I also want to be clear that it isn’t just through Caleb’s powers that we experience Adam’s depression. Adam has his own point of view chapters and was diagnosed long before the start of the book. It’s now just something he has to live with and, I think, a particularly good depiction of living with depression.

Since I have listened to the original podcast, I knew what was going to happen in this book. The fact that it’s a romance book cancels out the spoilery nature of being familiar with the podcast (because of how romance books work). The one thing I think might throw people who haven’t listened to the podcast is the sudden appearance of some of the other podcast characters (other than Dr Bright). They sort of fit into the story, but because Caleb and Adam weren’t directly involved in the most dramatic parts of the podcast events, they seemed very oddly tangential, despite triggering some personal issues for our protagonists. On the other hand, if you enjoy The Infinite Noise, it might be a good jumping off point for getting into The Bright Sessions podcast.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I generally recommend it to all fans of YA, particularly spec fic YA. I hope we get more novels in this universe, although I’m not sure which bits of podcast would work best. You definitely do not need to have listened to the podcast to enjoy this book and, conversely, listening to the podcast first does not in any way ruin the book.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2019, Tor Teen
Series: Sort of? The first actual book, set in the Bright Sessions (podcast) world. I hope there'll be more books.
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Omg this book! When I found out the podcast The Bright Sessions was getting turned into a book series I was incredibly excited, and the first book in the series definitely didn’t disappoint.

Although this book is based on the TBS podcast, you definitely don’t have to have listened to it in order to enjoy the book (although I would highly recommend giving it a listen because the cast are an absolute dream!) I definitely think I would have still loved this book even if I hadn’t fallen in love with the podcast before reading it.

The writing within the story is first person with alternating perspectives from our two main characters, Caleb and Adam. The descriptive writing, especially when it’s from Caleb’s perspective, allows the reader to fully understand what the characters are feeling so it really pulls you into the story.

If I could change anything about the book it would be the length of it. I feel like too much was happening within the story to compact it into 336 pages. But hopefully with it being a series, the story will continue in the next book.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series, I can already tell this is going to be one of my favourite book series!

I’ve been looking forward to reading The Infinite Noise since it was announced. I decided to hold off on listening to the podcast; I wanted to see if the book would hold up on its own and I’m pleased to say that it did!

Not only does this story have some amazing LGBTQA+ representation, it also touches on the topic of mental illness in a way that’s totally unique. It was refreshing to see a character enjoy and recognize the benefits of therapy. Plus, the parallel between Caleb’s power and Adam’s depression allows for some amazing character development.

At times, Caleb’s insight made me feel genuinely bad for characters I thought were totally irredeemable. It made me question myself, and the people I knew in high school.

I’m looking forward to the next book and plan to download the podcast in the future.

I really loved this book! It felt very much like Vicious by VE Schwab, but more contemporary than sci-fi. The romance was adorable and didn't feel too heavy handed. Overall, the plot was interesting although I guessed the plot twist at the end and it's definitely a book that will stick with me.

I went into this book already a huge Bright Sessions fan, having listened to the entirety of the podcast from start to finish twice already. I love Caleb and Adam.

This book did an excellent job of explaining the nature of Caleb's abilities. It was fascinating to read some of the more behind-the-scenes way his ability works, rather than just hear about it in audio nature. The writing was descriptive and easy to follow.

I do think people who haven't listened to the podcast may have a hard time with this book. When a couple key characters are introduced at the end of the book, they came out of nowhere. The ending, in general, felt a bit rushed.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the amount of new content that was added to the book that didn't take place explicitly in the podcast. I feared it would just be a written version of the events of the podcast, but this was so much more.

Okay, where do I begin! If you are familiar with "The Bright Sessions" Podcast by Lauren Shippen, This Infinite Noise is the 1st book of a 3 part series. Now, I wasn't familiar with that, so I took a couple of days to familiarize myself more with the characters and their background so that I could write my review better.

The book. LOL . Well then, so yea it's "cute". I get the general idea of what the story was about. We have Caleb Michaels 16 yr old junior in high school who is learning that he has the ability to feel everyone's emotions (empath) around him, and Adam Hayes, his smart-gay-emo-depressed-loser of a classmate who somehow is able to help Caleb control his emotions and keep them in check. Pause, deep breath 🙄

So then we meet Dr.Bright a therapist who specializes in "Special People" like Caleb, and is guiding him how to control his emotions. She has the clever idea of telling Caleb to befriend Adam (since he has no friends), and see how he can be of help to him and his emotions, but not to say anything? 😒 So fuck Adam right? And his feelings, your just gonna use him.

Then the story goes on and Caleb has this self-discovery that he's falling in love with Adam, but he's not gay but he just feels it and vise-versa (facepalm) OK STOP ✋🏼

What a cluster-fuck of a story 🙄 there is no real self identity that Caleb has in the story. One second your str8 then the next your gay? Ok 😑, then it takes almost 8 chapters before they are even brought together as a couple, and the mention of Caleb being "gay" isn't even talked about. It's very generic, ok I like you, yea me too 🤔🙄😒

By that time I was already bored with the story because it was to much back and forth and too much repetition. The book got overwhelming and at one point I didn't want to finish it. But I did, and I was glad I did. I was definitely over it. The last 10 chapters are a sentence, paragraph at most that could have been combined together to have the ultimate ending/cliffhanger that went into the 2nd book and didn't. The ending was a mess. It made no sense. 64 chapters could have been 40. After hearing the podcast I see what happened. It's literally the podcast in book form word by word. Though the podcast is Great, the excision for the book lacks. It's just too basic. I hope the next 2 books are stronger and go more in detail of the characters. This is my honest opinion .

Rating 3.5

I have been looking forward to this book since Lauren Shippen first announced she had a three-book deal to expand the Bright Sessions universe, and I cannot describe how happy reading this has made me.

Caleb Michaels is a 16-year-old football player who has just realized he is an empath, which isn’t always easy in high school. When he gets overwhelmed by other students’ emotions and ends up punching someone, his parents have him start seeing Dr Bright, a therapist who specializes in the “strange and unusual.” While Caleb is figuring out how to handle his empathy and not constantly be overwhelmed by others’ feelings, Adam Hayes, one of his classmates, is often a focus because being around him causes all other people’s emotions to kind of fade to the back.

The Infinite Noise begins just before the start of the Bright Sessions podcast and occurs through the timeline of the first couple seasons, and follows Caleb getting better control of his ability as well as the friendship he develops with Adam leading to their romance. There are several familiar faces who make appearances from the podcast and I loved how this was able to feel like a complete story even if you haven’t listened to the podcast, but by introducing other characters and hinting at the bigger storylines it raises interest in the whole of the world.

From the first moment I listened to the podcast, Caleb has always been my favorite character. He is a sweet, caring young man, but he also has a tendency of going to anger when he feels overwhelmed by his emotions, which is relatable for me. I also feel like he’s demiromantic because while he doesn’t claim the label or really any label on page, the way he talks about never really having had crushes and only being interested in Adam because he’s Adam strikes me as a very aro-spec experience.

Adam has severe depression and a history of self harm, and the descriptions around how his depression feels are so vivid that at times it felt like sinking into that ocean with him. He has spent much of high school experience isolated between being smart and being awkward, not always the best combination when in high school.

One of the things that stood out is the way characters are never really clearly described. Shippen has, if I’m remembering correctly, mentioned before that she doesn’t really describe the characters in the podcast so any and all fanart can be canon, and I feel like she maintained that in The Infinite Noise. There are some clear descriptors (Adam has brown skin, is skinny, and has curly hair; Caleb has green eyes and broad shoulders/football player body), but overall the characters are never clearly described, nor is the setting so it is up to reader to imagine what the scene looks like.

This is definitely a new favorite for me and I hope that people picking up this book who’ve never listened to the podcast will give it a chance because there is more to the story and even just for Caleb. And for those that already love The Bright Sessions, this is a great addition to the world and fills in many of the gaps between Caleb’s early sessions with Dr Bright. These boys make me so soft and I’m looking forward to seeing the other books in this series and how they’ll further flesh out these already-beloved characters.

This book was just okay for me. I will preface it by saying I haven't ever listened to the podcasts, so that definitely could have affected how connected I felt to the book. This is marketed as what if the X-Men had therapy? I thought that was a funny thing to think about and picked up this book. Caleb is our main main character and he experiences being one of the Atypical, which he learns are kids with powers. He has extreme empathy and I can relate to this as I am a highly sensitive person (HSP) that experiences this as well, just not to his level. He finds that a boy in his class, Adam, is someone's emotions he is drawn to and becomes wrapped up with him. He attends therapy with a woman named Dr. Bright and she is careful with what she tells him about the Atypicals and how she helps him. I thought it was all in all an interesting concept. We also have LGBTQIAP+ inclusion which is always a win for me.

I enjoyed this book but I didn't love it. I found that I didn't care as much about the characters as I wanted to and I didn't feel connected to the story at all. I liked seeing Caleb and Adam's relationship blossom but other than that, it kind of fell flat. I think I may listen to the podcast because it might give me a new appreciation for the characters and I would like the story a little better.

I would recommend this to fans of X-Men as well as those looking for an LGBTQIAP+ read!

The idea of this book sounded fun, but it got too muddled for me to enjoy. Part X-Men, more moody teen romance, I had a hard time telling Adam and Caleb apart. They're both teens dealing with changes, but everything was too easy for them: accepting families, good healthcare, nice school. The whole "they" are after us wasn't enough for me to really care about their worries.

4 Stars

This book was a cute, light and fluffy read, which is exactly what I wanted from it from reading the description. This book follows Adam and Caleb as they try to navigate their high school. Caleb is an Atypical, specifically an empath meaning he can feel other people's emotions. Adam is the nerd of the school, who is depressed and bullied for being gay. Together they learn to navigate the intricacies of high school while batteling their own battles outside of school as well.

I really enjoyed the pacing of this book for the most part. I thought the relationships between characters was explored in good time, meaning it didn't move to quickly or too slowly. I also liked the organic development of romantic relationships in this story. I also enjoyed the sci Fi elements in this book and the fact they didn't seem to out of place. I loved the descriptions of emotions in this book, as it helped make it easier to understand what Caleb was feeling but also made a lot of sense to me in general. I didn't love the ending of this book. I felt it moved way to quickly and there was a major conflict that felt fairly unresolved.

The main thing I loved about this book was the characters. They were very realistic and the problems they weren't dealing with were al dealt with realistically. The way the author dealt with mental illness in this book was done beautifully in my opinion, specifically the depression aspect Both of our main characters were just cute little cinnamon rolls and I really appreciated it

Overall, this was a really cute book with some really cute characters.