Never Been Kissed is fast-paced, cinematic and everything you need for a feel-good read! I am so glad we got to follow Wren on this journey. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

So cute!

I'm always on the lookout for mm romances, and this one was just the cutest! A slow burn, great characters, a fun story, what more could you ask for?? If you're looking for a cute book, this is perfect for you! I just want to cozy up in a blanket with this book and a cup of tea and purely enjoy it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the earc in return for an earc

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

3.5 stars

This was a very enjoyable book to read.
I liked the story and the characters.
Is a really cool novel, easy and quick to read.
Is a book you can read in a day if you have the time.
I recommend it if you want a cute novel to read in a day.

Voilà un roman qu'il me tardait de dévorer avec ce résumé vraiment alléchant !

Je ne reviendrai pas sur l'histoire, le résumé présentant très bien les choses. Pour être honnête j'ai eu un peu de mal avec ce roman. J'ai eu du mal à accroché au début, puis j'ai eu le petit déclic, qui fait que je me sentais investie dans les personnages, avec Wren, son cruch de retour...

Mais malgré tout, cela n'a pas suffit à m'embarquer, car le rythme s’essouffle... J'ai eu un peu de mal aussi avec la relation entre Wren et son coloc Mateo.

J'ai eu vraiment l'impression d'être restée en retrait tout le long et c'est dommage car le pitch de départ était top.

NEVER BEEN KISSED by Timothy Janovsky is a queer new adult contemporary romance that follows Wren who sends out emails to 4 boys he almost kissed – including Derick, his biggest crush before coming out who also ghosted him even though they were really good friends. Now Derick takes a job at a drive-in theater where Wren works too, and… the story goes from there. It’s such a charming, light-hearted, and fun little book. It’s a quick fast-paced read with a sweet adorable romance and some great friendships. I also loved the setting of the drive-in theater and all the little movie parts of it.

Wren and Derick are both gay and they came out a while ago when the story starts, so it’s not a “coming out story” at all. However, Wren feels like there’s more to his sexuality than he knew, so his questioning is a part of the story, which I thought was amazing because we don’t see that often. He starts figuring out he might be demi-sexual, so we also have that representation in here.
If you want a queer romance where the queerness is super casual and there’s only a small mention of some homophobia, definitely pick this one up! It’s just so joyful and fun and really focused on the romance while having some other great elements as well.

This book is solidly new adult, and I think it will have a lot of crossover appeal with teens as well as adult romance fans. Everything about it made me so happy. I can't wait to read more about Timothy's work.

Sweet story of a shy movie buff who sends out emails on an evening after one too many. This results in his high school crush coming back in to his life. A story about finding yourself and where you fit in the LGBTQ spectrum, whether you've been kissed, or not.

This book was cute, funny and incredibly well written. I especially loved the demisexual rep and discussions surrounding it. It reminded me of To All The Boys and everything we loved about that series and all it's cuteness.

My only issue is that some of the characters were annoying, which annoyed me because I generally enjoy an annoying and messy character. Otherwise it was cute!

A really sweet, slow burn novel that's not all about the romance.

Told from Wren's point of view, Timothy Janovsky's Never Been Kissed is more about the story than the romancin', and I totally enjoyed that. We've got great secondary stuff going on: Alice's fascinating life and film, the drive-in's dilemma, Wren and Derick's families, and Wren's journey of self awareness.

Every time I read a story with a well written demisexual character I feel grateful to the author for the positive exposure. It's hard to incorporate that aspect of human sexuality into a love story, and not make it all about how being demi affects a romance. Wren doesn't have to do too much explaining, or soul searching, he can just state: Hey, turns out I'm demisexual, and that's why I feel the way I do. Okay, Wren. That's great. There's more to life than jumping straight into bed, thank you very much.

Never Been Kissed is a fun, interesting, and well written novel about a 22 year old guy, who has a whole bunch of stuff to figure out, his sexuality being just one small part of it all.

I really hoped I was going to love this. demisexual representation? hell yes. unfortunately, the rep is the only thing I enjoyed about this book. I really disliked the main character, wren. I visibly cringed every time he spoke or had a thought. I felt like every struggle in the book was resolved within seconds. I just really did not vibe with this book and i'm really sad about that :(

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

Kind mixes Never Been Kissed and To All the Boys I’ve Loved. It also reminds me of a few other books I’ve read this year where the theater/bookstore is going out of business and the MC takes on the role to save it.

It was cute. Though it was a little predictable & I found the voices of the characters to be written younger than portrayed.

Cute, fun read. Wren has never been kissed, waiting for the "firework" moment and the right guy.

On his 22nd birthday, he mistakingly sends emails out to his former crushes about how he almost kissed them. Then runs into one of them: Derrick. The man without answers who's now working at the drive in Wren manages. .

This is supposed to be the summer where he saves the drive in and makes a name for himself in the movie world. But, will he keep his status of never being kissed? Or will he get that picture perfect kissable moment?

Overall, I enjoyed reading/listening to Never Been Kissed, Timothy Janovsky's debut. The passion he has for writing clearly shines in this less than 300 page contemporary read. While I wish there was some more romance packed in, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Boyfriend Material.

Never Been Kissed is basically To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but instead of a Lara Jean, we have Wren, a queer college graduate with an affinity for all things related to film. And you know what? This story was so cute that I didn't even care that it resembled another book so closely. Wren, his love interest, Derrick, and other important characters were really well developed and so loveable that by the end of the story I was sad to have to say goodbye to them! If you are looking for a lighthearted, feel-good summer rom-com, this is the book for you.

Wren and Derrick gave my heart a good thump!

It was a light, fun read which is perfect for the summer. It was beautiful to see Wren trying to figure himself out — his career and first kiss. The laugh out loud and heart-tugging moments would have you rooting for Wren to get his heart desires.

Derrick, on the other hand, has my respect. He's a gentleman who stood his ground and respected Wren's sexuality, which was good to see.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley, for the free arc copy.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book, my thoughts are my own.

Let me start off with an apology for the late review, I had finals in school and got sick so there hadn't been much of an opportunity until now to sit down and write my thoughts.

Overall this book was disappointing, as a demisexual bisexual human myself, I was glad to see some demisexual rep, but ended up being let down by the book itself. While I was not expecting an extremely steamy book, I expected one or two scenes as NA usually has some type of sexual/very intimate emotional intimacy which makes it differ from YA with older characters as it usually contains more emotionally mature characters.
The MC's read very young, younger than I expected and little to no chemistry or character development for side characters was there, it was hard to root for the MC's when I did not feel they were "meant to be together" more than any other character in the story. It doesn't have much happening in terms of scenes between them that really made me feel connected to them and their romance. By the halfway point I just wanted to put it down, I had no urge to pick it back up and as the book progressed side characters had less and less personality (or so it felt).
There is nothing special about this romance, there is nothing that makes it stand out, apart from the demisexual rep, which is not something that should be the deciding factor in loving a romance or not since it is just a part of who they are as a person and doesn't make a romance more or less impactful/romantic as a whole.
I hate to say it, but I have to, as a demisexual person myself, I hate that people love it seemingly not based on the romance as a whole (seeing this is a romance book) but because, it feels like it at least, the demi rep in the book....
I felt like this was a lie of a NA, just a YA badly marketed.

2/5 stars
Bookarina.

NEVER BEEN KISSED is an adorable queer rom-com that follows a recent college grad working at a drive-in theater. I loved reading a romance about characters in this early twenties age range, since we don’t see a lot of stories about 20-23 year-olds. I would recommend this book if you are a fan of films, coming of age stories about adults, and the estranged friends-to-lovers trope. I also appreciated the late bloomer and demisexual representation! This was super cute.

Wren has never been kissed, but he has had plenty of 'almost-kisses'. When the drive-in movie company he works on falls on hard financial times, one of his almost-kisses enters his life once again.

This book was... not for me. It took me about two pages to know that the writing style was a bit too "Wattpad" for my liking, but still I pushed through in the off-chance that it would get better. But no, the writing did not get any better. It just felt very young, when this book isn't marketed as a YA. If it were I would understand a bit more and be more lenient.

Moving onto the plot, it was very bland in my opinion... There wasn't much to grab on to. Everything that happened seemed like it wasn't really important, and I had to stop myself from skimming a lot of the book. It was just overall boring.

I appreciated the demisexual representation, but even that wasn't enough to salvage it for me. I WILL say, while this book and it's style wasn't for me, I understand that books like it are very popular and might appeal more to those who like those types of books. Not me though haha.

Our store copies of this book arrived on Friday! It had been recommended so many times and I'm glad that I listened

of To All the Boys and for all the hopeless romantics out there! Goofy and relatable while still complex characters made this a very quick and enjoyable read! After all, who doesn't love a good happily ever after?!? Will definitely be checking out future books by Timothy Janovsky!

Never Been Kissed is a delightful book that I breezed through in just a few sittings. Janovsky's characters are well-developed and I really enjoyed watching the romance between Wren and Derick bloom. The protagonist, Wren, is demisexual and I really enjoyed seeing this part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum represented so well in the book. A fun summer read!