I was going into this book with no expectations because I haven't really seen many other people talk about this book much. I was really intrigued though because I love rom-com type books, and I heard on goodreads that the guy pines hard for the main character (which is my favorite trope!)

My favorite character was Caleb! He did some questionable things, like the whole catfishing thing, but I could understand his reasoning. I also liked the way he reconciled those actions, and I could tell he was a good guy. He never pushed Evie to do something she didn't want to, and he was always very considerate. Their friendship turned relationship was so cute to watch them grow their feelings. I also really liked the fact that we saw pieces of Caleb and Evie‘s pass it really gave a clearer picture of these characters adorable friendship. I also really liked the whole STEM aspect! Evie was a major introvert who struggled with social anxiety and panic attacks, and a math/physics genius always needing to prove that she was as smart if not smarter than the boys. Her dedication was admirable, and nice to read.

If you're a fan of You've Got Mail or Alex Approximately, then you'll probably really like this book!

This is a very cute story with a few issues. In The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss we follow Evie and Caleb as they try to navigate friendship, romance, and a super intense science/math competition.

Evie isn’t interested in romance – or she wasn’t, until she starts to have feelings for a classmate. The problem is that Caleb has been in love with Evie since forever. Though he feels he has made his intentions towards Evie clear, he is understandably hurt when it seems she doesn’t feel the same way. But with the revelation that she is romantically interested in someone else, Caleb feels he needs to make moves to let her his feelings again. So he creates an online profile through the competitions website to woo her.

I am always down for a friends to lovers romance, especially when they are done right. This one fell a little flat for me for a couple reasons. Caleb came across possessive on several instances and it almost felt like he thought he was entitled to Evie’s love. Because of this, he couldn’t just let her be happy in her relationship and created so many unnecessary problems for her. I also didn’t love that even though Evie was in a relationship, Caleb and Evie’s closeness seemed to cross some boundaries. It would be one thing if Evie’s partner was okay with it, but he made it pretty clear that he didn’t care for it and they all just brushed him off.

I will say that I did enjoy the story overall. The characters were interesting, the plot kept continually pushing forward, and it was clear the author had an understanding of the topics the characters were researching – something I have very little knowledge of. It was interesting to see how their project evolved throughout the book.

I was glad that The Quantum Weirdness of the First Kiss was the first book I've read and finished in 2021. It is such a warm and sweet Young Adult Contemporary stories about two friends and the discovery of each others feelings. Evie and Caleb have been friends since they were children and they are inseparable. Caleb, in love with Evie has recounted all the almost kisses that occurred between him and Evie. The one time a kiss resulted, Evie was not ready to dive into those feelings and that moment was put in the back in her mind. From that moment, we are brought into the life of Evie, Caleb as they navigate school, feelings and the anticipation of finally doing something worthy for the Frontier conference.

Different from many of the books I've read before, Caleb is actually the first to proclaim his feelings for Evie. He is in love with her and wants to be with her but also wants to be with only if she also wants that kind of relationships. We learn early on that Evie's hesitation is mainly due to her anxiety towards losing her friendship with Caleb. As she mentions, she doesn't know herself without Caleb. Her eye has also caught the attention of new kid Leo who is equal parts handsome and insanely intelligent. While I enjoyed her growing relationship with Leo because it became vital in her discovering her reciprocated feelings towards Caleb, I still wanted to see more of their relationship. We get snippets here and there because the story is more focus on Caleb and Evie, but would have benefitted a bit of understanding the relationship she had with Leo. However, the growing relationship between Evie and Caleb, felt organic, unrushed and satisfactory. It wasn't love at first sight, it was a love that took years to develop and blossomed.

Speaking of Caleb, I thought his pining over Evie was sweet. He had bouts of jealousy when seeing Evie with Leo, as many teens boys may experience, but it didn't feel aggressive or worrying which I enjoyed. I also love how Evie described Caleb as her center, her home. She values him so much and I think that really made their friendship as strong and long lasting as it was.

When thinking about the supporting character, I was particularly fond of Bex's personality. She is the definition of a great girl friend who will call out what needs to be called out and will be the most loyal friend you know. Bex reminded me often of my best friend from high school whom I am still very best friends with almost 15 years later.

As a whole, the story is similar to a light spring day, calm, slowly building and ending with a pretty wrapped up ending. Aside from the characters, I enjoyed how the characters were very STEM focused because we do not have many stories like this. I enjoyed the intellectual conversations the characters had surrounding their majors and passions. You could tell, especially with Evie, how passionate she was when talking about adinkras, equations, graphs and anything math/computer related. This story gave strong relationships/friendships, exploration of feelings, coping with anxieties, and discovering oneself beyond what they originally believed they were.

The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks has been my absolute favorite read of 2021, so far, and because it is a contemporary realistic fiction romance, that surprises me. However, The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss features a group of neurodiverse gifted and talented young adults who attend Newton Academy, which is an almost all-male boarding school in the state of Illinois. The debut romantic comedy young-adult novel touches on themes of light and darkness, which are sadly part of the norm for many neurodiverse youth and adults, as many deal with anxieties, stressors, and mental illnesses, etcetera. Evie is a math prodigy who suffers from various insecurities, a lack of confidence in herself, estrangement from her parents, but mostly her mom, and she relies on her close friendship and bond with her childhood best friend, Caleb. Caleb is a computer science whiz who has finally uncovered his deep love for his best friend and who has always moved heaven and Earth for Evie; however, Evie wants to maintain her friendship with Caleb forever, so romance is not allowed to get in the way. Enter Leo, a math/physics nerd and heartthrob transfer student, who begins to capture the attention and time of Evie, much to Caleb’s disdain. Caleb soon crafts a plan to be able to find Evie and anonymously talk with her online, without her knowing his identity, as they both prepare for a national STEM competition, Frontier, all with the goal of proving to Evie why she should be with Caleb romantically as his partner.

All of the main characters in The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss have their own quirks and charms and each chapter is chock-full of hidden humor. Caleb and Evie’s best friend at Newton Academy, Bex, is the epitome of the lifelong friend anyone would be lucky to have. Caleb and Evie’s game, “Can You Help Me Find?” which is about exposure therapy in a library was hilariously cute and helpful, and one of my favorite portions of the novel. The extended feature on mental health and wellness, particularly with Evie, was a brilliant and much-needed depiction in young-adult literature, and I also appreciated how the characters in the book, especially Evie, Bex, and Caleb, pushed back against the disciplines of STEM being all-male, and how these fields needed to be more diverse and inclusive of females and BIPOC. Bex, as a Christian, is also exploring her identity and trying to determine who she wants to become and who she is meant to be, and this is a valuable perspective that will connect with many teens, as well. As someone who works with neurodiverse, gifted/talented youth, this is definitely a book that I would recommend giving a read, and it will be featured prominently on my bookshelf. I may have already purchased three copies…

A warm-hearted and much-appreciated thank you to ABRAMS Kids, Amulet Books, and NetGalley for providing an advance copy! Please make sure to pick up a copy of The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss at your local book depository.

4 stars = Great! Might re-read.

Delightful, sweet, funny. I loved Evie and Caleb from the start - their friendship and their potential romance, their history, their partnership, the ways they pushed back on misogyny, the way he "gets" her. The dual storytelling works perfectly with this story and these characters.

There are some mental health/mental illness/anxiety/panic attack pieces here that are well handled by the healthy characters. (Evie's mother is the worst!) Evie has a great therapist - loved that relationship and that representation. I feel like Evie's best friend, Bex, could have been more fully developed as a character - there are pieces of her story that wanted to see more fully fleshed out. I enjoyed the "nerdy" moments. The math was way over my head, but it never impacted the storytelling. A fun read - check it out! (Some language, TW: Anxiety/panic attacks)

This ARC was given by ABRAMS Kinds Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review is being voluntarily given and full of my own personal opinions.

This was such a cute read! I was browsing NetGalley's selection of books and came across TQWotAK and could not help but put in a request ASAP. I'm not usually a huge fan of love triangle trope books but Author Amy Noelle Parks hit it out of the park with this one. I was not able to put this book down and had such a good time while reaidng. I think the characters were created so well and the romance made me feel so angsty in THE best way! I very much recommend this book and have plans to buy it in the near future! Overall 4.5 stars!

This book is adorable, guys. It is so sweet and heartwarming!

Goodreads summary:

Seventeen-year-old Evie Beckham has never been interested in dating. She's been fully occupied by her love of mathematics and her frequent battles with anxiety (and besides, she's always found the idea of kissing to be a little bit icky). But with the help of her best friend and her therapist, Evie's feeling braver. Maybe even brave enough to enter a prestigious physics competition and to say yes to the new boy who's been flirting with her.

Caleb Covic knows Evie isn't ready for romance but assumes that when she is, she will choose him. So Caleb is horrified when he is forced to witness Evie's meet cute with a floppy-haired, mathematically gifted transfer student. Because Caleb knows the girl never falls for the funny best friend when there's a mysterious stranger around, he decides to use an online forum to capture Evie's interest. Now, he's got Evie wondering if it's possible to fall in love with a boy she's never met.

As I said before, this book is kinda the sweetest. The pace is pretty slow and the writing style is simple, so it was hard to get into at first. However, I became attached to the characters and their various internal conflicts: Evie with her fight with anxiety and social difficulty and Caleb with his utter love for Evie but his fear that he’ll lose her. Both main characters have complex lives and interactions with others and it is really interesting to see. And if you like the friends-to-lovers trope, this book is for you! It is so so precious to watch Caleb and Evie as they grow into their feelings and constantly gravitate towards each other without even realizing it (well, Caleb totally knows it, but Evie takes a little longer 😉). I know the hype around enemies-to-lovers is insane, but Amy Noelle Parks nails the tension that friends-to-lovers can have as well!

Alongside the romance, there are great coming-of-age arcs as well! As I mentioned before, Evie deals with intense anxiety and panic attacks, and as the novel progresses, she learns how she handles her anxiety and expresses a profound understanding of herself that allows her to grow and mature into a woman who conquers and thrives amidst her anxiety. Her arc in particular is so inspiring, and I really loved seeing the world from her unique perspective!!

Overall, this is such an enjoyable and sweet read, and I totally recommend it if you want an easy and heartwarming read to light up your day!

Oh, and fun fact - a math-related pick-up line in this book helped me on my Calculus midterm. Not joking 😂… This book is incredibly math-oriented, but you don’t really have to understand all the mathy references to deeply understand the story, I promise :))

*I received a free physical arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own!*

I should start of by saying that quantum weirdness has no place in this book other than referencing that the main female character likes math. And literally <em>no one</em> is going to come away from reading Amy Noelle Parks' <em>The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss</em> knowing anything about what quantum means. But, I digress, because that's not really the problem with this book. Honestly, Parks' novel is basically a giant pile of BIG <em>yikes</em>.

<b>Can We NOT with Male Entitlement</b>

I'm usually a <em>huge</em> fan of boys pining after a girl, loving her so much that he puts her first despite it hurting to see her happy with others. I've been obsessed with trash shows solely because of big sweetheart guys like that. You know, the sort who don't expect a thing and just want the girl they love to be happy? So, in theory, I should have <em>loved</em> Quantum Weirdness.

But honestly? Main character and best friend love interest, Caleb is a capital D douchebag. He's also kind of creepy obsessed rather than innocently in love. I'm not entirely sure what Parks thought she was portraying with him, but trust me when I say it was <em>not</em> sweetheart best friend just wanting the girl he loves to be happy even if it hurts him. It wasn't even him just <em>silently</em> wishing she'd love him in the same way but still being a great friend.

Nah, he was an entitled creep who thought if he kept track of all the times he <em>almost </em>kissed her or thought about kissing her and waited long enough she'd finally fall in love with him. Of course, this sort of creepy stalker-esque behavior often results in serious problems. See, the only reason their friendship lasted as long as it did without hiccups is because Evie never showed any sign of romantic interest in <em>anyone</em>.

But the second she does...

<b>Enter Leo</b>

Haha, okay. So, Evie is into math. And one day she meets a decently nice guy who is, coincidentally, into math as well. Caleb's response to this is...less than ideal. The amount of vitriol that he spews at Leo, thought wise, is disturbing. Frankly, the only reason he didn't turn into creeper mental breakdown stalker is because he's a fictional character. In real life this is the sort of guy who would have a full on tantrum about the uninterested girl not cowing to his entitlement.

He's a straight up <em>ass</em> to Leo from the very first second he learns Leo likes Evie. And it only gets worse once Evie expresses her interest. The nerve of this entitled child seriously pissed me off. <em>Especially</em> since instead of being somewhat sad but at least happy that his friend is happy, he decides to go out of his way to <em>prove </em>to her without her knowledge that he is the guy for her. Caleb <em>literally</em> catfishes her.

He carefully develops a profile on a website related to this contest thing they're part of with the express purpose of weaseling his way into her life as a romantic interest. Magically, she finds his curated profile and messages him. He hides his identity from her because, I shit you not, he thinks the only reason she's not realized she's in love with him is because he's been seen as her best friend for so long. And not only that, but he gets personal information from her about both of his personas <em>without her knowledge</em>.

Honestly, everything about Caleb just seriously fucking disgusted me.

<b>The Anxiety Stuff</b>

By this point I'm just...too disgusted by the romance to care about anything else going on in the book. There are a few textbook annoying things like the friend who pushes them together because somehow she can see that they've loved each other <em>forever</em> and seriously <em>dumb </em>miscommunications to set up and further the plot.

There was a lot of potential for a really great story involving the anxiety side plot. But, of course, that gets pushed aside and diminished because: <em>romance</em> and <em>the one!</em> So, that was disappointing. Honestly, I wish she'd picked Leo in the end, realized Caleb was awful, and overcome her anxiety thanks to the many years spent in therapy rather than using the stupid catfisher as a crutch.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This book/audiobook was adorable and cute. My favorite trope is friends to lovers and this one marked all the boxes. I would recommend this to my friends and teens. Once my daughter is a little older, I think she'd enjoy it too

I had no idea what to expect from this one, but I was pleasantly surprised! This is a great light-hearted YA romcom that deals with difficult topics really well. It was also great to have a main character who loves math and physics--something we don't get nearly enough of in YA. A lot of the math went over my head, but the author never made me feel stupid or spoken down to, which was really refreshing. Evie and Caleb have such a wonderful relationship, and Caleb made me absolutely gush. Overall, super fun read!

This could have been a super cute YA - I'm a HUGE fan of the boy-next-door, we've-been-best-friends-forever trope - but it just didn't work for me. For starters, Caleb. He's been in love with Evie for years and when they were 16 finally told her how he felt...and she immediately said she didn't feel the same, she wasn't interested. These almost-kisses the title mentions? Completely in Caleb's head: "At this point, Evie and I had nine almost-kisses between us, but she'd never given a single sign that she recognized even one of those moments of possibility." Before I stopped reading, Caleb was up to 15 almost-kisses: when they were 13 and playing hide-and-seek. During one of Evie's panic attacks (?!). The day they spent at the county fair. At no time does Caleb actually make a move, he just imagines these kisses as happening, despite already having been rejected by Evie.

Though Evie rejected Caleb, she's extremely handsy and touchy, to the point where potential partners for both Evie and Caleb feel awkward. They constantly hold hands, lean into one another, there were several forehead/hair/cheek kisses, there are sleepovers. They actually come across as codependent, Evie literally cannot do certain things without having Caleb right there with her while Caleb describes them as intertwined trees.

It's never stated outright, but I'm assuming Evie is autistic? There's much talk of how she doesn't understand facial expressions and emotions, she has to be told when something is a joke because she takes their meanings literally (there was one scene where Caleb said Leo pretty much wanted to Sharpie 'mine!' on Evie's forehead and Evie was horrified and confused), she will only eat a select few beige foods. To be honest, Caleb and Bex treat Evie like a child, relying on a lot of handholding (literally, in Caleb's case) and watered-down explaining as Evie navigates through high school.

Not long after Evie begins liking a boy, Leo, for the first time in her life, Caleb is angsting to Bex and despite being madly in love with Evie for years, straight up says: "I study [Bex's] face. 'You're prettier than she is. Margot too. Objectively speaking.'" Ew, Caleb, seriously?

From other reviews I know there's a catfishing plot, but I had only just reached the initial IMs between Evie and Caleb/Milo. I'm really not enjoying this one and don't care enough to continue. I'm clearly in the minority here.

Thank you NetGalley and Amulet Books for the digital advance reading copy of this book.

I am not going to lie, I found a lot of the math and physics talk confusing but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story.

I love that Amy Noelle Parks talks about anxiety, panic attacks, and mental health as these are all subjects that kids deal with but aren't necessarily normalized in movies, books, and music. I also love that Amy talks about the challenges of deciding what you want to be when you grow up, where you want to go to school, and how difficult it can be to have these conversations with friends and family.

Most of all, I just enjoyed the story and watching the characters discover their strengths and new friendships.

This book was a hard DNF for me.

While the description pitched the book as starting from an unrequited crush, I somehow did not think I'd be reading a book with dual viewpoints from both Evie (who appears to be the main character) and Caleb (the one with the crush). His view of Evie bothered me, a lot; he seemed like the kind of guy who would talk about the friendzone and deserving her attention because he'd been there for her for so long.

What finally put me off the book was that the one time Caleb tried to kiss Evie, she ducked out of the way and explicitly told him with her outloud words that she was not interested in that with him, and maybe not at all. This read to me like a character who was declaring herself asexual and maybe aromantic, which is way different from the description of too anxious to want to date. Caleb has no respect for his declaration and the text has no mention of the idea that sometimes people just don't experience sexual interest or romantic feelings. From there, the book only had two potential directions, and both of them pissed me off: Leo, the new guy, wakens sexual and/or romantic interest in the girl who I had been reading as ace/aro, which is a gross, or Caleb somehow convinces her that she wants him after all, which also felt gross. I quit reading the book around 30%, after my daughter why I kept reading something that was making me mad all the time.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss is Amy Noelle Parks, beautifully written, debut YA romance. I was so charmed by this book from the very first line! Parks gives us well thought out characters in Caleb and Evie with strong backstories that she draws on regularly to help us understand their bond. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a sweet, angsty, tortured love story.

Let me start by saying Caleb Covic keeps a mental list of all his “almost-kisses” with Evie Beckham – how can you not love him from that knowledge alone?? These are all the times he was so close to kissing her but he didn’t because he was afraid of what would happen if he did. Evie is a brilliant young woman who is not interested in dating at all when we first meet her…. but not for long!

This novel was told in dual first person POV seamlessly weaving together Evie and Caleb’s story and building up so much of that good kind of angst for the reader that you cannot put the book down.

Amy Noelle Parks gave herself a big job when she wrote Evie’s anxiety but she did it so beautifully and with such care. Anxiety can be difficulty to see and understand because we can’t see it or touch it but Parks brought it to the surface for the reader while honoring it for those of us that suffer from it. THANK YOU!

I also want to gush over the STEM love in this book. Being smart or into Math or coding didn’t mean that the characters weren’t also normal teenagers who had first loves and played sports, which is exactly what I love to see. STEM wasn’t some niche for the friendless outcasts. I’m definitely gifting this book to my teenaged nieces and nephews!

Thank you NetGalley & Amy Noelle Parks for my free copy of this book!

Ok, so this was cute.

Far cuter than I expected it to be, although looking at that pink cover full of adorable illustrations, I had a feeling it was going to be cute. I was genuinely smiling half the time I was reading. It's been so long since a book made me smile, I was starting to lose hope!
This was exactly the rom-com type novel I needed, and it came up at the perfect time.

This book is, obviously, a love story. It follows Caleb, who is helplessly in love with his best friend, and Evie, who is entirely unaware that her best friend, Caleb, is helplessly in love with her. So, when the new kid in school, Leo, shows interest in Evie, and shockingly enough, Evie shows interest back, Caleb is determined to make her see him as something more than just a friend.

And let me tell you, I loved Caleb. He did some questionable things, like not tell Evie his identity in the competition chat, but he also never pushed Evie into anything she didn't want. Caleb fully supported Evie and her decisions, even if those choices didn't include him. I also loved the dynamic between the two. Having grown up together their whole lives they knew each other better than anyone else. Their relationship was rock solid until the end, and I am glad that no forced drama came in between that.

Aside from the cuteness of the plot, this book also dealt with many interesting topics.
I really liked Evie and watching her overcome her anxiety and panic attacks. Her problems aren't all magically solved by the end of the novel, but she is learning to manage, and it was wonderful to read about.

Another thing this book touched on was the roles of women and religion in STEM. Evie faced a lot of quiet criticism and scrutiny for being a brilliant mathematical. Many times her ability is doubted and ignored due to her being a woman. And yet, she never becomes discouraged by this and continues to be brilliant despite everything. Then there is Bex, who is religious and scientific and holds both sides of herself in equal parts. I love so much that this book so full of science and mathematics, and a pragmatic and skeptical main character also showed a religious character without being demonizing.

Lastly, I think this book did a good job showing Evie's relationship with her controlling, fearful mother. Evie's mother sees her as someone who needs to be taken care of. In her mother's mind, Evie must be guarded and medicated to be kept safe. It was interesting to see their dynamic and understanding that while her mother loved Evie, she was hindering her daughter's growth.

I gave The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss 5/5🌟 It’s a YA friends to lovers romcom with a whole lot of substance.

This is a book I wish I had when I was in school. The way anxiety is shown in TQEotAK is the best I’ve seen. Evie’s journey was so relatable and I think anyone reading this will feel less alienated by their anxiety - I know I would have if I’d read this in my teenage years.

What I loved most about this book was that it was about Evie as a person figuring out what she wanted and striving for it. Although we watched her coping with anxiety this wasn’t the focus of the storyline it was just part of who she was as a person. I think this stopped the book from feeling too heavy and makes it more accessible.

Evie’s relationship with her parents showcased two very different but equally common reactions of people trying to support someone with mental health challenges. There was added drama for the sake of the story but the concerns each parent had are common. I think readers who don’t struggle with anxiety but have friends or family that do would benefit from this book.

TQWotAK is split POV between Evie and Caleb, something I personally prefer, particularly in romance books. I think including Caleb’s perspective grounded the story and helped highlight how close he and Evie were as friends first and foremost. That said the friends to lovers journey of this book was everything I’d hoped for!

The supporting characters were well fleshed out, Bex being a particular favourite of mine. Her character wasn’t just there to be Evie’s best friend she had a full storyline of her own that I enjoyed just as much as Evie’s.

I didn't have high hopes for this book as it has the type of cover that looks like every other contemporary romcom but this was really good. The writing is interesting and fresh. I will most likely be purchasing it for the library.

Evie and Caleb are super smart physics and math geeks in a prestigious high school and yet they can't get their love lives in order. Caleb has been pining after Evie since they were kids and Evie has literally no clue. He hopes that one day when Evie is ready for romance she'll choose him, but then in walks Leo and all of his hopes are dashed.

I LOVED this book so much! From the super cute cover to the childhood friends-to-lovers romance to the believability of Evie's anxiety to Caleb and Evie being intelligent about math and really dumb about people and emotions.

You can tell that Caleb and Evie have known each other forever just from how they talk to each other, how they know everything about each other, and how Caleb can easily calm Evie down when she's anxious or panicky. And I love it! When you're reading from Caleb's POV you can really tell how much he loves her and has always loved her and it's so so sweet. Even from Evie's POV, you can see how much she cares for Caleb and how well she knows him as well.

When you're in Evie's POV, Evie's anxiety feels so real and overwhelming. It's a huge part of her life, so it's a big part of the novel, which makes it feel true to life. People tiptoe around her and make her feels less-than because of her anxiety and past of panic attacks and it sucks. Evie doesn't want to be seen as that person and yet it's a part of who she is, and I love that she grows to accept who she is.

Evie is a young woman in STEM, which sometimes goes exactly how you imagine (misogyny and being talked down to) and yet she never lets it stop her or slow her down. She never lets anyone make her feel small or stupid because she knows she's not. Evie may doubt herself when it comes to people and emotions, but I love that she never doubts her intelligence. She knows she's right 95% of the time, which totally makes her a badass.

And of course the romance between Caleb and Evie and how their relationship evolves over time is so cute. You can't help but smile as you read this book! The joy is in discovering how everything changes between them, so go read it and enjoy!

This was such a good book! Well-written, complex/interesting characters, and a really solid plot. I enjoyed it from start to finish. I flew threw it because it was just so engrossing. The humor and wittiness that is instilled in the pages is well worth it alone. But also, I have a new favorite character and her name is Bex! Every character is very well written in this book. I love both the lead characters, Evelyn and Caleb, but everyone else is really interesting as well and contribute to a complete, wholesome cast of characters. I would definitely recommend this book. It's a very sweet romance of friends that grow into something more. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

Off the bat, I had some issues with Evie's character, but as the story progressed and we see her continue to grow into a more confident, self assured person, my issues went out the window. See, Evie is a very anxious person who is socially awkward and has frequent panic responses to things. At first her responses came across stereotypical and, as someone who suffers from anxiety myself, I wasn't a fan of how she was depicted. But, as I learned more about Evie's individual case of anxiety, the more I realized that my initial assumptions were biased and wrong. Not everyone shows anxiety in the same way nor do they deal with it in the same away. Once I acknowledged that I was trying to compare Evie's anxiety to my own, I quickly shut it down and found myself relating to and enjoying Evie's POVs more.

Now for Caleb, I loved him off the bat. He was a little annoying in the beginning as well as he confesses to us his love for Evie without even hinting or telling her that he was in love with her, but he's so cute and charming that I forgave him. Once we got more into the plot, I found myself once again falling in love with this character more (as a friend, obviously). Caleb definitely comes across as a player but once we see these personal moments between him and Evie it's so clear that they're in love. I was rooting for them so hard!

Evie's friend Bex was also a great side character and I wish we got to see more of her. She really paired well as a friend for Evie and as a confidant for Caleb. Her own self journey with facing her parents expectations and pursuing her dreams got me so excited for her! But Leo - oh Leo - he sucked. He was really controlling over Evie and while Caleb was definitely showing signs he was in love with Evie, he happily stepped aside for Leo when Evie showed she was interested. But Leo still acts like a controlling boyfriend and a jerk friend - it was so frustrating to watch!

Throughout the book, I was so happy to see all of these character's self journeys to becoming better people and more mature teens. And of course, the fact that Caleb kept track of the "almost kisses" was so cute I could burst! One thing to be aware of though is that these kids are super geniuses. There are a lot of math and physics theories and concepts discussed in this book and as a person who can barely add/subtract large numbers without a calculator, these concepts were surprisingly easy to understand. Or at least, to get the gist of. If you aren't super into physics or math (neither am I) then you'll be fine! The math is only 5% important and the other 95% is plot/love related. I definitely feel smarter knowing that I understood a lot of the math jokes contained inside though. 

Overall, the beginning was a little rough for me to get into, but I quickly found myself loving the story and the characters. This was such a cute rom-com about two friends finding their way towards love. A solid 4 // 5 stars!