That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever By A.J.J. Bourque Kindle Edition That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever Seventeen year old Nicandro Stellan Colby is doing his best not to completely freak out, despite the fact that his parents named him after a romance novel zombie, he has no clue what to do after his fast approaching high school graduation from middle of nowhere Wilmurth, Texas, and oh yeah, he just accidentally asked out the boy of his dreams over the school intercom. But all is not lost. Helping Nick remember how to breathe and navigate the choppy waters of dating, surviving senior year, and even learning how to drive are fouled mouthed lady in disguise, Carmen; always sweaty yet fiercely loyal Connor; and, of course, the guiding hand of Sydney Walker, Nick’s longtime crush and first ever boyfriend. Yet when Nick starts having increasingly petrifying panic attacks, he soon realizes the vast difference between admiring someone from afar and falling under the pressures of their influence.

Seventeen year old Nicandro Stellan Colby is doing his best not to completely freak out despite the fact that his parents named him after a romance novel zombie he has no clue what to do after his fast approaching high school graduation from middle of nowhere Wilmurth Texas and oh yeah he just accidentally asked out the boy of his dreams over the school intercom But all is not lost Helping Nick remember how to breathe and navigate the choppy waters of dating surviving senior year and even learning how to drive are fouled mouthed lady in disguise Carmen always sweaty yet fiercely loyal Connor and of course the guiding hand of Sydney Walker Nick s longtime crush and first ever boyfriend Yet when Nick starts having increasingly petrifying panic attacks he soon realizes the vast difference between admiring someone from afar and falling under the pressures of their influence That One Kid Who Freaked Out Or WhateverWow That ended up being intense than I expected This book started very light hearted and funny but as the story goes on it goes into deeper issues of self esteem Very much food for thought English This book is exactly why I appreciate coming of age stories I love how Bourque took a simple plot and made it into something beautifully complex At the core this book really just highlights the growth of one teenage boy. Nick our main character leads a typical teenage life but at the same time he doesn t In this book we get the privilege of being inside Nick s mind and understanding what it means to be overwhelmed by changes you re not prepared to deal with but have to because it s part of growing up. As you read on it s hard not to love Nick He is funny but cheeky awkward but brave confused but determined He is average in all respects but he is genuine I love how he wasn t introduced as someone broken but rather as a character uniquely Nick with all his quirks and shortcomings. If you re planning to read this book because of the marketed teenage romance don t You ll end up disappointed Read this instead for the connection that you ll get to have with Nick how amazing it is for someone to exactly know how you felt. This book didn t whitewash the wondrous journey of growing up Because really admit it we were clueless at one point in our young life And this book embraces that personifying the real emotions of youth without disregarding the perspectives of the young English This coming of age story started out really well We have Nick Colby who s funny awkward and on the quirky side of things He s on his senior year when he finally found the courage to ask his long time crush Sydney Walker for a date They hit it off right away and things are going smoothly until Nick started feeling the pressure of everything around him. I really enjoyed the first half of this book I loved all of the characters that were introduced each with varying characterization Somewhere along 70% it just stopped being not so super awesome note it s still awesome in a away I guess I honestly didn t get it when Nick freaked out in front of Carmen So all along he felt that Sydney s controlling him I didn t think that it s the case I think he s overthinking everything He s got all these monsters in his head thinking that he s not good enough for Sydney He created those monsters and not the other way around and then things were explained After his freak out at Carmen s and seeking advice from Connor the author suddenly decided to have that conversation between Nick and Sydney where Sydney sort of sound like a wee bit controlling insensitive and all when prior to his freakout Sydney s all patient and understanding It felt a bit forced IMO I didn t like how somehow it was down to Sydney how he became a freak er Even his dad was all like you weren t like this pre Sydney Uhm it was hella weird and then things were explained I m giving this a three star rating because the whole thing felt too convenient for Nick s character I m trying to recall my teen years or even college years when I was clueless about everything Perhaps we react differently with different scenarios but it seems to me that Nick does have some sort of anxiety disorder I m not a psychiatrist or something but his behavior was a bit unsettling for me for me One his condition was never properly addressed Two he doesn t have any problems with his family For some reason he feels all alone chained and just going with the flow Maybe that s a phase we go through but based on the story everything around him was some sort of somebody s dream life Why Oh Why Three given that it was him who s making a big deal of everything I don t understand why he developed such behavior Was it all the teasing about his name What is it I DON T GET HIM Then to make it incredulous everything went fine and dandy in his life at the end I mean I m all for happy ending realizing everything capping things up and becoming a better version of yourself but seriously it was like a personality switch Overall I thought the author s writing style was quite awesome and even if the way the story developed halfway didn t work for me I think I ll be willing to read from him I reckon the younger generations will get a kick out of this novel. 5 starsThis is an at times funny sometimes sad and a little bit quirky coming of age story The whole story is told in first person from Nick s viewpoint He s 17 and a senior in high school in small town Texas He talks and thinks like you d expect Lots of rambling monologues here which I found funny but might not be everyone s cuppa And Nick is awkward as anything He s got lots of anxiety and sticks his foot in his mouth or has panic attacks frequently especially as he finally works up the nerve to ask out Sydney the guy he s been crushing on for a long time For the first quarter of this I thought I was reading one kind of story A funny light and kinda silly YA romantic comedy But it changes and it becomes than that Because things in real life don t always work out like a romantic comedy Nick feels overwhelmed by life By not knowing what he wants to do when he finishes school By not being as confident and sure as Sydney And he feels all sorts of pressures and he can t communicate them properly to Sydney to his family and to his friends So what this story evolves into is a true coming of age story and not a romance as Nick tries to figure out himself To paraphrase his favourite song writer he is not broken he s growing He s complete and worthy just as he is What this story also had was a colourful cast of secondary characters There were no stock characters here And for a story based in a small town it was refreshing to see there were no jocks no bullies and no conservative religious stuff Nick s friends were all unique people in their own right each with their own issues His parents were great completely supportive of him while perhaps not always understanding him I also found it almost a unique twist that this was a YA story with a gay protagonist where none of the issues Nick was facing related to being gay I think this is a book that will probably resonate with a lot of teens and I d recommend it to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories especially those that are on the quirky side English Main character Nicandro is a rambler and a worrier and a sweetie He thinks what he wants what he needs is Sydney to be his boyfriend But what he gets is a motivator an expectation a commitment. So Nick flails It s nicely done Very believable People might say Nick is younger than his 18 years But what I think instead is that this is what young people look like when their lives are safe and ordinary He is only cynical about school otherwise he is innocent of most of the horrors of other teenagers lives Not that he can t feel what it might be like to live roughly. That s Nick s problem He feels everything There are very nice secondary characters developed I particularly like Sydney through Nick s eyes We see a flawed character and it s very interesting And challenging for readers too English

That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever By A.J.J. Bourque

English

261

Kindle Edition

Despite the fact that I had a couple laugh out loud moments in the first third of the book I had to dnf Unfortunately Nick seemed incredibly young for an almost 18 year old and I had a difficult time getting the connection with Sydney who seemed so much mature I found the two friends pretty unlikeable especially Carmen The whole thing seemed forced lets take all of these characters situations and force them together whether it s believable or not I love Y A but sadly this one just didn t work for me English A really nice addition to the LGBTQ YA space I m so glad I stumbled upon it See my full review at English DNF 25%I just ended up dnf this book because I was so confused what was happening and not in a fun let s see what happens way. Urgh English For some reason this book disappeared from my TBR shelf but I stumbled upon it again and decided to give it a go since I liked the sample and BOY am I glad I did. This book had me laughing snorting and giggling throughout like a loon But seriously beware we also have some characters with some pretty heavy issues If you liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower I m pretty sure this book will be for you I will just start with this I don t know Oh my God what if he s been out like fifty three times and I bore him WHAT IF I BORE HIM BROCK You won t bore him You re too weird But you should probably go save him from Mom She s been talking his ear off for the last five minutes. Nicandro but would prefer Nick thank you very much is this sort of angsty kid with some weird but great parents one older brother and a few great friends He s had a crush on Sydney for 3 years and finally decides he s ready to ask Sydney out Nick being this bumbling rambling character he is starts with foot fungus graduates to a Spice Girls serenaded ask out strategy and hilarity ensues. I m sorry I really can t do the humor justice so I will leave these two highlights from their first date here and then return to the angst Fire at me Away I mean fire at me away Wait He laughs You can relax Nick I don t bite on the first date Like What I can t even Help and I remind myself that if I can t EAT A FUCKING TACO without almost having a panic attack then how is my body going to handle it if and when Sydney and I kiss on the face so I just close my eyes and take one for the team and bite into it I swallow my first mouthful It tastes like personal growth and lettuce. When Nick and Sydney start to date Nick s anxiety sky rockets He doesn t know what to do with his life he feel s left behind he starts having panic attacks and I m pretty sure that Sydney s intensity and perfectionism doesn t help matters Nick feels stretched between Sydney Carmen his best friend his family and all of these people s expectations. Nick s anxiety gets worse through the story and he s struggling with panic attacks and a general feeling of not being good enough Help comes from unexpected and expected places and during this book Nick starts to find himself and grow up. Seriously this book was so so good The humor was spot on Nick s issues were handled with care and Bourque never became preachy but offered some pretty decent solutions scenes to Nick s problems. The reason this is not a 5 star read is Sydney I really didn t care much for him and he became worse as the story progressed Also I would have LOVED an epilogue about Nick s years in college or something to know that he made it and that he is still this AWESOME beautiful crazy funny character. I will leave you with this I am not a spontaneous creature Carmen I need at least several weeks warning to have time to properly worry about something like this and plan conversations and even plan excuses if necessary I mean it took me three years to ask out Sydney and next month is HOLY CRAP I LL BE EIGHTEEN NEXT MONTH I CAN VOTE AND DRINK AND SMOKE AND BE PRESIDENT AND STUFF English This book was chosen for me to read and so I finished reading it But I didn t enjoy it at all I wouldn t consider this a true romance book but of a teenager trying to figure out where he fits and what he really wants out of life, There are no smexy times in this just some kisses and noodle legs but it wasn t necessary for the story and this will be a definite re read for me: There was not chemistry at all between the MC s and when that happens it s really hard to stay invested in the story Not for me English .

.3 starsMore reviews via Paddylast Inc English 4