Title: How To Be A Normal Person
Author: T.J. Klune
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 16th 2015
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary
Page Count: 290 pages
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 1 flame out of 5
Rating: 5+ stars out of 5
Blurb:
Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.
Gus is not normal. And he’s fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.
Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.
But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
ALL THE STARS FOR THIS. ALL OF THEM.
This. This was…awesome and fantastic and wonderful and heartwarming and touching and sad and funny and just…I want to fangirl all over this so hard. But in a totally not gross way.
Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. After his father, Pastor Tommy dies, Gus settles into a his daily routine. It’s very much a wash, rinse, repeat kind of life until the day he and his ferret, Harry S. Truman, walk into Lottie’s Lattes and he meets Casey Richards, a stoner hipster who turns his world upside down.
Gus is immediately both repelled and fascinated by Casey…but more time spent with Casey makes Gus want something he’s never really thought to want before: he decides he wants to be “normal” so he can be with Casey. What follows is both touching and hilarious as Gus sets about trying to be the best normal person he can be with some interesting results.
This story about a man who accepts everyone, even if he’s snarky about it, gave me so many feels. I got a total heart boner. Seriously, this story good touched me all over my heart.
There are three things I expect from a TJ Klune story: 1. To laugh. Oh, how I laughed. I laughed a lot. 2. To have wookie-cry-face at some point. Yep, that happened too. The laughs and the feels in this are more muted than in other TJ stories, but no less magnificent. And 3. To learn something. Which I did. I learned a little more about acceptance, asexuality, and being true to yourself.
I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH. Buy this book. Now. Go. Seriously. Go get this book right now!
Renee : Thanks Andrea! I don't like too much steam either, but...
Yay! We need to come up with a “highly recommended” image and attach it to reviews of 5+ star books. Then we can offer them to the authors of the books. Wave used to do that, but I didn’t think it was really necessary. After the re-brand, I think we should do it! We are so many!
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