![Book Review: The Infinite Noise (The Bright Sessions Book 1) by Lauren Shippen [Audiobook]](https://metaphorsandmoonlight.com/wp-content/uploads/Book-Review-The-Infinite-Noise-The-Bright-Sessions-Book-1-by-Lauren-Shippen.jpg)
Review:
This was so adorable!!! It just gave me so many cute, squishy feels. It was a good thing I didn’t listen to this in public because I was constantly smiling from happiness, from cuteness, from sympathy. I was making so many faces. I was at the edge of my seat, nerves dancing, feeling all those teenage romance feels. This was one of those books that truly made me feel that butterfly-filled tension of a new potential romance and thinking the other person might feel the same but not being sure. I was encouraging the characters in my mind, like I was actually cheering them on from the sidelines.
Caleb having all these feelings for Adam and not even realizing what the feelings were, just enjoying the comfort and the joy it brought him. Adam knowing his feelings and being consistently amazed that Caleb wanted to be his friend but figuring there was no way Caleb would want more than that. Also, Caleb was an empath, something I love reading about, and my gosh, figuring out feelings in high school is hard enough, imagine having to sort out your feelings from everyone else’s!
Me right now, listening to The Infinite Noise by @laurenshippen, at the edge of my seat, nerves dancing, feeling all the squishy feelings:
"Tell each other your feelings! Come on! You can do it! I'M GONNA IMPLODE IF YOU DON'T π₯Ίππ"
— Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) (@whykristenburns) July 27, 2021
I liked both Caleb and Adam, and I felt for their struggles as well as their romance. High school was difficult for both of them, in different ways, and neither really had friends at the start. Caleb’s abilities caused him to somewhat avoid people. Adam had depression and sometimes self-harmed and was bullied. I was so happy for them when they found each other and made friends and found happiness.
I even felt for Caitlin, who wasn’t one of the main characters but was also just trying to navigate the difficulties of being a teen and seemed like a good person too and was crushing on someone who didn’t have the same feelings for her. I loved Caleb’s little sister as well, she always seemed to stand up for Caleb and support him when he needed it.
The description made this sound like it would be much more of a thriller than it was. It was mostly an adorable romance about teens and their struggles and their feelings and one of them happened to have empathy powers. I feel like the mention of danger could’ve been left out of the description, and it felt a bit out of place in the book. But I haven’t listened to the podcast this is based on, and I understand including it if it’s part of the original story.
The audiobook narration by Briggon Snow and James Fouhey was great and natural, and both voices felt well-suited to the characters.
Overall, I just adored this book about these two lovable teens, their struggles, their romance, and all their feels that I was feeling right along with them!
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes YA, depression rep, empaths, and super adorable queer romance.
I’m curious now…how didn’t Caleb realise that Adam had feelings for him, if he was an empath? Maybe he was trying to reign in his powers?
I read this months ago, I can’t be expected to remember these things, haha. The feelings weren’t immediate, so I think by that time he kinda also had feelings or something and wasn’t sure who was feeling what. Or he didn’t know how to interpret the feelings, or something like that. It made sense in the book. And eventually he did figure it out π
“I read this months ago, I canβt be expected to remember these things, haha.”
Oops LOL. But you made some good points!
Lol yeah looking back at my review, I think it was just that he didn’t really know how to interpret the feelings. He was just vibin’ π
I had heard of this book but hadn’t really seen any thoughts on it somehow. So glad I read this! I have now added the audiobook to my Hoopla favorites list so I’ll be sure to listen.
Yes! It’s so cute, I think you’ll like it π
I loved this one! So glad you did too! I still haven’t listened to the podcast but I’d like to one day. And now that there are more books in the series, I’m very excited for them
Yay! It really was so cute. I want to try the podcast too to experience it all over again the way it originally was, but also because I’ve heard the second book is better if you already know that character from the podcast.
Awwww, I haven’t read a book that made me feel these feelings in a long time. I’m going to see if our library has it.
Karen @For What It’s Worth
Aww yay! I hope you love it!
As soon as I saw the series name as The Bright Sessions I thought of the podcast because Vera at Wordy & Whimsical recommended it as one of the podcasts sheβs been listening to. It sounds like an adorable book I definitely want to read. Iβm intrigued how it fits in with the podcast itself but itβs good to know you donβt necessarily need to have listened to enjoy the book. I might just have to do both anyway.
The only reason I haven’t tried the podcast is because it’s too quiet and I can’t hear it while I’m doing stuff around the room lol. But I’d love to listen to the story the way it was first told, and I’ve also read in a review that the second book is better if you get to know that character through the podcast first.