Sunset Springs

By: Kacen Callender

Narrated by: Commarrah J. Yochanan

Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

No job, no money, no love - and to make things worse, 27-year-old Charlie has no choice but to leave New York City and move in with his mom in his isolated and conservative hometown of Sunset Springs.

Home isn’t a comfortable place for Charlie. One of very few Black residents and the only trans person around town that he knows of, this will be Charlie’s first time back in Sunset Springs since he transitioned. He expects confusion and maybe even hostility. He definitely does not expect Jackson Ford.

Jack was the brooding yet beloved football star at their high school, but now, he’s an outsider after coming out as gay. When Charlie and Jackson fall for each other in a swift and surprising romance, Charlie has to decide if he’s willing to exchange his old dreams for a new one.

Sunset Springs is an audio novella about finding courage to allow unexpected change, even at the risk of a broken heart. 

©2021 Kacen Callender (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.

The ending ruined it

I read to escape. I read romance novels because they have happy endings. The ending did not jive with the rest of the story. This was ambiguous. Charlie could have asked to work remote from the town. Ugh!

Enjoyable listen

I enjoyed the story, but as a transgender male, the very feminine sounding narrator was disappointing and distracting.

I am clearly not the intended audience for this

I don't have an issue with trans people or black people or gay people...otherwise I wouldn't have downloaded this book. I've listened to a number of guy/guy books, this is the first where one of the guys transitioned. But they're usually about the PEOPLE and how they feel about one another, not about how they feel about their own issues. This kind of misses the mark for a "romance" novel IMO.

That said, it deals heavily with trans themes that may help a trans person reading it feel like they are seen. For an outside person looking in, it seems that the entire book is about the feelings of a person whose only identity is that of being black and trans. There was nothing that helped me connect with the HUMAN that was black and trans, as that was kind of the sum total of the character. The black trans character makes comments about how they're surprised that the prior-quarterback-now-rancher refers to himself as "cis" and how impressive it is that they've educated themselves on the gay lingo. As if that validates him and otherwise he wouldn't have been a "real" gay guy.

Like I said...I am clearly not the intended audience for this one. I think I'm going to abandon it with 56 minutes left in the 2 hr 50 min book and leave it for the person(s) to whom it was targeted. I honestly believe that this title has been misclassified and should be in LGBTQ+ Fiction rather than "romance". There has been nothing romantic yet. It's been mostly a compendium of negative feelings toward the town and closed-minded people.

Great story for a quiet afternoon

I found this story well balanced between a super cute and sweet love story and the issues of racism, transphobia and homophobia. An enjoyable afternoon listen that also gave me a little more insight into what life may be like for folks who are less privileged than I am.

So thrilled this was fabulously performed by someone who is Black and trans as well, that brought depth and sincerity to the reading of the story.

So much prejudice

Being the story of a transgender man, should the narrator nor be a male voice?
Cisman not used correctly? Cisgender refers to identifying with gender assigned at birth. Bit confusing.
Although prejudiced dealt with in this story is heartwrenching. Unsatisfying end

modern love story without harmful tropes

I love love loved reading this story. there were so many moments when I was concerned and expected a typical trope I've read before: the ultimatums, ignoring requests for space, the dead name being mentioned, giving up a dream for love. I was pleasantly suprised to find that the story was well-written and didnt include these harmful tropes. listening to this as a trans person was heart-warming and made me feel giddy. I highly recommend.

More please

Omg I love this novella… I want more of this story. This is my first book with a trans main character and I think I have been missing out! I want to find more books like this. I love the narrator also.

Better Than Expected

Overall I thought the book was a pretty good read. The story was interesting and really held my attention. The characters were relatable and I enjoyed the book.

Woke Book

As someone brought up with similar dynamics I was clueless that were were different, white privilege meant the people in the big houses on the hill. The neee to constantly define himself as color and sexual orientation, hating everyone in the town on the assumption they're all old white racists and homophobes makes Charlie the person with many prejudices, not the town. I learned prejudice and that people can be awful to dark skinned people and one another in general AFTER I moved into Philadelphia. This mindset is what is dividing our country. We need to focus more on what we have in common and less on our differences. I also don't care who you are, tongues down throats in public is never very classy and just shouldn't be done. But congratulations on writing a book that teaches the world more nouns and boxes we can check. I "prefer not to say" because I refuse to be defined by a checked box

Very good book

I really enjoyed listening to this book. i loved how it allowed listeners to tro to understand from the inside what a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community go through as well as being black in a mostly white area. I didn't like the way it ended but I really loved the all around story

A little short and jarring, but so beautiful

This was a really cute mm, small town romance audiobook and got me really excited for the other books I own by this author. I loved the representation in it (the main character is a black gay trans man). I wish the ending wasn't so jarring, but given how the story played out, it stays true to the character instead of the expected ending. I love that the author is black, queer, and trans, and that the narrator is black and trans non-binary.