The Gravity of Us

By: Phil Stamper

Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Jonathan Davis, Gabra Zackman, January LaVoy, Angelo Di Loreto, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Dorothy Dillingham Blue, Cynthia Farrell, Soneela Nankani, Sullivan Jones, Bahni Turpin, Phil Stamper

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Teen boys find love when their parents' NASA mission uproots their lives in this sweet debut perfect for Adam Silvera fans.

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, 17-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another "Astrokid", and finds himself falling head over heels - fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.

Narrated by Michael Crouch

The Shooting Stars TV show is brought to life with a full cast featuring:

Jonathan Davis as Josh Farrow

Gabra Zackman as StarWatch announcer

January LaVoy as Grace Tucker

Angelo Di Loreto as Mark Bannon

Chris Andrew Ciulla as Calvin Lewis, Sr.

Dorothy Dillingham Blue as Donna Szleifer

Cynthia Farrell as Ariana Rogers

Soneela Nankani as Halima Ali

Sullivan Jones as Leon Tucker

Bahni Turpin as Kat Tucker

Author's Note read by Phil Stamper

Includes an About the Audiobook conversation between Phil Stamper and producer Diane McKiernan

©2020 Phil Stamper (P)2020 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"I'm so starry-eyed for this wise, romantic gem of a book." (Becky Albertalli, New York Times best-selling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda) 

Heavy eye rolling 🙄

I’m sorry. I just couldn’t get into this book. I listened to the whole thing but had an incredibly difficult time. The premise of the story was intriguing and I liked that part a lot. Definitely loved the astronaut part and all the stuff about the families. The main character Cal though, geeezus. He was so incredibly unlikable. I loathed the character and found him so intolerable. And unfortunately the love story part felt so shallow and forced. I hated this book over all and I really wanted to like it.

A weak story

tbh didn‘t really enjoy. I hated the pacing. No ups and downs and no moments of exhilaration and cannot resonate with the emotional moments. Liked the narrator’s voice though.But not worth my credit.

Finally an lgbt love without the coming out drama

Really fun story to read about the romance between two guys where coming out and identity issues were not the main focus.

Not for me

If you are looking for an emo teen novel, with a whiney monologue for the first two hours, this will be great for you. I’m two hours into an 8 hour romance and the boys HAVEN’T. EVEN. MET.

I find Cal to be unbelievable. If you have 400k+ followers and an internship in NYC there is no way this 17 year old doesn’t stay. You can’t tell me advertising revenue for ONE sponsor wouldn’t get him and Deb a tiny little efficiency. If they were 15 or 16 I might buy it. But you don’t have your dream career in front of you, and just throw a fit and whine for 2 hours. You. Do. Something. Cal was never going to make it as a journalist. You have to take big risks. He’s an L-7 weenie.

And the other guy…I just met him and have zero interest in him.

This story bored me all the way to aggression. I was expecting so much excitement and drama. And all I got was complaining. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Meh.

Again, it’s fantastic to see stories with queer characters, but—this just didn’t do it for me.

The storyline is disappointingly bland while the characters are one-sided and hardly believable.
Most of the time I had to rewind bits because I kept zoning out.
There’s no hook, no passion, or anything. I literally can’t imagine anyone eagerly wondering “what’s gonna happen next?”

This book just didn’t do it.

GREAT narration, at least.

When reading do you ever feel like an accomplice?

The Gravity of Us is simple the story that all teenage boys or girls of a millennial age or even younger should read to understand that with hard work everything is possible. If this book does not resonate with this generation, I am not sure what will. Not only is this book dealing with typical topics of what comes next after school or even how to find one’s path, like any other coming of age story, but gives a modern approach on how to use social media to propel your life goals. As a master in Digital Marketing and Social Media, I can see modern topics that this generation can understand and aspire to be, from Influencing exposure to followers to managing one’s brand in the many endeavors of finding the perfect niche to where develop and exploit one’s creativity.

The approach to sexuality is done without many details in a sense that it does not get vulgar, so stop asking if it is “clean” because young adults need to see themselves reflected in the work of authors. This makes them feel comprehended and help them see that they are not alone. These are small oasis for those who need an escape of this highly censored society. Cal with all his intensity was a nice character that honestly annoyed me too much from time to time. His need to plan everything ahead of time, I see myself in that trait, and that everything all the time is about himself!

For more, google our name!

Lovely story but I sort of hated the pacing

I think the story and the message was really good but the pacing felt too fast and almost rushed.

An Amazing Queer Love Story (with FULL CAST!!!)

So happy to have another amazing LGBTQ+ book to listen to. Stamper’s story is incredible and Crouch, along with the rest of the cast, brings it to life perfectly. 100% would recommend!

Good, not great

I recently finished the book "Red, White, and Royal Blue". I could barely put it down and fell in love with the characters and the story. I was really looking for something similar that would suck me in, make me cry, and cheer... this book was good, not great.

The narration was a little flat for me. I did enjoy the "Star Watch" segments but think that part would be hard in a physical book form- it worked well in the audio book!

I don't usually leave less than 5 star reviews because it seems like I love every book that I listen to. And, after listening to the author's note at the end of the book, I feel a little guilty leaving less than 5! But it's a take it or leave it for me.

Slow burner

It’s great to see a queer love story but the whole plot was lackluster and seemed rushed. Worth skipping

Gave up 2 hours in

I have read all the wonderful reviews on this book.. but I've listened to 2 hours of it, and everything that has happened could be summed up in one short sentence. Very little. Sorry I just found the pace tediously slow.

#OwnVoices shoots for the stars

I really enjoyed this. I love stories about space and while this isn't set in space, it gives me enough space talk to keep me hooked. The world building was solid considering this is a debut novel. This is a story that's so full of heart and personal touches. It's so stinking cute. There's a lot of important topics in here too. Mental health (in both adults and teenagers) exploration of queer relationships and the dichotomy of personal life and social media presence. Almost all the characters are very likeable. And there's enough balance between the light stuff and the heavy to not bog it down too hard. I highly recommend this.

Cute, Nerdy Story & Great Narration

Listened to this while on a train and plane and it was the perfect companion. The cute and anxiety induced main characters story was fun to follow along even though I don’t have a huge interest in space travel myself.

Unfortunately it ends

I liked the audiobook from the beginning to the end. After the end I felt somewhat lost, because I wanted to know how their life’s went further. There are not that many (audio-) books that can take me in that deeply.

Beautiful

Best queer romance I’ve ever listened to. The characters almost seem real. Finished it in only a day.

Disappointed:Poor pacing&weak characters. Endured.

Narration was very unnatural, awkward, over-acted. Story... Protagonist overly obsessed with his chest & breathing?!???

WOW

I did not think that i would love it so much.
I finished in almost one day.

totally worth the time

excellent well read love the story line. characters were rounded and I felt emersed in the environment

loved every second

Heart warming story with the perfect mix of drama added in, found myself both laughing at some parts and almost brought to tiers by others.

the cast are amazing and do a great job bringing these characters to life.

Good, but falls a little short

Really enjoyed this book! I’ve been reading a lot of heavy stuff lately so this was really really nice and light. Read it in two days. I loved the voice acting, Michael Crouch did a great job. My only niggle is the main character is just a bit too pretentious, I didn’t like him very much. His relationship with Leon didn’t seem very intense or meaningful. There was never any major drama! Depression isn’t a personality trait. Nor is owning a cassette player.

Is this revolutionary? No. But that’s not always a bad thing. This was a nice easy middle of the road book. A nice get away.