The Gravity of Us cover art

The Gravity of Us

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

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
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.90

Buy Now for £14.90

About this listen

 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, seventeen-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 Coming of Age Difficult Situations LGBTQ+ Literature & Fiction Romance
All stars
Most relevant
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.

#OwnVoices shoots for the stars

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The voice cast did an excellent job portraying the characters and the story was really good.

Loved the story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Good, but falls a little short

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this audiobook. First of all, I have always loved Michael Crouch's readings, so when I found out he was going to be the reader for this book, it was automatically one of my selections. I wasn't disappointed, either with Michael's performance, or with the author's writing, which is the first book I have heard or read by them. I hope Phil Stamper writes more in this genre.

Excellent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
"Don’t aim to fix people. Fixing seems so permanent, so absolute. Like there’s no room for error. Aim to make things better."

Yes, this book gives a childhood nostalgia vibe since I know I'm not the only one who dreamt of being an astronaut. The promise of exploration and being closer to the stars is all what this book is all about but a different kind of exploration and stars.

The Gravity of US is a 2020 release with a fresh take on teenage queer romance by centering the plot on Cal Lewis, Jr., a budding influencer and aspiring journalist, whose life suddenly turned upside down after his father, Calvin Lewis, Sr.,was announced as the last astronaut that completed NASA's project on exploring Mars, Orpheus V.

With this news comes a supernova of life-changing decisions, from Cal's last minute attempt to stay in Brooklyn and continue with his Flashfame streaming and do his impending Buzzfeed internship to finally admitting defeat and get a new start in Clear Lake, Texas - the place where Orpheus astronauts' family are located.

But changes can be overwhelming and will Cal manage to blend in Clear Lake with all its flawless image and glorious families?

I was intrigued to finally start this recent release and I grabbed the chance to devour it since space exploration and queer romance is a perfect combination for a refreshing read.

The promise of a unique storyline was presented decently. Cal and his eminence in the social media platform Flashfame was convincing, thanks to the authors love for space exploration since his childhood the dialogues of our MC are written as crisp as how a fanatic talks like.

I also love how this book exposes people's fascination on reality show and how the producers manipulate it for drama. I hate Josh Farrow and Kiara and the entire Starwatch crew for focusing on the astronauts' family and toying with their emotion especially with the forced Mark Bannon tribute episode.

The Tuckers family is the ultimate goals! I love how Kat and Leon are both welcoming and not two-faced,and Grace being theotherly figure that she is.

Leon is also perfectly developed and clearly complemented Cal's personality. Their combination is unique but also satisfying. I love how Phil developed their relationship with brilliant tension without compromising the showcase of a contemporary queer love story.

Overall, this is a fascinating story and an enjoyable coming-of-age book that is recommended if you are looking for teenage queer representation and if you're a fan of space exploration.

RATING: 4stars

Queer plus space exploration? Yes, please!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews