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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Aroace representation yay!
I’d say you do need quite some knowledge about all the terms that are very well known within the aroace community (or maybe lgbtq community in general?) but not so much outside of it. Might be a little hard to understand if you’re not familiar with the terms at all.
I’d say you do need quite some knowledge about all the terms that are very well known within the aroace community (or maybe lgbtq community in general?) but not so much outside of it. Might be a little hard to understand if you’re not familiar with the terms at all.
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So, I'm someone who, like Sophie, is East Asian and aroace. Being able to relate so hard to an MC in this way is something I've never experienced before, especially the parts about Sophie and her parents and how they'll probably never truly Get It, and also the parts about feeling like you can never be your true authentic self with them, even though you love them and they love you . I also love the amount of aspec representation in this book, with both MCs being aroace, Izzy being demisexual, and the Dianas . I also appreciated how, though Sophie and Jo are both aroace, their experiences growing up and feelings regarding things like romantic relationships do vary. Jo's feelings about gender also resonated very strongly with me.
The plot was fun, I loved how we still got typical romance tropes--it was fun to see things likethe love confession and grand gesture done platonically. I can also tell that so much heart was put into this novel, and I enjoyed the descriptions of Wellesley (though I didn't go there) and could tell that a lot of love was put into that. I will say, it did feel EXTREMELY college, in both the best and cringiest ways. At this point I'm probably a little too old to be in the target audience, having graduated college several years ago, but I could definitely see myself acting like these characters as a college first year so honestly it's true to life more than anything. I also think Zhao did a good job of talking about asexuality/aromanticism without it feeling like Asexuality 101 but still providing the information for people who aren't familiar with aspec identities. Some of the other conversations about identity and politics and such did feel a liiittle "turn and look at the camera," but at the same time I probably said some of those exact things in college so again, more true to life than anything and it didn't really bother me. If I had read this while in college they probably wouldn't have even jumped out to me.
The writing itself was the only aspect that fell short for me. It felt like a young author wrote it, which it was! And for a debut novel written by someone IN college, there's nothing wrong with that. I still enjoyed this book immensely and really appreciate having more fleshed out aroace rep out there!
Unrelated: I read this right after reading Battle of the Bookstores, so the switch from friends online/rivals IRL and friends/enemies-to-lovers to friends IRL/rivals online and friends/enemies-to-BFFs was amusing to me.
The plot was fun, I loved how we still got typical romance tropes--it was fun to see things like
The writing itself was the only aspect that fell short for me. It felt like a young author wrote it, which it was! And for a debut novel written by someone IN college, there's nothing wrong with that. I still enjoyed this book immensely and really appreciate having more fleshed out aroace rep out there!
Unrelated: I read this right after reading Battle of the Bookstores, so the switch from friends online/rivals IRL and friends/enemies-to-lovers to friends IRL/rivals online and friends/enemies-to-BFFs was amusing to me.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As an aroace person myself, I love love love that this book exists. Aroace stories, especially poc aroace stories, need to be told. And they can and should be told without necessarily being about the drama we often go through when figuring out our identities. That's two reasons that I really admire this story. Our two main characters start the story identifying as aroace and (until the point I got) they're not once shamed for or denied their identities. That's fucking powerful and amazing and the first time I've ever seen it in paper.
This is not my type of story or writing style. Which is a great thing in and of itself. Aroace people are not a monolith, we can have different tastes, enjoy different things. That we're starting to make enough stories that reflect us in different ways so that I can start having preferences is incredible. I never thought we'd get this far.
Shout out to Ann Zhao, never ever stop writing. Your voice is so important 💞
This is not my type of story or writing style. Which is a great thing in and of itself. Aroace people are not a monolith, we can have different tastes, enjoy different things. That we're starting to make enough stories that reflect us in different ways so that I can start having preferences is incredible. I never thought we'd get this far.
Shout out to Ann Zhao, never ever stop writing. Your voice is so important 💞
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very cute! I liked the friendship between the main characters. I did find the conflict of the book (the rival instagram account thing) to be extremely silly. Still, a fun read overall.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
At times I felt the book dragged, like it would not have hurt for it too have been shorter. Especially towards the end. Other than that it's cute, sweet and an easy read.