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marvel1d28's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
All Alice Oseman books are lovely and this is no exception. It tells the story of a girl discovering that she is aromantic asexual during college. Also includes a lesbian and a woman discovering that she is pansexual.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship
fanboyriot's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
5.0
Definitely one of my new favorites. This book was amazing. It was so relatable and I was not expecting that. All the characters were detailed and lovely to read about. Following not only Georgia but her friends finding themselves was something I didn’t even know I needed to read.
As someone who thrives off of fanfiction, I loved all the comments about fanfics so much.
The humor was great and the more serious moments were done really well. I just really loved this book. The friendships were beautiful. It really showed you didn’t need a romantic, you could have platonic relationships and that is that.
Strongly suggest this for anyone who wants a lighthearted read with a happy ending, someone who might be in or questioning the ace community, people who want a realistic and relatable read that has amazing platonic relationships.
As someone who thrives off of fanfiction, I loved all the comments about fanfics so much.
The humor was great and the more serious moments were done really well. I just really loved this book. The friendships were beautiful. It really showed you didn’t need a romantic, you could have platonic relationships and that is that.
Strongly suggest this for anyone who wants a lighthearted read with a happy ending, someone who might be in or questioning the ace community, people who want a realistic and relatable read that has amazing platonic relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Cursing
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
stegosaurus_babe's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Transphobia and Acephobia/Arophobia
rwalker101's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
This book means more to me than I have the words to express. Your love is not less.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism
nabaraditi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Acephobia/Arophobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Alcoholism
sssssoup's review
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Pride Book Tours, I Read YA and Scholastic inc for the physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Loveless is the story of Georgia. She's never been in love, but she wants to. She's determined to make University her fresh start. With her best friends and her roommate on her side, she knows she'll make it work this time. But when her romance plans wreak havoc among her friends, Georgia doesn't know what to do. Then new terms are thrown at her - asexual, aromantic - and Georgia is more uncertain of her feelings than ever.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I feel like my initial review came off more negative than I intended it to so I'm editing it for clarity. This book is very readable. When I grabbed the UK audiobook I was planning to listen to it over the course of two days or so, which is slower for me than normal, but I've been super busy lately. However, once I started it, I marathoned the first 80% without stopping. I only finally turned it off to go to sleep, and I immediately finished it first thing the next morning.
Let me start with the one thing that really annoyed me first. Sunil (he/they) is a nonbinary Indian side character, who is also Georgia's college parent. They introduce their pronouns pretty early into the book. He is wearing a sticker that says (he/they), Georgia notices this. She never once uses they pronouns to refer to Sunil, only ever he. As someone who is gender expansive and uses multiple pronouns, this really bothered me. Sunil does not indicate to Georgia a preferred pronoun set between the two, so she should really use both or ask. She does neither and uses he all the time. Y'all if someone uses multiple pronouns and they don't tell you to only use one: MIX IT UP! Use them all! You can use whichever set is listed first, but for the love of shit, don't only use one unless you are explicitly told to. I know this is addressed in the US edition, but something still does not sit right with me about this situation. This was my main point of frustration with the book, but it did not keep me from loving the shit out of Sunil. They deserve their own book. He is the most precious out of all the side characters.
We see Georgia's experiences and acceptance of her sexuality, and this is only ONE experience of a very large spectrum. It's never talked about in the book but there are different attitudes towards sex: repulsed, neutral and positive. Georgia is a sex-repulsed character. If you are neutral or positive, this book might be harder to relate to. Before Georgia hears the words asexual and aromantic, she tries to put herself into romantic and (consensual) sexual situations to see what will happen. All of these experiences end with her being repulsed by them. It was so important to show this experience on page and I'm glad we're finally getting such deliberate on page exploration of asexuality and aromanticism. Seeing Georgia go through all of these experiences, come to accept her asexuality and aromanticism and realize she's still a whole person capable of loving people was such a powerful narrative.
Georgia had so many relatable quotes and thoughts. I definitely laughed at some of them because they're the same things I've thought before. We are SO asexual. There were times it was harder for me to relate because our sex attitudes are different, but she always felt like a realistic and sympathetic character. I felt sad about all the drinking she did when she didn't really seem to want to. There's nothing wrong with pushing your boundaries or doing things to fit in. I hope that society gets better at letting people be their whole selves and that the societal pressures of social drinking and other situations becomes less prevalent. This is not meant to be a criticism of Georgia and her actions but rather the environment that made her feel like she didn't have choice.
I'm really glad this book exists and now it has finally published in the US it will become more accessible to people. I'm especially thinking of young queer teens who are questioning or don't even know asexuality is a thing. We need more ace and aro icons. We need more education about these experiences and more media that shows them. I would really love to see more sex positive asexual stories.
I loved all of Georgia's friends. Rooney was precious. I'm a fan of pansexual rep. Though I know other pan reviewer's have had issues with this rep (see: Melanie's review). Rooney was such a fun character and I really enjoyed seeing all her antics in this book. I wish we got a deeper understanding of things going through her head. But from what we do see, I was very empathetic to her. Rooney has trouble letting people in and can be very guarded about her emotions. That was 100% relatable for me.
I really loved the ending where Georgia does all these actions to show her friends how important they are to her. Georgia has learned from her mistakes and will continue to be better. Also I head canon Rooney and Georgia have a QPR especially after what Rooney told her about how she's never leaving Georgia behind, that part had me in my feels. Seeing all of her friends come through for the Shakespeare society was so much fun. I loved seeing their mash-up play and watching all of their chaotic practices. There was so much sexual tension between some of these characters 👀. IYKYK.
Overall, I had a ton of fun with this book. I want more stories like this where we see a group of friends fall more platonically in love in each other. I want more platonic grand gestures. I want more asexual MCs and their found families.
Rep: white British aroace questioning cis female MC with anxiety, Latina-British lesbian female side character, white British supposedly heterosexual cis male side character (I very much read him on the ace spectrum), Indian-British gay asexual nonbinary side character, white British bisexual aromantic female side character, white British pansexual questioning cis female side character, various other queer side characters.
CWs from the author: internalized amisia, verbal amisia, deliberate amisic attitudes, accidentally amisic attitudes due to ignorance/lack of knowledge about a-spec identities, frank discussions of sex and masturbation, two brief incidents of exclusionary attitudes, references to past emotionally abusive relationships, references to past bullying.
Additional CWs from me: alcohol consumption, cursing, homophobia/homomisia, sexual content (discussions, off page sex between side characters), alcoholism, mental illness (anxiety), misgendering (non-use of multiple pronouns for a character who uses multiple pronouns). Moderate: bullying/peer pressure, outing, transphobia/transmisia, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, gaslighting, toxic friendship, toxic relationship, vomit, biphobia/bimisia, drug use, misogyny.
Loveless is the story of Georgia. She's never been in love, but she wants to. She's determined to make University her fresh start. With her best friends and her roommate on her side, she knows she'll make it work this time. But when her romance plans wreak havoc among her friends, Georgia doesn't know what to do. Then new terms are thrown at her - asexual, aromantic - and Georgia is more uncertain of her feelings than ever.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I feel like my initial review came off more negative than I intended it to so I'm editing it for clarity. This book is very readable. When I grabbed the UK audiobook I was planning to listen to it over the course of two days or so, which is slower for me than normal, but I've been super busy lately. However, once I started it, I marathoned the first 80% without stopping. I only finally turned it off to go to sleep, and I immediately finished it first thing the next morning.
Let me start with the one thing that really annoyed me first. Sunil (he/they) is a nonbinary Indian side character, who is also Georgia's college parent. They introduce their pronouns pretty early into the book. He is wearing a sticker that says (he/they), Georgia notices this. She never once uses they pronouns to refer to Sunil, only ever he. As someone who is gender expansive and uses multiple pronouns, this really bothered me. Sunil does not indicate to Georgia a preferred pronoun set between the two, so she should really use both or ask. She does neither and uses he all the time. Y'all if someone uses multiple pronouns and they don't tell you to only use one: MIX IT UP! Use them all! You can use whichever set is listed first, but for the love of shit, don't only use one unless you are explicitly told to. I know this is addressed in the US edition, but something still does not sit right with me about this situation. This was my main point of frustration with the book, but it did not keep me from loving the shit out of Sunil. They deserve their own book. He is the most precious out of all the side characters.
We see Georgia's experiences and acceptance of her sexuality, and this is only ONE experience of a very large spectrum. It's never talked about in the book but there are different attitudes towards sex: repulsed, neutral and positive. Georgia is a sex-repulsed character. If you are neutral or positive, this book might be harder to relate to. Before Georgia hears the words asexual and aromantic, she tries to put herself into romantic and (consensual) sexual situations to see what will happen. All of these experiences end with her being repulsed by them. It was so important to show this experience on page and I'm glad we're finally getting such deliberate on page exploration of asexuality and aromanticism. Seeing Georgia go through all of these experiences, come to accept her asexuality and aromanticism and realize she's still a whole person capable of loving people was such a powerful narrative.
Georgia had so many relatable quotes and thoughts. I definitely laughed at some of them because they're the same things I've thought before. We are SO asexual. There were times it was harder for me to relate because our sex attitudes are different, but she always felt like a realistic and sympathetic character. I felt sad about all the drinking she did when she didn't really seem to want to. There's nothing wrong with pushing your boundaries or doing things to fit in. I hope that society gets better at letting people be their whole selves and that the societal pressures of social drinking and other situations becomes less prevalent. This is not meant to be a criticism of Georgia and her actions but rather the environment that made her feel like she didn't have choice.
I'm really glad this book exists and now it has finally published in the US it will become more accessible to people. I'm especially thinking of young queer teens who are questioning or don't even know asexuality is a thing. We need more ace and aro icons. We need more education about these experiences and more media that shows them. I would really love to see more sex positive asexual stories.
I loved all of Georgia's friends. Rooney was precious. I'm a fan of pansexual rep. Though I know other pan reviewer's have had issues with this rep (see: Melanie's review). Rooney was such a fun character and I really enjoyed seeing all her antics in this book. I wish we got a deeper understanding of things going through her head. But from what we do see, I was very empathetic to her. Rooney has trouble letting people in and can be very guarded about her emotions. That was 100% relatable for me.
I really loved the ending where Georgia does all these actions to show her friends how important they are to her. Georgia has learned from her mistakes and will continue to be better. Also I head canon Rooney and Georgia have a QPR especially after what Rooney told her about how she's never leaving Georgia behind, that part had me in my feels. Seeing all of her friends come through for the Shakespeare society was so much fun. I loved seeing their mash-up play and watching all of their chaotic practices. There was so much sexual tension between some of these characters 👀. IYKYK.
Overall, I had a ton of fun with this book. I want more stories like this where we see a group of friends fall more platonically in love in each other. I want more platonic grand gestures. I want more asexual MCs and their found families.
Rep: white British aroace questioning cis female MC with anxiety, Latina-British lesbian female side character, white British supposedly heterosexual cis male side character (I very much read him on the ace spectrum), Indian-British gay asexual nonbinary side character, white British bisexual aromantic female side character, white British pansexual questioning cis female side character, various other queer side characters.
CWs from the author: internalized amisia, verbal amisia, deliberate amisic attitudes, accidentally amisic attitudes due to ignorance/lack of knowledge about a-spec identities, frank discussions of sex and masturbation, two brief incidents of exclusionary attitudes, references to past emotionally abusive relationships, references to past bullying.
Additional CWs from me: alcohol consumption, cursing, homophobia/homomisia, sexual content (discussions, off page sex between side characters), alcoholism, mental illness (anxiety), misgendering (non-use of multiple pronouns for a character who uses multiple pronouns). Moderate: bullying/peer pressure, outing, transphobia/transmisia, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, gaslighting, toxic friendship, toxic relationship, vomit, biphobia/bimisia, drug use, misogyny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, and Mental illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Vomit, Biphobia, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Outing, and Gaslighting
tri_lo_bite's review
emotional
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
3.5
I was really excited when this came in at the library. And after reading it, I really don’t know how to feel.
Read for the Read Harder 2022 prompt: Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character.
I think that this was a good book. I think that it was also incredibly British, which was on one hand very fun, and an interesting look into British university culture, but on the other hand a little concerning I mean do y’all really have a drinking culture like that?? How are you still alive?!
I think I enjoyed it. Honestly, the self loathing was incredibly triggering and hard to read. I felt very uncomfortable for a lot of the book. But I liked the characters, they felt very realistic, I loved the growth. And I loved aroace rep!
I think that the intended audience for this one is probably amato allo folks and I guess that’s fine I dunno. Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this one.
3.5 stars?
Read for the Read Harder 2022 prompt: Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character.
I think that this was a good book. I think that it was also incredibly British, which was on one hand very fun, and an interesting look into British university culture, but on the other hand a little concerning I mean do y’all really have a drinking culture like that?? How are you still alive?!
I think I enjoyed it. Honestly, the self loathing was incredibly triggering and hard to read. I felt very uncomfortable for a lot of the book. But I liked the characters, they felt very realistic, I loved the growth. And I loved aroace rep!
I think that the intended audience for this one is probably amato allo folks and I guess that’s fine I dunno. Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this one.
3.5 stars?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
hanarama's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.5
Book at a Glance:
• LGBT Coming-of-age
• University-setting
• Building friendships
18-year-old Georgia Warr is about to start university with her best friends, Pip and Jason. There's just one problem, all through high school, Georgia has, despite loving romances, never had a single crush, never had a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even been kissed. After a disastrous post-prom party, she's left worrying that there's something seriously wrong with her.
When Georgia starts classes at Durham, she makes a plan to chase a college romance worthy of a romcom. With the help of her exceedingly popular and flirty roommate, Rooney, Georgia begins her search for someone to fall in love with. Instead, both girls are set on a path of self discovery and acceptance.
Loveless is a very sweet story, providing much needed aromantic-asexual representation. As a coming-out/coming-of-age story, much of the story centers on Georgia's self-acceptance and exploration. It's clear that this is a very personal story for Oseman, and Georgia's anxieties hit in a very genuine way.
Oseman does only offer one facet of the asexual experience though. Despite three characters identifying as ace, there is not much diversity shown between their experiences. I think it is worth noting that of the three, Sunil's identity is given the least exploration, outside of stating it during teaching moments to Georgia. Sunil is also one of only a couple characters of color. I don't think this was done maliciously, but it is worth noting. (Additionally, Sunil is said to use he/them pronouns, but the book seems to exclusively refer to them with male pronouns. I don't know if this was on Oseman or an editor though).
Beyond Georgia's self-discovery, the main focus of Loveless is on the friendships built between the main characters. Oseman provides lots of brief insights into the characters and how they spend their time together. I feel like this really fleshes out their friendships and makes them feel more like an actual group of friends.
Rooney is a standout. Aside from Georgia, she undergoes the most growth. As the flighty, flirty girl that seems to have hundreds of friends, her growth mirrors Georgia's. It is easy to read Loveless as a coming of age story for both girls.
I think that Loveless will provide a lot of comfort for teenagers and new adults.
• LGBT Coming-of-age
• University-setting
• Building friendships
18-year-old Georgia Warr is about to start university with her best friends, Pip and Jason. There's just one problem, all through high school, Georgia has, despite loving romances, never had a single crush, never had a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even been kissed. After a disastrous post-prom party, she's left worrying that there's something seriously wrong with her.
When Georgia starts classes at Durham, she makes a plan to chase a college romance worthy of a romcom. With the help of her exceedingly popular and flirty roommate, Rooney, Georgia begins her search for someone to fall in love with. Instead, both girls are set on a path of self discovery and acceptance.
Loveless is a very sweet story, providing much needed aromantic-asexual representation. As a coming-out/coming-of-age story, much of the story centers on Georgia's self-acceptance and exploration. It's clear that this is a very personal story for Oseman, and Georgia's anxieties hit in a very genuine way.
Oseman does only offer one facet of the asexual experience though. Despite three characters identifying as ace, there is not much diversity shown between their experiences. I think it is worth noting that of the three, Sunil's identity is given the least exploration, outside of stating it during teaching moments to Georgia. Sunil is also one of only a couple characters of color. I don't think this was done maliciously, but it is worth noting. (Additionally, Sunil is said to use he/them pronouns, but the book seems to exclusively refer to them with male pronouns. I don't know if this was on Oseman or an editor though).
Beyond Georgia's self-discovery, the main focus of Loveless is on the friendships built between the main characters. Oseman provides lots of brief insights into the characters and how they spend their time together. I feel like this really fleshes out their friendships and makes them feel more like an actual group of friends.
Rooney is a standout. Aside from Georgia, she undergoes the most growth. As the flighty, flirty girl that seems to have hundreds of friends, her growth mirrors Georgia's. It is easy to read Loveless as a coming of age story for both girls.
I think that Loveless will provide a lot of comfort for teenagers and new adults.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Toxic relationship and Alcoholism
saturn26's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Cursing
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Vomit
Minor: Toxic relationship