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shoohoob's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Loveless is a love story, but not a romantic one. This book is a beautiful love letter to platonic relationships in a way that I haven’t seen before. I’m so so glad this book exists, and I can only imagine it must have been cathartic for Alice Oseman (who is also aro/ace) to write.
I think I needed this book in a way I didn’t fully understand until I read it. Georgia’s self-discovery and acceptance of her aromanticism and asexuality are so familiar to me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. As the book states many times, heteronormative society asserts romantic and sexual relationships over platonic ones. But who says that has to be true? Who says you cannot love a friend as deeply or as truly as you can love a romantic partner? Loveless taught me to recognize the value and worth of my friendships just as much as my romantic relationships. They are just as important to who I am, and do not deserve any less attention.
Thank you for writing this book, Alice Oseman.
I think I needed this book in a way I didn’t fully understand until I read it. Georgia’s self-discovery and acceptance of her aromanticism and asexuality are so familiar to me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. As the book states many times, heteronormative society asserts romantic and sexual relationships over platonic ones. But who says that has to be true? Who says you cannot love a friend as deeply or as truly as you can love a romantic partner? Loveless taught me to recognize the value and worth of my friendships just as much as my romantic relationships. They are just as important to who I am, and do not deserve any less attention.
Thank you for writing this book, Alice Oseman.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia and Alcohol
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content
yoursupremereads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
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
3.75
Oseman you genius! Have I said that already? I'll say it again. I loved this book! I really really did! And the fact I was able to finish it right at the beginning of Pride Month. Cherry on top. This is a story not really about self-discovery, well it is that. But it's about acceptance in that discovery. Learning to be able to openly say what you are and not feel bad or demote yourself because of who you are, how your body works, and how your brain functions. Georgia is a relatable protagonist who's thrusted into the world thinking she should be doing one thing, when no matter how much she wants to, she ends up doing something completely different. Add to that a wonderful cast of characters, her two best friends Pip and Jason, her newest best-friend and roommate Rooney, and her college mentor Sunil, and you get a loving story about what you find when your away from home to create your own home. Oseman does a breathtaking job in conveying the mental hardships of asexuality and aromanticism when you live in world where no one wants to fully understand those terms and what they mean to the people who have come to terms with them. And I can't thank her enough for that. As someone who has recognized themselves as ace homoromantic for a while I understood Georgia's fear and frustrations in accepting the identify she came to. I understood her fear of people not understanding, or writing her feelings off as "not having found the one yet," or the classic "how can you know if you haven't tried it" mentality. And I also understand her frustrations with wanting to feel romantic love or wanting to be loved by someone else in a romantic way despite the negative bodily feelings that come with those prospects when they are finally in front of you. In short this book made me feel seen. And I can't say thank you to Oseman enough for that. I would also like to add that Oseman writes men an in incredibly endearing way. Jason is a legit teddy bear. And even though Georgia hurts him through a misunderstanding, he comes back around, and is still the teddy bear we have come to love. And Sunil, sweet love. The way he is just a breath of fresh air whenever he comes into a scene is wonderful. Also could relate to his reservations about being in out and open ace POC. Being a Black ace identifying person myself, it is complicated, and given that there are plenty of "taboo" or "nonexistent" subjects you don't talk about in the Black community, the sexual spectrum being one of them, I related completely to Sunil. And Oseman's B plot of Rooney and Pip having an enemies to lovers journey was spectacular. Could not stop smiling at the end of the book when they got together. And the icing on the cake, when Rooney essentially asks Georgia if she can be Georgia's true love was wonderful. Because Oseman did yet another thing that I have not been able to stop thinking about. She took the time and space to say that for most ace-aro people, their friendships are their romantic relationships. And for them that's where they cultivate the love they need and desire in the healthiest and platonic way possible. Rooney recognizing that and asking Georgia to be that for her was wonderful and it gave me all the warm and fuzzies inside. And all five of them (Georgia, Pip, Jason, Rooney, and Sunil) getting a house at the end of the school year so they can live together for the rest of uni was adorable. This is a solid recommend from me, especially if your ace identifying. I will be reading this again. And Oseman has become one of my favorite new contemporary authors!
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
hollymileham's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
really wanted to love this but i just.. didnt? i think it was the writing style, the tone felt of immature to me which took away from the reading experience and i was never really fuly invested
pip and rooney >>>
i am glad to have read it though bc you dont find many books about this and the platonic love explorations were quite heartwarming
pip and rooney >>>
i am glad to have read it though bc you dont find many books about this and the platonic love explorations were quite heartwarming
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Homophobia and Toxic friendship
elwirax's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Rep- Aroace MC, Latina, Lesbian SC, Pan SC, Indian, Asexual, non-binary SC, mention of same sex parents.
I really wanted to enjoy this but was dissapointed. At its core, the message that platonic love can be just as rewarding as romantic love and that representation is important was great, the execution not so much. Not to mention this book was over 400 pages and practically nothing happened.
While I somewhat related to Georgia's aroace experience, I can't help but see that the other LGBTQIA+ representation in this book was not good. Sunil was a prominent non binary character (he/they) but no one ever referred to them as they/them which I found odd and strangely binary (why have them only addressed as he/him if he also uses they/them?). Rooney is pansexual and as it turns out she has frequent casual sex because she was in an abusive relationship and doesn't feel loved. While this may be the experience of some people it would've been good to see good representation for an identity that is already under represented in media.
I really didn't like Georgia's character at all ( I should've known when she accidently caused someone to set aflame and only cared about her jacket being ruined). She used people as a stepping stone and didn't seem to consider other people's feelings. Georgia was also very clearly sex repulsed which I relate to but the way in which she shamed other people for partaking in sex and invalidating their sexuality really didn't sit right with me. I can't imagine shaming people for enjoying sex and while I understand she was realising that she doesn't fit into certain societal expectations it should've been handled better.
In this book there were 3 people who identified as asexual and 2 of them had pretty similar experiences which I feel was a missed opportunity in showcasing the spectrum of asexuality. It would've been a good opportunity to introduce a character who was more sex positive than Georgia or indifferent for those asexuals who also feel that way.
Overall, I think my expectations were too high, maybe I was desperately needing to be seen and represented but this was not the book for me which is a shame. On with my hunt for my perfect ace rep book.
I really wanted to enjoy this but was dissapointed. At its core, the message that platonic love can be just as rewarding as romantic love and that representation is important was great, the execution not so much. Not to mention this book was over 400 pages and practically nothing happened.
While I somewhat related to Georgia's aroace experience, I can't help but see that the other LGBTQIA+ representation in this book was not good. Sunil was a prominent non binary character (he/they) but no one ever referred to them as they/them which I found odd and strangely binary (why have them only addressed as he/him if he also uses they/them?). Rooney is pansexual and as it turns out she has frequent casual sex because she was in an abusive relationship and doesn't feel loved. While this may be the experience of some people it would've been good to see good representation for an identity that is already under represented in media.
I really didn't like Georgia's character at all ( I should've known when she accidently caused someone to set aflame and only cared about her jacket being ruined). She used people as a stepping stone and didn't seem to consider other people's feelings. Georgia was also very clearly sex repulsed which I relate to but the way in which she shamed other people for partaking in sex and invalidating their sexuality really didn't sit right with me. I can't imagine shaming people for enjoying sex and while I understand she was realising that she doesn't fit into certain societal expectations it should've been handled better.
In this book there were 3 people who identified as asexual and 2 of them had pretty similar experiences which I feel was a missed opportunity in showcasing the spectrum of asexuality. It would've been a good opportunity to introduce a character who was more sex positive than Georgia or indifferent for those asexuals who also feel that way.
Overall, I think my expectations were too high, maybe I was desperately needing to be seen and represented but this was not the book for me which is a shame. On with my hunt for my perfect ace rep book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Minor: Emotional abuse
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
jbabbm's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
5.0
This is such a beautiful book about self identity, different types of love, and friendship. Especially, about how the best and most important love in your life is the one you can find in your friends
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
zoe_archambault's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
2.5
Cute predictable fluff and longer than it really needed to be. Also a character has he/they pronouns and is only ever referred to as he (by main character internal monologue and other characters)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts
zoebill96's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
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
ok7a's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Bullying
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship