Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Let's Talk About Love

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

17 reviews

faeire_reads's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book was really good, and good ace representation.</confession at the end was perfect and exactly what i would want as an asexual> the only thing I would change is the time skips, they are confusing and don't make sense but overal its a good short read that I recomend

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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emotional 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

I absolutely loved this book.

That’s an understatement.

For three days, I lived and breathed Let’s Talk About Love.

Do y’all remember Tess of the Road? Remember how much I love Tess of the Road? Remember how often I try to plug it because I love the book so much? It has a new friend. I usually write my reviews the evening after I finish a book but I’m sitting here a whole day later and blubbering about how much I loved it. I’m going to try and focus in now and do my best to tell you why.

For most people, Let’s Talk About Love probably won’t be a big deal. It’s a good book with a cute relationship and a frustrating but accurate-feeling friendship and family struggle. Here’s why Let’s Talk About Love is meaningful for me. Listening to Alice’s fears, hopes, doubts, difficulties, and internal monologue was like being in my own head. I believe there are quite a few lines of dialogue in the book that I have said in the same situation about myself. Alice feels trapped by her parents’ expectations. She loves her friends with all of her being but feels like a third wheel and that they’re drifting away. She’s biromantic asexual Black girl in a world that really doesn’t understand her… and doesn’t want to.

Sometimes you read a book and it feels like the author took the words right out of your heart. I have had this experience twice. Tess of the Road and Let’s Talk About Love. I’m trying to be objective but it’s really, really challenging.

Kann’s writing does a good job of bringing the reader into the story and tying them emotionally to Alice’s hopes and fears and insecurities. Alice is a well-rounded character – she has a past that haunts her and a future that eludes her. I like the way her development worked, where she’d start to grow and be stalled by an obstacle or pulled back down by her own insecurities – I related to that a lot, but I also think a lot of people do. The road to growth is not often easy. I also really, really enjoyed that she was a biromantic asexual. I was unable to find whether or not Kann identifies this way as well, but regardless of the author’s personal identity, I felt the representation was spot on.

There were aspects of the world building I really enjoyed as well. The focus on finance. The fact a character actually got sick and it felt real. It’s funny – Takumi behaved precisely the way my husband does when he has a bad cold or a spot of flu. The world is literally ending and basic things like staying in bed and taking medicine needs stern prompting. Again, another small slice life that felt written right out of my own story. Let’s Talk About Love is a romance, but it’s more than just a romance. It’s a story about a friendship. A story about accepting love from various venues. A story about king vulnerable. A story about crafting your life path.

Let’s Talk About Love is the perfect romance. It’s not all flirting, kissing, touching, sex. It’s a balanced relationship filled with honestly, emotional development alongside physical (or not) attraction. I really, really liked it. A lot.

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themessyannotator's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-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? It's complicated

1.5

I really loved the representation in this book (especially as someone who relates to the biromantic label) and part of the love story were fun to read about. Overall, though, the writing and plot was just lacking for me. The story felt really disjointed, the timelines skipping weeks at a time, and the relationship between Takumi and Alice was just confusing at times with the skips in timeline. Also, the writing felt somewhat young for the age of Alice’s character and there were a lot of details/narrative that I felt were unnecessary and excessive.

It was the first book I’ve ever read with biromantic rep which I loved but overall the writing was not good and I felt it lacked in character development and plot development.

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Okay I loved this. Yes, some of the time jumps were weird, because at points I was like, how did you do so much in so little time?? I didn't actually realize that much time was passing. Which also could have been because I was listening to the audiobook. But Alice felt so real, and her struggles with her sexuality also felt real. And Takumi! Her relationship with Takumi was adorable. I loved it.

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xoodlebooks's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted

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

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kp_writ's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

An overall boring and grating take on young adulthood and exploring asexuality. Definitely not a book I'd recommend if wanting to expand your understanding of the ace identity, as the author's attempts at ace rep are clumsy and problematic at best. The characters are one-toned, and the protagonist Alice, despite having some character development towards the end, is tiring to follow. Overall, it is clear in the writing style and the plot/character/setting development that the author had written this book in a very short amount of time (40 days, I believe).

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

With the caveat that books where a relationship is the main plot stress me out... I really like this one. It didn't linger too long on the bad stuff, whenever things were rough emotionally in one part of the MC's life she always had at least one other place to turn for support (though sometimes more than one thing was rocky at once). Her relationship with her best friends (who are engaged to each other) is nuanced and dynamic, she has a different rapport with them as individuals and as a couple. It also deals with her family relationships, with her much older siblings and her parents who have very strong opinions about what she should do with her life. The main romantic interest in the story gets space for the reader to get to know him pretty well as the MC is trying to figure out what she wants as a biromantic asexual person who isn't out to many people and has a lot of anxiety about talking about her asexuality. This book has nuanced discussions of labels which stay centered on the MC throughout, focused on her experience without trying to overgeneralize for other people who might share her labels. The MC and the love interest also have some discussions about their very different experiences as POC (Black and Japanese, respectively). Overall it's a mostly upbeat story that's not afraid to be sad when it's needed, and is a firm proponent of the restorative powers of great food and a good cry. The layers of important relationships in the MC's life helped to showcase different parts of her inner life as well as showing what she cares about with each person.

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