Scan barcode
emhunsber's review against another edition
funny
informative
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? No
3.5
Hooray for representation! This book has a lovely romance as it's main plot, but with a twist: the main character is asexual, and throughout the novel she and her love interest have to come to grips with what this means for their relationship.
The representation was realistic, especially with the main character's rants to her therapist about what being ace feels like. Her experiences seemed true to an ace identity, but aren't often shown in media without it being a joke or a thing that makes a character deviant.
Lastly, while being ace is the driving force of the main character's conflict, it's not the only defining factor of the character. She has a personality; she has depth; she is human.
This book is very much a romance novel, but the asexual character and the experience of asexuality shared within the pages are so important.
The representation was realistic, especially with the main character's rants to her therapist about what being ace feels like. Her experiences seemed true to an ace identity, but aren't often shown in media without it being a joke or a thing that makes a character deviant.
Lastly, while being ace is the driving force of the main character's conflict, it's not the only defining factor of the character. She has a personality; she has depth; she is human.
This book is very much a romance novel, but the asexual character and the experience of asexuality shared within the pages are so important.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and Drug use
madamenovelist's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Asexual rep varies throughout. Some aspects were VERY accurate to the experiences of real life aces (myself included). And some gave me pause because it felt like utilizing aphobia or otherness to amp up drama, and it didn’t quite sit right with me. What bothered me most was how suddenly we skip all of Alice’s classes/work halfway through the book and Feenie never owns up to being unfair and manipulative to Alice. Otherwise I enjoyed the focus of deep emotional ties with everyone around Alice, not just Takumi.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Acephobia/Arophobia
The attempted SA is not graphic, basically details a guy cornering a girl at a college party, but it’s still triggering. I found the aphobia triggering as well.s3lin's review against another edition
challenging
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Racism, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship
libraryghost's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Toxic friendship, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol
bendersreads's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Toxic friendship, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
longlost's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
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? Yes
3.0
"Margot lowered herself down next to Alice, slowly, as if she were dealing with a scared animal. "Have you gone to a doctor?" she asked. She traced her delicate fingers over Alice's shoulder, curving towards her spine. It tickled, but Alice didn't show it.
"I don't need to." Number one, she thought.
"Were you abused? Is that it?"
"No." Number two.
"Are you saving yourself for marriage?"
"I hope that's a joke."
"It was," Margot admitted. Her sad smile burned in the corner of Alice's eyes. "Then what? Tell me. People don't just not like sex without a reason. It's kind of not natural, don't you think?"
This book. This book is so important. The only thing stopping me from rating this book 5 stars entirely is my own discomfort with some of the characters in it, which I'm not 100% sure on whether it's something that personally upsets me because of my own experiences, or whether it does genuinely send a concerning message.
First thing's first: the asexual representation. I'm unsure if the book is own voices, but as an asexual person I felt that the ace community and experience was treated with incredible respect and remains nuanced - I particularly appreciated the discussions between Alice and Takumi, and Alice and her therapist, that show us what asexuality means to her. Outside of the community itself I often see asexuality boiled down to "doesn't have sex ever" with no other characteristics outside of that, and seeing Alice as a character who had her own wants and limits and feelings on sexuality and romance was incredibly refreshing. Takumi was also a sweetheart - my fondness for him was helped by the fact that, honestly, I wasn't that invested or empathetic towards Feenie and Ryan, which we'll get into later.
I'm not an expert on romance by any means, but the one Claire Kann gives us here was very cute. I appreciated that Alice and Takumi have genuine conversations about their needs and wants in their relationship, and the fact that it wasn't as simple as one might hope it would bee.g. when Alice asks him out in the car and his response is less than ideal. The fact that Takumi later acknowledges that he hurt her and makes an effort to make it up to her really cemented my fondness for their relationship.
A big reason of why I finally sat down to read this book was because the author was a person of colour - as a white person with little experience in intersectionality regarding race, it was really an eye-opener to see the discussions between Alice and Takumi and Alice's own reflections on the racism they experience, and how her being black ties into her also being a queer woman.
The only thing I disliked about this book was the handling of the relationship between Feenie, Ryan and Alice. Throughout the book it's framed as a positive thing and shown that they overcome their relationship problems, but the way both Feenie and Ryan treat Alice throughout the middle of the book honestly reminds me very much of my own experiences with abuse. When Alice states that she feels left out of their friendship due to Feenie and Ryan often ditching her to be together(which is shown in the book as them leaving her alone at a party without a word, soon after which she is sexually assaulted by a random partygoer) she is treated like her frustration is unreasonable when she 100% has the right to be upset, especially after what she experienced after her friends left her without a word. One passage in particular that made me uncomfortable to read:
"I don't need to." Number one, she thought.
"Were you abused? Is that it?"
"No." Number two.
"Are you saving yourself for marriage?"
"I hope that's a joke."
"It was," Margot admitted. Her sad smile burned in the corner of Alice's eyes. "Then what? Tell me. People don't just not like sex without a reason. It's kind of not natural, don't you think?"
This book. This book is so important. The only thing stopping me from rating this book 5 stars entirely is my own discomfort with some of the characters in it, which I'm not 100% sure on whether it's something that personally upsets me because of my own experiences, or whether it does genuinely send a concerning message.
First thing's first: the asexual representation. I'm unsure if the book is own voices, but as an asexual person I felt that the ace community and experience was treated with incredible respect and remains nuanced - I particularly appreciated the discussions between Alice and Takumi, and Alice and her therapist, that show us what asexuality means to her. Outside of the community itself I often see asexuality boiled down to "doesn't have sex ever" with no other characteristics outside of that, and seeing Alice as a character who had her own wants and limits and feelings on sexuality and romance was incredibly refreshing. Takumi was also a sweetheart - my fondness for him was helped by the fact that, honestly, I wasn't that invested or empathetic towards Feenie and Ryan, which we'll get into later.
I'm not an expert on romance by any means, but the one Claire Kann gives us here was very cute. I appreciated that Alice and Takumi have genuine conversations about their needs and wants in their relationship, and the fact that it wasn't as simple as one might hope it would be
A big reason of why I finally sat down to read this book was because the author was a person of colour - as a white person with little experience in intersectionality regarding race, it was really an eye-opener to see the discussions between Alice and Takumi and Alice's own reflections on the racism they experience, and how her being black ties into her also being a queer woman.
The only thing I disliked about this book was the handling of the relationship between Feenie, Ryan and Alice. Throughout the book it's framed as a positive thing and shown that they overcome their relationship problems, but the way both Feenie and Ryan treat Alice throughout the middle of the book honestly reminds me very much of my own experiences with abuse. When Alice states that she feels left out of their friendship due to Feenie and Ryan often ditching her to be together
“I think I’d say yes. Just to see. I think I might have a serious squish on him.”
“The fuck is a squish?” Feenie sucked her teeth, shaking her head. “You know what? I don’t want to know. It seems like you’re romantically attracted to him, so there you go. Grand Mystery solved. I hereby resign from my love-coaching duties.”
alongside:
“We went upstairs. You actually left the party. That is not the same thing.” [Feenie] looked Alice right in the eyes. “I’m not going to apologize for having sex with my boyfriend when you fucking jumped ship the first chance you got because you couldn’t stand being alone for thirty minutes. Miss me with that bullshit.”
This is the kind of behaviour Feenie continually displays for Alice's transgression of simply leaving the party without them after she was sexually assaulted by a random guy at a party after they left her. Granted, we aren't given a scene where Alice tells them this happened, but it makes them extremely unsympathetic regardless. She's not even visibly angry with them for it, and this is still how she is treated. And despite her defense of the fact that she left Alice alone to be with her boyfriend, she later uses the fact that Alice is spending so much time with Takumi (partly because they, her friends, are gaslighting and belittling her half the time she's at home) and "replacing her" against Alice when she's entirely aware of Alice's conflicting maybe-romantic feelings towards him, which should justify their time spent together by Feenie's logic.
Ryan's better in the fact that he doesn't give Alice passive-aggressive comments like 50% of the time until their reconciliation, but he also tries to frame it that Alice's hurt if unjustified and that it's unfair of her to spend time with someone else without them, which is the same thing they do to her.
alongside:
“We went upstairs. You actually left the party. That is not the same thing.” [Feenie] looked Alice right in the eyes. “I’m not going to apologize for having sex with my boyfriend when you fucking jumped ship the first chance you got because you couldn’t stand being alone for thirty minutes. Miss me with that bullshit.”
This is the kind of behaviour Feenie continually displays for Alice's transgression of simply leaving the party without them after she was sexually assaulted by a random guy at a party after they left her. Granted, we aren't given a scene where Alice tells them this happened, but it makes them extremely unsympathetic regardless. She's not even visibly angry with them for it, and this is still how she is treated. And despite her defense of the fact that she left Alice alone to be with her boyfriend, she later uses the fact that Alice is spending so much time with Takumi (partly because they, her friends, are gaslighting and belittling her half the time she's at home) and "replacing her" against Alice when she's entirely aware of Alice's conflicting maybe-romantic feelings towards him, which should justify their time spent together by Feenie's logic.
Ryan's better in the fact that he doesn't give Alice passive-aggressive comments like 50% of the time until their reconciliation, but he also tries to frame it that Alice's hurt if unjustified and that it's unfair of her to spend time with someone else without them, which is the same thing they do to her.
Alice: “You two spend a lot of time together without me.”
Ryan: “That’s different. We’re engaged.”
Alice: “So I’m just supposed to sit around and wait for you both to remember I exist?”
Ryan: “Of course not, but you shouldn’t edge us out. You’re the one making it as if it has to be him or us.”
Feenie's behaviour throughout their argument made me so uncomfortable to read, and when they do eventually reconcile she turns it around so that Alice is the one apologizing for her hurt while Feenie chastises her for ever believing that Feenie and Ryan don't care about her when it was Feenie and Ryan's own actions that led Alice to be upset. While I really enjoyed the rest of the book and thought it was very well written, this aspect was just so upsetting to me that I found it hard to empathise with Feenie and Ryan's characters, and to feel like Alice was in a safe and healthy friendship with them.
However I wouldn't say that this makes the book a no-read - there's a lot more to the story besides Alice's friendship with them, and I can't say that my discomfort isn't driven by my own personal experiences with abuse and may be seen as completely different by anyone else reading. The ace rep is very well written, and the author weaves her own experiences as a black woman into the narrative in a way that really shows the microaggressions black people face on a daily basis and is worth the read IMO. While the behaviour from Feenie and Ryan and how it was justified in the text made reading this book harder for me, the rest of the story was still enjoyable and I don't regret having read the book.
Feenie's behaviour throughout their argument made me so uncomfortable to read, and when they do eventually reconcile she turns it around so that Alice is the one apologizing for her hurt while Feenie chastises her for ever believing that Feenie and Ryan don't care about her when it was Feenie and Ryan's own actions that led Alice to be upset. While I really enjoyed the rest of the book and thought it was very well written, this aspect was just so upsetting to me that I found it hard to empathise with Feenie and Ryan's characters, and to feel like Alice was in a safe and healthy friendship with them.
However I wouldn't say that this makes the book a no-read - there's a lot more to the story besides Alice's friendship with them, and I can't say that my discomfort isn't driven by my own personal experiences with abuse and may be seen as completely different by anyone else reading. The ace rep is very well written, and the author weaves her own experiences as a black woman into the narrative in a way that really shows the microaggressions black people face on a daily basis and is worth the read IMO. While the behaviour from Feenie and Ryan and how it was justified in the text made reading this book harder for me, the rest of the story was still enjoyable and I don't regret having read the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
GRAPHIC: Acephobia: Alice faces acephobia from her girlfriend in the very first scene. Racism: As a black woman, Alice faces racism throughout the story. Sexual assault: Alice is sexually assaulted at a costume party. Toxic friendship: Alice's relationship with Feenie and Ryan is treated uncomfortably, as detailed in the above review. MODERATE: Sexual harrassment: There are a few scenes in the book where Alice is unwillingly hit on. Sexual content: Asexuality is discussed in regards to sexual feelings. Alcohol: There's alcohol at a costume party, and Alice drinks a bit when spending time with Takumijupanuma's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This is a nice story about a black, biromantic, asexual main character named Alice, and how she deals with relationships. It feels very realistic and portrays asexuality pretty well.
Why did I not rate it higher then? I'm not a huge fan of pure romance stories, and I didn't really like most of the characters. Alice herself has many flaws, one being that she is very selfish in a lot of ways.Close to the end she finally figures this out and says she will do better, but we never SEE her do better . Her best friend, Feenie, was just a terrible person throughout the book I thought, with the only redeeming quality is that she sticks up for Alice. Otherwise just hated her in general. Ryan, Feenie's boyfriend/finance, was nice but that's about it. After a certain point, about midway, he just disappears and is never talked about or seen again. Alice's romantic intereste, Takumi, I think is the best character. He is very understanding to Alice but also has good counterarguments when the topic calls for it. He felt like a complete character where Alice just felt like her personality only consists of Asexual and Selfish. To me, she and her friends didn't feel as fleshed out as Takumi did.
Why did I not rate it higher then? I'm not a huge fan of pure romance stories, and I didn't really like most of the characters. Alice herself has many flaws, one being that she is very selfish in a lot of ways.
Content Warnings
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia and Racism
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
I absolutely adored this book. I've been wanting a book with ace representation for a while because I realized I've never read one, which is silly because I fall somewhere on the asexual/graysexual/demisexual spectrum. I didn't expect to see my experiences so vividly portrayed in Alice. It was painful at times, validating at others, and such a delightful read the whole way through. Glad I'm not the only ace who often feels broken but not broken.
📚 The gist 📚: what do you do when your girlfriend breaks up with you because you're asexual? Retreat from the world of dating and carefully guard your heart. At least, that's what Alice seems to have planned until she meets the new guy at the library. With him, she experiences a much stronger sense of attraction and has to reconcile this with her ace identity and broken heart.
📒Representation📒 black mc, asexual mc, bisexual mc, Japanese-American mc, LGBTQ sc
💕 For readers looking for 💕: Asexual characters, bipoc characters, fandom and library culture, sweet/complex romance, reflective narration, early college
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexism, and Racism
Acephobia/aphobianytephoenyx's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia and Infidelity
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders
courtneyfalling'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
3.0
This was... fine? I wanted to like it based on the concept more than I actually liked it based on the execution. Some sections were a little too drawn out while others were a little too quick, and a lot of the main subplots (Alice's friendship difficulties with Feenie and Ryan or her struggles with her parents and older sister in particular) stressed me out because Alice was so non-confrontational in them to her own detriment and they never truly get openly, fully resolved (or concluded, if not resolved perfectly). And it kept me from liking Alice as a main character, vs. kind of tolerating her and hoping she could learn. Also I feel like as much as I loved Takumi, he always came across as an idealized figure and never as his full, own character. Not to mention the book never really addresses the weird age and knowledge gap between them? Like there's actually a kind of hefty differential here?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual harassment