I just couldn't get into plot with the very low stakes of someone being mad at someone else and their play being canceled. I honestly couldn't find a single redeemable thing about Pip.
I just couldn't get into plot with the very low stakes of someone being mad at someone else and their play being canceled. I honestly couldn't find a single redeemable thing about Pip.
A lovely celebration of platonic love, embedded in an asexual/aromantic realisation and coming-out story, combined with a first-year-of-uni narrative.
If I were to be picky I'd say the middle was just a touch flabby- it could have been edited down 50 or so pages. But overall this is a hearty “recommend“, especially for young ace people looking for ace rep, or people looking for ace understanding.
#WickedWords @AsYouWish
This was just wonderful. A young adult book about a group of friends that are freshman in college and sorting through their relationships, friendships, and sexual identities. The main character is coming to realize that she is asexual, which can be difficult for many folks to grasp, including the folks that hold that identity. And also stresses the primacy of love between friends as valid and valuable, and not just second place to romantic love.
This book was nice. I don‘t have any unusual adjectives because it really was nice. Not as a lesser word for great but as a comforting read. The characters are very lovable and captured me immediately. Their story of love (not just romantic, but really all sorts) was so beautiful, it gave a new look on what we classify as “love”. I won‘t say this book made me cry or feel any extreme emotions, but it left a sense of comfort and warmth.
3.75⭐️
This book was so absorbing! I absolutely should have been doing work but instead I just kept reading and reading this. I really appreciated the portrayals of different kinds of love and people trying to figure out where they fit into the spectrum of sexuality and romance. Wonderful characters!
As a bonus, I was already at the library so I can return it on my way out and let someone else discover it. 💗
I finally realized my dream of creating a third cardboard stag head mount! Took me YEARS to find the blue I had in mind, but the wait was worth it.
His name is Porthos.
I mostly made him while I listened to LOVELESS, a book that spoke to my soul. It‘s a beautiful portrait of self discovery and friend-love, and it had me nodding along over and over and over again. #audiocrafting
This is actually a reread and I liked it just as much as last time. I love how rereading it brings small details to my attention, whether it‘s some kind of foreshadowing or a sentence I might‘ve skipped over the first time. Either way, I loved rediscovering this book! Being impacted by different quotes than the first time. Falling in love with the friend group all over again. Crying my eyes out at the ending (🫠). Yup, that about sums it up.
“I have a lot more love than some people in the world. Even if I‘ll never have a wedding.”
“Being a human is fucking terrifying. But it‘s a hell of a lot easier if you‘re not doing it by yourself.”
“If you‘re not going to respect me, then I am not going to be around you.”
“You‘ll change your mind when you‘re older.”
“You never know what might happen.”
“You‘ll feel differently one day.”
As if we teenagers knew so little about ourselves that we could wake up one day a completely different person. As if the person we are right now doesn‘t matter at all.
“It took her some time to feel happy with herself, but…I mean, you met her. She‘s happy with who she is. Maybe it‘s not the heteronormative dream that she grew up wishing for, but…knowing who you are and loving yourself is so much better than that, I think.”
And this is what I got from the #greatercharlottebookcrawl! I know you can‘t see all the book titles, but I wanted to show the pins too, lol.
I thought I would love this book because I am such a big fan of the HeartStopper series. Somehow this didn't have the same sweetness. I like the ACE representation, and watching Georgia realize that she is asexual. I felt that it tried to educate readers about different types of sexuality, but I find it hard to believe that none of them had heard of asexuality before, given that her best friend is a lesbian.
I really liked this depiction of a college teen discovering and coming to terms with her asexuality. While I didn't have the same kind of existential crises Georgia has, as she is also aromatic, I could certainly relate to much of it. The diversity of queer characters was fun to experience as well. The resolutions to the relationship issues were a bit predictable, but it was still a nice listen with a great group of characters.
Alyssa thank you so much for my #jolabokaflodswap gift 💖 I love it!! I've been dying to read Loveless for a while, the hardback edition is so pretty! And I can't wait to try the chocolate, I've never heard of Tony's but it looks chunky and delicious! @Sweetkokoro
And thanks @MaleficentBookDragon for putting this swap together ☺️
This was nice. It had representation and took a few moments to have characters talk about intersectionality in ways that felt real and are frequently overlooked. I guess my problem with it is the same I had with Heartstopper, I want someone, at some point, to have lasers, or robots, or superpowers.
A university student discovering their aro-ace identity and learning that love takes many different forms.
This is a lovely read and very relatable to anyone ace/aro. There were a lot of times where I felt very connected because of experiencing similar things.
A young person close to me has discovered that aro-ace is an identity that feels quite right to him. So I borrowed this from my library, and he read it in a day, saying that he could relate to so much of what was on the page. So, I read it too and it has helped me to understand what auto-ace means a bit more, especially as he relates to it. My hope is this can start conversations together. I‘ll take any recs anyone might have - for him and me.
This is a lovely coming-of-age (coming-of-ace?) campus novel. It follows the protagonist, Georgia, on her journey of realising, and coming to terms with, her aromantic asexual identity, and also explores the universal adolescent experience of being desperate to 'fit in', be like everyone else and have as much fun as you think everyone else is having. It's also a beautiful exploration of the joys of friendship and platonic love.
#ReadHarder challenge 17: a book with an asexual/aromantic main character
Georgia is the older sister of Charlie from the Heartstopper series. This book is about Georgia‘s journey in experimenting and figuring out her sexuality. I was hoping for more of a proud moment when she identified herself as aromantic asexual, (personal hope tho) but the representation is important and was fairly well done outside of that. loved the emphasis on found family and being fulfilled by platonic love vs romantic.
5 stars- I LOVED this ode to friendship-love. I agree with the message wholeheartedly although I'm not aromantic or asexual. Life is just as fulfilling with loving friendships as it is with a partner. So this was a great book for me and I think it has a great message for everyone, old and especially young!
I really wanted to like this book because I LOVE being asexual 🖤🤍💜 but I found myself pretty frustrated with this book. I was hoping Georgia would have a moment of “my whole life makes sense now” and it would feel a lot prouder. Instead, the book focused on the dramas of experimentation and the frustration of being different.
an important book for YA (even college) for ace awareness but not the most well-written or optimistic coming of age :/
Long time no speak! I‘ve been busy and I‘m so happy to have the rest of the day off. #butanyway 😬
Happy Pride Month! I cannot tell you how pleased I am to have 4 books with ace rep in my house and available to add to my June TBR! It‘s so great to see YA fiction with asexual characters. I wish we‘d had these options when I was younger 🖤🤍💟💜
What are you reading for #pridemonth?
Joining in late for #LGBTQBookBingo #LGBTQ2022 but I am including 3 books I've read so far this year that fit some of the prompts. The cast of characters in these 3 books includes demisexual, aro-ace, bisexual, and non-binary representation!
God, Alice Oseman knows how to write a friend group. And Georgia and Rooney's relationship? Just kill me. I hope all the baby aces who need this book find it. #yalit
I loved this so much! I‘m not usually a YA reader but #pop22 had me looking for a novel with #acharacterontheacespectrum and this one caught my eye. It‘s sweet and charming, and sensitively handles Georgia‘s journey as she explores and discovers her aro/ace sexuality. I loved the UK university setting, and the Shakespeare society shenanigans…… (continued in comments)⬇️
Woosah! It's been a hot minute. Life went up in flames fam. I've read a little here and there but mostly was busy inside my mind and in my life trying to figure things out. I went to pick up kindle to read and felt like this is a good representation of my reading life. But I'm back at it! Starting in with Loveless by Alice Oseman - thank goodness I also checked out the audio book! 😅
#nextup this one for #pop22 #acespectrum
Starts with a Much Ado quote so off to a great start!
🎭
This contemporary YA is definitely written for the teen demographic and is a bit angsty, but I loved how the story delves into the different kinds of love, and how platonic love can be just as powerful as romantic love. There is a great cast of characters I absolutely adored, and the diversity and authenticity of the characters was so refreshing!
#booked2022 #comingoutstory
#pop22 #aboutasecret (would also be perfect for the asexual prompt)
Definitely wish I had when I went to college. Just like Georgia‘s first year at uni, we first heard of asexuality. The “nothing gender.” Both fought to understand this new term vs what we‘ve been brainwashed to think about relationships. Second half‘s full of drama; with her friend circle because of experimenting what feels right vs what feels wrong within relationships. It‘s up to you. Really liked the emphasis on platonic love
#asexuality #lgbtq
It only took 14 pages for me to feel seen. I already feel this is a book I needed when I was younger. Georgia is heading to Uni, so unsure of herself in real life romance. She likes the idea of romance, but the truth of it frightens her. I feel this so deep. I also enjoy reading romance in books, fanfics and movies. But real life? I don‘t get it. My first kiss wasn‘t till early 20‘s, and I felt so left behind. Just like Georgia.
#lgbtq #asexual
Fun cast of characters. This is a YA coming out/finding yourself ace romance novel set during the first year of uni. I learned so much about the ace sexual orientation and had a lot of fun reading the book. The story emphasizes the importance of platonic friendships for ace but I think it‘s something we can all do well to remember.
A great read! Georgia is at her first year of university and while trying to figure herself out, she makes mistakes along the way, but also manages to get some things right. A great cast of characters with nice representation! This book stresses how friendships/platonic love can be just as strong and important (and maybe more so) than romantic love.
#bookspinbingo - free space
#pop22 - book with a character on the ace spectrum
Loved this so much! It's about a girl discovering herself and how what she does to do this affects the relationships she has with the people around her and how friendship can be the most important bond in a person's life. It felt really honest and hit way harder than it should have. Fantastic read.