Loveless

This is a novel about a girl who goes off to university looking for her “one true love”, how she comes to realise that she’s actually ace-aro, and finds a different sort of love. Georgia is the main character and the narrator, with two best friends (Pip and Jason), a roommate (Rooney), and a handful of other characters.

I listened to it on a recommendation from Gemma.

I enjoyed it. The asexual rep felt pretty accurate (and very relatable; I had to pause in some early chapters because it was a bit too familiar), and we have multiple characters from different bits of the ace-aro spectrum.

The plot follows fairly predictable beats. The characters felt authentic and it was easy to care about them (and want to give them a hug), but there’s no strong sense of suspense. The general themes and structure are signposted early on, and I found myself guessing plot points before they happened. That didn’t detract from my enjoyment, but I mention it as an observation.

First-person viewpoint is fine, but she seems to pick up on oddly specific details – like the exact brand of clothing, or naming a song and the artist – and it always felt a bit jarring.

Narration was excellent. The book features text conversations, and I particularly enjoyed the vocalisation of keysmashing like “assahjgfd”.

Authentic asexual rep is always my thing, so no surprise that I liked this. This is the author’s fourth book, so I’ll be checking out what else they’ve written.

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