Book Information
Title: Loveless
Authors(s): Alice Oseman
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook; 432 pgs
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Purchase: Amazon - Kindle - Audible - B&N - BAM! - iBooks - Kobo - TBD - Bookshop.org
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the publisher as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Please note the purchase links above are affiliate links.
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook; 432 pgs
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Purchase: Amazon - Kindle - Audible - B&N - BAM! - iBooks - Kobo - TBD - Bookshop.org
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the publisher as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Please note the purchase links above are affiliate links.
Tour Schedule
Week One
2/28/2022 - Nonbinary Knight Reads - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
2/28/2022 - BookHounds YA - Excerpt
2/28/2022 - Rajiv's Reviews - Review/IG Post
3/1/2022 - @badlandsbooks_ - Review
3/1/2022 - Nerdophiles - Review
3/1/2022 - @booksaremagictoo - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
3/1/2022 - Kait Plus Books - Excerpt
3/2/2022 - Dana's Book Garden - Review
3/2/2022 - Reading Wordsmith - Review/IG Post
3/2/2022 - @thebookishfoxwitch - Review
3/3/2022 - popthebutterfly - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
3/3/2022 - Emelie's Books - Review
3/3/2022 - patrickfromperks - TikTok Review or Spotlight
3/4/2022 - @emmreadsbooks - Review/IG Post
3/4/2022 - onemused - Review/IG Post
3/4/2022 - A Bookish Dream - Review/IG Post
Week Two
3/7/2022 - Midnightbooklover - Review
3/7/2022 - Eli to the nth - Review
3/7/2022 - The Bookwyrm's Den - Review
3/8/2022 - YABooksCentral - Excerpt
3/8/2022 - Utopia State of Mind - Review/IG Post
3/8/2022 - Two Points of Interest - Review
3/9/2022 - Not In Jersey - Review/IG Post
3/9/2022 - More Books Please blog - Review/IG Post
3/9/2022 - @drewsim12 - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
3/10/2022 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers - Review/IG Post
3/10/2022 - Celia's Reads-blog - Review/IG Post
3/10/2022 - @coffeesipsandreads - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
3/11/2022 - Zainey Laney in all 3 - Review/IG Post/TikTok Post
3/11/2022 - My Fictional Oasis - Review
The Summary
For fans of Love, Simon and I Wish You All the Best, a funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of a girl who realizes that love can be found in many ways that don't involve sex or romance.
From the marvelous author of Heartstopper comes an exceptional YA novel about discovering that it's okay if you don't have sexual or romantic feelings for anyone . . . since there are plenty of other ways to find love and connection.
This is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn't understand why she can't crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She's surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It's not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum -- coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she's been told since birth isn't easy -- there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity. But Georgia's determined to get her life right, with the help of (and despite the major drama of) her friends.
My Review
The main character, Georgia, is going away to university with her two best friends, Pip and Jason. With the impending move to university, Georgia is faced with the fact that she has never fallen in love, never kissed anyone, or even had a "real" crush on someone; something that is found odd by both her peers and society-at-large. Even in Georgia's own mind, as someone who loves romcoms and fanfiction, her lack of experience and feelings are an oddity. So university is where she is determined to change her status, and find someone to experience a relationship with.
Along the way, Georgia makes some poor decisions based on internalized expectations and societal expectations. But she also finds herself, with this journey being hard but ultimately not surprising, in a way I think many queer people experience. This is the part of the book that I loved the most. Oseman shows the confusion and heartache and relief that comes from a personal discovery such as what Georgia goes through. Throughout Georgia's trials to start a relationship you always see a tiny hint that she knows this isn't for her; that sex/romance aren't what she wants. And that hint, as Georgia keeps moving forward in her journey, only grows. I felt that this was very truthful in it's complexity and messiness. Georgia internalizes much of the stereotypical expectations for love and relationships, which I think is summarized in the book description very well: dating + sex = love. In her mind, to love someone is to be "in love" with them, wanting sex and all that entails. But discovering that other people actually experience love without sex or romance wrapped up in it, finding the term aromantic asexual, opens Georgia's eyes to who she is and that her identity is valid.
There isn't enough mainstream depictions of aro/ace people that aren't the butt of some joke. And while the experience Oseman writes about in Loveless is a particular experience and does not speak to all aro/ace people, I found myself relating to many of the thoughts and feelings Georgia experiences. Reading this in my 30s, and never really seeing my own experiences reflected in media I consumed, made me revert back to being a teenager and how confusing (and still confusing) love can be. I really appreciate that a book like this was published, even if it is not quite the experience that the individual reader has, because it highlights that love can exist in all forms, and sometimes the "love" that people think of as typical can be toxic depending on the situation.
As I said at the beginning, Loveless is about love in all its forms. Not only Georgia's journey of self-love, but her journey of platonic love involving Pip, Jason, and her new roommate Rooney. The realization and actualization that friends can be as important in someone's life as a romantic partner. Friends can support you, friends can comfort you, friends can accept you. Having a platonic relationship does not make that relationship less than simply because there is no sex or "romance" involved.
I will say that some people may find some of the situations and thoughts expressed in the book triggering. Life is messy, and the aro- and ace-phobia that is shown on page, not only internalized by Georgia, but by a white cis gay man side character, could be harmful for some. But it is also realistic, as even in queer spaces there is bigotry and discrimination. Also, some of the depictions of sex, characterized through Rooney, who is identified as a pansexual woman (not explicitly on page), can be triggering, with the notes of self-harm these experiences invoke. But overall, I found that Oseman wrote each character as realistically and with as much truth to them as possible.
Loveless by Alice Oseman is a heartfelt, realistic, much-needed portrayal of queer love and discovering who you are and the mess that can happen along the way. I think everyone will see themselves in some capacity, even if you don't identify as queer, which makes this book perfect for all. Pick it up at your local bookstore (both the U.S. edition, which was just published, and the U.K. edition are beautiful covers).
Final Rating
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