Add Loveless to your Goodreads TBR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42115981-loveless
Purchase Links:
Booktopia:
https://www.booktopia.com.au/loveless-alice-oseman/book/9780008244125.html
Boomerang Books:
https://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/loveless/alice-oseman/book_9780008244125.htm
Amazon AU:
Dymocks:
https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/loveless-by-alice-oseman-9780008244125
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQIA Fiction.
Page Count: 433
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Sypnosis from Goodreads:
The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman – one of the most authentic and talked-about voices in contemporary YA.
It was all sinking in. I’d never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?
Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.
As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.
But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.
Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?
This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance.
My Review:
Loveless is easily a new favourite of mine! I’d long been excited for Alice Oseman’s newest novel, despite until now not having the joy of reading one of her full length novels! Slight confession, I’ve only read Heartstopper Vol 1 but honestly have long been coveting a reread before reading volumes 2 & 3! As readers, we all experience that joy of discovering a new favourite Author and definitely even when I read Vol 1 of Heartstopper I instantly fell in love with Alice’s whimsical and sweet storytelling style but definitely after finishing Loveless, I am definitely thrilled to say that Alice Oseman is easily a new favourite Author of mine!
One of the many reasons I’d long been excited to read Loveless was for the asexual own voices representation! As someone who’s easily always considered myself ace, I’d rarely read such honest portrayals in books, though I know there’s a fair few books out there that dabble with Ace MC’s, after reading Loveless, I just hasn’t read a book that mirrored my own feelings regarding my sexuality, well lack there of! I’m just so absolutely grateful for this story, it’s just so wonderfully honest and refreshing and more often than not completely raw and heartfelt!
There’s definitely a stigma surrounding asexuals, that we’re broken or missing some fundamental part of our brain that isn’t attracted to anyone, granted I know that some asexuals can still absolutely feel attracted to some people and that’s wonderful, but Georgia is not only asexual, she learns, but also aromatic, which means she doesn’t feel romantically attracted to anyone.
Naturally though, Georgia’s realisation moment definitely isn’t as seamless as ‘oh hey, I’m asexual!’ Georgia’s always felt like she’s missed something, just waiting for the moment where love would come along for her, like one reads about in a beloved fanfic or romcom that she’s always adored! (Note, another completely relatable thing about Georgia’s character is that she’s a total awkward bean, not the most social fish in the sea (though who is?!) and also she loves cosy nights with her two best, closest friends, the wonderfully fun Pip (who’s such a wonderfully written best friend, so vivacious and bubbly,) and the lovely Jason, who’s completely unashamed of his fondness for Scooby Doo! I absolutely adored this wonderfully close trio of friends and loved how close they all are, Loveless just absolutely affirms for me too that love that blooms and has grown from the closest of friendships is absolutely worth celebrating, too!
From start to finish, Loveless is nothing short of a breath of fresh air and honestly I did not want it to end! When I was reading it, I (who am usually a multiple book reader, rarely reading only one book at a time. Well, when I read Loveless (I was completely and utterly invested in it throughout, only to pause in between when I was reading Evelyn Waugh’s Rossetti: His Life and Works. Honestly though, I low-key debated starting another book just so I could hang on to the feeling of reading this beautiful book for the first time!
I honestly didn’t know which way things were going to go throughout this book, Georgia struggled so much with her self acceptance (I just wanted to immediately become her best friend and hug her, reassure her that everything would be okay and that she wasn’t broken or anything, that she didn’t need to have these seemingly fundamental experiences such as a whirlwind romance or fall in love to be considered normal. Love as a whole is worth celebrating, whether that’s romantic or with the closest of friendship, as I mentioned before. I did find it completely heart wrenching though, that Georgia thought so strongly that she needed to have that romantic experience, but it definitely made it for all the more emotionally rewarding and exciting when she learnt the term aromatic asexual.
A close friend of mine remarked how he felt like this book rejuvenated me, definitely he was completely on point! Throughout so, so much of Georgia’s story I saw myself reflected within her character and I just love how emotive, honest and raw this book was written! The aromantic asexual representation throughout this book, as mirrored within Georgia was low-key giving me life throughout!
I also absolutely loved reading about University life too, so reading about the various societies (I mean the Pride Society was all kinds of amazing!) and I absolutely loved the shared passion for Shakespeare that Georgia, Jason and Pip shared, throw in the wonderful effervescent Rooney (Pip’s roommate, oh I loved her torn self so, so much and oh her scenes with Pip were literally life too!), they all just made for all the more uniquely perfect reading experience! I’m already excited to read this amazing book again and can’t wait to read more Alice Oseman before long!
Happy Reading,
Brooklyn.
Brooklyn.the.bookworm 