Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Loveless

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Loveless by Alice Oseman

52 reviews

proza's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-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

3.75

This book was a really enjoyable read.
It's safe to say that my AroAce self-discovery experience is different from Georgia's, but there still were so many aspects of it that felt so relatable to me, and reading those parts made me feel seen and valid.
This book also provided me with the vocabulary I needed to express my feelings and my desires, and for that I am very greatful to Alice Oseman.

Now I'll go over the other parts of the book.
The general plot – while predictable at times – was enjoyable. All main characters were extremely likeable, and they each felt like their own individual people with unique personalities.
I feel like Oseman used the first-person perspective remarkably well; Georgia's narrated the story using her own voice and it made me understand her perspective and motives much better.
That being said, the story is fast from perfect. I felt like most of the problems and obstacles that Georgia went through were resolved much too quickly and easily (one example would be

how Jason forgave her way too quickly and seemed to forget she ever hurt him after her apology

), and that other characters reacted to things in a way that felt out of place for them.
Another problem I think I need to cknowledge is that the book only presents one AroAce experience , and I think that it doesn't clarify the fact that there are other ways to be aromantic or asexual well enough. It is important to remember that there are infinitely many ways to be AroAce, and that all of them are completely valid.

Overall, I think that while it has many flaws, it is a very good book that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and I am glad to have read it.

Content Warnings

maple_dove's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing fast-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

4.25

This book is so good.

Loveless follows Georgia Warr (She/Her), a first-year in college with two best friends. She yearns for a romantic relationship like the movies. However, she will find that that is not what she really wants.

What I liked/loved:

The aroace rep. I like that Georgia is an aroace character which doesn't hate the idea of romantic or sexual relationships (initially). Not everyone aroace person is repulsed by the idea of romance or sex and with the heteronormativity many of us live in, even aroace people can get confused on what we actually want.
The non-romantic, but full-of-love relationships. Love is often characterized as something solely romantic. This book challenges that falsehood, and I'm all for it.
Discussion about LGBTQ issues. Always.
Character arcs where it reveals people are not always as they seem. People often have more depth than we can perceive first glance.
Georgia Warr. She's quiet and awesome. A great combination, no matter what society says. 💛

What I Didn't Like

There was nothing I could particularly point as "flaws." Loveless is amazing. The characters feel so realistic and real.

Favorite Quotes:

In the end, that was the problem with romance. It was so easy to romanticize romance because it was everywhere. It was in music and on TV and in filtered Instragram photos. It was in the air, crisp and alive with fresh possibility. It was in falling leaves, crumbling wooden doorways, scuffed cobblestones and fields of dandelions. It was in the touch of hands, scrawled letters, crumpled sheets, and the golden hour. A soft yawn, early morning laughter, shoes lined up together by the door. Eyes across the dance floor.

"Anyway, you're only eighteen, you've got so much time--" I started to say, but didn't know how to continue.
[...]
It was something that adults said all the time. 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 yourselves that we could wake up one day a completely different person. As if the person we are right now doesn't matter at all.
The whole idea that people always grew up, fell in love, and got married was a complete lie.

Friends are automatically classed as "less important" than romantic partners. I'd never questioned that. It was just the way the world was. I guess if always felt that friendship just couldn't compete with what a partner offered, and that I never really experience real love until I found romance.
But if that had been true, I probably wouldn't have felt like this.
[...]
I had been so desperate for my idea of true love that I couldn't even see it when it was right in front of my face.

"Actually," I said, trying as hard as I could to keep the irritation out of my voice, "I'm not really interested in getting a boyfriend."
"Oh, well," she said, patting my leg again, "plenty of time, my love. Plenty of time."
But my time is now, I wanted to scream. My life is happening right now.

"You're OK with--with just being friends?" I asked.
He smiled and took my hand again. "'Just friends' makes it sound like being friends is worse. I think this is better, personally, considering how terrible that kiss was."
I squeezed his hand. "I agree."

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ju_harue's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gostei bastante desse livro, dos personagens, dos assuntos abordados, das relações.
É tão importante existirem livros assim, que abordam e representam os mais diversos tipos de gêneros, identidades, sexualidades, raças. E Alice faz isso com um primor sem igual, com tamanho respeito e simplicidade que espero que cheguem a cada vez mais pessoas, principalmente ao público alvo mais jovem, para mostrar que há muito mais, há muito além e sempre, sempre há amor, da forma que for

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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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? No

5.0

I think when a book means so much to you it’s hard to give it an adequate review. Like Mr Knightley said, “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” This book stared into my very soul and made me understand myself in a whole new way, and it gave me so much hope for my future. I laughed and cried and was rendered speechless. I felt like I WAS Georgia.

Rep: aroace MC, lesbian British-Colombian SC, nonbinary asexual gay South Asian SC, pansexual SC, ace SC, bisexual aromantic Black minor character

Content Warnings

teslis's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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

4.0

I do really think that Alice Oseman's books are speaking to me right now.

This books is about a girl who has never got a crush and is in a world full or romance trying to figur out who she is. I absolutely loved to read about a Ace/Aro character who is trying to figur out life. I think my own identity "crisis" plus the "answers" I got from this book can have been a part of giving it such a high score. Some of the parts of Georgias thinking have been similar to my own, but not all! With that I want to clarify that this book helped me figur out more of my self, I might not be Aro/Ace like her, but I know that it can variate over time and thats okay. This book gave me perspective and I really realised how important it is to value friendships, but also one self.

"Loveless" is a book worth reading, I'm really happy I read it. It helped me and hopefully helps others too!

Took me 8 hours and 36 minuts.

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tbd24's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted tense slow-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

3.5

fun little YA about finding out you’re ace and also starting university and friendships. There were little things i could be persnickety about but I don’t feel like it because overall I had a nice time reading this.

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lunxchloe's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.25

Really cute story that dragged on a lot more than it should've. The characters felt very realistic and even though it was almost cheesy sometimes, I found the dialogue enjoyable. The story arc itself was kinda mid, but I loved the character development.

3.25/5*

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cdoubet's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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oddlyghoul's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

"I was really quite lonely, and I wanted to be loved. Was that such a bad thing? To want an intimate connection with another human? I didn’t know."

This was a bit of a tough book to rate. I can tell why some people hate it, but I loved it.

So. First from a technical aspect. I can tell why some people don't like this book. The writing is a little frustrating at times. And the pacing was a little annoying. It started off kind of slow and repetitive. Until she realised she was ace. Then it picked up! I liked the pacing in the middle of the book but then the end felt rushed. And the ending was not the greatest?

I'm happy Georgia found happiness but it felt too neat, but at the same time incomplete? I don't know if that makes any sense.

The representation however? So good! And I think that this is exactly why the book is so popular. That confusion and desperation to feel like you belong. That's you're normal. A lot of her feelings and emotions are definitely high school me. Although I went the opposite route and told myself that I didn't want a relationship because I needed to work on myself as it's not fair for someone to have to deal with the wreck I was. But that the right person would come along eventually and if it happened, it happened. So I never really went through that "oh my goodness I need to find someone" experience. Despite that, I still related to her. And both those experiences simply stem from a lack of representation. I'm glad people can at least find things online and in books now, even if it's still not taught in schools. But yes. Seeing someone who's emotions are the same as mine in a deep level for the first time is great, even if they manifest themselves differently! But I do also think that this is where a lot of the hate comes in from ace readers. One of the biggest complaints about the book I've seen is that it doesn't represent their experiences. I'm pretty sure it was clear that there are multiple experiences through other characters, especially Sunil's explanations! And they are also not aro and Jess is aro but not ace, so there's that. I've also seen that some people are unhappy with how other identities are represented. I mean, I kind of get it, but all the characters are well-developed. We also need to remember that the book focuses on an aroace person - and a lot of us have a lot of confusion about why romantic and sexual love are placed on such a pedestal and are such a focus for some people. That being said, I loved the focus on friendship. It's so often underplayed and represented as lesser, even though it can be just as if not more powerful than romantic love.

I feel like Georgia is the type of person who would actually look up what asexual means so I feel like her discovery was a bit drawn out. I would have loved it if she had found the term, panicked, and then tried to convince herself that nope, she can have those things! She got got on my nerves a bit at times, but it's okay. Her cousin seems cool. I liked that that was a way to show how verbally aggressive parents can be. Although, again, why does no one in this book seem to do any research? I love Sunil! Can we please have more about them? I just resonated so deeply with a lot of what they said. I just want to be their best friend and give them a big hug. I definitely preferred them to Georgia. I'd LOVE a book about them. And how they learned to accept themselves. And about how they help others accept themselves too. It's sad that everyone uses he/him pronouns though (although they are okay with either)

Be aware that this book contains a lot of internalised aphobia (as well as some external aphobia, including from parents and LGBT spaces) and can be rather painful to read at times. I had to take breaks to process at times.

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