Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Loveless

I really liked this! 4 stars because I feel like this book is missing something, but not sure how to articulate that. The closest I can get is that this book feels more concerned with conveying a message than telling a story. I think Oseman should consider writing non-fiction - maybe a memoir or collection of essays about different people’s experiences with self-discovery.

After reading Solitaire, it’s nice to see how Oseman’s writing and awareness of aro/ace identities has evolved. I think I’m a little too old for her books, but I enjoy her work and am looking forward to reading more of it.

I was frustrated that Pip hadn’t apologized to anyone by the end of the book - everyone else owned up to their shit, and I think Pip was in the wrong about some stuff too. I don’t like that her mistakes weren’t addressed in a book that clearly wants to show characters learning how to communicate with each other.

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cicizzy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

“Give your friendships the magic you’d give romance” - is such a wonderful sentence.

I love this aroace representation. We need more of that. The focus on friendship in all her books is really great. Rooney’s declaration about her friendship to Georgia nearly made me cry. Isn’t that exactly what many of us want to hear?

For people who aren’t Ace or Aro the book will probably be a bit slow, especially in the beginning. It didn’t bother me because I could relate to Georgia so well even if our stories were very different.
There were also several fights and miscommunication tropes that I wasn’t the biggest fan of.
The relationship of a few “side characters” wasn’t exactly healthy in my opinion. And there was a big focus on romance. So it might have been a bit annoying for aromantic people to read the book.
It is also a book focused on coming to terms with being aroace so that is the main focus. And it takes Georgia a while to figure it out and she is never really ok with it, even at the end of the book. So if you are looking for proud representation or a book where being aroace is just a small part of the story this book isn’t for you.

Despite the weaknesses I love the ace representation so much that I can’t bear to give the book less than 4 stars. It will definitely be a comfort book for me.
We are really lucky to live in a time where we have books about Aromance and Asexuality like that.

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thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

I wanted to read this book because I’ve been loving Alice Oseman – I wanted to read more about the other people that Alice has wrote about and this book isn’t connected to the Heartstopper universe. But this book owes my heart and soul. I adored this book.

This book is based on Georgia Warr. She 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?

I adored all these characters in this book, and I wanted to hug every single one of them (and also send every single one of them to therapy, like seriously). I wanted to hug Georgia and Pip and Jason and Rooney and Sunil and Ellis and Jess. This book has such a strong storyline and managed to break my heart. I was so worried, and I didn’t know what the hell was going to happen. This book was brilliant, and heartwarming and I just loved this book. I loved the way that the whole university process and trying to find your way in the world. I just wanted to hug Alice so much, the way that this book was written and the way that Rooney and Georgia didn’t like themselves at times made it feel like they were right in my brain. This book is going to be a comfort read and a book I will go back to time and time again.

I adored this book and have nothing bad to say whatsoever. I’m glad I left this book to last because it deserves all the hype and all the love in the world.

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icy_queen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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