Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Loveless

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Loveless by Alice Oseman

81 reviews

kergo's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

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lenorayoder's review against another edition

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emotional

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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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sophieamreacher's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Sweet, a little cringey, very YA but I enjoyed it, I wish I had read this when I was younger.

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anjh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

this book was very good. very well written. i related a lot to Georgia’s descriptions of asexuality but also very much appreciated the aro rep too. i think Alice Oseman’s writing really conveyed the feeling of the process of figuring out your LGBTQIA+ identity through confusion, self hatred, denial and sadness.

i also really loved how the book showed that love isn’t just a romantic thing, but can also absolutely and very much be a platonic thing which is just as strong and just as meaningful, if not more so. it also showed the importance of friendships and how romance can get in the way of these.

this book was also v gay which i appreciated, very much recommended for anyone questioning/figuring out their identity or already identifying as queer (tho please read the content warnings as always!!)

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kiryomi's review against another edition

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emotional 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

Confused kids in college dorms, disillusionment, Pride Society, Scooby Doo, and multiple sexuality crises. That’s the essence of this book. Some may assume it is about a girl who believes she is loveless until she gets swept off her feet by her perfect lover and escapes into a fairytale romance. That’s not what this is. This is the emotional story of a girl who is loveless and learns to be okay with it.

Romantic love is idealized and prioritized in our modern day world. People tell you there is someone out there for everyone, that you need to settle down and eventually find the one. Soulmates, star-crossed lovers, the one, the terminology changes but the idea remains the same. Georgia Warr, at eighteen, hasn’t had her first kiss or gone on a date or had sex. She’s determined to find the divine romance she reads about in fanfiction. Until she doesn’t. She has a friend help her scope out possible partners, but none of them appeal to her. Surrounded by her lovesick queer friends, she is the odd one out. She feels lost.

This book is very important. Aromanticism and asexuality are topics that are not discussed nearly enough; this story is voicing things that must be said and representing the community.

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maddiearthur's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

Parts of this did bore me, but I give it a high ranking because A) parts were great, and B) it’s the first book I’ve ever read about asexually and aromanticism. Children and adults need more access to books like this so that we can be more understanding of each other and ourselves. This book did a great job of taking me on the journey of trying to understand what an asexual or an aromantic might go through in a heteronormative world. We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, hearts, and brains, and all of it, all of us are normal. Bravo to the writer and the publisher!

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filipacmiranda's review against another edition

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4.5

“Loveless” foi o primeiro livro que li em que havia, não apenas uma, mas diversas personagens arromânticas e/ou assexuais. No meu ponto de vista, é indiscutível que a representação valida as experiências individuais de cada um e, por essa razão, este livro já é relevante.

Além de todos os momentos queridos e engraçados, senti também que, de alguma forma, todos os leitores seriam capazes de encontrar um ou mais aspetos com os quais se identificassem, nas personagens ou na história. Oseman faz, ainda, um excelente trabalho a representar a amizade, assim como a sua importância e o seu poder.

Em suma, este livro deixa-nos com a importante mensagem de que o amor não deveria ser exclusivamente associado a relações românticas.

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_tee_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted tense 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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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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