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Spoiler Free Review
Title: Loveless
Author: Alice Oseman
Published: HarperCollins, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary, LGBTQIA+
Pages: 435
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(from Goodreads): 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.
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Where to start with this book? Let’s firstly say that Alice Oseman is probably my favourite YA contemporary writer. I have read every single thing she’s written and have loved it all. So to say I was excited for this book was an understatement. Now let me start gushing.
The thing I think Alice does best is writing characters. They are so wonderfully relatable, so fantastically real – they feel like the friends you have in real life. The gang of friends in this book was no exception. I could see pieces of myself in some of the characters, pieces of my own friends in others. There was never a moment when I thought ‘no-one would do that’ or ‘that wouldn’t happen’. These contemporary novels are exactly what they say on the tin: contemporary.
I loved the exploration of love in all its forms. Casual, romantic, friendship, family – it was all valued and included. I particularly loved the fact that friendship was viewed on the same tier as romantic love. Because, let’s face it, we all know that friendships can be just as strong and just as needed. The way Alice writes friendships is just A++. I can’t get enough.
It would be remiss of me to not talk about how fantastically inclusive and diverse this book is. I loved the conversations about sexuality and self acceptance in this read. It was both simply told yet incredibly effective – a powerful read that could be put in both the hands of a teen reader or an older reader, and everyone would learn or get something out of it. Tricky discussions about sexuality were portrayed and handled incredibly well. You could absolutely tell the care and attention that went into writing this book and the topic of being aromantic/asexual (and other sexualities), and we can only say thank you to Alice for that. This book is so needed on those YA shelves.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars!
After waiting a while for this book, I was not left disappointed. I think this is going to be one of those YA books that opens people up to difficult conversations and paves the way for other writers to feel strong enough to break down barriers in their own work. This was the queer work of fiction we all needed!
Highly recommend! Happy reading, all!
read it and leap; 