Thank you to Harper Collins for allowing me to read this book in return for a review.

I gave Loveless by Alice Oseman 4 stars out of 5.

This follows Georgia who has never had a crush on anyone or been kissed. But she knows she'll find someone one day, right? With the help of her new roommate at university, she set out to fulfil her dreams of the romance she's read about in fanfic online. When this mission to find someone to love begins to break apart her friends, she begins to look into why she's finding it so hard to love. When Sunil, her college parent, introduces her to the words aromantic and asexual, Georgia is even more uncertain about her feelings. Is she destined to be loveless forever?

One thing I really enjoyed while reading this was going on the journey with Georgia through university. I think it's very important that there are books surrounding discovering sexuality and identity while at university. Most of the ones I've read before are set in high school/secondary/sixth form but I was happy to read one that followed a student who had never been kissed or been in a relationship through this important time in their lives.

I also really enjoyed reading the scenes surrounding the Shakespeare society rehearsals and leading up to final play at the end. I felt that this book paced well and I think it's now my favourite Alice Oseman novel. I did, I must admit, go into this high hopes and expectations after reading her graphic novel series and her other novels but Oseman did not disappoint.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a contemporary read with themes of discovery and university life. A very fun yet powerful read.

Blog review to come.

Loveless follows the story of 18 year old Georgia as she sets off to University. She’s a normal girl who just wants one thing: to fall in love. Georgia has not had her first kiss yet, and she’s worried that people think that she’s weird. Every time she gets close to her first kiss, she runs away.
If you are looking for a cute novel full of love and friendship and a little bit of dram, this is the book for you! Loveless follows Georgia’s quest to find love, but instead she finds out something else about herself instead. This book is full of self discovery and learning to love yourself for who you are, even if it’s not what you think you want for yourself.

Georgia is asexual and aromantic - she can’t feel sexual or romantic attraction to anyone. It’s hard for her to come to terms with, and scary at times, but the way this novel deals with the societal pressure to be in a relationship, as well as the expectation that being in a relationship is what everybody wants is second to none.
I myself am on the asexual spectrum. It’s not something I talk about very often and I think part of that reason is that I am shy and nervous to talk about it. I shouldn’t be, but the reason is because it’s not something that’s talked about in society. It’s barely a word that people understand or discuss.

This novel is incredible in the way it discusses asexuality and I know that if I had read this book years ago, when I was just figuring myself out, my journey to self acceptance would have started much sooner. Even now I don’t think I’m truly comfortable talking about who I am, but Loveless has already helped massively feel less alone and less weird.

“Weird” is a word used throughout the book and Georgia often worries that people see her that way. Honestly, Georgia’s experience with discovering herself felt incredibly similar to my own feelings. While our experiences have been very different, the emotion attached to those experiences felt so raw and real and I am so grateful to Alice Oseman for writing this book.

Generally I did really like the plot. There was plenty of drama to keep the book moving alongside Georgia’s discovery of her sexuality. I really liked Rooney and Pip but my favourite character was Sunil. I loved the inclusion of a non-binary character without it being made a big deal and representation like this truly helps to normalise non-binary charcters in pieces of media. I loved the passion for Shakespeare and theatre because, mood, and I also really liked the way University was represented from a non-partier’s perspective. I feel like Georgia’s experience at Uni was so true to so many students in the UK, but if you don’t go out and party you think you’re weird or doing the Uni experience wrong, but Georgia’s story reinforces that there’s no such thing.
I guess my only disappointment was that I didn’t LOVE Georgia as a character even if i could relate to her emotions about her sexuality.

Furthermore, I didn’t love Georgia’s friends’ reaction to her coming out. Far too often people come out and it ends in an argument between friends. While this time it wasn’t because Georgia kept a secret from her friends, I still really dislike when a coming out coincides with an argument. When someone comes out they need support, and I feel like it is just as important to portray that support in media. Coming out is scary enough as it is, but when almost every portrayal of coming out goes hand in hand with an argument with friends (see the Love, Simon movie) I can’t help but feel like it makes coming out even more nerve racking.

One of my favourite parts of the story was the portrayal of platonic love and the importance of valuing it just as much as romantic love. Even one of the chapters is titled ‘Platonic Magic’ and it’s my favourite thing ever. In the end, this book was absolutely a love story. A love story between friends, and I have never appreciated anything more.


There were so many instances where I highlighted different quotes with just the word “mood” and I thought I’d share some of these quotes with you guys.

“... though I didn’t really understand why everyone was in love with Timothée Chalamet.”

“I had a theory that a lot of people’s ‘celebrity crushes’ were faked just to fit in.”

“I started to notice just how many of these songs were about romance or sex. How had I never noticed that before? Like, almost all songs ever written are about romance or sex. And it felt like they were taunting me.”

(This quote is from someone who is being antagonistic, but I feel like it’s worth sharing because it’s something I’ve experienced a lot.)
“Asexual and bigender and whatever. You’re just gonna let in anyone who thinks they’re some made-up internet identity?”

“In the end, that was the problem with romance. It was so easy to romanticise romance because it was everywhere. It was in music and on TV and in filtered Instagram photos.”

4.5 stars

This book was utter perfection.
The friendships were everything, I would kill for these friendships.

The journey or discovery about sexuality was perfectly done, with a good level of emotion but not overdone.
There was still a really good plot line in the story.

The only reason I didn't give this book a 5 🌟 rating is because I loved this book so much but I don't think I want to read it again, it's a story that I personally want to read once and remember how much I loved it rather than reread and I typically reserve 5🌟 for books I would reread

Firstly, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not asexual or aromantic so this isn't an own voice review, but I want to start off by saying that this novel both blew me away and taught me so much. I have of course heard of Aro/Ace being in the LGBTQ+ community, but haven't ever really heard from the point of view of someone who identified that way. This book was eye-opening and insightful but also beautiful and such a cute story.

It covers heavy topics of sexuality, but aside from that it is a wonderful Shakespeare-filled story about love in many forms, sexual, platonic, familial and everything in between. Each character was wonderful in their own quirky unique way, and I actually felt like they were all real, breathing people that I had grown to know. They were believable and so well developed.

This was my first Alice Oseman book, and it will not be my last. I was so excited for it, and for good reason it seems. It was everything I wanted and more and I felt happy and content reading it.

An interesting take on the first year at uni story, uni is all about finding yourself and quintet in this really do a lot of discovery. I didn't go to the same uni as my friends so not sure on that bit of the story but I liked the growing self awareness and the message of it's ok to be different.

A charming YA book about a young person going to university with their friends and discovering their sexuality, unusually this book is about an asexual/aromantic person, something rarely covered in fiction and explored here with respectful gentleness. There is some drama on and off stage as the friends group together to put on a different production that highlights Shakespeare's work and some affection shown for Scooby-Doo and lots about the power of friendships. A delightful engaging story for anyone who is asexual and/or aromantic or who would like to to have a better understanding


With thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Alice Oseman has done it again. I read her second book Radio Silence when it first came out and fell in love with Alice’s style, writing and most of all her incredible ability to craft amazing, real characters. 

Asexuality is something I hardly ever see in fiction, so I was impressed when I found out about this book, especially as it’s written by one of my favourite authors 

I loved how she explored the feelings and thoughts associated with being a sexual, how the protagonist feels like there’s something wrong with her even though there isn’t. I loved how it followed her through figuring out who she was and all the feelings that came with it. How we follow her journey from the beginning and see the denial and confusion along with her eventual acceptance. 

The only character I didn’t like was Rooney. She was just so annoying and I wanted to reach into the book and give her a shake. 

Finally, I loved the underlying message - that love comes in all shapes and sizes, and relationships aren’t just the way most people imagine. Five stars!

100% Alice Oseman's best novel yet!

I adored this book so much- the LGBTQ+ representation was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed that, as well as Georgia discovering she is aro/ace, the book showed that they are separate through Sunil and his best friend.

ROONEY is the best character Alice Oseman has ever written- I LOVED how we saw her battling not only her sexuality, but also relationship trauma, and how it can complicate emotions and actions.

I was first I introduced to this author when reading her graphic novel series which I adored and this book did not disappoint either. The perfect balance between hard topics went along perfectly with the beautiful writing style. It has made it a priority of mine now to read more books written by the author.

This was such a touching and funny exploration of one girl's exploration and acceptance of her sexuality. It tells the story of Georgia, a quiet 18 year old, obsessed with romance but having never been in a relationship herself. As she embarks upon her first year of university with her two best friends, she discovers that identity and sexuality are far more confusing than she realised. Firstly, I thought the tone of this book was fantastic. It felt like a really authentic portrayal of new adults making their way in the world and never veered too far into saccharine sweetness or similarly, never felt too maudlin. I really liked Georgia and although she makes some truly horrible choices, she holds herself accountable and recognises where she has gone wrong. I also thought that the book did a great job at discussing difficult topics, such as masturbation and abusive relationships, in an open and honest fashion. This book was not written for me, and I would be fascinated to read reviews from people who identify as ACE, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a coming of age story and would definitely recommend it to anyone who can remember what it was like to be 18.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

There were so many aspects of this book I loved. I thought this book is a really important representation for anyone who identifies as asexual or aromantic or for anyone who is experiencing what Georgia goes through in the book. For ages, I’ve been searching for more books set at university and this book is just what I was looking for. Reading a book of someone starting university and seeing a character feel everything you feel when you start university, I related a lot from that aspect of the book. I thought this book was written so realistically of what university is like and it very much felt like I was there whilst reading this book. The characters are what made this book, the friendships throughout this book are so wholesome and I just loved every one of them.

(full review: https://isobelsbookishthoughts.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/book-review-loveless-by-alice-oseman/ )

This is a really important book. I am not an own voices reviewer but my friends who are on the ace spectrum absolutely love the representation in this book! I thoroughly enjoyed it as well and would highly recommend

Ow.

I'm not a reader who has to see myself in a character to enjoy a book, I don't have to relate to them, because I so rarely do on any level. Reading this, and seeing a part of myself so clearly actually hurt to read. I'm struggling through a lot of what Georgia goes through in this novel, and I'm still not out the other end of it, and reading her lows and seeing my own fears in them made me so emotional in a personal way that I've never experienced reading any other novel.

Yet, I'm so thankful for this book. Reading it felt like a journey, it made me really think about myself and what I want, and who I am. I'm still not sure, I'm still confused, but reading the start of this book and thinking Yes! This is it, this is the feeling, and going through Georgia's journey, and watching her surpass the stage I'm at, was both uplifting and utterly devastating.

Beyond this, I adored all the characters. They all felt so real and raw on the page, and my heart called out to every one of the main five. Jason was a sweet baby cake (why can't we have more boys like him in our lives?), Sunil was wise and struggling and reminded me a lot of people I know, Pip and Rooney! Ah! Amazing, both together and with Georgia.

I loved that this was a love story! But not a romantic love story, and that it still managed to give me all those warm gooey feelings.

It was so difficult to read their lows, but so exhilarating to read their highs.

My only critique is Shakespear? Really? As someone who really dislikes Shakespear, I always wonder why people can love it with that much enthusiasm. I'm kind of joking here, as it didn't impede my adoration and love for this book, but it did make me roll my eyes again, as that was one thing I really couldn't relate to haha.

Please, read this book. (Also also! I adored this was set in university, and I want to read more books in uni!)

REVIEW: ‘Loveless’ by Alice Oseman blew me away with its realism and heartfelt messages

There is something for everyone in this beautiful tale of self-discovery, friendship, and love.

Part of me doesn’t know where to begin with this review: there are so many amazing things to talk about!

From the Blurb:
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?

'Loveless' has perhaps one of the most realistic representations of being a teen in the UK (or just being an 18-year-old in general) that I have ever read. I saw myself in Georgia, Pip, Jason, and Rooney in a variety of ways. They were so familiar to me as someone who grew up and went to university in the UK. Their expressions, actions, thoughts and experiences resonated so deeply within me. I was truly blown away to read something so close to home.

The theme of this novel is sexuality and love, and with this theme comes a cast full of diverse characters. From the openly-gay Pip, to gay asexual Sunil, to questioning Georgia, there are so many aspects of the LGBTQ+ community explored and I adored every one. The openness and kindness with which Oseman treats her subject is beautiful and gives her readers a safe space to consider their own sexuality.

Not only this, but the theme of love is explored with immense passion. For the first time, romantic love isn’t the be all and end all — platonic love is given the limelight, which I hope to see much more of in the future. Reading about the importance of friendship, and the different types of friendships a person can have, made my heart sing.

Although I didn’t identify with Georgia in terms of sexuality, I saw myself in her in so many other ways. Her life as a hopeless romantic, as someone desperate to fit in and to make lots of friends spoke to my soul. Her lack of action irritated me at times, but I felt an immense connection with her that kept me rooting for her success.

Our other characters are equally as fantastic. Each has their own issues to work out which only serves to make them more realistic. Not only that, but their connections with each other were beautiful to read about. It isn’t always plain sailing amongst the relationships of Loveless, but whenever something goes wrong the offender takes stock and seeks to apologise in a meaningful, heartfelt way. I couldn’t help but think Alice Oseman is teaching some amazing lessons about owning up to your mistakes and setting things right — as well as about sexuality and relationships.

The arc of 'Loveless' unfolds before your eyes in an unsurprising yet overwhelmingly satisfactory way. I knew the path I was on and was happy to settle into the comfort of it. The book reminded me of the teen films I love to watch, like ‘Wild Child’, that give me a sense of deep-seated comfort, with just a hint of nostalgia.

There is so much more I could say about Loveless, but to sum up, I completely adored it. From the heartfelt treatment of sexuality, to the diverse cast, to the intense connection I felt with it, this is undoubtedly going to be a long-term favourite of mine. And Alice Oseman just might be a new favourite author.

Although I didn't necessarily adore every character, I could appreciate their personalities and how well they worked together in their various relationships. I wasn't completely sold on some of the character development, but Oseman never promises solutions. She simply weaves a tale of self-discovery that allows you to consider your own feelings along the way.

4.8 stars!

Georgia has never been in love, never even had a crush; she's obsessed with the idea of romance and believes she'll find her person one day. But the journey to finding that romance is paved with havoc and discovery.

Over the course of time she realises she's in fact asexual and aromantic. Her fear of being loveless lay in the preconception that romance is the only kind of love that matters, the one that trumps all, when in reality there are so many bonds that your Person can hold with you, and it's just as powerful.

Alice Oseman is at it again being all brilliant and writing a book so heartfelt and effortless to read. One of discovery, friendship, love, acceptance. A good one.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for providing an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had my ups and downs with this (clearly mainly ups, it was just a very small part which has knocked this down a star)

From the very first mention of Moulin Rouge I just knew I was going to enjoy it, I mean... Alice Oseman AND lots of References of Moulin Rouge, Scooby Doo and plants being named.

I think the thing that threw me off this book was at times many of the characters were just bad friends and I know that they're going through it, figuring things out for themselves, but I dunno at the same time if you know things abot your friends you kind of try and help them out and don't do something behind their back.

HOWEVER saying that, I loved the efforts that were made to reconnect those friendships... Dressing up as Scooby Doo Characters, serenading with Moulin Rouge Songs, I laughed so much at this.

I really enjoyed Sunil and how he helped Georgia come to terms with her identity.

Would highly recommend!

I have never felt more seen by a book. Bless Alice Oseman for writing this, full of confusion, figuring things out and coming to terms with an asexual identity. It was such a comfort to see myself reflected and know that there's a happy, accepting future of love out there for me in friendships deeper than any romance

I'm not normally one for literary fiction, I normally like something a little fantastical to be a part of the books I read, and I don't really read much queer fiction, despite being quite gay myself. But there was something really special about Loveless that made it really hard for me to put down.

One of the biggest appeals of this book was the subject matter, not necessarily a young queer girl going to university and discovering their sexuality, because that's not too uncommon; instead, it's that the book gives representation to asexual and aromantic people. This is a part of the LGBTQ+ community that are often not given a voice, and in some cases are even denied their identity actually existing. My computer has even tried to get me to change aromantic to aromatic.

I know some people who fall into these categories, some of them are people that I love, and it's so good to get to read a book that gives this community a chance to take centre stage.

The story follows Georgia as she and two of her best friends, Pip and Jason, move to Durham University. Georgia has never kissed anyone, and is plagued by this. She thinks that there must be something wrong with her, and really thinks that she should be in a relationship or in love because shes a big fan of love stories, but nothing ever feels right to her. She tries to kiss her 'crush' on prom night and the result is pretty spectacularly disastrous to say the least.

With the help of her friends and her outgoing room mate Rooney, Georgia tries to explore her sexuality and discover if dating and relationships are really right for her. As these are teenagers, there is of course a lot of drama involved, and things don't always go well for the group, leading to misunderstandings, arguments, and break ups.

Despite this, Georgia makes a new friend, the head of the Uni's Pride Society, and learns more about asexuality, and more begins to make sense to her about her life. Now Georgia has to learn to come to terms with her sexuality and her worries about her future, whilst repairing her friendship circle.

Loveless is full of drama and teen angst yes, but it's way more than that. It's about love. And whilst there is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance in here, it's not about romantic love. The book makes a big, clear point that platonic love is a real, important thing. The love that you have for your friends is real, and it matters. It might not be the same as love for family, or love for a romantic partner, but it can be just as strong and just as meaningful. This is an important thing for aro-ace people, and it's a big part of Georgia's journey in the book, but it's something that applies to everyone.

The book shows the reader through Georgia how important love is in all of its forms, and that you should never feel ashamed or weird for saying that you love your friends. Friendships can be so powerful and important, and you should be able to tell your friends that you love them dearly. Loveless is about learning to discover your true self, but also learning to not be afraid of your future or trying to force your life to fit the shape that society says it should. It doesn't matter if your life and your love isn't what society demands it should be, what the boring straight cis people would call 'normal'. We're all amazing and wonderful, our lives all matter, and everyone deserves to finds happiness in whatever form that takes.

I'd never read Alie Oseman's work before, but am definitely planning to read more of her stuff now. I'm going to be recommending this book to so many of my friends, especially the queer ones. And I hope that this kind of story becomes more common, that aro-ace people aren't a rarity in fiction, and that their stories aren't about having to 'fit in' or being 'fixed', but them just getting to live their own lives. This is amazing queer content, and I absolutely adored every minute of reading it.

I loved this book so much. It is representative, diverse and challenges stereotypes, even within the LGBT+ community. Each character had their own storyline within the book as a whole and I feel like it was a lovely story that discussed problematic themes throughout as each character worked on their personal growth. It is set during the first year of University and is a brilliant English novel.

It is a good intro to asexual/aromantic (ace/aro) sexual identity which is particularly refreshing to read as there is not a lot of representation in the media - the characters realise how insensitive it is to say "maybe you just haven't met the right person yet" and how it invalidates their experience.

Overall, well recommended!

This book was a breath of fresh air! I love Heartstopper but this is the first Alice Oseman novel I've read. I don't read much YA anymore but this just sounded wonderful, and there was has been so much hype about it.

This book looks at female friendships and relationships, university life and best of all, the main character is aro-ace. I loved learning about this alongside the main character and seeing how how she was supported by a brilliant group of friends. It felt so real and raw. All of the characters were awesome in their own way as well. I can't think of many books where I genuinely loved all of the main characters!

This is a really excellent and absorbing coming=of-age book and I highly recommend it.