This book is for anyone who's curious about the A in LGBTQIA+, wondered about their own sexuality, or needs help explaining their sexuality to others. Young not only provides definitions but gives them context and thoroughly addresses nuances and examples of why people choose to use different terms. In addition, people Young tapped for the book explain why they use different terms in different situations. Interspersed with defining terms are historical references that help further contextualize the concepts. Discussion surrounding the fluidity of asexuality is surprising and comforting. The addition of intersectionality (including a definition for those not in the know) adds depth to the concept and spectrum of asexuality.

The insurgence of LGBTQ+ literature - specifically books that spread asexual awareness - is truly the literature of the future. Eris Young doesn't shy away from making the connection between asexual and aromantic identities, specifying that someone can identify as aroace or just with one of these terms. While asexual books are rare yet discoverable, aromantic books are even less so. Having an intersectional resource like this one is super important in reminding readers that people aren't just one thing, but that race, gender, identity, and more are attributed to us. Specifically I loved that Young used up-to-date language, i.e., sex-repulsed and sex-favourable to describe the experiences and feelings that asexual and aromantic people are a part of.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was supposed to be a discussion on what it means to be part of the ace community, based on a survey and interviews with a wide variety of people, and on the author's own experiences. While I love the premise, I don't think the execution was on point.

Somehow this book was longer than needed, while still not focusing enough on certain topics.

Rather than being a book for the readers, it felt more like something the author needed (based on the many times they mentioned "I didn't know this before starting working on the book" or "would have never known"). It felt like their journey to learn new things, not something meant to inform others as well. Nothing wrong with that, however, I still have some questions that were never addressed in the book: How did the author manage to reach out to the 160 people that responded to the initial online survey? How did they find out about the study? What about those who were interviewed? How were they selected out of the 160 participants?

With that being said, having these interviews collected together PLUS all the research cited is invaluable.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for review.
A very straightforward read with some definitions to start but largely a book filled with stories from interviewees. The book works hard to show the large spectrum of people who identify as asexual or somewhere on the spectrum. I would definitely recommend for beginners in understanding ace people.

While the book did include some interesting points and theories on sexuality, this book did not address the topics in it as fully as it should. I felt that the book was not well organized from the start.

Ace Voices is a wonderfully informational book with enough detail to be useful for those more experienced with asexuality, while also remaining accessible to everyone. This book truly stands out from similar aspec nonfiction thanks to the wide range of aspec people whose comments are used very frequently throughout it, the eponymous ace voices. These contributors offer a wide range of experiences with gender, sexuality, sex repulsion/favorability, neurodivergence, race, class, and more, allowing for a true diversity of perspectives. As Young walks the reader through a broad array of subjects spanning the details of the ace and aro spectrums, coming out, intersectionality, love and sex, relationships, and more, these contributors walk alongside, offering lived experience and honest opinions that make this book an incredibly valuable resource.

4.5 stars

*eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

this was a great read, really informative and helped me a lot to reflect on asexuality and aromanticism and my own experiences being a-spec. it helped me think about things i hadn't before, like how Anglophone prevalence impacts asexuals in other countries, and how asexuals interact with abstinence-only sex education. the author effectively used statistics, like the Ace Survey and other studies on asexuality - great to see other studies are being done! i thought it would be an anthology from different contributors, however it was written by Eris Young with anonymised testimonies. this was good and i really liked all their perspectives - while it helped to give voices to ordinary people living their a-spec lives, it felt quite distant and impersonal compared to other comparable anthologies.

For a start, I never warmed up to Young's writing style. Then there is the fact that while they spend the entire book talking about how this is a communal project, it is still heavily weighted towards Young and they never actually end up explaining how they conducted their survey on which most quotes are pulled from. It feels particularly weird considering the title and the implications that this would feature multiple voices - I was expecting more than a few quotes from disembodied two-letter acronyms.
Not to mention the fact that the subtitle and the book try to balance both ace and aro topics but still, in my opinion, favor the ace perspective and it is obviously called Ace Voices which shows pretty clearly what the focus was. For example, there is an entire chapter on sex but not one for romance/marriage but an esoteric musing on what love means.

This is messy and I don't really think I would recommend this to people as a resource.

This book was wonderful and extremely informative. I love that it provided a personal account of being ace-spec but also provided other personal accounts to give the reader a diverse set of experiences, perspectives, and viewpoints on being ace-spec. The book was laid out really well, providing the reader with a detailed background on definitions, the identities within the ace-spec umbrella, and what different ace-spec experiences with sex, relationships, coming out, etc look like, I highly recommend this book to everyone both ace-spec and allo people. This book is very needed and I hope it helps other ace-spec folks not feel alone in their identity.

When I was younger and questioning my sexuality it would've been incredible to have this to show me "There are so many people out there who feel like you and this is what that is" and I am so incredibly overwhelmed by the writing in this book. A collection of asexual and aromantic experiences, over 140 of them. Incredibly informative and thoroughly researched. I am so glad that anyone questioning whether they are a-spec or not have this as a starting point to delve deeper into their own understanding of who they are.

As I was reading the introduction to the book I knew it was a good choice to read. It’s very personal but also very informative so I couldn’t seem to put it down. As someone who knew virtually little about being ACE, this really helped me learn and understand what it all means. Young touches on so many topics that really paint a complete picture of how an ACE person sees the world. And with challenging books becoming a big topic of conversation recently, I think books like this are important so marginalized people are able to tell their stories they way they want them to be told.

Ace Voices gives a rare and refreshing look into the actual lives of a-spec lives as we hear from more than 140 individuals living freely and proudly within their asexuality, giving visibility to a sector that needs more of it. Eris Young reminds us that allonormativity doesn't mean that's the only way to live or love.

Demisexual myself and it was really nice reading other peoples experiences being on the asexual spectrum. I think this added with Ace by Angela Chen would be a good starter point for those exploring their possible asexual identity.

This book was super informative and seemed really well-researched. I am so happy that there is more media about the ace scale that is coming out now, as it is a topic that is so forgotten and misunderstood if people do know about it. I also really liked how the author was very aware of their position and wrote in a very approachable manner. I am so glad that I had the chance to read through this!

Ace Voices is exactly as the title suggests -aroace people talking about being aroace. I love that in this book there is no one way to define yourself as “aroace” and instead it’s an examination of the many ways ace-ness embodies our lives. Finding, and accepting, the term “asexual” is so freeing for some of us. I really enjoyed the specific inclusion of traditionally marginalized BIPOC voices and their experiences in the book. The only con I found in this book is that those who aren’t as familiar with LGBTQ+ discourse terms may feel a bit left out or confused by the barrage of terminology. However, the author has done a good job of providing definitions or descriptions.

Eris Young did an excellent job collecting stories from across the wide spectrum of asexual individuals. This was an excellent read, and I've already ordered a physical copy!

This was a lovely read! As usually, it takes me awhile to work my way through non-fiction because that's how my brain works.

Starting off, this is a book for fellows queers. I'm sure other would get information and some wonderful insights into the community, but it's emotionally for a-spec folks. If you are diving in to this books, make sure you have a decent understanding of queer terms and experiences, or be willing to look things up as you go. Many definitions are laid out, but you will get more out of the book if you have a foundation of understanding. I feel it could be overwhelming if you have to learn so much on the go. But if that's something you enjoy, go for it!

The way the book is laid out is great. There are well organized sections with questions that guide the reader into self reflection at the end to help retain and further dissect the information presented. Each section also begins with content warnings, which is very helpful to have due to some of the more serious topics that are covered in the book.

The author has done a great job of leading you through various perspectives and experiences within the a-spec community. I think of it like a walk in the wood with a talented guide. In the forest, there are little places to rest along the way and meet with people who tell you a bit about their lives in the a-spec forest. The guide (author) gives you things to think about as you move along to the next discovery, pointing out things here and there within the stories that are being told.

My favorite section in this book was the topic on Cultural backgrounds. They dive into many religions and races and how they influence a-spec identities.

If you are queer or a-spec, I highly recommend giving this a read!

Ace Voices is a brilliant exploration of the ace experience through the own voices of the community. As one of the most misunderstood and unknown parts of the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s so refreshing to see people get to tell their own experiences and meanings - especially to see how fluid these terms are, how they mean different things to different people, and how ultimately these labels are more about how they make you feel, and what they mean to you, than about labelling yourself for understanding by society.

As someone who read this while coming to terms with their own asexuality and aromanticism, I can say this book is absolutely vital to learning to understand yourself and the terminology at your disposal as an ace spectrum individual.

4/5

There were some things I loved about this book, some conversations and discussions that are incredibly important and experiences shared that were vulnerable and have the capacity to assist an individual reading this book with their own journey, parsing through confusion and arriving at self-acceptance. There were times I was just confused as to the audience the book intends. Ace Voices serves to share as the experiences of people who identify as ace all across the spectrum, and highlights how although we may share the same label, our thoughts, feelings, ideas, and motivations can be completely varied depending on different aspects of our lives. I'm just not sure if this book serves the purpose of seeking out individuals already on the ace spectrum, looking to find that sense of community, or as a means of education to those not sharing of our identity. Truly anyone can pick up this book (or any non-fiction) and learn something, but at times I felt this book seemed a little lost in its purpose. I was also a little confused when I saw the title and subtitle listed. "Ace Voices," makes it clear that the book will incorporate the voices of people who identify as ace, or asexual. Then the subtitle brings in "aromantic, demi, and gray-ace." Demi and gray-ace address how some individuals fall on the ace spectrum, but aromantic addresses an entirely different type of attraction. While it can be said that many people who are asexual also identify as aromantic, or somewhere on the aro spectrum, they are separate. Some parts of the book did discuss how romantic attraction can and does affect one's outlook on their sexual identity, the author uses the term "a-spec" throughout the book, which is sometimes used to shorten the asexual spectrum and sometimes used to combine both the aromantic and asexual spectrums. Personally, I felt like naming the book "A-Spec Voices," might have been more beneficial to achieve the author's goal, but that is simply my opinion.

A small aspect of the book that irked me, but I won't spend too much time on because I think it's personal preference, was the fact that the individuals interviewed are addressed only by their initials. I understand it might have been key to aide in allowing them to retain a form of anonymity for this project, but sometimes, when their experiences were discussed several chapters apart, it made it hard for me to make those connections. The way this author incorporates their own personal journey with their gender and sexual identity, with the experiences of additional individuals to compare, was a fine way of presenting this information, I just wish it was easier to see how the different topics are seen through the lens of one individual (like perhaps an index listing the interviewees initials and the pages where their quotes appear.)

There are several discussions addressed in this book that I want to highlight specifically. First is the obvious, that no two a-spec people are the same. No two individuals interviewed for inclusion in this book had the same thoughts for every topic brought up, because our lived experiences can shape our thought processes and allow us to feel things differently. We all have our own boundaries that are constantly being explored, and just because you know one a-spec person does not mean you know how we'll all react in certain situations. Second, that just because asexuality is sometimes framed as a "lack," that doesn't mean we deserve to be treated as "less." The world is constantly catering towards a society that feels at least some kind of sexual attraction, and those of us who don't are either cast aside or, worse, infantilized and treated as though it is something we simply "don't understand." We understand just fine, and sometimes we are even more in-tune with our sexual identities, and what we feel comfortable with, because we might have to do more self-reflection that the average allosexual person. Just because you don't understand our identity, does not mean we do not exist. And lastly, I loved the final chapter titled "Joy." It truly was a celebration of both our similarities and our differences as s-spec individuals, and how we should strive to be proud of who we are and how far we've come in our journeys. It won't always be easy, sifting through confusion and denial, and the feelings of worthlessness we may feel sometimes. But we are all unique, and we are all wonderful in our own ways.

While I didn't find Ace Voices to be a perfect book, I still found myself relating to many of the thoughts shared by those who were interviewed. It's easy to feel so alone, especially when society tries to ostracize people who they deem to be too different from the norm, but it was so nice to so such a variety of experiences of those who belong to the same community. I can't wait for 2023 and all the non-fiction surrounding asexuality to come. I'm honestly so excited to see the different styles and takes. Ace Voices is set to release on December 21st, 2022, which is the day this post goes live, so please join me in wishing it a happy book birthday and consider picking up a copy for yourself if you're interested. *Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Read from November 7th, 2022 to December 12th, 2022. Written on December 12th, 2022.

With this book, Eris Young has taught me so much about myself and the a-spec and LGBTQIA+ communities, mainly the a-spec since it is the foundation of this book.

From navigating the different sexualities and terms to heavier topics like trauma, the author takes the reader on an exploring voyage through one of the most forgotten and discarded communities within the LGBTQ+ movement, teaching the reader more about what it means to be who they are and helping come to terms with who they are as well. With responses from several interviewees who give their own stories and perspectives on what it means to live in today's world with their sexuality(ies)/label(s).

I loved this book so so much, it brought me enlightenment on the a-spec community, helped me with my own questions and confusions and guided me through a world I hadn't seen before, learning more about different people and different experiences, some similar to mine, that I will cherish for a long, long time.

I feel truly honoured that I got to read this before it came out because it truly changed some things in my life, and I believe it will continue to do so. Thank you to Eris Young and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the opportunity!

Signing off,
B.

(Free ARC from NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers that I chose to review after reading)