Let's Talk About Love's portrayal of an asexual character is the closest I've ever come to reading a book that represents me. It was amazing to, as I was reading, highlight passages that really pinged in my brain. Claire Kann did an excellent job of explaining what being asexual meant for Alice without coming across as patronizing. She acknowledged that there's a spectrum to asexuality and did so in a way that I felt she'd really done the research rather than relying on stereotypes.

This isn't a novel about one thing. There are passages about Alice's experience dealing with potential romantic partners and her sexuality, her experience as a Black queer woman, and of being asexual and not always fitting into the queer community due to some people's view re: asexuality.

Early on, she is separating from her girlfriend, Margot, who makes some racist remarks about Alice being Black and not liking sex, followed up by asking if Alice had been to a doctor about her sexuality. "Have you gone to a doctor?" is a line that highlight a big misconception about asexual people: that it's a problem, something to be fixed. Coming from a lesbian character, someone whose sexuality was thought of the same way not too long ago (and still is sometimes), this remark is particularly hurtful. There are instances where Alice mentions people wanting to touch her hair and other microaggressions relating to her race.

Reading about Alice's day to day interests was fun and furthered the connection I felt to her. From interior design to her pop culture tastes (Supernatural FTW!), she was a kind, intelligent, fun character to get to know. It was easy to sink into her mindset and see what she enjoyed about life. I appreciated the method of storytelling being in third person. Some may find it easier to relate to a character when first person p.o.v. is used, but my preference is third and in the case of Let's Talk About Love, it was utilized well.

I can appreciate a slow burn kind of story and Let's Talk About Love certainly felt like that, but there was something missing from the developing relationship between Alice and Takumi. There's a scene where Alice is looking through pictures Takumi took of various times they spent together: dates, time at work, etc. As the reader, we never got to see these moments and so their impact on the story felt diminished.

Further to that point, when Feenie and Ryan, Alice's friends and roommates, make the claim that they've been hurt by Alice spending so much time with Takumi and supposedly ignoring or replacing them, it feels more like Feenie is being controlling. Feenie's already abrasive character, without the date scenes backing up a possible cause for her attitude toward Alice, comes across as controlling or emotionally manipulative. With the set-up of their close friendship, this viewpoint feels awkward and unfair to Feenie.

The secondary plot line, of Alice's parents and siblings pressuring her to change her undeclared major to pre-law, felt like it lacked the punch of an unsupportive family. It wasn't present enough to leave a lasting feeling and the climax of the situation felt bland. The story of Alice, her sexuality, and her relationships was much more interesting while Alice's family's plot came across as though it had been inserted for drama and didn't follow through on that attempt.

So much effort was put into this book and it shows. Claire Kann's debut novel should be considered her first step onto the young adult book stage where the spotlight is sure to shine.

4.5 stars

Alice is black, biromantic, and asexual. She's out as bi, but still coming to terms with telling people about being ace. Between struggling to recover from being dumped by her girlfriend, trying to tell her ambitious family she has not desire of being a lawyer, and working at the local library, she's got a lot on her plate. Then she meets Takumi, a gorgeous coworker who sends sparks flying through her body.

On a level of one to squee, this book was definitely a SQUEE! It was so utterly adorable and cute, with perfect one-two jabs right into the feels as Alice navigates her world and future. There is great commentary on being black, being ace, consent, cultural stereotypes, physical appropriation/sexual harassment, and the role of sex in a healthy relationship. While at times Alice came off as a bit of a Mary Sue, I loved her adoration of all things cute, her aesthetics obsession, and her weird movie critique essays. AND she works in a library, even if she's not entirely passionate or thrilled by it. Oh, and Takumi is cute too, though I ship Ryan.

I think I saw some criticism somewhere of someone saying they were upset that Alice went from a girl to her "perfect" relationship with a guy, and I want to quash that criticism in the bud right here. Alice is biromantic. There is no "right" sex for her to end up with, it's whoever she finds compatible and wants to be with. There were also criticisms of her identification as ace, and again, let's nip that too. She identifies as ace, she is ace. There are a lot of different expressions of sexuality; maybe she's not how you identify as bi or ace, and that is totally fine. Alice is not you. What matters is that her representation was shown in a loving, healthy and accepting way. And it was.

The only objection I had in the entire book was interior design. Repeat after me, "Interior design is not interior decorating. Interior design is not interior decorating. Interior design is not interior decorating." One requires a university degree and a license, the other means you're Joanna Gaines. One is interior architecture, the other is matching pillows and curtains.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Good read that explains asexuality and one young woman's struggle with the issue while finding her voice as an independent person.

Very different than anything I've read. I loved Alice's story. A definite must purchase for my personal library. Going back to re-read favorite parts, funny moments, and passages I don't want to forget.

I'm not on the asexual spectrum so I can't speak to the rep, but I greatly appreciated having an asexual main character in a romance (I link to #ownvoices reviews in my goodreads review). This book addresses racial microaggressions, sexism, and general misinformation about asexuality. It never feels like a textbook in any way, even as it informs the reader about these issues. It was super cute, but sometimes it veered a little too far into "too cute to be real" territory. Unfortunately, while I wanted to love this, it fell a little flat for me. Alice and Takumi's relationship goes from 0 to about 1000000 REALLY fast. They're friends and suddenly they're spending all of their time together - a lot of which happens off page, which kinda left me feeling distant. I don't need to read about their every little interaction, but they would so often reference random things they did together that it was a little odd that those activities weren't in the book at all. Speaking of, though, Alice especially talks about her struggles with money.... but Alice and Takumi go skydiving and do all these other expensive activities together without a second thought. There's no mention of her money struggles when or after she brings up the things they do together and it just felt a little off. I also didn't really like her friendship with Feenie - it felt very uneven to me. idk, I think I just went into this with the wrong expectations or at the wrong time. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did.

I like the story of Alice and Takumi, and her relationship with her best friends. No one besides Alice is a terribly well-developed character, though, and they all seem to revolve around her.

It was an enjoyable story, and it’s nice to have a story for teens about asexuality and queerness. I do wish that there hadn’t been an Epilogue. It felt completely out of place. Better to have ended it in the previous chapter.

<blockquote><i>”Life could be cruel. But it could also be wonderful.”</i></blockquote>
This is a tough review to write. I really wanted to five star this book because it has hella diversity and it was so fun, but there were also some issues with the writing and with Takumi. However, that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a book that <b>deserves lots of readers and support</b>, because it deals with a lot of issues that marginalized people's have to deal with today, while still maintaining a light aura.

<u>What I Liked</u>
1. The diversity!! The main character is bi and ace and so many of the main and side characters are poc (including the mc and her love interest)!!! This book talked a lot about microagressions towards women, black women, and Japanese men and I learned a lot. It also talked about discrimination against poc and bi and ace people in the lgbt community and how the Internet is a great resource for those who don’t fit the “cis white gay” narrative that seems to be prevalent in a lot of places.

1.5. I’m not ace, myself, so I can’t really speak on the accuracy of <i>Let's Talk About Love</i>'s portrayal of ace people, but as far as I could tell, it was good. I learned a lot from it and other ace reviewers have said it’s accurate, so I think it’s definitely a worthwhile read for ace readers and for those who want to learn more about the ace spectrum! <blockquote><i>”Sex, Alice had decided, was like jogging. All the people in the world could say it’s so amazing and great for you, but if you don’t care about jogging, you’d rather spend your time with a Netflix queue and a box of donuts.”</i></blockquote>
2. The characters were amazing, and hilarious, and I loved them all. Not only that, but they were all flawed! I got really frustrated with Feenie and Ryan and annoyed at Alice sometimes but I love them all. The relationships were dynamic and well written and I loved the importance placed on platonic and family relationships, and it really emphasized that <b>you make your own family</b>.

3. The pop culture references. This book was full of them and it was nice and fun to geek out with Alice over all the things. There were all sorts of easter eggs from the big and obvious to the witty ones that were hard to catch. This was a book written by a book nerd for book nerds and I <b>love it.</b> <blockquote><i>”’You smell all minty.’
‘Toothpaste.’
‘Just like Ron and Hermione,’ she mumbled.”</i></blockquote>
4. The humor!! This kind of goes with the pop culture references because some of it relied on the reader’s knowledge and love of television and books, but besides that there were some really funny jokes in there. And all the jokes were kind of wholesome and happy and I feel so warm and fuzzy after finishing this. This book absolutely <b><i>abused</i> the use of parentheses to denote vocal cues</b> but honestly I am all around <b>here for it.</b> None of the jokes fell flat for me, and I think it’s because this is the kind of humor that Millennials and Generation Z kids have developed on the Internet. This book had phrases such as <i>“unholy underwater hell”</i> (in reference to Bubble Guppies) and <i>”Why on earth should she confront her problems when running had such delicious benefits?”</i> This is the kind of humor that THRIVES with the current generation. <i>Let’s Talk About Love</i> was the perfect blend between humor and dealing with the hard topics. <blockquote><i>”They stopped for lunch, sitting on the floor and using upturned boxes as tables. [sic]
(A large pizza – half extra cheese, half pineapple, and real bacon. Not that Canadian stuff.)
(It’s ham. Canadian bacon is literally ham.).”</i></blockquote>

5. Mentioned this briefly, but this book is completely wholesome without being annoyingly so. I can rarely take a book that uses the word “tarnation” seriously, but Alice is the kind of person that can use words like that and that’s <b>just the way she is</b> and it never felt forced or jolting or anything. It also made the friendship between Alice (sweet, loving, adorable) and Feenie (loud, loves to fight, the Mom Friend) even more funny and enjoying to read. I love that trope and I will stand by it until the day I die.

6. Everyone in this book is <b>dramatic as heck</b> and it’s <i>hilarious</i>. Nobody’s really that petty (okay maybe Feenie a little bit) but Alice is over here thinking <i>”Is it possible to marry regret?”</i> when she sucks at flirting and Takumi thinks he’s dying when he has a cold. It’s amazing.

<u>What I Didn’t Like</u>
1. hmmmmm okay. I liked Takumi in general but there were some weird and kind of creepy moments when I was like wtf? wtf? wtf? wtf? wtf? wtf?

One of these moments was when the book referred to his budding friendship/relationship with Alice like this: <blockquote><i>”Any time they were alone he pounced like a sly, scavenging hyena.”</i></blockquote> That <i>really</i> threw me off and I was like???? That’s creepy????? And not romantic??? I mean the writing then goes on to talk about how hyenas are actually super cute and totally misunderstood!! But still. When I hear a guy being compared to “a sly, scavenging hyena,” that doesn’t really make me think ‘aw!!!! how romantic!!!’ it makes me think that this man is a creep and he needs to stay far, far away from the main character who I have grown to love and want to protect.

Another quote that made me uncomfortable with Alice and Takumi’s relationship was this conversation between Alice and Feenie: <blockquote><i>”’Do you even like him?’
‘He won’t leave me alone to dislike him in peace so yeah, I guess.’”</i></blockquote> Once again, not romantic, and all-around kind of creepy. Liking someone by default because they don’t give you enough air to breathe is Not Good. And I wasn’t even getting those kind of vibes from Takumi and Alice’s relationship, which makes this quote, honestly, unneeded. It’s a cute relationship with cute development and this quote a) makes Takumi sound like a stalker, which he isn’t; and b) perpetuates the idea that <b>if you bug someone long enough and don’t leave them alone, they will eventual grow to care for you</b>.

<spoiler>And lastly, there is a moment that happens while Alice is taking care of sick-Takumi and she finds a photo album with pictures of her. Sure, a lot of them are from when they were hanging out together, but there were also <i>”a few pictures of her at work [that] made her frown, [and] a couple of her sleeping [that] made her cringe.”</i> I mean, taking pictures of her at work is kind of whatever but honestly? Taking pictures of a person while they are sleeping, printing them out, and putting them in a photo album is a <b>major red flag on the creep scale</b>. He never asked her permission to take the pictures and never asked her permission to print them, and Alice is as surprised as the reader to find that he’s done this. If I had found out that someone I trusted took pictures of me while I was sleeping I wouldn’t think it was cute, I would think it was stalker-y. That’s a real violation of trust.</spoiler>


So really, there was only one thing I didn’t like, but that was kind of a big thing. But, have no fear, potential reader, all this business with Takumi felt more plot-driven than character-driven, and so I was able to separate it from the rest of the book, if that makes sense. It was mostly stuff in the writing itself instead of something that Takumi actually did. This is still definitely a great, funny read that I would recommend to those looking for something with quirky humor, cute friendships, and lots of diversity.

<i>I was provided an eARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.</i>

I had high hopes for this title as an asexual person, but it fell completely flat in all areas. It even felt aphobic, as if asexual people could be cured with the right sexual experience or partner. I wouldn't recommend this title.