ARC Review: ‘Loveless’ by Alice Oseman

“As Georgia starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, she’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?” (Amazon)
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my e-copy of this book. 

Review of Loveless by Alice Oseman

My rating: 4.5/5

Alice Oseman’s Loveless has been a great read, and I wished that there were more books like that when I was younger. YA has used to be heavily dominated by heteronormative relationships – and still in some ways is – but I love that voices like Alice Oseman bring our attention to a wider spectrum of sexualities. Of experiences.

Generally speaking, last years of secondary school and beginning of university are confusing for most people, and it’s the time most of us try to figure things out. I love characters realising that it’s okay to feel different, but also that you are not alone. Loveless has been unbelievably real account of this confusion and self-discovery.

From awkwardness of teenagers to joy of friendship, Loveless has been a great story to read. Georgia, Pip, Jason, Sunil and Rooney have been a wonderful cast of diverse characters, each of them in many ways different and going through varied experiences and troubles, and yet, ultimately the story had friendship and love its heart. Lovelessunderlined the diversity of human experience and highlighted that it’s okay if your life is going at a different speed than others and that it’s okay to feel or not feel certain things. And that pressure of the society and people in our age groups shouldn’t be something we should give in to.

I also liked how they all had found the connection through theatre and Shakespeare, finally managing to put together this little play, a mixture of different Shakespeare’s works. It closed the story nicely when things started to slowly resolve following the huge argument within the group.

At moments cheesy, and yet absolutely joyful to read, Loveless has been a perfect read especially during Pride month, and I’m glad I had a chance to read it. I think the biggest highlight of Loveless for me was that while Alice Oseman’s book talks about relationships and sex, and everything in between, it ultimately highlights the importance of other types of love as well, with friendship and platonic love staying at the heart of the story.

Who is the book for: If you are a fan of Alice Oseman’s novels, you’ll definitely not be disappointed. I would recommend Loveless for fans of YA contemporary books. Loveless is released on 9th July, and you can get your copy here.

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