agentaletha

[agentaletha]

Raybearer

Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? - Goodreads

Raybearer by Jordan Ifeuko, 2020 Amulet Books

Raybearer is a lovely young adult fantasy novel, the first in a two book series. I read a fair amount of YA, and a good amount of speculative fiction and still Raybearer felt new and exciting. In fact I’d say it’s probably my favorite YA I’ve read so far this year. The world building is unique with a wide variety of cultures (obviously influenced by certain real world countries but with enough departure to not feel just relabeled with fantasy names), interesting magic abilities, a sense of history, and an unusual system of government.

While stories of youths rebelling against oppressive regimes are YA’s bread and butter, this takes a deeper look at justice and inequality. I love that Tarisai’s goal for most of this first book is just to protect her friends and chosen family. There are so many that we don't really get to know all of them, but the ones we do know are perfect. While Tarisai has a strong sense of right and wrong (literally, she gets physical symptoms from injustice) the entire time, the book covers her journey from ignoring it, then trying to save individuals, to trying to affect the whole empire. But even when her purpose is to protect, she still sees systemic injustices and comes up with systemic solutions, wanting to fulfill her role as more than keeper of the status quo. This is a story that questions why things are the way they are and how the status quo is maintained, but also looks seriously at what can be done better in the future. The problem isn’t one bad person abusing their power, the problem is the system that supports and maintains inequalities. I appreciated that there are no scenery chewing villains here - everyone has understandable motives, from lashing out to hurt because they were hurt, to fear, and to how easy it is to dismiss injustices that happen to other people, in other places and justify that that’s just how it is, no point in trying to make a difference. Everyone is treated with compassion, even when they make bad decisions or react from their emotions, which they sometimes do.

I’m really looking forward to the second book! In the words of George Washington from Hamilton,”Winning is easy young man, governing’s harder.” I love seeing what happens next and I’m going to leave it there to not give any more away.

Spoilers ahead as I talk about representation

As for LGBTQIA representation, it’s there but fairly background. Same sex relationships aren’t stigmatized and it seems there’s a bit of an “everyone is bi” default, although all the main on-page romantic relationships are male/female. Gender roles vary by culture but don’t seem to be strictly delineated in the palace although gender does seem to be considered strictly binary. One of the 11 is gay and fairly flamboyant about it - he’s described as a “bleeding-heart poet” dreaming of handsome swains, but that’s about it. However, there is an asexual character and while he’s not the protagonist, he is one of the key players. A little less than halfway through the book, when she is an anointed member of his council, Tarisai asks the Prince to meet her privately at a known lovers’ meeting spot. He’s afraid she has the wrong idea and this is what he tells her:

 “There’s something I should tell you. I don’t...I don’t think I want sex. Ever. And I don’t mean with you, I mean - with anyone. Girls, boys. Anyone.” He stared at the leaves on the ground, smooth brow furrowing. “I mean, I’ve had crushes before. On you, on Jeet, and some of the others. I’ve just … never been interested in the sex part. Sometimes I wonder if I’m broken.”

You aren’t broken, protested the voice inside me. You’re the kindest, most loving person I know. Run. Live.

“But I’m crown prince,” he continued, grimacing, “and I have to have heirs someday, so… I guess - if I could choose anyone-”

The conversation ends there because Tarisai stabs him.

Ekundayo, or Dayo for short, is described as happy, naive, trusting, and having a “big fragile heart”. He is the Crown Prince, but he believes in the best of everyone. He’s well meaning but doesn’t always get it. They don’t have a word for asexual, but the author makes it clear by indicating that it’s all genders he’s not interested in and that he’s not aromantic as well. And the author includes the classic, “I wonder if I’m broken.” On the one hand, broken would go on my ace characters bingo sheet, but on the other, it’s a classic for a reason. Asexuality is already so much more visible than when I finally encountered it over ten years ago that maybe in another ten private wonderings about our brokenness will no longer resonate with the younger generations. I hope so. In the meantime, I already liked him as the soft-hearted prince and this made my heart go out to him. I love that Tarisai’s immediate reaction is “you’re not broken” although she doesn’t get the chance to say that out loud or even finish the conversation. I assume it will come up again in the next and final book. I really don’t know what’s going to happen next and I love that.

In summary, I loved Raybearer and I think it’s a good representation of an ace character that doesn’t fall prey to stereotypes (although I am keeping an eye on how often naive tends to show up) and I highly recommend it as a diverse thoughtful YA fantasy.

[agentaletha]

I always enjoy stumbling across an ace character in the wild. In this case it was The Midnight Bargain, by CL Polk. It’s a fantasy novel set in vaguely Regency-era, vaguely England-type country where women are collared at marriage to cut them off from their magic. The main character, Beatrice, loves magic but is expected to marry a rich man to save her family from her father’s debts. However she meets two rich siblings and finds herself torn between her growing feelings for the brother Ianthe and helping the sister Ysbeta learn magic to escape her own impending arranged marriage. They have no specific terms for it, but Ysbeta states that she doesn’t want any marriage and she doesn’t ever expect to fall in love. In the end she has to very firmly tell her suitor no, she is just not interested and then she sails off to have her own adventures and even in the epilogue remains unpartnered. Her deliberate rejection feels especially significant pointing towards her as aro-ace considering that this is largely a romance and the author has written a series of queer romances as well, so I doubt they would closet her to avoid explicit queerness. The story was good, well written and fast-paced, with interesting world building. The magic system feels especially novel (pacts with demons that live inside your body and mind!) and the hints of an underground network of women’s resistance were intriguing. On the downside there is a bit of insta-love between Beatrice and Ianthe, who is pretty slow to realize how horrible being sold into marriage is for Beatrice and his sister, and the parents are all nearly comically terrible until they make 180 turns just in time for the happy ending. A good young adult feminist romance, with a lot of Ysbeta and I would be quite happy to read an entire book about her in the future if there’s a sequel.

[agentaletha]

Ace Reads Review: Sawkill Girls

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Published 2018 by Katherine Tegen Books (an imprint of Harper Collins) (cover shows the head of a white girl with dark hair surrounded by moths)

Both a Bram Stoker Award nominee and a Lambda Literary Award nominee

“Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.”

These three girls have complicated relationships, to each other and to their families. All three are grieving. This book is ace representation that we don’t see every day - an ace main character who is a woc, after a romantic relationship, in a horror story. Zoey is the ace character, she is Black, the daughter of the police chief, a writer, fannish, and recently ended a romantic relationship with one of her two best friends, Grayson. They are still good friends but there is a lot of uncertainty unspoken between them. Interestingly, the only difference between the quote above from Goodreads and the back of the paperback is the one sentence about Zoey maybe being broken. It reads to me as a hint that she’s ace and I wonder if that was intentional but considered too niche for the printed copy…

In short, horror is not my thing but I enjoyed this, loved Zoey, and thought it was thoughtful ace representation that I would recommend to anyone who thinks they might be interested. This is a horror story and there is a lot of horror going on so I’m going to get right to the spoilers and warnings, under the break.

I tend to avoid horror. I don’t really care about gore and I’m sensitive to grief and often feel that horror ignores real grief and trauma for a spectacle for titillated observers. This walked the line of being too much for me - I’m warning for body horror, possession, the deaths of several immediate family members, and some heavy handed misogyny. Val is both a victim and an accomplice (and at times a perpetrator) but she and Marion are drawn to each other and don’t take long to start making out. Personally having Zoey’s relationship with Grayson in contrast made the “it’s a bad idea but we just can’t help it” of Marion and Val’s relationship a bit unearned, but it does set the stage for love to save the day in the end. And love and sisterhood does save the day as the three girls join forces to fight not just the monster but an ancient cult of men who believe killing the girls is the only way to win against the monster. Val is not entirely forgiven, but she is cared for, and in a scene that hits much harder after months of lock-down with limited human contact, she asks to be held and cuddles with Zoey. 

Zoey’s relationship with Grayson is actually my favorite part, surprising even me. Most YA stories with ace characters are about discovering their asexuality, often explored in the context of a beginning or potential romantic relationship. I can’t think of any other stories that start here, with two characters who love each other and are still friends but have broken up because one of them is ace. At first we don’t get many details - it’s clear they are still close and care about each other so why they aren’t together is a mystery. Grayson comes through for them time after time, investigating with them and researching for them, with seemingly no expectations. They are geeky together and are super cute, quiping and quoting at each other. Grayson is awesome, maybe a little unrealistically awesome for a teenage boy, but never boring. Eventually we find out that what happened before the story started was they had had sex:

“And it hadn’t been bad. It hadn’t been great, either - at least not for Zoey - and as Grayson had held her afterward, catching his breath and drawing circles on her shoulders with this thumb, Zoey had realized she could happily exist for the rest of her life without doing that ever again. 

Does that mean I’m broken? She’d wondered, tears pricking her eyes. [...] 

On the day she’d split from Grayson, she’d asked him that same question: “Does this mean I’m broken?” 

He’d answered immediately: “No, it doesn’t. And I don’t care about the sex, Zo. I want to be with you. 

Zoey, though, had recoiled at the idea. He would grow to resent her. He would break her heart, and she would break his. 

She’d backed away from him, shaking her head. “I’m not going to change my mind Grayson.”

“Zo, please, I’m not asking you to--”

Zoey had left him then, unable to bear the gentle sound of his voice or the sight of his tears. And that was that.” (p. 341-342)

The word asexuality is never used, but it is very clear, and while the story never connects her to a wider ace community, it also never questions that her being ace is a real thing.

After the battle is over they go to Grayson’s house and his family lets them in. Grayson is at peak amazingness and he and Zoey cuddle and discuss what comes next. It’s a little too long to include the whole thing, but it’s a great conversation! Grayson says he doesn’t know if he can be with her but not with her. He says that he didn’t understand the idea of not wanting sex at first and worried that he’d done something wrong, or there was someone else, but he got over it and realized how much he missed having her in his life, with or without sex. He reiterates that sex is not that important to him and says that could have had sex with other people but he didn’t want to (hinting that he might be demi?) but either way he’d be okay with a lifetime without sex if he could be with her. In a nice reversal of how aces are often told they might change their minds later, Zoey tells him not to make it a final declaration. They both say that they don’t want the other one to have to change who they are to be together. They discuss the wide varieties of future maybes and decide to give it a try and see how it goes.

I love this for them. Instead of a zero-sum game where someone has to lose, they are acknowledging that they may always feel the same or their feelings may change but they’ll give it a try and face whatever comes together.

[agentaletha]

I had high hopes for this book, I really loved her last one (under this pseudonym anyway), I’m weak for all Sherlock retellings, and I love a queer platonic relationship, but this sounds not good and I’m disappointed.

[agentaletha]

Drive-by Ace Character!

So I haven’t gotten around to any long reviews recently but I am planning to make it a priority.

In the meantime, here is a quick review of a YA scifi book with an ace supporting character! This book is the first in at least two, so they may get to play a larger role in future books.

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

This book is a love letter to online friends and support systems, something that resonated particularly strongly as I read this during quarantine. The main character, Steph is used to her mother running from town to town, living in fear of her abusive ex finding them. Steph’s only steady connections are to her group of friends in an online community called CatNet. Their set patterns of instability come to a halt when Steph makes a friend, Rachel (maybe more than a friend), her mother gets sick, and she starts uncovering the truth of her mother’s history - something that catches the attention of her father...

Light spoilers ahead!

Anyway, it was a fun read with some dark moments and I won’t spoil it further (much) but the ace character is one of her online friends, in her Clowder. His online name is Ico, short for Icosahedron, and he’s a high school kid, into hacking, often in trouble, and not getting good grades in school. According to Steph - “I mean, I like Ico, but that doesn’t mean I entirely trust his impulse control.” He helps them from a distance. His sexuality only comes up as they are talking about how everyone in the Clowder is queer. The main character, Steph, considers that she might be ace for a minute as she hasn’t really had any crushes and doesn’t know what label fits her best - “I haven’t figured out if I’m straight or gay or bi or pan or ace, even; we move so often that it’s been hard to even really figure out who I find attractive.” So she may be demi, but it’s not really explored further in this book.

Definitely note TW for domestic abuse, but most of the time a fairly light and sweet read with a queer main romance (friendship first, not insta-love) and a lot of inclusion :) I will be reading the sequel, out next year.

[agentaletha]

Asexual spectrum protagonists in science fiction and fantasy books!

If you’re looking for ace or aro fiction, I highly suggest checking out Claudie Arseneault’s awesome database. Link is here. 

A lot of the time people act like there’s no ace fiction, but that’s not true! A lot of these books are by ace-spec authors as well. We’re out here writing the stories we want to see ourselves in. :)

Other queer book PowerPoints:

Massive queer SFF rec post

Trans SFF

F/F SFF

Bi and Pan SFF

Queer SFF by authors of color

I’m not transcribing all the text, but you can find the titles, authors, information on TW, etc beneath the cut.

When possible, I’m linking to my database of queer books. The page for each book includes the synopsis, content warnings under spoiler tags, and links to reviews from queer readers. If it’s not in the queer database at the time of posting (8/18/19), I’ll link to Goodreads instead. 

Keep reading

[agentaletha]

There is romance, and she’s not aro ace. Her story isn’t exactly a romance story - when it starts she and her boyfriend have broken up, but still have feelings for each other. I don’t want to completely spoil it, but if you’re looking for a aro ace character who is happily single the whole time, this is not that.

just finished reading Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand in a matter of a few hours??

my rating: thats some goooood shit

[agentaletha]

I just read this recently and loved it!

just finished reading Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand in a matter of a few hours??

my rating: thats some goooood shit

[agentaletha]

So I’ve actually read some really good ace representation recently and want to write longer reviews for several books, but in the meantime there was a drive-by asexual character in Alexandra Rowland’s A Conspiracy of Truths. This is the first book in a fantasy series and the main character is a Chant, a professional (as in vocation, not actually paid) storyteller. He gets into some trouble and ends up in jail and in the thick of local politics. A Conspiracy of Truths is about stories, stories of connection, identity, politics, law and loyalty. Many of the characters are queer and that is unremarkable in this world. The ace character is a prison guard who tells Chant that he’s never felt that way about women or men and Chant nods and goes on with his story. He’s just a bit character but I loved the spectrum of diversity and just plain loved the book. I can’t wait to read more by this author. https://www.powells.com/book/conspiracy-of-truths-9781534412804

https://www.powells.com/book/conspiracy-of-truths-9781534412804

[agentaletha]

YA Ace Secondary Character - Dread Nation

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Published 2018 by Balzer + Bray

I recently read Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, an alternate history where the Civil War was put on hold when zombies started to rise. Slavery has been abolished, but due to a new law called the Negro Reeducation Act, our protagonist, Jane, is at a training school to become a companion/bodyguard for a white family. One of her classmates is Katherine, her rival. Jane saves the day, but gets blamed and she and Katherine get sent off to a mysterious settlement out west. 

Some light spoilers after the cut

Jane passes light skinned Katherine off as white when they arrive and their relationship changes from rivals to partners. Eventually we find out that Katherine is ace when she complains about having to lead the sheriff on to accomplish their goals. Katherine is pretty, smart, and good at manipulating people, as she says:

“”What did you expect Jane? I grew up in a whorehouse. If there’s anyone who knows how to put on an act, it is a women dependent upon the appetites of men for her living.” There’s a sharp tone to her voice, a reminder that she’s playing this role because I asked it of her, not because she wanted to.” p.357.

It is YA, so there is some love triangle action going in, but less than Jane thinks. Katherine: “I did not fancy him. I don’t fancy anyone. But he was a good person and his passing is unfortunate.” p.334.

She goes into more detail a little later on, about passing and more explicitly saying she’s ace:

““I don’t want to live the rest of my life as a liar. To turn my back on my own people. And I definitely don’t want to be someone’s wife. I don’t want a man.”

I shift uncomfortably next to her. Is this your way of telling me you fancy women?” Not that I mind that. I’ve been distracted by a pretty face every now now and again myself. But trying to imagine Katherine pledging herself to a life as a spinster doesn’t quite fit.

Katherine jumps to her feet and begins to pace. “No!” I don’t fancy anyone. I’ve seen the way you look at Mr. Gideon and I’ve seen the way you look at Jackson. I’ve even seen the way you used to look at Merry Alfred when she was at Miss Preston’s.” ...

She keeps talking like I haven’t said a word. “ But I don’t feel that way about anyone Jane. I never have and I’m not sure I ever will.”

“Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“But that’s what makes it so hard. I don’t want to get married. I don’t want to chase after some man or set up housekeeping with another women. I’m just not interesting. I want to see the world!”” p. 362-363.

The word asexual is not used, but that fits with the setting, and the explanation goes into a fair amount of detail, also ruling out that she likes women instead. Jane accepts it surprisingly well, considering she has no frame of reference for it (and as they discuss, is bi herself). She may be aro as well, as they’re not distinguishing between sexual and romantic attraction.

This seems to be a book that is either very much your thing or not at all your thing. Neither zombies nor civil war era history interest me that much, and the fact that this was clearly the set up for a longer series made this more of a slog than I expected. Yay for women of color as protagonists, yay for bisexual character, and I also enjoyed many of the other women characters. Also lots of blatant racism, but with a more nuanced examination about passing. I’ll definitely pick up the next one, but I’m less interested in the plot than the characters.

[agentaletha]

Ace Character!

So I’ve started reading the Hugo Award nominees for this year and one of the novellas, Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson, has an ace character! It’s already won a Nebula award. It’s set in 2267 and “Earth has just begun to recover from worldwide ecological disaster.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36187158-gods-monsters-and-the-lucky-peach

She’s not the POV character, but she is a main character and has the most significant relationship (not a romantic one) with the POV character. Her name is Kiki and she’s young and enthusiastic and cares about people. She says that she “doesn’t like to fuck strangers. Or anyone, really. I don’t get much out of it.” They talk about it for a little longer - Minh (the protagonist) is not surprised or skeptical but does ask follow up questions if it’s hard for Kiki and how she deals with it. Later Minh tells someone else that Kiki is asexual. Overall low-key solid ace representation. I’m a bit surprised they used the actual word, but I appreciated it. I also enjoyed the novella itself - it tosses you straight into creative worldbuilding, with an intense look at RFP writing and funding (the author must be intimately familiar with this process and it cracked me up) and a shift in perspective on the old ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ idea, because if you live in a world where inexplicable things happen all the time, what’s one more really?

[agentaletha]

https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/180555-request-asexual-fairy-tales-author-needs-publishing/

We would love to help her get her book of Asexual Fairy Tales published. If anyone has any ideas on ace-friendly publishers or knows anyone that has had an ace-related book published, please let us know! :)

[agentaletha]

Thought I’d share this for anyone who wants more asexual characters in their reading this year. I’m ecstatic to see Our Bloody Pearl included in this list, and I can’t wait to check out some of the other titles.

[agentaletha]

Book Review: Our Bloody Pearl

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (but I also purchased a print version for myself because I was excited to read!).

Title: Our Bloody Pearl

Author: D.N Bryn (@brynwrites)

Amazon Link  |  Goodreads Link

Synopsis:

Pirates, sirens, and lovable characters? Who could say no??

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N Bryn is a sci-fi/supernatural novel with a compelling plot and a beautifully developed diverse cast—overall a wonderful read with happy endings all around, but enough drama to make it a well-deserved payoff.

It follows the POV of Perle, a human-hating siren and prisoner of the cruel Captain Kian, who has figured out how to mute siren songs. After being rescued by a new human, the kind and patient Dejean, Perle begins to see that not all humans are as cruel as Kian, and perhaps sirens and humans have been misunderstanding each other for far too long.

Review: 5/5

Overall, Bryn hits all the best notes in Our Bloody Pearl. There’s a great cast of lovable, realistic, and unique characters (Murielle is my fave) and a wonderful “enemies to lovers”-esque relationship (also my fave). The world is beautifully developed through the eyes of Perle, who, as a siren, offers us a distinct non-human lens that helps with both worldbuilding and Perle’s own characterization. All in all, Bryn does a wonderful job building a world that feels immersive and alive, even though we only get to see a small sliver of it through Perle.

Even though we don’t see Kian firsthand until the very end, there’s a lot of tension and build up that gets you excited for the encounter we all know is coming. When Kian does make her appearance, the drama and sword fights live up to the hype!

I love a great supernatural/fantasy novel, and when you throw in pirates, great characters, immersive worldbuilding and just a touch of steampunk… you get a wonderful read like this! 5/5 :)

Creative writing analysis: Character-Specific Descriptions

As with all my Book Reviews, I’m including a brief creative writing analysis on one thing I think the author did exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly.

Your character will view the world in a unique way. Depending on their experiences, their passions, their perspective of the world, they’re going to notice things or describe things in a way different than anyone else in your story.

This is something Bryn does well in Our Bloody Pearl! Sirens don’t have the same technology or societal structures, so it makes sense that Perle will see the world different than us humans.

For example, Perle doesn’t use words like “mattress” or “pillow.” Instead, they’ll refer to those objects as a “sponge.” Outside of physically describing things, we also hear early on about how sex and gender in siren society is much different than humans, so even though Perle is aware of terms like “male” or “female,” those terms don’t hold the same meaning as they do to humans.

We see descriptions like this throughout the entire book, and it helps immerse us in Perle’s unique characterization and personality. They will describe things by the terms they know best. As a creature who has lived their entire life in the ocean among siren society, they simply see things differently.

What’s your character’s unique lens? A chef might say “tomato red” instead of “brick red.” An expert in a specific field will use jargon that most others don’t understand. An artist might be more tuned in to colors and patterns, while a musician is more likely to describe what they hear.

Your description can do so much more than simply describe a scene. Use it to strengthen characterization, too!

[agentaletha]

Children

I went through the foster parent process earlier this year and last month had a foster kid placed in my home. This is why I am not posting much of anything these days and probably won’t anytime soon.

I also wanted folks to know that I am open for questions about fostering while ace if anyone has been thinking about it as an option for themselves.

[agentaletha]

I really loved Among Others. It’s “a novel about a science fiction reader with a fantasy problem.” It spoke to my books-are-easier-than-people, adults-can’t-protect-you, grieving, lonely teenage self. I wish I’d read it years ago and can see why it won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards in 2012. I ended the book without a strong feeling either way about Mori being aro/ace, but I did appreciate the lack of romance.

[agentaletha]

Ace Reads Review: Let’s Talk About Love

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann Published by Swoon Reads 2018

(Cover shows a Black young woman wearing a white dress smiling while in the middle of dancing. The title is in purple and the color scheme of the entire cover hints at the ace flag.)

“Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting--working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual). Alice is done with dating--no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done. But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!). When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.“

I enjoyed this book! Even my skeptical romance-resistant self was charmed. This book was like a fresh warm cookie, sweet and more familiar than not. It wasn’t always comfortable - the awkward situations are painfully real, never needing to resort to a ridiculous misunderstanding to have drama. It’s most definitely a romance, the attraction is strong and instant, the guy is pretty much perfect and also emotionally available and articulate and most of the book is them together or her thinking about him. There are a couple of secondary plots - her best friends are getting married and she’s trying to decide what career is best for her and convince her parents to let go of their dream of her going to law school. Both are entirely plausible conflicts and her fight with her best friend about balancing relationships is one where you’re sympathetic to both sides and there doesn’t seem to be a good answer. It’s a specifically ace slant on a universal problem - balancing friends and romantic partners. If I have one complaint it is that there are hints toward challenging the ‘romantic relationship trumps everything’ assumption (she’s my soulmate, he’s for now but we’re forever) but then didn’t really follow through. It doesn’t surprise me - it is a romance story after all, it’s not going to downplay the romantic relationship, but the way that the story closed on the friendship conflict by acknowledging that they would be going their separate ways was a given (and that Alice was selfish while Feenie didn’t need to apologize) was a little annoying. But I loved Alice (she felt like an exasperating little sister - maybe I’m getting old for YA even though at 19 Alice’s on the older end for YA herself) and I loved how ace this whole book was. The tagline on the cover is even “Alice is about to ace this whole dating thing.”

It’s a story about being ace and trying to figure out your feelings. Not much actually happens and there is a whole lot of agonizing over how exactly she feels without really talking to him about it, so if that’s not your thing, this is probably not the book for you. I checked goodreads to see how non-ace readers reacted, and it seems to be fairly positive overall. It seems to have gone through several revisions as one negative review had almost nothing in common with the final product I read. Also Alice’s first encounters with him did throw me off because her immediate reaction to him was so strong and so physical. It felt like it belonged in another book, one that isn’t about an ace protagonist. I have Thoughts about how most writers don’t seem to be very good at expressing attraction in non-sexual attraction terms, but that’s another post. He was a little unaccountably obsessed with her and we never got much of a reason. But I guess that falls under the “it’s a romance” excuse.

While I have read other YA girl/boy romances recently that were more substantial (Emergency Contact <3), Let’s Talk About Love was a pleasant surprise and one I would happily recommend for any ace list or interested reader.