• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
      Professor Phillip Levine Discusses “A Problem of Fit”
    • CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
      CS Department shifts CS 111 course structure
    • WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
      WAMI and WRJ host discussion on criminalization of abortion
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
      Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
    • Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
      Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
    • Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
      Let them eat bread: the unequal effects of food price inflation
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
      The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial
    • Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
      Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University
    • “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
      “Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Sports and Wellness
    • Student-Athlete of October
      Student-Athlete of October
    • Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
      Athletics Update Oct. 19, 2022
    • The Case for Body Neutrality
      The Case for Body Neutrality
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
      Top 10 Girlbosses who aren’t alumnae, but I would totally believe you if you told me they were
    • Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
      Wendy Wellesley’s Thanksgiving Menu
    • The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
      The Snooze Awards for the Best Tanners of 2022
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Ann Zhao Arts, Books Before Boys, ReviewsSeptember 9, 2021

An Aroace Girl Reviews an Aroace Book (and Cries a Little) (Books Before Boys Review)

Image courtesy of Scholastic.

Saying that I love Loveless doesn’t come close to how deeply I feel about this book. If you know me at all, you’ll know that Alice Oseman is one of my favorite writers, and though I’ll read absolutely anything she writes, her fourth prose novel is a showstopper in more ways than one. 

Georgia Warr is a typical relatable teenager. Just entering university, she’s never kissed anyone, maybe never even had a crush if she thinks about it hard enough, but she’s obsessed with love and romance. But wanting romantic love isn’t the same as experiencing it, and as Georgia encounters new ways to describe the way she feels — or doesn’t — she starts to wonder if everything she’s been taught to believe is actually a massive lie, and if romance is really all that it’s chalked up to be. 

When Scholastic reached out to me asking if I was interested in reviewing Loveless in anticipation of its US release, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to neglect my ever-growing TBR and experience this incredibly comforting, affirming story again. I rarely reread books even one time, but I read Loveless for the third time for this review. Even on my third read of this book, I found more to love about it that I hadn’t noticed before. Little moments that my eyes had skipped over — lines that I read differently now that I knew the story so well. 

Alice Oseman is so skilled at encapsulating the queer teen voice in prose format (as well as comic format, but you can read my Heartstopper review for more on that). Reading Georgia’s journey to self-acceptance touches me in a way that most other books don’t; rather than being escapist fiction that I know I’ll never experience for myself, Loveless is a pointed and sometimes uncomfortable examination of an identity that I am all too familiar with. Loveless is an inspiration for me as a writer, as an aroace person and as a college student who’s still trying to figure herself out a little.

And I can’t wrap up this review without dedicating some time to the setting. Loveless is a rare YA book that takes place in college, and it has to be, for the story it’s telling. That period of sudden independence for a young adult is when countless people come into their identities for the first time, including many of my own friends, and including Georgia and her roommate Rooney. Honestly, for this story to have taken place in Oseman’s usual secondary school setting would’ve done an injustice to the narrative, and I’m thrilled that Durham University is where Georgia finally finds herself.

Ultimately, Loveless is the celebration of found family and platonic love that queer Gen-Z teens need in our lives. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Georgia doesn’t find herself loveless at the end of this book. She’s far from it. We all have tons of love in our lives, stretching beyond the bounds of the societal ideal of a romantic soulmate, and Georgia’s story is a constant reminder (to me, at least) that your life will be full of love and fulfillment no matter what kind of love you’re capable of feeling. 

Loveless will be released on January 4 from Scholastic Press in the US and Canada (and it’s already out in the UK). I seriously think everybody needs to read this book, and I’ve thought so well before writing this review, but I did receive a copy from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review.

Correction: an earlier version of this article stated that Loveless would be released on December 28. The release date has since been pushed back.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleThe Boy Band Romance You Didn’t Know You Needed (Books Before Boys Review)
Next articleA Murder Book Review Because It’s Never Too Early For Spooky Season (Books Before Boys review)

You may also like

The 95th Academy Awards Nominations: The Cool and The Controversial

image of lucy dacus playing the guitar in multicolored lights.

Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Northeastern University

“Glass Onion” Takes Shots at Easy Targets

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

  • Red envelope that contains money to celebrate the Lunar New Year. America’s cultural appropriation is a modern form of i...
  • Abstract painting of various boxes meant to imply computer and phone screens Turn it off: healing from news fatigue in the digital age
  • Logos of social media apps such as Twitter, Tiktok, Netflix, Spotify, and Discord. Andrew tate: ending the cycle of toxic masculinity
  • Five of the Best Books of 2022
  • image of lucy dacus playing the guitar in multicolored lights. Lucy Dacus Brings a Minimal Yet Powerful Performance to Nort...

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2023 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top