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Let's Talk About Love

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"Let's Talk About Love" by Claire Kann follows the story of Alice, a biromantic asexual young woman navigating relationships, friendships, and family dynamics. Readers are introduced to Alice's struggles with her asexuality and biromantic orientation, as well as her journey in finding acceptance and understanding from those around her. delves into themes of self-discovery, communication, and the complexities of romantic relationships, all while portraying diverse representation and addressing important issues with sensitivity and depth. The writing style is described as sweet, funny, and heartwarming, with a focus on Alice's internal thoughts and emotions, making her a relatable and endearing protagonist.

Characters:

The characters include a relatable lead navigating her identity, a less complex love interest, and a challenging friendship dynamic.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is conversational and relatable, featuring internal thoughts and modern language.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot revolves around a college student as she explores her identity as a biromantic asexual while dealing with pressures from family and friendships.

Setting:

The setting predominantly takes place in a college environment, featuring relatable elements of student life.

Pacing:

The pacing is uneven, combining rushed moments with slower introspective scenes, contributing to a lack of cohesive progression.
Alice stood, stopping and starting whatever she had planned to say. Her mouth moved, forming shapes of words, but only tiny ticks of noise echoed in the back of her throat. A sharp, bruising ache crep...

Notes:

The protagonist, Alice, is a Black biromantic asexual college student.
The book is published by Swoon Reads, targeting YA audiences.
Alice works in a library, which becomes a key setting in her story.
The book explores complexities of asexuality through Alice's experiences and internal struggles.
Alice's romantic relationship with Takumi highlights the importance of communication about asexuality in relationships.
Several readers appreciated the positive representation of therapy as Alice attends regular sessions to work through her feelings.
The story tackles themes of family pressure, friendship dynamics, and identity acceptance.
Reviews indicate mixed feelings about character development, especially regarding Takumi's perceived perfection and lack of depth.
Many readers found the book's portrayal of the LGBTQIA community relatable and significant, especially regarding asexuality.
The relationship between Alice and her best friend, Feenie, is contentious and raises concerns about toxic friendship dynamics.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include acephobia, sexual harassment, family pressure, and realistic discussions of racism and mental health issues.

Has Romance?

The romance between Alice and Takumi is central to the plot, highlighting issues of attraction and mutual understanding.

From The Publisher:

Striking a perfect balance between heartfelt emotions and spot-on humor, this YA debut features a pop-culture enthusiast protagonist with an unforgettable voice sure to resonate with readers.

Alice had her whole summer planned. Nonstop 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.

Claire Kann's young adult debut novel Let's Talk About Love, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, gracefully explores the struggle with emerging adulthood and the complicated line between friendship and what it might mean to be something more.

Praise for Let's Talk About Love:

"Alice is black, biromantic, and asexual, and her relationship with Takumi is genuine and fun. . . . A light, enjoyable asexual romance with outstanding representation. Recommended." -School Library Journal

"Debut novelist Kann thoughtfully tackles what it means to be asexual and gives Alice a platform to discover who she is and what it means for her relationship with Takumi. Asexual readers will appreciate the visibility, and those-like Alice's ex-who know poorly understand it, will gain a better sense of what love without sex can look like." -Publishers Weekly

Ratings (2)

Loved It (2)

Reader Stats (12):

Read It (2)
Want To Read (7)
Not Interested (3)

About the Author:

Claire Kann hails from the glorious Bay Area where the weather is regrettably not nearly as temperate as it used to be. She has a BA in English/creative writing from Sonoma State University, and works for a nonprofit that you may have heard of where she daydreams like she's paid to do it. Let's Talk About Love is her debut novel.

 
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