Striking a perfect balance between heartfelt emotions and spot-on humor, this 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 … 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 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 from the Swoon Reads community:
“A sweet and beautiful journey about self-discovery and identity!” —Macy Filia, reader on SwoonReads.com
“There aren’t many novels that have asexual characters and it’s something people need more of.” —Alice, reader on SwoonReads.com
“I want this on my shelf where I can admire it every day.” —Kiara, reader on SwoonReads.com
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Loved it!
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Shoutout to The Novel Neighbor for recommending another great book with an ace character! Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is an absolutely wonderful book for anyone who is wanting to read novels with ace representation!
Alice is asexual. She has known this for a while, but she doesn’t feel comfortable telling others about her identity. After two rough breakups that essentially happened because Alice’s partners did not understand asexuality and she didn’t really know how to explain it, Alice is looking forward to a summer of watching TV shows, working part time at the library, and hanging out with her best friends. However, things start to fall apart when her family starts badgering her to declare law as her major, her two best friends are in a romantic relationship with one another and seem to be leaving her behind, and she meets Takumi, a cute guy who works at the library with Alice.
I enjoyed this book for so many reasons, but most importantly, it really goes in depth about asexuality. Although Alice is certain about her identity, she struggles with it too. She feels disconnected from the LGBTQIA+ community because she is not only bi, but ace two identities that have negative stigmatizations in the LGBTQIA+ community.
On top of that, Alice does not feel sexual attraction, but she adores anything that is aesthetically pleasing. When Takumi falls into the aesthetically pleasing category, she questions her feelings and experiences confusion. Alice desperately wants to find a romantic partner in life, but she feels as though no one understands that she can love them just as much as anyone could love her, despite not feeling sexual attraction.
Additionally, I liked that Alice also faced other obstacles, such as trying to find what she wanted to do with her life. Many college students go through similar adversities, so I felt like the fact that Alice had trouble figuring out what she wanted to do, expanded on the sense of reality that the book had. Reading about Alice finding her place in the world was endearing, and I was rooting for her the whole story through.
Overall, this is a cute and lighthearted book that simultaneously makes serious statements about identity and asexuality. This is definitely a book that everyone should read, and I would especially recommend it for those who are looking to read more books with ace characters!
This was such an adorable read! I loved Alice’s sense of humor and personality. She was entertaining from start to finish and had me laughing out loud so many times. I also loved that the author wasn’t afraid to shy away from flawed characters, imperfect relationships/friendships, and people’s capacity to make mistakes and the grow from them. So much of that felt true to the era of being nineteen and figuring adult life out for yourself for the first time. I loved getting to know Alice, her world, and the people in it. Definitely a fun read with many sweet moments!
Let’s Talk About Love was an ok read. I will say I had higher expectations for this book, but I never really got fully invested into Alice’s story. Claire Kann does a really great job with this book. I totally felt for Alice and that fact that she’s asexual and the hardships she faced because of it. Her ex looked at her like she was broken and its a very misunderstood sexual orientation. There is no textbook checklist and it defies a lot of set boundaries when it comes to intimacy, attraction, sex, etc. You can’t put it in a box and I think Claire Kann does a great job explaining asexuality through Alice. Even Alice doesn’t understand it and she has to navigate what it means to her and understand that she’s not broken. I hope I’m explaining this right, but I honestly feel so much more enlightened from reading this book and can even relate to Alice’s character on some levels.
I do think this is an important book. There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but I didn’t connect to it or get as invested in the full story as much as I would have liked.
We need this book in the world right now.
Alice is in college, knows who she is, what she wants, but has had such bad experiences explaining those things to family, friends, and romantic partners, that she’s now boiling over with feelings and thoughts that she needs help sorting through. She’s at the point where she’s about to put her foot down, and it’s wonderful to watch. Realistic and messy and adorable and relatable.
There are three things going on that are handled so well, that I both felt like I was watching a wonderfully story about love, friendship and family, as well as received a better understanding of the finer points of a sexual identity that I don’t have.
This is a diverse contemporary read that’s not the standard rom-com, and absolutely deserves to be read–and relished.