I received an ARC
TW: internalized acephobia, gatekeeping & prejudice, implied toxic/abusive relationship
4.4

Georgia love romcoms and reading about love, but on the realization that her only crush wasn't a real crush at all, love starts to be something she feels desperate about. All she's ever wanted was a perfect romance- and university is the exact right place to do it. Except... what if it's not about where she is and who's available, but her herself? Armed by her best friends and their own complicated love lives, and a roommate with confidence to spare, Georgia is determined to figure out how to fix herself.

I loved how cute this book was! It's still really rare to see aromantic & asexual representation in media, and even rarer to see it done well instead of making a blanket statement on both, and even rarer to see the representation coming from the main character! This book is a miracle in that we get all three.

Georgia is a sweetheart, and I loved getting to see her journey in exploration and acceptance. As upsetting as it felt at times to hear her invalidate herself, her journey rings true and I think can and will help a lot of people on the ace & aro spectrums.

Even beyond the exploration in identity I liked her as a character. Oseman writes really likeable, vivid characters, and this book is no exception. All the characters are strong and interesting, and they interact so well. The friendships really steal the scene throughout this story, and I love the focus on platonic love so much. The romance that is there (the real one), as well, is very cute and dramatic and well written. All these people seem to go together, different as they are, and are layered enough that you can easily imagine them off page.

There are definitely some moments of frustration with that romance, in the way Pip and Rooney refuse to communicate, but about the same amount that these things seem obligated to have.
The level of drama did tip at one point to feeling overdone and making me like the characters less at different points, but I'm sure other people will find it more interesting than I did.

This book was a joy to read! The short chapters and conversational writing style made it such a fast read, and all the characters are written well enough to genuinely care about them. And, above all else, I'm so glad to finally have a great, informative book with ace & aro rep center stage!