It has come to my attention that some people still aren't aware that You Are Asexual is a book that you can buy, so here is another commercial to help make people aware of that fact. Not only is it a book that you can buy, but it also has a cover you can look at if you buy it!

One more month of Summer! Check out some of these cool August books! 🌞

As always, check under the cut for more on each~

It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano is one of my favorite books of the year, and one I'd recommend to any a-spec person and/or any marching band nerd! This is a marching band centered coming of age with a lot of identity growth and a little romance too.

Blood Like Fate by Liselle Sambury is the long awaited sequel to the scifi-fantasy, Black-fronted "kill your lover" Blood Like Magic. If you've been looking forward to seeing what Voya does next and how her hard choices play our after the fact, you'll really enjoy this closer to the story!

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall is another I've already read, and I can vouch for the spooky haunted house meets untrustworthy family swarmy enough to rival the Thrombeys from Knives Out. If you like your horror feminist and a bit gothic, you may really love the atmosphere of this one. This is also sapphic, with a witchy side romance.

The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones is a rag tag crew story, a heist story, and a fantasy about revolution. This story is also in the same universe as Lloyd-Jones' folklore zombie story, The Bones Houses. This also has a main character who seems to be bi.

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala is another horror, this one pastoral, trippy, and through a lens of marginalization. This book has a genderfluid protagonist, who wants nothing but to understand his twin sister's shocking death, but finds himself lured into something as dangerous as it is impossible. This book also has some INTENSE body horror by the end, so take that as a pro or a con!

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is the only book on this list I haven't read! This is a Godpunk fantasy about two warriors setting out to free a captive god, and depose their tyrant rulers. This book looks so COOL and the cover alone makes me so excited.

The Romantic Agenda by Clair Kann

This book has two Black ace characters!!!! Joy and Malcom. It made me feel so many things ugh

Book review - The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

I actually read this back in October lol but anyway

CLAIRE!!! KANN!!! I LOVE HER BOOKS!!!!

Obviously, her books mean something different to me than they do to Black asexual readers but oh my gods, they mean so much to me.

I loved the portrayal of asexuality in Let's Talk About Love and I loved it here. With characters of different ages, they're different but equally important and valid.

So the main character, I adored her so much. Her puns, references (even if i didn't get most of them lol) and silly jokes; how considerate she is; how fun she was to read about. And her friendship with Malcolm had me both swooning and frustrated - they're lovely but Malcolm had gotten on my nerves so many times before they actually communicated in the end. That scene was very precious and sweet.

AND FOX OF COURSE!! He was so interesting, and respectful and sweet, and their relationship developed so well too, they were just the cutest.

My one issue is that Joy's twin sister, Georgia, never made an appearance on page, she was just there in phone calls but I would've loved to see her actually interacting with Malcolm with Joy around at some point lol Also her meeting Fox!

Either way, this is one of my favorite books now <3

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb: In this charming, heartfelt YA romcom about being on the asexual spectrum, a girl tries to craft the perfect wedding for her mother but discovers that sometimes the best parts of life can't be planned.

Felicity Becker loves watching an event come together. Whether it's prom, graduation, or just the annual Arbor Day school dance, there's something magical about crafting an experience that people will remember. So when her mom gets engaged, Felicity sees the wedding as the perfect opportunity to show off her skills.

After Felicity's long-distance friend Nancy offers up her family's apple orchard as a venue, wedding planning gets even better. But the more time Felicity and Nancy spend together dress shopping and hunting for just-right mismatched china, the more it starts to seem like there might be something besides friendship between them. Felicity isn't sure how she feels. As someone on the asexuality spectrum, what would dating even look like for her? And would Nancy be open to dating when Felicity doesn't even know what she wants from a relationship?

Suddenly the summer is a lot more complicated. Especially when Felicity finds out that one of the wedding guests is an event planner with a prestigious internship available. Can Felicity wrangle her irresponsible mom, juggle her judgmental grandmother, figure out her feelings for Nancy, and plan the perfect wedding? Or will all of her plans come crashing down around her?

Review:

Felicity Becker is a perfectionist, she wants to be perfect, but that can be a little difficult when her mother tends to not want to be responsible making Felicity need to create structure herself. Felicity is also dealing with her sexual identity and where she stands as she figures out where she falls on the asexual spectrum while also trying to figure out her feelings for her best friend... who happens to be in love with her. Throw in the fact that Felicity’s mother wants her to plan the wedding, its a lot of pressure and things going on, especially when Felicity loses the committee seat at school that she wanted so badly and her grandmother offers to help get her an internship.... but all of this pressure is piling onto a complicated summer for Felicity. Now she has to plan a wedding, work on an internship, deal with friend drama from her other best friend Roo, and her complicated feelings for her best friend as well as family drama. This book deals with a lot, and you really feel for Felicity because her mom is irresponsible and her grandmother does pressure her to be perfect, Felicity throughout the book is forced to be the adult in her life, which is frustrating to read. Despite how well intentioned her mother is, I felt so bad for Felicity, imagine planning a wedding for your mother that she never participates in and never tells you or offers you anything to indicate that maybe she wants it a certain way? Felicity is going through a lot in this book and you absolutely feel the frustration for not only her situation but in the way she struggles to find a way to sort out her issues and how she tackles each situation and problem. Overall its an interesting story with wedding planning, family drama, and relationships.

*Thanks Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, Bloomsbury YA for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Yen-Chen and Florence are the perfect cinnamon roll MC meets tough cookie MC pairing, so if that's what you're looking for, you'll love this book! This sweet story is set in the queer small town of Clover Hill, and these MCs will win your heart SO fast.

You can pick it up on March 21, but go ahead and pre-order it now so you don't forget. A Milky Way Home is an asexual contemporary romance with a transmasc main character.

Preorder on Amazon Add to Goodreads

[TESTIMONIALS] When we were out of the ordinary

[TESTIMONIALS] When we were out of the ordinary

The third installment in my Italian Romance Series, When we were out of the ordinary, is probably the most personal work I’ve put out there until now. The book hasn’t had great reach, but the people it reached all left wonderful feedback. When we were out of the ordinary Reviewed by Lily Rooke on Goodreads Neighbours Kim and Alessandro have spent years engaged in a prank war. With all his…

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Also quick Ace Day doodle for you!! :D

To any suicidal followers I may have: This is a sign to not kill yourself. You are loved and the world is special because you are in it. Keep holding on.

-PLEASE REBLOG THIS YOU MAYBE ARE SAVING SOMEONES LIFE

You are special and amazing , If you need to talk or some help send me a dm and I will talk to you.

been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

i'm sorry but this shit annoys me to no end. like this is about heartstopper and you all need to stop acting like that show invented everything.

fucking anyways

1. Koisenu Futari

Show that’s specifically made to be about aromanticism and asexuality as well as how aroace people are perceived by society. They are main characters. That’s the main plot.

2. Heartbreak High

Want a teen show with ace rep? No problem. One of the main characters is ace! Would you look at that! The representation already exists! It's got a ton of other rep too and it's on Netflix but somehow we never got that ace rep yet right? You don't even need subtitles for this one.

3. SkamFr (s12)

Is it a bit too much at times? Ye sure but you know what it also is? Another teen show where the main character is asexual that deals with asexuality as the main theme. And no you don't need to watch all those seasons before to get it.

4. Bojack Horseman

I didn't even watch this one but I'm aware.

5. Cherry Magic

Oh would you look at that a show with main mlm couple where one of the side characters is aroace? I mean surely it hasn't been done before.

6. Run On

You want some casual side character ace rep? Well here you go even kdramas have done it but I guess there just aren't any shows...

Honorary mention to Sex Ed for that one scene.

In June, I was watching a YouTube video about asexuality when someone mentioned that asexual people aren't subjected to conversion therapy. This didn't sit right with me at all. A quick fact-check Google search quickly sent me down a rabbit hole about how a lack of sexual attraction is often treated as a medical problem to be fixed.

Many interviews and 6 months later, I covered science and medicine's changing attitudes toward asexuality it in a feature article in Scientific American's January 2024 issue! I'm so grateful to everyone who lent their expertise to the article 💜

"... Over the past two decades psychological studies have shown that asexuality should be classified not as a disorder but as a stable sexual orientation akin to homosexuality or heterosexuality. Both cultural awareness and clinical medicine have been slow to catch on. It's only recently that academic researchers have begun to look at asexuality not as an indicator of health problems but as a legitimate, underexplored way of being human."

Happy International Asexuality Day!

Here are some books with ace and/or demisexual characters. A majority of them are the main, but in the case of some they are the love interest.

It must be weird to live so long that an integral part of himself is now accepted, he'll need more time to get there too

Asexual Books

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Sounds Fake But Okay by Sarah Costello and Kayla Kaszyca

Is Love The Answer? by Uta Isaki

City Of Strife by Claudie Arseneault

This Doesn't Mean Anything by Sarah Whaler

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning Of Sex by Angela Chen

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Vanilla by Billy Merrell

Paper Planes by Jennie Wood

Being Ace: An Anthology Of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection by Various Authors

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Rick by Alex Gino

Wren Martin Ruins It All by Amanda DeWitt

Love, Ace & Monsters: An Ace Anthology by Various Authors

Summer Of Salt by Katrina Leno

Just once, just once, I want a character to go, "I don't know guys, maybe dating just isn't for me." and instead of everyone immediately going, "awww, I don't think that's the case, you just haven't met the right person." someone brings up aromantism or asexuality and the character going on a journey of self discovery.