Hi again, bibliophiles!
I’m so glad that we have a snow day…I was trying to find a good day to fit this post in, and now we have the perfect opportunity!
As some of you know, this week, October 25-31, is Asexual Awareness Week, or Ace Week for short! The whole week is meant to celebrate everyone on the asexual spectrum (asexual, aromantic, demisexual, and more) and spread awareness about the community. All too often, this community is unjustly discriminated against, even in LGBTQ+ spaces, which never fails to break my heart. Well, if I haven’t made myself clear enough, I’ll just go out here and say that everybody on the asexual spectrum is so loved, so valid, and so beautiful!
For more information about all this, check out the official website for Ace Week!
So for the occasion, I decided to compile a list of YA books with characters all over the asexual spectrum–among them on this list are characters who are asexual, demisexual, aromantic, and more. Thing is, SHAME ON ME FOR NOT READING ENOUGH ASPEC LITERATURE. I try my best to, and I found some examples, but not enough ones that I’ve actually read to make a substantial list. So, the first half of this post is ace books that I’ve read, and the other half is ace books that are on my TBR.
Let’s begin, shall we?
THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S YA READS FOR ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK
BOOKS THAT I’VE READ:
The Sound of Stars, Alechia Dow
GENRE: Science fiction, dystopia, romance
REPRESENTATION: Ellie (protagonist) is demisexual and biromantic, in a straight-passing relationship
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Sound of Stars is one of my favorite reads of this year–POC/LGBTQ+ representation, lots of references to YA literature and music, and fighting against the patriarchy!
GENRES: Fantasy, mystery, paranormal
REPRESENTATION: Elatsoe (protagonist) is asexual
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m so lucky to have gotten an eARC of this one over the summer. Besides having great asexual representation, the author is Lipan Apache, and so is Elatsoe! A wonderful paranormal murder mystery with lots of lovely ghost critters.
GENRES: Horror, paranormal, fantasy
REPRESENTATION: Zoey (one of three protagonists with alternating POVs) is asexual
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another five-star read of mine this year. There’s no shortage of great LGBTQ+ representation from this one; beyond Zoey’s asexuality, and the other two protagonists (Val and Marion) end up being in a wlw relationship.
Tarnished Are the Stars, Rosiee Thor
GENRES: Science fiction, fantasy, romance
REPRESENTATION: Nathaniel (one of two protagonists with alternating POVs) is aromantic/asexual
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Another lovely sci-fi with a bluish purple color scheme on the cover! There’s a beautiful scene where Nathaniel discovers his identity, and it’s so tenderly beautiful. Plus, there’s a wlw relationship between the other protagonist (Anna) and another secondary character as well!
GENRES: Contemporary, fiction
REPRESENTATION: Aled (not the main character, but plays a central part in the story) is asexual
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
I just finished this one up on Sunday night. It’s a rough ride, to be sure, but it’s a powerful novel.
And look at this adorable character art by the author, Alice Oseman!
Dare Mighty Things, Heather Kaczynski
GENRES: Science fiction
REPRESENTATION: Cassandra, the protagonist, is asexual
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
A tense, thrilling and diverse sci-fi that will have you on the edge of your seat!
BOOKS ON MY TBR:
GENRES: Contemporary, fiction
REPRESENTATION: Georgia, the protagonist, is aromantic/asexual
(Sidenote: why does “aromantic” keep autocorrecting to either “romantic” or “aromatic?” The audacity…)
I’ve had most of Oseman’s novels on my TBR for quite a while (Radio Silence was my first exposure), and this sounds like a lovely aro-ace coming of age story!
Beyond the Black Door, A.M. Strickland
GENRES: High fantasy, romance
REPRESENTATION: Kamai, the protagonist, is biromantic/asexual
I have this one on hold at the library, and it should be coming soon…🤞
GENRES: High fantasy, romance
REPRESENTATION: Gerald (protagonist) is aromantic/asexual
I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and it sounds like a great LGBTQ+ fantasy! And while I’m on the subject of this book, I’ll direct you to Alex Logan’s amazing blog, Almost, Almost, where they review LGBTQ+ books of all kinds!
Summer Bird Blue, Akemi Dawn Bowman
GENRES: Contemporary, fiction
REPRESENTATION: Rumi (protagonist) is aromantic/asexual
I read one of Bowman’s other novels, Starfish, a few years back and I remember it being powerful, so I hope that this one might be even better!
Daughter of the Burning City, Amanda Foody
GENRES: High fantasy, mystery
REPRESENTATION: Luca (secondary character who is supposed to play a major role) is demiromantic/asexual
I put this on my TBR over the summer and completely forgot about it, so hopefully I can read it soon…
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these novels? What are your thoughts? Any other books with ace rep that you recommend?
Oh, and one more thing: I just found out a few hours ago that today is also Intersex Awareness Day! I hardly see any intersex rep in literature, so if any of you have good intersex book recs, don’t hesitate to tell me about them in the comments!
Since I’ve already posted once today, check out today’s Goodreads Monday for today’s song.
That’s it for these ace week recommendations! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
The Bookish Mutant 
I’m super desperate to read sound of the stars, elatsoe, and sawkill girls! i didn’t realise elatsoe had ace rep so now I’m even more hype, thanks for the recs!!
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They’re all incredible! Yeah, the author confirmed that Elatsoe is definitely ace 🙂 I’m so happy you’re excited about the recs!
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I love this list! I always struggle with finding good books with asexual rep, and I’ll definitely add these to my tbr!
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Thanks so much! Asexuality is definitely underrepresented in literature as a whole, but I’m glad this list helped 🙂
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Oh my gosh thank you so much for this post. I love this post so much, it’s AMAZING. Wow, aside from the books I’ve read on here and Alice Oseman’s books, I haven’t even heard of any of these! Wait, that’s a lie. I’ve heard of Sawkill Girls. But still! Ugh I really want to read Sawkill Girls. Anyways this is an amazing post. Question: I see that you say that Ellie is biromantic. I thought she was pan? I literally only think this because there’s a part that she says, ‘gender doesn’t matter for me’ or something like that. That isn’t exactly right. Also, I really thought she was asexual, demiromantic, panromantic. Because she says, “I know I’m ace…” but then she says, “or somewhere on that spectrum.” She just says that she knows she’s ace with such certainty though…and since it took her a little while to start liking Morris romantically I figured she was demiromantic.
Oh my gosh I loved the discovery/coming out scene/whatever in Tarnished as well! I loved what Eliza said to Nathaniel at that one point, I don’t exactly remember what it is but it was really inspirational.
Okay. That was super long, sorry. Anyways. I actually did an author interview with Rosiee Thor, author of Tarnished, on my blog (found here: https://yabookswithwings.wordpress.com/2020/09/03/interview-with-rosiee-thor-author-of-tarnished-are-the-stars/ ) and I’m going to publish my The Sound of Stars post, which I just finished, tomorrow on my blog!
Last but not least: I haven’t read Radio Silence but just because of that fanart I think I’m going to love it. That is beautiful fanart.
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Or…perhaps not fanart. You say character art. I say….author art.a
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Yep, this is Alice Oseman’s art of the characters 🙂
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Awww, I’m so glad you liked it! Huh, I could be wrong about Ellie being biromantic, but she’s definitely demisexual or demiromantic/asexual, but I’m not sure. A lot of different people have different definitions of bisexuality and pansexuality, so I could be wrong about her being biro, but at least we can confirm that she’s into several genders ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ either way, it’s super cool!
Ahh what a great scene, isn’t it? Even as someone who isn’t on the ace spectrum, it’s a beautiful coming out scene. The bonding between Eliza and Nathaniel is so sweet too 🙂 And I loved that interview! 🙂 Radio Silence is a rough one, but it’s absolutely worth a read 🙂 thanks for stopping by!
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Hmm, yeah, I’m not sure. I’m going to contact the author (I love to do that stuff, honestly) so I guess I’ll ask her then! But yeah, that’s great diversity either way.
Yeah, I know. The way Eliza says it is just super nice and…it’s just so sweet.
Okay, good to know. I’ll see when I can get my hands on it. I’ve never read an Alice Oseman book and I really want to! I actually want to read Loveless so much but I don’t think it’s out in the US yet. :,(
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Good idea, let me know what her response is.
Radio Silence was my first Alice Oseman too, I’m really excited to read Loveless and Heartstopper too! I think it came out recently though, I know the UK date was July 2020 but I think it came out this October in the US, could be wrong though
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Hmm, I’m not sure. I can’t find anything about if it’s out or not but I hope it is!
By the way, I just posted my Sound of Stars review, if you want to check it out. You by no means have to. It’s kinda long and ramble-y.
https://yabookswithwings.wordpress.com/2020/11/01/the-sound-of-stars-by-alechia-dow/
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Great review! Just followed your blog too, I love your reviews! 🙂
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Thank you so much! that means a lot!
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🙂
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