What I appreciated most about Kiss Me, Maybe is how central asexuality is to the narrative and the main character's personal growth. Angela’s journey of exploring and understanding her identity, starting with identifying as aegosexual and later finding more comfort in graysexual (and lesbian) labels, is heartfelt and nuanced. Her open conversations about questioning micro-labels and the fluidity of identity were refreshing and meaningful. I especially loved seeing a sex-positive aspec character, which is still rare.

The romance was sweet and comforting, though ultimately it’s not what will stay with me about the book.

Where it lost me, though, was the scavenger hunt plotline. I really struggled to buy into the idea that a newly out 27-year-old "late bloomer," who has never been kissed, would decide to launch a public scavenger hunt on TikTok to find a stranger to share that first kiss. The premise that only someone who really knows her would solve the clues didn’t hold up, especially given the viral nature of TikTok and the sexualisation she had already received from her previous videos. It felt unsafe and unrealistic, and what bothered me even more was that this decision was never seriously questioned by Angela or the people around her. Everyone just seemed to go along with it like it was a great idea, which felt unconvincing and a bit frustrating.

Also this may be petty, I'm mad that the cover features a lesbian and bi flag but no ace flag, despite asexuality being such a major and well handled theme in the book...