Like all the others before it, i really enjoyed this. Great action, a bit of snark. I'm also just a huge fan of how kai and irene's relationship is portrayed at such a low heat setting and is so much more about them being more of a battle couple built on trust than a romantic one making eyes at eachother. Ace me approves.

I read this super fast - i found myself really fascinated by Gemma's family secrets (which were not what i expected at all which was cool) and also by her struggles in the film industry about pushing back on offensive scenes and how to make positive changes. Gemma being bi was also something i didn't know picking this up, but I loved that.

This book resonated with me in a way i never expected, especially as I'm not the biggest fan of the first book. But this book started off with such strong, positive, relatable ace experiences that I instantly fell in love.

I was surprised to see myself in Felicity, and her desire and attempts to make a place for herself, as herself, in the world really captured me. And I love how we get nuance around that desire with the stories of two other women who want the same.

Something about this book just spoke to me. I'll have to trade my library copy for a me copy and keep it on my shelf.

Read this with my Ace bookclub, and we were all very interested to read a romantic memoir featuring an ace guy. Some of the little things in here, especially a few scenes that very well described what I can only describe as ace panic, did connect with me as a fellow ace.

There are some interesting style choices, but it's a flavor of ace rep that I haven't seen before. I also got really drawn into the drama of this (helped by knowing these two are now married with a son). I wasn't the only one - several people in my bookclub went on to buy and read the next few installments. That said, it was a drama we read almost for the horror of it.

I know quite a few aces, but very little in relationships, so I'm always interested in how those formed and thus naturally kept trying to imagine myself in the relationship in the book. How did this true story relate to mine? Could I use it as a loose guide? But I just couldn't do it. I could connect with Chris - a love of writing, not wanting to be seen, avoiding fashion, avoiding clubs, completely missing flirting, having triggers to cue the emotional distance, etc. But how this relationship builds, and its dynamics, is completely against anything I'd want or that I'd want any of my friends to have. In romance OR friendship.

And I think, ultimately, that's what makes this a no-rec for me. I get it, this is a memoir and I don't want to diss his life, but so many things rubbed me the wrong way. This doesn't feel like a healthy relationship and worse, the issues don't get addressed. Sure, Mark does some cute things. But he also crosses so many boundaries, in part because Chris doesn't know how to set them. Even when Chris is upset.

Everything is viewed through rose-colored glasses, but as soon as you step outside of that and actually look at the developing relationship...well. I don't want anyone, especially fellow aces, to think this is what they should strive for.

delayed review, but recently got asked for a recs around a certain type of rep and this one was still in my mind, so figure I should write a review.

I'll admit, I almost DNF'd this book. What saved it was during the bookclub meeting we discussed it at, a member mentioned there were some good scenes exploring amaya's demisexuality in the back half of the book. Since the only reason I picked up this book was for the ace rep, I figured I'd read till I hit the rep. And at that point, I had 50ish pages left. So finished it.

Roach, while ace, wasn't good rep. His part is too small to be anything other than label service. Amaya however I think was a good show of demisexuality, especially contrasting her POV of scenes to the LI - Cayo. You can tell Cayo is feeling the sexual tension and Amaya just isn't. That, plus her earlier internal monologues about using touch because of how it worked for others, were nice to see as a demisexual myself.