Let’s Talk About Love is Claire Kann’s debut novel, a YA romance published in 2018 by Swoon Reads, an imprint of Macmillan. It received two accolades: it was both a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction and a 2019 ALA/GLBTRT Rainbow List Top Ten Pick.
College sophomore Alice Whitley is hoping for a low-key summer. She wants to marathon Netflix, eat all her favorite food, hang out with her two best friends, and work part-time at the library. It’s the perfect plan for someone recovering from a break-up — which Alice is. Her girlfriend broke up with her just before finals, in part because of mismatched libidos. Margot wanted to have sex, but Alice wasn’t interested. This wasn’t because Alice didn’t love Margot, as Margot assumed, but because Alice is asexual (though she struggles to say the word).
Much of the novel revolves around Alice’s exploration of her identity, both in conversation with her friends and, later, a counselor. As a biromantic asexual, Alice is interested in romance, kissing, and cuddling, but not sex itself, which has put her at odds with previous partners, including Margot and a high school boyfriend. Because everyone else seems so focused on sex, Alice is beginning to think that she should quit dating altogether; she’s convinced that no one will understand or accept her asexuality. In explaining her experiences of aphobia, or bias against aromatic and asexual people, Alice says, “How would you feel if you exposed your identity and the world pointed, laughed, and called you a liar to your face?” She’s over it, and over dating.
But Alice might rescind that “no more dating” mandate after meeting Takumi, a new part-timer at the library. He’s a few years older and, more notably, incredibly attractive. Alice is immediately interested in him, which is a rare experience for her. Though she’s still not interested in sex, she can’t stop thinking about him; her interest in him is so intense that Alice and her friends decide it bears further investigation. Thus begins the Takumi Trials.
What starts as a low-key summer quickly complicates. As Alice starts spending more time with Takumi, she has a falling out with her best friends Feenie and Ryan. While she’s trying to figure out how to navigate these changing friendships, Alice’s parents also begin to pressure her about declaring her major—which they think should be political science, to set her up for a law degree. Alice, however, is more interested in aesthetics and interior design, but she isn’t sure how to tell her parents the truth.
At its heart, Let’s Talk About Love is a coming-of-age story. It addresses intersectional issues such as race (Alice is Black) and sexuality. Lambda Literary, an organization dedicated to LGBT writers, praised the novel’s “complex exploration of asexuality” and called it “a true swoon-worthy romance”.