Thanks Netgalley and publisher,

I am an Aro. I realized that long time ago, but never tried to talk to other people. I always want to ask, "Am I really Aro?", "Do I valid?"

Living in a country when LGBTQIA+ is denied, It's hard to confirm my orientation. But, thanks this book helps.

I really love how this book explain everything from the basic and easy to understand

I had some mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand, I like that there are more books about Asexuality and Aromanticism out there, on the other hand I've read better books on the same subject. Ace and Aro Journey's is a book all about everything related to asexuality. I do like that this book was a bit more of a modern update compared to other books, however I found it to be very overwhelming with the way that information was presented and organized within the book. I did like that the book talked about racism within the asexual community since it's something that's often times been ignored and pushed under the rug by most people. I recommend this book if you're already somewhat familiar with asexuality and want a detailed deep-dive into finding out more knowledge.

Ah, so I see this book isn't on Goodreads yet?

A lot of my close friends know that I identify as asexual (ace for short). So I was really looking forward to this book because I haven't gotten to meet many people outside of my roommate that are in the asexual community. Unfortunately, this book wasn't helpful or encouraging in the slightest to me. When I saw the initial mixed reviews, I set it aside because how harmful could a book by an advocacy project for your sexuality truly be? Apparently, the answer is pretty harmful. It was full of stereotypes. Sure, it was nice for them to break down some of the internet lingo. But they didn't do a very good job in stating that asexuals come from different walks of life. It felt like it felt the need to blame asexuality on something... from medication to lack of libido to trauma or choosing to stay celibate. But there's a lot of people who discover they're asexual and are perfectly healthy without sexual-related trauma (or other forms of trauma that could encourage one to become asexual) or any desire to necessarily "stay celibate". All forms of asexuality are obviously valid, but the fact they felt so set on finding something to trigger asexuality really made me sad. I just am wondering how many questioning people will stumble upon this book and feel othered because the examples provided for asexuality do not match how their experiences. They also focused on specific sexualities that I felt weren't helpful in breaking down the "otherness" feeling that they were pushing. Rather than discussing how you can love many genders when you're ace, or you can have relationships despite being aro. Finally, they spent a lot of time focusing on the negative things said to LGBTQ+ community, which while I understand needs to be discussed, the way in which they went about it did not really help provide comfort or tools that I felt were helpful.

As others have expressed, I think this book should have focused more on asexual stories, and less on cold facts. Show photos of the good memes shared in the community, or show that your experiences and emotions that made you feel othered are valid and you don't have to feel alone because others have lived through similar experiences in their lifetime.

Just saying, maybe stop trying to diagnose and start wars, and start actually empathizing.

"Ace and Aro Journeys" was quite interesting but there were a lot of repetitions. I liked the personal accounts best and think the book could have profited from including more of them.

This is a fairly exhaustive resource-based approach to Ace and Aro folks, including those who are questioning whether they're on those spectrums. It does feel LONG, though I appreciated the depth of some of their approaches (including many scripts and pro/con breakdowns for various ways to come out to people, etc.) I was super disappointed (and shocked) by the Harry Potter references, though--definitely hope they take those out before this makes it to print!

DNF at 54%
Dry 101, lots of "look elsewhere" that came across as lazy considering the amount of literature there is now and that therefore one would hope that something titled Ace and Aro Journeys by The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project would be one of these fabled elsewhere. There were also a few instances of "It's important to be aware" without any unpacking which added to the lazy impression especially when paired with undue overexplaining in some paragraphs.
They stated the "dictionary" would be at the end but there were definitions peppered through the book and it was more than a bit tedious for someone who is already pretty familiar with the verbiage of the community. They conceptualize a few things with slight differences from what seems to be the current most accepted conceptualization but not enough to warrant that many definitions so for me that structure was really cumbersome.
There is A LOT of focus on online spaces and while it makes sense I'm not a fan of links in books. Also the directions toward specific online spaces are probably not going to age well as we all know how fragile online spaces are, as it is I feel the focus was on spaces that have already become a bit dated and I think people who survived "The Discourse" should have been a little more self-aware in that regard.
I guess they were trying to give us an history of the community with the focus on the Tumblr drama but as someone who was never really a Tumblr user it seems like it really focused on one part of the community and made it central but the actual importance is bit dubious to me (I saw their stat but I would need to look into the methodology used to get to that number before I accept it).
Also. stop with the HP references if you're going to acknowledge transphobia and other intersecting oppressions you should as least acknowledge the problematic nature of that work and its author if you're going to mention it in the context of the LGBTQIA+ community.

This book is about learning how to embrace your asexual and/or aromantic identity. I think this book is a safe and warm welcome into the world of ace/aro experience. It felt like encountering a whole new world that was both exciting and honest. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about asexuality or aromanticism.

Being ace is one of the foundational aspects of my identity, and I loved hearing these different and complex stories full of so many different people on the ace and aro spectrums.

I had high expectations for this book and I was extremely disappointed. The entire book reads like a research report, only the quotes from the community provide any personal context or stories. There are also a lot of problematic opinions in this book, including the inclusion of trauma and celibacy as reasons for identifying as Ace/Aro. It's really unfortunate that this outdated and harmful thinking is still coming up and I expected more from the Ace and Aro Advocacy Project. The Harry Potter references were completely unnecessary and insensitive. The Ace/Aro bingo sheets at the end of the book contain harmful things often told to Ace/Aro folks and to put it into a bingo card completely disregards the harm that those things have to the Ace/Aro community.

The only part of the book that I found compelling were the quotes from the community providing different experiences and thoughts but overall it's not a book that I would recommend and there was a lack of sensitivity and thought to the content included within it.

This book was less about Ace and Aro journeys of the people and more about explaining what ace and aro are and how to navigate your own journey if you think you might be aro/ace. While this was informative, I didn't feel it was actually showcasing ace and aro people. I also thought that the Harry Potter reference - from a notoriously anti-LGBTQ author - wasn't the best to include. I understand why it might have been, but some more commentary on how the community has changed in response to the referenced author/character would have made this easier to swallow. Overall, informative, but misleading title, and the HP reference should have been at least more explained if not outright removed especially in light of JKRs rhetoric against people in the LGBTQ space.

This felt like reading a google search on what ace and aro is, which was not what I was expecting from this book. I wanted to read about ace and aro PEOPLE and their experiences on discovering their identities, not an endless list of definitions. I found it repetitive and the running theme seemed to be “attraction is confusing.”

I was also VERY disappointed by Harry Potter references. At this point, I shouldn’t have to be concerned about stumbling on references when reading queer books.

I DNF’d at 30%,

I also was unable to find this book on GR.