five books with aroace main characters you say....please share 👀
You are super in luck anon because almost as soon as i posted that I started compiling a list of all the ace/aro-spec books I could remember reading, these are all across a big variety of genres and age categories but all the mcs fall somewhere on the aro-ace spectrum (and personal faves are bolded)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire: I think most people here know this one. A world where children sometimes disappear through magical doorways to other worlds, and sometimes return. When this happens, they usually are desperate to find a way back. Nancy is one of these children, looking for a way back to an underworld of living statues that has become her home while also trying to find a murderer at the boarding school full of other children looking for their own doorways back to their worlds. Asexual mc
Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman: Rumi, a teenager whose younger sister recently died, moves to Hawaii to spend a few months with her aunt, where she tries to piece together who she is without her sister and rediscover her love of songwriting, something she and her sister always did together. Aro-ace questioning mc
Forward March by Skye Quinlan: Harper, a student at a prestigious high school whose father is running for president, deals with school, marching band, and a presidential campaign all while trying to figure out if she really likes the girl and fellow bandmate who recently was catfished by someone pretending to be Harper. Ace lesbian mc
All Systems Red by Martha Wells: This one is pretty popular too, idc. Murderbot is a self-named human-bot construct (think cyborg, but manufactured specifically for security purposes) who hacked its own governer module to gain free will, and then used that free will to continue doing its job while watching thousands of hours worth of space soap operas. Unfortunately, its existence of efficiently half-assing keeping humans safe is disrupted by a group of clients who end up in hot water, all while being unexpectedly concerned with its state of freedom and the status of its personhood. Aro-ace agender mc
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger: Elatsoe, also known as Ellie, is a young Lipan Apache girl who has a dream where her cousin tells her the name of his killer—the morning before she wakes up to the news of his death. She and her parents travel to the town he lived and died in and work to comfort his grieving family while searching for evidence that will prove the killer, a well-liked community figure, is guilty. Also features faeries, ghosts, and other paranormal and mythical creatures. Asexual mc
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic: ANOTHER very well-known tumblr book! Whatever, not gonna try to explain the plot, these are the lacrosse murder books you’ve heard of them and if you haven’t you can look up a summary. Mc is word-of-god demisexual but also it’s so evident in canon even without being explicitly stated that I personally don't even think you need the disclaimer
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson: In a world where dead spirits regularly rise from deceased bodies to devour and possess the living, Artemisia is a nun-in-training who will one day cleanse the bodies of the recently deceased so that their souls can move on to the afterlife. Then, she releases an ancient and dangerous spirit from a relic to protect her convent from attack. The spirit possesses her body and gives her extraordinary power—but the spirit isn't necessarily on her side, and it's unclear if the connection formed between the two of them can safely be severed. Asexual mc (not explicit bc it's fantasy, but I think it's pretty obvious even without the exact word used)
Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace: In a dystopian world torn apart by two rival corporations, Mallory is one of many people who find refuge in a virtual reality game that allows you to enter battle, earn real-life credits for sorely-needed necessities like water, and interact with virtual, computer-created versions of the league of supersoldiers that protect her home city from attack. Mallory has had a parasocial obsession with one of these supersoldiers—22—for years, until one day she gets caught in an attack that results in her meeting the flesh-and-blood version of the celebrity/superpowered protector. As she spends more time with 22 and his paired operative, she begins to see just how deep the corruption of the company that controls her city runs—and also begins to wonder what she can do to help the city and everyone who lives in it. Aro-ace mc
Those are all the ones I feel like writing out full summaries for, but some other books that I really like with aroace mcs are The Diviners by Libba Bray (ace lesbian mc in second book), The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (word-of-god aroace mc), The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (word-of-god aroace secondary character), and The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards (word-of-god demisexual gay mc, ace secondary character). The one thing I haven't really read any of is books with aroallo main characters :( If anyone has recs for those, please feel free to share!
