‘Shapes of Love’ by L. V. Peñalba

Among books I’ve recently completed: Shapes of Love by L. V. Peñalba has the capacity to expand which orientations and which types of relationships are perceived as “normal.”

Sasha, a newly famous singer/songwriter, has been catapulted to fame under the stage name “Sassy.” Everyone assumes that Sassy’s romantic songs were inspired by a real-life boyfriend but in reality, Sasha is aromantic and asexual. She loves romantic stories from anime and fantasy and writes songs about her favorite “ships.”

After a chance meeting with Kai, her former boyfriend, is caught on film and leaked to the media, Sasha’s manager Marissa pressures her to be in a “fake” relationship with Kai to maintain the goodwill of her fans.

As a reader, this story made me angry for the things that Sasha went through at the hands of her manager and her record label: the way that Marissa dismissed Sasha’s asexuality and her aromanticism as being “just a phase” that Sasha would grow out of.

I also appreciate that Sasha was possibly autistic, which made me all the more angry that, as “Sassy,” she wasn’t allowed to explore what being autistic might mean for her, but which left her still having to navigate things like sensory overwhelm.

Portraying Sasha as autistic as well as aromantic and asexual made complete sense to me. Autistic people “are more likely than neurotypicals to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, and other sexual orientations” (Lewis et al., 2021, p. 2324).

Which made Marissa’s invalidating of Sasha seem all-the-more true to life. It’s a common experience for autistic people who are aromantic and/or asexual to feel “invalidated in their sexual identity” when other people claim that “their sexual orientation [is] a result of autism” (Lewis, et al., 2021, p. 2329).

I appreciate that this book portrays characters with a variety of orientations. In addition to portraying Sasha as being aromantic and asexual, the book also features characters who are gay, bisexual, and demiromantic.

Another thing I appreciate about this book is the way that it helps to normalize relationships that don’t fit within conventional pairings. Sasha’s record producer is in a polyamorous relationship between themself and two partners. And as Sasha evolves as a character, she begins to contemplate the possibility of a queer-platonic partnership with someone who is also developing romantic feelings for another person.

In multiple instances, this book challenges the idea that romantic partnerships are the only valid type of committed relationship. And again I think this tracks with Sasha likely being autistic. Autistic people are less likely to adopt typical social norms around gender and sexuality. Autistic people are also more likely to engage in polyamorous and/or non-monogamous relationships (Walsh-Adams & Stokes, 2022, para. 1).

References:
Lewis, L. F., Ward, C., Jarvis, N., & Eleni, C. (2021). “Straight sex is complicated enough!”: The lived experiences of autistics who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, or other sexual orientations. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(7), 2324-2337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04696-w

Peñalba, L.V. (2026). Shapes of love. St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

Walsh-Adams, J. & Stokes, M.A. (2022, Sept. 27). An exploration of why autistic adults are practicing consensual non-monogamy. Autism Spectrum News. https://autismspectrumnews.org/an-exploration-of-why-autistic-adults-are-practicing-consensual-non-monogamy/