Ace of Hearts

By Cooklin. Published by Street Noise. 

Softcover, 272 pages, 2-Colour, 2026. 

Starred Review from Booklist, “this powerful account will comfort those who grew up feeling broken.”

What does love look like when you are not interested in sex?

Growing up, Caitlin Cook knew the recipe for social success from watching television and reading books: two best friends, two enemies, and a boyfriend. So she arranged her life accordingly: making friends and dreaming of the boys she met in school.

But she felt that inside, something was wrong with her. Because though she wanted to get close to people, every time she experimented with sex, she just felt bored.

This graphic novel follows Caitlin Cook, who is asexual but does not yet fully realize it. From evangelical purity politics to the footloose college campus, Caitlin navigates different worlds each with their own sexual orthodoxies, and clumsily attempts to fit into each of them. A thoughtful and immersive coming—of—age memoir about one girl's struggle to figure out and then claim her asexual identity.