Heartstopper (Volumes 1-4)
Alice Oseman
Synopsis: Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…
My Rating: 4.5 Stars – Rounded up to 5 stars
Cover 4; art 4; plot 5; characters 4; writing 5; readability 5; enjoyment 5
My Review: I knew I would enjoy this but had no idea how MUCH I’d enjoy it. Ended up reading all four volumes in one evening. They were absolutely fantastic.
The characters from HEARTSTOPPER definitely made me very happy while also giving me heart palpitations at every turn. There was so much queer pining and it was just fantastic. This felt like an accurate portrayal of high school and falling in love for the first time.
The later volumes do deal with much more heavy topics than the first volume does but Alice did a fantastic job at navigating things in a very healthy way.
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To see more of my reviews, head over to the reviews page on my website.