mme_carton's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual harassment
sk_coco's review
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death
bitsandbobsdivination's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I love how deeply this book was rooted in friendship and creating true, real, and very raw connections with others. I really enjoyed the first half as well as was very nervous for the characters in the second as things blew up to the point I wasn’t sure which way it would go.
Beautiful story as a reminder that we do have a choice in the end and there is always another way if we allow ourselves to seek it. 🗝✨
Beautiful story as a reminder that we do have a choice in the end and there is always another way if we allow ourselves to seek it. 🗝✨
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Stalking
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
colorful_lulu's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warning: Dog murder, physically & emotionally abusive parent/mother, mental health
I loved how the main boy-girl friendship that doesn’t become anything romantic. Heck, this is addressed early on in the book that it gets annoying when anonymous Tumblr users and Frances’s so-called “friends” assume that because Frances and Aled have a boy-girl friendship, it’s romantic. Instead, the childhood best friend to lover trope between Aled and Daniel was the only lasting romantic relationship throughout the book.
This book has really an original storyline. You begin with drunk Aled admitting that he’s Radio and Frances trying to form a friendship without ruining it by fangirling, to Aled’s deepest secret splashed all over the internet ruining the trust between them, and ending with Frances, Daniel, Carys, and Raine driving 6 hours to find Aled in university and stopping him from going back to his abusive mother. Even from the beginning, I wanted to scream at how unpredictable, relatable, and just how original the story is. With little details building up to create the final storyline, truly like Universe City.
A final comment: I’m surprised at how little the [b:Heartstopper: Volume One|40495957|Heartstopper Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)|Alice Oseman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541887843l/40495957._SY75_.jpg|62811229] characters are mentioned in the book. The characters never use their name but you know it’s Tori, Charlie, and Nick. And you know that the book takes place after [b:Solitaire|20618110|Solitaire|Alice Oseman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390416741l/20618110._SY75_.jpg|39901420] because of the girl’s school burned down in the prologue and it has been mentioned a couple of times.
I loved how the main boy-girl friendship that doesn’t become anything romantic. Heck, this is addressed early on in the book that it gets annoying when anonymous Tumblr users and Frances’s so-called “friends” assume that because Frances and Aled have a boy-girl friendship, it’s romantic. Instead, the childhood best friend to lover trope between Aled and Daniel was the only lasting romantic relationship throughout the book.
This book has really an original storyline. You begin with drunk Aled admitting that he’s Radio and Frances trying to form a friendship without ruining it by fangirling, to Aled’s deepest secret splashed all over the internet ruining the trust between them, and ending with Frances, Daniel, Carys, and Raine driving 6 hours to find Aled in university and stopping him from going back to his abusive mother. Even from the beginning, I wanted to scream at how unpredictable, relatable, and just how original the story is. With little details building up to create the final storyline, truly like Universe City.
A final comment: I’m surprised at how little the [b:Heartstopper: Volume One|40495957|Heartstopper Volume One (Heartstopper, #1)|Alice Oseman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541887843l/40495957._SY75_.jpg|62811229] characters are mentioned in the book. The characters never use their name but you know it’s Tori, Charlie, and Nick. And you know that the book takes place after [b:Solitaire|20618110|Solitaire|Alice Oseman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390416741l/20618110._SY75_.jpg|39901420] because of the girl’s school burned down in the prologue and it has been mentioned a couple of times.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief
rebecca_77's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death
walkingpoppet's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death
platoniciris's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow. This book was not at all what I was expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury
jemjjb's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts
serena_hien's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death
reiyu's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book has such a diverse cast of characters, LGBTQ+ characters along with people of colour characters. The story has an amazing plot, and the characters really add to it.
The characters were quite loveable, and I really did grow an attachment to them while I was reading this book. We get the main character’s perspective but I believe that the other characters are just as important for the growth of the story. ( The story is in first person. ) The main character does a lot of school work, they don’t necessarily enjoy it but they are extremely intelligent and so think that they should go into something that requires a lot of brains as she does have those skills. Once in a while, she does get a break and likes to draw. She is one of the many diverse characters, as she is of mixed race with her dad being black and her mother being white. She is also apart of the LGBTQ+ community, similar to many of the lead roles from Alice Oseman. ( the authour ).
We get little clues every few chapter, each building up the story and explaining more to us about one of the characters and the main character finds out about one of their old friends through a radio show, and they also discover lots of things related to their town. The plot is extremely gripping and constantly had me on my toes! The attachment that I had grown with the characters, helped me engage with the story a lot more as I wanted to know what was happening to these people as the authour had made me interested in them. There are constant plot-twists, and the authour sends us on an adventure. It does end with a happy ending!
Admittedly, some parts were slow and I would’ve appreciated a faster pace but I found that every slow part in the book did lead to a big event in the end. Most of it was fast pase so I got through this book very quickly.
I did love the characters, and they all had some sort of development, but I feel like the character ‘Daniel’ was jusr thrown in there. I loved him, but the story wouldn’t have changed if the authour did not include him.
A trope that instantly comes to mind after thinking about it is ‘Academic Rivals-to-friends’. There’s lots of scenes inside of the book which are set in school, as the characters are still in school, but I thought these scenes made the book more real.
My favourite quote from the book was :
“I wonder- if nobody is listening to my voice, am I making any sound at all?”
The characters were quite loveable, and I really did grow an attachment to them while I was reading this book. We get the main character’s perspective but I believe that the other characters are just as important for the growth of the story. ( The story is in first person. ) The main character does a lot of school work, they don’t necessarily enjoy it but they are extremely intelligent and so think that they should go into something that requires a lot of brains as she does have those skills. Once in a while, she does get a break and likes to draw. She is one of the many diverse characters, as she is of mixed race with her dad being black and her mother being white. She is also apart of the LGBTQ+ community, similar to many of the lead roles from Alice Oseman. ( the authour ).
We get little clues every few chapter, each building up the story and explaining more to us about one of the characters and the main character finds out about one of their old friends through a radio show, and they also discover lots of things related to their town. The plot is extremely gripping and constantly had me on my toes! The attachment that I had grown with the characters, helped me engage with the story a lot more as I wanted to know what was happening to these people as the authour had made me interested in them. There are constant plot-twists, and the authour sends us on an adventure. It does end with a happy ending!
Admittedly, some parts were slow and I would’ve appreciated a faster pace but I found that every slow part in the book did lead to a big event in the end. Most of it was fast pase so I got through this book very quickly.
I did love the characters, and they all had some sort of development, but I feel like the character ‘Daniel’ was jusr thrown in there. I loved him, but the story wouldn’t have changed if the authour did not include him.
A trope that instantly comes to mind after thinking about it is ‘Academic Rivals-to-friends’. There’s lots of scenes inside of the book which are set in school, as the characters are still in school, but I thought these scenes made the book more real.
My favourite quote from the book was :
“I wonder- if nobody is listening to my voice, am I making any sound at all?”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Child abuse