Reviews with content warning for Blood - Solitaire

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

mattyb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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bethsimone_'s review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"I don't know what's going to happen to us. I don't know how long I'm going to be like this.
All I know is that I'm here. And I'm alive. And I'm not alone."

I haven't felt truly represented by a character until Tori. Her apathetic personality and the sensitive handling of her mental health is extremely well done.

You can physically feel Tori shine brighter when Michael is near, they have a beautiful relationship in which they are two halves making each other whole.
The dialogue between them on the roof made me tear up, mostly because Tori's feelings were extremely familiar to me (and anyone else that has experienced suicidal ideation) but largely ~~because I was holding my breath~~, feeling Michael panicking trying to get Tori to understand she needs to be here, she is important, to get her away from the edge no matter what. It's heartbreaking, because Tori truly doesn't understand what other people see when they look at her.

"You need to be here," he says.

I especially love the fact that Oseman doesn't 'fix' Tori or write a 'happy ending' that ties things into a neat bow. Mental illness is not something that can be fixed, and recovery in not a linear path, it'll likely shape your whole life.

What Solitaire does, is deliver not exactly an anti-suicide message, but hope. Hope that you can find the joy in life again, doing pointless things just to pass the time, laughing at nothing; being alive.
Throughout the book, Tori slowly 'defrosts' from her apathetic, numb state, not exactly melting by the end but opening up enough to allow herself to feel, and continue to grow. She isn't exactly changed, but she acknowledges that, and finally sees she isn't alone, she has people that love her for who she is, and they'll still be there when she doesn't.
Oseman writes friendship and chosen family in a really beautiful way, and is the real love story underpinning Solitaire.

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saomah5566's review

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dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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marleen02's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really like Tori. Not necessarily who she is as a person, but the way she is described is just very real. I’m not saying I agree with all her choices, but I understand them. Honestly she is an asshole at times, but you can’t help but feel for her.
I loved the first half of this book, but I felt it was longer than it needed to be, and honestly it felt liked it just dragged on in the second part.

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tetrootz's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

🫶 Hurt/Comfort

💻 Anonymous Blog

☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine

I don’t think there is ever going to be a book I dislike from Alice Oseman. This book was fantastic. Tori Spring has always been a favorite character of mine and her book was amazing.

This book dealt with a lot of heavy topics but it was written so nicely. Tori dealing with undiagnosed depression, her complicated relationship with her mother, her brother’s mental health, the odd age of figuring life out only to find she doesn’t care about anything.

The asexual rep in this was lovely and I liked how the relationship with Tori and Michael was written. This whole book was just so lovely in a hurt/comfort way.

Spice Level: n/a

Release Date: 02, May 2023

POV: First Person

Rep: Asexual (MC), Pansexual (SC), Gay (SC), Bisexual (SC), LGBTQIA+ characters, Depression

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