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Heartstopper Book Review
HeartStopper is a series of young adult, LGBTQ+,romance graphic novels written by Alice Oseman, with volume 1 of the series being published in February of 2019 and later being adapted into a Netflix series in 2022. This story is a pure, wholesome telling of two boys, finding themselves and falling in love and their experience figuring out their sexuality and how they come out to their family and friends.
Storyline/ plot
Heartstopper is a pure, sweet, warm feeling romance where our main two love interests are year 10 Charlie Spring and year 11 Nick Nelson. Nick is a popular, outgoing member of the school rugby team, meanwhile Charlie is a shy, introverted budding musician who was bullied previously for being gay.
While the pair seem to be on opposite sides of the social scale, they spark up an unlikely friendship when they are seated next to each other in form registration after the Christmas holidays. At the time Charlie is in a toxic, secret relationship with Ben Hope, another student at Truham boys. As this relationship comes to a close Charlie is left wondering what he would ideally want in a relationship, while his friendship with Nick seems to be getting more flirtatious.
Nick Nelson is your typical boy next door, who at first glance appears to be straight, but, as time increases and he starts to grow closer to Charlie he starts to research the possibilities he may not only be attracted to girls.
Nick soon realizes he is bi-sexual and begins to hint to Charlie for things between them to progress. For a while things are kept under wraps but, throughout the series we see Nick and Charlie begin to tell the people closest to them about their relationship.
We as the reader get to see them both bloom together through the struggles of coming to terms with your sexuality, difficulty surrounding food and mental health as well as a fantastic depiction of the long term effects of bullying can have on a young teenager.
Heartstopper also has some amazing side characters, such as Tara and Darcy, a lesbian couple from Higgs school who help Nick in feeling comfortable along his journey and relationship with Charlies. We also have Elle, a transgender woman who we see learning how to live her life and be confident with who she is.
Writing style
Alice Oseman has a plethora of fantastically written novels surrounding many different groups within the LGBTQ+ community. Her way of writing from a fictional perspective but making it educational at the same time is such a great way of learning about all of these different forms of love and how we can support those around us who may be struggling with identity and sexuality.
Heartstopper particularly is popular due to it being a graphic novel which is not often as popular in the general market. It’s fantastic detail and relatable plotline and story is what makes this series so loved by fans of all ages.
Pros/ cons
Overall I loved this entire series, I felt that it was the perfect length and nothing was rushed, no stone was left unturned and it made learning about how to support people in my own life so easy. It was heartwarming, wholesome and warm, really is the definition of a comfort series.
Conclusion
I rated this whole series five stars, the attention to detail was immaculate, the representation of so many different communities was unlike any other young adult series I have ever read. I thought the pacing was fantastic and the storyline was realistic as well as the characters being written as their accurate ages, and going through things so many teens struggle with. It was also great to see the representation of eating disorders and mental health, which can help so many people feel less alone in their struggles.