A review by actuallyjusthanne
Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman

emotional lighthearted relaxing 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? No

3.5

This book was really sweet! Nick and Charlie get closer to each other in this book, and some of the stuff they have struggled with in the past come to light. They also come out to more people in their life and face more opposition about their sexuality and relationship.

The majority of this book was set while they were on a school trip to Paris, which was really fun. It was a change of pace from their usual setting and gave them more opportunities to discuss things that came up. It portrayed the experience of going on mildly supervised high school trips with your friends and acquaintances SO well
Nick and Charlie not getting to share a bed? omg absolutely DEVASTATING
and I thought that
the teachers getting together was SO FUN and such a sweet touch
. It was PERFECT that it was set in Paris because it fits the song Paris by Taylor Swift so well! 

Stumbled down pretend alleyways / Cheap wine, make believe it's champagne / I was taken by the view
Like we were in Paris / Like we were somewhere else / Like we were in Paris, oh / We were somewhere else
Privacy sign on the door / And on my page and on the whole world / Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours

There was also more exposition about Nick and Charlie's friends in this book: characters from the previous books are coming into their own.
Elle and Tao finally start becoming a thing??? omg it's sooo fun and Tao finally becoming self aware and a more normal person was refreshing too
. I love the dynamic between Nick, Charlie, and their friends, and I love that they have a gay little circle of friends, where everyone is nice. I'm excited to see where they go in the future.

Every book in this series has tackled a new hard concept: this one talks about self harm and disordered eating (which I think will progress into the next book). I'm impressed with the level of complexity that can be portrayed in such a short amount of time/space, with the amount of nuance needed to discuss hard topics. It's a bit on the nose, but all in all, a totally reasonable direction to take the book/story, in my opinion.

My ranking so far of the books in this series: 1>3>2. I'm getting really excited to watch the show after I finish book 4!
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