Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It’s no Heartstopper

Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

I read the barebones ebook, so no added illustrations, which is why I say the characters of Nick and Charlie should be kept to graphic novels only. They lose so much of their luster without the adorable illustrations. That and limiting herself to fewer words in the graphic novels helps, I feel, as it focuses things a lot better. In Nick and Charlie, it feels like the quality of the writing fades in and out, like one moment it’s on par with Solitaire (which she […]

Now I have to wait a whole ‘nother year!?

Heartstopper, Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

Well, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, and Oseman to finally dive headfirst into the more serious matters she’d been dancing around. However, I don’t know that I expected it to go this far. That’s not a bad thing. I appreciate that Oseman didn’t aim to give readers some twee, PG version of these things. That would’ve been a disservice to the characters, their story, and the subject matter. Nick, Charlie, and everyone around them are in the absolute trenches in volume four. At the […]

Yes, yes, we see what you did there…

Loveless by Alice Oseman

by 7 Comments

Given the author, I was expecting this to fall somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum, going so far as to ask my fiancee which character(s) on the dust jacket she thought would be on it, but I must say I was surprised to find out where exactly on that spectrum our main character Georgia wound up falling. I knew almost instantly where Oseman was going with it, from the moment Georgia was repulsed by the people kissing around the fire, but naturally it took over half […]

Now I’m starting to see the differences…

Heartstopper, Volume 2 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Volume 3 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

Heartstopper really is just a warm hug of a series. Even when I know where things are going already, having seen the television show already, I’m not about to turn down that comforting, familiar squeeze. Volume two continues the trend of having most of the same beats as the show, but gone is a lot of what the show added in to heighten the drama. Basically, it’s fewer anxious moments and a faster happy ending, which I see nothing wrong with. Perhaps some of those […]

Heartstopper indeed

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

Like nearly everyone with Netflix, I watched Heartstopper, the hype surrounding it on Twitter inescapable. For a while, I’d written it off; however, it reached a critical mass after a while and I had to at least give it a trial run. That trial run turned into a full-season marathon and many unsuccessful attempts to stage a rewatch with my fiancee joining me this time. Naturally then, a read through of the books that started it all was bound to follow at some point. Starting with […]

finale (for now)

Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

CW: quite a few, scroll all the way down here https://aliceoseman.com/extras/conten… To finish up my review of this delightful series, which will be finishing later this year with a fifth and final volume: things have gotten rough but I think the relationship at the core of these volumes (Charlie/Nick) lacks the strength to handle the weighty issues that Oseman is contemplating. I will freely admit that I have a bit of bias around stories that involve 16-17-18 year olds having Big Weighty Decisions, but in this […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo