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2014 EVENTS:
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Friday 18 July 2014

GUEST REVIEW: Solitaire - Alice Oseman

Friday 18 July 2014
GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 400
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This book is released in July and can be preordered in store now for a £3 deposit.

Find out details for the Solitaire launch party in Birmingham here.

SUMMARY
In case you're wondering, this is not a love story. My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year - before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people - I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that's all over now. Now there's Solitaire. And Michael Holden. I don't know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don't care about Michael Holden. I really don't.

REVIEW
Oh God, I don’t even know where to start. I’ll begin with saying that this book is definitely a ten out of ten, and that I couldn’t fault it even if I tried. 

The protagonist, Victoria Spring (or Tori as she prefers to be called) is not a brave, out of this world character. But rather a real teenager that suffers through the days the same ways we do. I found that this was the main message of the book, not love or bravery or being above average, but being a teenager in this screwed up world, and how Tori grew as a person. She was so easy to relate to and I found myself on multiple occasions thinking to myself “That is literally me” or “THANK YOU for expressing my thoughts so perfectly!” The fact that she is so pessimistic and hates pretty much everyone, and simply can’t care makes it so easy for me to just relate to her. I also dislike many people at my school, I generally don’t get along with many people and just like Tori, I’d rather just sleep and blog. 

Michael Holden. Michael is one of those boys that you are likely to encounter at some point in your life. He’s not a strong, cool dude who everyone seems to love (I hate people who everyone loves), he’s a boy who is also trying to figure himself out, and figure the world around him. He’s real and honest. He’s also crazy and a bit weird, but that’s what made me love him. Lucas, Becky, Charlie and Nick are also very interesting side characters who make the book all that more interesting (and can I please have Becky’s hair??)

I loved that no one in this book seemed to be completely fine; no one seemed to have a perfect life either. Everyone had something going on, they all made mistakes, and that reflected life so perfectly. Even Solitaire, a blog that everyone suddenly started following and loving, made silly mistakes (like almost killing some people)- showing that even a strong figure that people look up to will make mistakes, and this reflected life so perfectly. 

The fandom mentions and school references (like PEE, ugh.), made the book even more real and agh, I love this book so much.

I did guess who was behind Solitaire quite early on (and got it right, whoop!), but the element of mystery was always there, and I was always second guessing myself and wondering whether I was just an idiot ha!

The ending of the book was not perfect, there was no real closure. But that’s what I loved most, the sheer honesty of it. Problems don’t get solved when you find romance or when you make up with your friends, some problems take years to go away, and some never do. 

I cannot recommend this book enough, go and preorder it ASAP if you haven’t already. Alice Oseman is going to be famous, I just know it. 

Also, follow Alice’s blog ( http://chronicintrovert.tumblr.com/ ) and her twitter. ( https://twitter.com/AliceOseman )

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me the book, follow them on twitter too!( https://twitter.com/HarperCollinsCh )

- Maryam

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