I can't believe Alice wrote this at 19. If you asked me to write a novel about 16 year old me as a freshman in college, it certainly wouldn't look like this.

While I don't relate to living the life of a British school girl or with Tori's personal mental health struggles, I was still moved by the themes in this book. I find Tori very interesting and honestly, hilarious. Her dark humor and constant contradictions kept me on my toes throughout the whole story. While also leaving me at the ends of chapters frustrated, like a good unreliable narrator does.

On my darkest days I can related to how Tori thinks and how she processes her emotions. She feels very real and I am so happy to see Jenny Walser bring her to life in Heartstopper. Jenny narrates the audiobook and if you are having a hard time grasping Tori's voice and tone, I recommend listening.

While the tone is quite different than the Heartstopper graphic novels, Solitaire feels like a necessary read to not only understand Tori but Charlie, the whole Spring family, Nick, and even Ben Hope as well.

*Absolutely read the content/trigger warnings before reading*