Heartstopper (Renewed for 2 more seasons!)

Mvnl

Staff member
I read vol 4 today and I think I cried even more than I did watching Episode 7 & 8 combined.

Yeah some of the latter books are pretty heavy. The Nick & Charlie book completely broke me as well

Seeing the two of them actually fighting felt very 'NO THEY ARE MY HAPPY PLACE, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO THEM'!
 
I got introduced to them thanks to the series, so in a way I kinda want that time for them just stops there, so the honeymoon phase could just keep on and on and they are happy forever, but then the next books kind of remind you that life just... happens. It helps that Alice does Q&A here and there and provides sketches of events like

they each prepare to propose each other

or

they're in their late 20s and Nick comes home to find Charlie greeting him with a kiss
though.

I don't know how long till this melancholy mood goes away...
 

Mvnl

Staff member
Okay but is it a video (that will definitely break me again) or just a slower version or something like that?
 
He/Him
Yeah some of the latter books are pretty heavy. The Nick & Charlie book completely broke me as well

Seeing the two of them actually fighting felt very 'NO THEY ARE MY HAPPY PLACE, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO THEM'!
I actually kinda feel the Nick & Charlie novella is wildly out of character for both of them nn. And Solitaire too to an extent. I get they were written before Heartstopper, but it feels like 2 different sets of people? Like... not speaking to each other for 2 weeks after an argument? This Nick and Charlie???
 
I actually appreciate Alice for writing Nick & Charlie as she did. As we see in the last chapter she wrote for Heartstopper, Charlie is overcoming his insecurity with finally taking their relationship further intimately.

Whereas in Nick & Charlie, sex is a regular thing for them. Alice has something she can build up to in the final chapter. They’ve been the epitome of a perfect couple for 7 chapters, dealt with Charlie’s mental health issues almost perfectly as a couple, etc.

I bought them not speaking for 2 weeks simply because we see the distance on the tv show. Charlie actively avoids Nick for a week at school despite having Form with him every morning.

Charlie being insecure about Nick moving two hours away and wanting to breakup before he gets dumped, even while drunk, is something I believe Charlie to do. I also believe Nick to give Charlie space but also to agonize over not wanting to breakup.

As they both say numerous times, “why are we like this?”. They’re Nick & Charlie, they’re dynamic is on a different level and I appreciate Alice taking it a bit in a darker path and then wrapping it up back with a bow. It lets readers see they aren’t the totally perfect couple, even they act stupid sometimes.
 

Mvnl

Staff member
I actually kinda feel the Nick & Charlie novella is wildly out of character for both of them nn. And Solitaire too to an extent. I get they were written before Heartstopper, but it feels like 2 different sets of people? Like... not speaking to each other for 2 weeks after an argument? This Nick and Charlie???

Yeah I found that a bit much too and I really had to get used to the tone of the writing from their point of view cause at first it felt very much like 'this is not how Charlie/Nick would be telling their story at all??'.

The party fight was hard to read for me and everything I didn't want from them, but then I guess in the show there's almost a childlike quality to them that eventually has to fade + Nick's almost existing to make everything as comfortable as possible for Charlie so I guess it's only natural for him to not deal greatly with things sometimes either... but everything before it was so perfect, even when they went through rough times, and this was like 'WELCOME BACK TO REAL LIFE' and I was not here for it
 
Finished books 3 & 4 last night.

A lot tougher read than the opening two but still charming in its own way.

Should I get the Nick & Charlie book? Is it worth a read!? Considering what people are saying about it being different.
 
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