Solitaire - Alice Oseman

Title: Solitaire 
Author: Alice Oseman
Published: 31st July 2014
Rating: four stars
Bought from ASDA for £3.95

"I don't remember not being serious. As far as I'm concerned, I came out of the womb spouting cynicism and wishing for rain."

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year 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. 

*Synopsis from back of book* 

So when I first started reading this book I had an immediate problem, I didn't think I was going to like Tori much at all. When I read the synopsis I thought I'd be able to associate with her as a character because she was a blogger and seemed like a bit of introvert, but nuh-uh. I felt like she was judgemental of other people and that she never made an effort, yet acted like the world was against her. And I didn't like it. She didn't get involved with conversation nor did she make any effort to keep the bonds she had with her friends. 

But, big but, she wasn't oblivious to this fact and she seemed to develop over the course of the book, whilst still remaining herself. In the end, it was Tori's development in the story that made the book for me, instead of the plot. I could completely understand why she felt the way she did, the world has a horrible way of sitting on shoulders, even if I did want to make her realise that the world isn't a hundred per cent badness. 

The plot itself was very interesting and the story dealt and handled a lot of issues really nicely. Psychological disorders, depression, justice, lack of care (on an almost Less Than Zero level), as well as friendship. Solitaire was an interesting mystery and it was nice to see their actions resonate bigger than just complimenting Tori's life, but rather they highlighted the dangerous cultural norm that is placing others on a pedestal and mistaking their violence for excitement and justice. 

The romance in this novel was inevitable, but it was still good. I loved Michael and I loved him with Tori. The ice skating scene is probably the cutest romantic scene I have ever read. In a lot of ways, these two compliment each other perfectly, without either of them being perfect.

If there was one thing I would have liked a bit more of it would be that I wanted to hear a bit more about Tori's family. The story had quite a lot of interaction between Charlie and Tori, but I felt that the parents were there because they had to be there. They had no real input into the story. 

Overall it was a good read, which I read really quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed Tori as a character and I thought it was written really well, especially because I've never read a book that's similar. Ultimate kudos to Alice Oseman.