The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m
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Heartstopper (Volume III) - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper (Volume III) by Alice Oseman
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): In this volume we’ll see the Heartstopper gang go on a school trip to Paris! Not only are Nick and Charlie navigating a new city, but also telling more people about their relationship AND learning more about the challenges each other are facing in private…
Meanwhile Tao and Elle will face their feelings for each other, Tara and Darcy share more about their relationship origin story, and the teachers supervising the trip seem… rather close…?

MY OPINION: ****

I loved this installment in the Heartstopper series! I know there are more that are not published yet but I did end up reading them on my phone in the Webtoon app so please forgive me if I accidentally spoil something as I'm honestly not sure where this one ends.

This book spans a school trip to Paris, which is perfect as the city of love for two boys slowly falling in love. We also get to see a lot more Tao and Elle's budding relationship which adds another subplot to the story to focus on that I found super cute. We get more LGBTQ+ representation with Elle being trans and I loved how the author merely stated that and didn't make it an issue or anything like that. 

ALSO, we get a super cute side story about two queer teachers finding love with each other and I was so here for it. It was almost better than Nick x Charlie! ALMOST.

This book focuses mostly on Nick and Charlie coming out to their close family and friends and revealing their relationship with each other. It covers a lot of different issues that I think the author handled very nicely.

Charlie really reveals a lot of the inner trauma of his past that he's been hiding and I felt really bad for him but loved the support he received from Nick. I loved how this book dealt with homophobia and bullying in a delicate but serious way and allowed readers to see the ramifications of dealing with that kind of abuse. 

As I stated in my review of the first book, I really liked how this book covered so many important issues with extreme attention to detail. As it is a graphic novel, we get to see each character's emotion, hand-clench, hug, shoulder-rub, jaw-tightening, etc etc that we can only imagine in a conventional prose book. I usually don't read graphic novels but I'm honestly becoming more of a fan and hope to find more. Not only are they easy to read but they also tell a story in completely different ways than ordinary books can. 

I liked how this book didn't make every single character the exact same. We saw different dimensions of each character, loved/hated each one differently, and really got to see the individuality between each person. 

I would recommend this book to readers looking for a cute, adorable, fast-paced novel. Check trigger warnings before!

Main Character: Nick, Charlie
Sidekick(s): Friends, family, etc
Villain(s): Harry, David, homophobia, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book is all very real to life. 

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