Began reading: 24.3.2015
Completed reading: 28.3.2015
Overall rating: 4.2 stars
Victoria Spring, or Tori as she prefers to be called, is a high school student at Harvey Greene Grammar School (Higgs). She spends her free time blogging and sleeping. She is a typical introverted teenage girl, and doesn’t mind being alone. This all changes when Michael Holden and Solitaire enter her life. Solitaire is an organisation that is claiming to ‘brighten the lives of high school students’ in the county. With Michael Holden’s friendship, Tori must learn to overcome her pessimism and find out what Solitaire is really planning for its followers before it’s too late.
Solitaire is a mix of mystery, realistic, young adult fiction with a hint of romance. This is the second time I have read this novel, but I was super excited about re-reading it. The cover of the book was what caught my attention when I first came across it. It was very pretty, and I love the subtitle: This is not a love story…I never really listened to the whole “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I must admit, re-reading it made me understand what I didn’t catch the first time round.
The first sentence was a great way to begin the story:
I am aware as I step into the common room that the majority of people here are almost dead, including me (p. 3).
Yep, definitely talking about high school.
Yep, definitely talking about high school.
Oseman was only 17 when she wrote the book, and I must say, she did an AMAZING job! I loved the way she introduced the main character:
My name is Victoria Spring. I think you should know that I make up a lot of stuff in my head and then get sad about it. I like to sleep and I like to blog. I am going to die someday (p. 4).
Tori’s introduction sets up her attitude for the rest of the novel. She uses a lot of sarcasm and humour, which I loved! The characters as a whole were great. They were realistic, which made them so much more relatable.
Intertextuality (yes, I used a big word, haha) played a significant role throughout the novel, with references to Harry Potter, Star Wars, Tumblr and Madonna. Again, this made the novel a lot more realistic.
I loved how romance was slowly eased into the plot. It didn’t come out of nowhere. There was no cliché ‘hot guy’ or cheesy lines. Romance didn’t play a major role in the story, which also contributed to the plot being more realistic.
I felt that the plot started really strong, with the whole Solitaire mystery. As the story went on and we learn more about Solitaire, I lost a bit of excitement. I think that the Solitaire aspect of the story could have been improved to make everything more interesting. Solitaire kinda took things a bit too far, which seemed unecessary. Burning down a school… really?
As I mentioned previously, the characters were so realistic. I think that Tori was definitely the character I related to the most. I just didn’t like how she was so bitter to everyone. She refused Michael’s offer of friendship numerous times! I mean, how can anyone be so mean to Michael Holden?! There were times where I just wanted to slap her. BUT I agreed 100% with one of her quotes:
I don’t want people to be worried about me. There’s nothing to worry about. I don’t want people to try and understand why I’m the way I am, because I should be the first person to understand that. And I don’t understand yet. I don’t want people to interfere… (p. 266).
My favourite character was Michael Holden. He is the type of guy I like: adventurous, caring, hilarious and downright adorable. He loves tea, dancing and arguing about books. He isn’t afraid to cry in front of girls, or admit his true feelings. He also has the best quotes:
‘There’s a time and a place for being normal. For most people, normal is their default setting. But for some, like you and me, normal is something we have to bring out, like putting on a suit for a posh dinner’ (p. 62).
My favourite parts in the book were whenever Michael and Tori flirted. For example:
Tori: ’You sound like you’re in love with me,’ I say…
Michael: ‘There’s no reason why I couldn’t be in love with you’ (p. 164).
Michael: ‘There’s no reason why I couldn’t be in love with you’ (p. 164).
I recommend this book to anyone who likes The Perks of Being a Wallflower, If I Stay, The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, and the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter.
Happy reading!
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