all three books are 5 star reads ✨

book: chapters:
Solitaire 1-46
Radio Silence 47-61
I Was Born For This 62-129

i love them

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Huw Parmenter is incredible!

Alice Oseman writes amazing stories - Huw Parmenter is incredible!
Solitaire and IWBFT are great, Radio Silence I did not like as much, partly due to the fact that the SMS don't come across well in an audiobook. It gets annoying after a while.

Feel-good stories + realistic relatable characters

First of all, I'd highly recommend these books, especially to YA / coming of age readers. All three books are very realistic and authentic when it comes to teenagers and growing up and they have a beautiful feel-good atmosphere.

In my opinion every teenager should read these books because they portray growing up in such a realistic (not over-romanticized, too perfect) way. Plus, I really love how big the lgbt+ representation in these books is. It's not even the main topic, it's more like "yeah, this character is bi-sexual and guess what, she loves comfy clothes and studies hard for school, just normal things". I mean, nothing's bad about stories that have e.g. an outing as main topic but you don't need to do that in order to have lgbt+ characters. It's great to nomalize being queer without big conflict or drama.

The narrators are great. I'm not native English and these audiobooks are the best to understand so far. I'd highly recommend if you want to practice your English.

Solitaire (4,5 ☆)
Of all three this one is my favorite. Not much happens tbh but somehow it's not boring. The characters are so realistic. It's not a romanticized idea of how teenagers "behave" (like media does all the time). Instead this book has characters who just start to find themselves and don't know what to do yet and have sad feeling with no reason but that's okay and normal too.
I couldn't stop listening to the audio book. I like Tori, the main character, very much and I've started to think like she does ... I'm not sure if that's a good thing, because she's not very optimistic.
And wow, it's a romance book that I actually like! Maybe it's simply because it's authentic and not toxic. It has a grumpy (girl) × sunshine (boy) couple. And I felt a kinda darc academia while listening.
It's my first Alice Oseman novel and I get why everyone loves her (you can read / listen to it without having read heartstopper btw).

Radio Silence (4 ☆)
I read in the comments that most people liked thus book the best and I get why. If you like a cozy atmosphere, colorful clothes, nerdy friends and being creative - you will love this book! It made me want to go on a sleepover with my friends and being 15 again. That kind of vibe.
The main topic is friendship and growing up. This book also shows how different people can be in school and at home / with their friends. Frances, the main character, expresses her values and favorite stuff very much and in school she's more shy and off to herself. I think that's very relatable. And this book shows that school isn't everything and that's better to follow your heart and creativity and that's so great!
I really like Frances' development and how she grows. She's lovely but also a people-pleaser, which I don't like. But I appreciate how authentic it is. She's a teenager and that means she struggles with finding her true self and growing as a person and facing insecurities. I can relate to that.
In this books are the best minor characters. I love Daniel and Raine. And Daniel's development is so great that he shows more emotions later on and gets more vulnerable.
Tropes: academic rivals to friends (!!), friends to lovers, crush to friend.
My critic (and I know everyone is gonna hate me for that): Frances' and Aled's friendship feels kinda shallow, because they're not talking about the important stuff that's going on (and I know that's because we need that drama later in the book) but yeah, they mostly talk about their hobbies which is fine, but I'd find it better if they had talked about the problems that really matters to them earlier in their friendship.

I was born for this (3 ☆)
This is the weakest of all three in my opinion. And the reason for that is: Not much happens. I know, I said that about Solitaire too, but here it's like the characters don't change until the end and the plot is pretty ... plotless. To be honest this book doesn't really feel like a rounded story. The beginning is pretty weak and there's not a big aha-moment.
Also there is religious stuff, that doesn't have to be there. It feels a bit strange, when the characters pray to god for strength or whatever when thw other books weren't religious at all.
The positive things: This book shows fandoms in a very realistic light and that it's not just about the famous people but about the feeling of belonging. It shows also the toxic sides of fandoms. I mean seriously, what happened that we see famous people not as people anymore but as gods?
This book is split in two POV's: Angel (a fan) and Jimmy (a member of the boyband). I liked that because it gives us both sides and Jimmy's point of view showed how high the prize is of being famous and following your passion, because fans literally destroy their normal lives.
By the way, I don't think Jimmy's panic attacs are good for my mental health because they are way too accurate. They're almost giving me panic attacs.
To sum up, the topic is good and important nowadays but as a story the execution is weak. I didn't like many characters because they felt a bit flat and only the main characters developed. The story does have a climax but very late at the end. Okay, so there is a lot to think about the topic but the story it's pretty plotless.

Extra thought after listening to the book: I get Angel's point of view, that it's not really the thing / person you're a fan of but instead the people in the fandom because they understand (for me it's six of crows). I like the feeling to be part of that whole journey too. But if we see Jimmy's side all of that gets a bad taste. We (fans) created a toxic culture out of it on the costs of other people's pivacy. A very toxic culture. Where we're turning real peolpe into figures or symbols of the fandom which we think is love but it's more like addiction. And of course, when the band is on stage (in this case) they are a role and not really them. However behind it they ARE real people just like we with a right of privacy and we must understand the difference and respect boundaries. Like in movies: it's fine to love or hate a character but leave the actor in peace. Musicians are characters on stage too.

fabulous

alice oseman never fails to impress. wonderful performance from the voice actors as well.

Three awesome books beautifully read.

Radio Silence was definitely my favourite. But i loved all three of them. It is remarkable how Oseman takes you on a journey through different but somehow connected lives.

All of the storys are one of the most special YA Novels I’ve ever read or heard. I highly recommend EVERYTHING!

(especially Radio Silence !)