We've raved about the previous two volumes of "Heartstoppers" by Alice Oseman, and the story shows no signs of veering off the road with Volume 3 now available.

It's been out for a while but we're only just playing catchup on the blog with the latest instalment of the story of two boys who meet, become friends and then fall head over heels in love with each other.

Charlie and Nick are now officially boyfriends, and Charlie is now feeling brave enough to come out to his mum - but coming out isn't just a one-shot thing. Everyone will find out about Charlie and Nick sooner rather than later, and there's a school trip to Paris to navigate too!

Alice deftly demonstrates the ups and downs of a budding relationship - and the amazing feeling when someone's really there for you through thick and thin, and is prepared to put as much on the line for you as you are for them.

Alice's storytelling and illustrations make this instantly compelling for any gender or sexual preference, purely because she puts such a whomping great big beating heart into her story, and makes her characters believable, grounded and of course just as vulnerable as anyone you'd meet in your own life.



She also touches on other tricky subjects such as self-harm and eating disorders, as we see a more vulnerable and fragile side of Charlie emerging as the story develops.

As we mentioned with the previous volumes, what Alice manages more successfully than any other aspect of Charlie and Nick's Story (and it's not all 100% perfect. Some plot elements feel a bit weirdly ham-fisted and distant in the way she deals with them) is what it feels like for anyone who's falling in love for the first time,  regardless of who they are. Even old farts like me will be taken straight back to the heady days of their youth, remembering a summer when a crush turned into something far more. That inescapable feeling that suddenly the world you live in would be unbearable without the object of your desire in it. Boy does she ever nail that beautifully in this series.

Notes for parents: Strong language and adult themes so worth a read before you let younger tweenagers loose on it (though personally I am pretty sure most 12 year olds would've heard riper language in their playground at school long before they hit Year 7).

Sum this graphic novel up in a sentence: Dealing with the trickier hues and tones when a relationship starts to get serious, this is perfect for tweens and teens who have a zillion and one questions and issues of their own, wrapped up in a really solidly readable love story.

"Heartstoppers Volume 3" by Alice Oseman is available now, published by Hachette (Kindly supplied for review). 

Our YA / Teen Graphic novel of the week is actually two GNs - Volume 1 and 2 of a rather touching love story - A love story between two teenage boys.

If that's the sort of thing that you don't really want to read about, fine, hit the back button on your browser, unsubscribe, wash your eyeballs with lye, whatever.

But we're going to talk about "HeartStopper" anyway, so buckle up and prepare for something far more captivating than your average bromance.

Charlie is gay, no doubt about it, and as he joins a new school he ends up sitting next to Nick, the epitome of the chisel-jawed rugby hero. What could the two possibly have in common?

Strangely though, the two become friends, but for Charlie that friendship is obviously something else. It's a mind-blowing heart-stopping crush that seems doomed to failure from the start.

His sister tuts, as do his friends. "You fell for the straight boy! You idiot!" they chide, but then something happens that gives Charlie a tiny teeny flame of hope worth fanning, as it begins to become all too apparent that Nick might have developed feelings for him too.

After a pretty nasty confrontation that more or less cements this belief, the story shifts in focus from Charlie to Nick, who then has to deal with a whole load of new feelings of self doubt.

Could Nick actually be bisexual? He likes girls, but he REALLY likes Charlie. Maybe more than just "Likes".

One thing's definitely for sure, Charlie REALLY loves Nick's pooch Nellie (well, who wouldn't!)

In volume 1, the story sets out to introduce the characters and set up the interplay between them, but then in volume 2 things kick up a notch and we really begin to discover the depth of feeling that Charlie and Nick have for each other, and how it's put to the test in literally every aspect of their young lives.

Alice's acute observations of what it's like to go through those tempestuous teen years when you're not sure of anything, and spend a lot of time wondering what life is all about is tempered by a gay love story that's truly beautiful to behold.

Whether you're gay or straight, you'll definitely remember what those first few weeks of falling in love are like, and that's something Alice captures so perfectly here. All the little nuances and details that, to outsiders, mean absolutely nothing but to the two people at the heart of it, it's their lifeblood, their bread and butter, the air they breathe.

I'm pretty aware I'm not the target audience for this, yet it's the sort of thing that gives an old ragged straight white bloke a bit of hope that there are amazing and above all NICE people in the world, and those people sometimes get the sort of mind-blowing spine-tingling love that they deserve.

Alice's story is fab, her clean visuals are stylish, almost like fashion sketches crossed with manga, but utterly perfect in "Heartstopper" and so brilliantly scene-setting with each twist and turn in the story.

There are moments of conflict too, as you'd expect - and whether purposely or not, Alice actually underplays these quite a lot so far in the first two volumes (with volume 3 due next year).

I remember when my brother came out to me as a young teen and it was a bolt out of the blue, but somehow I'd always suspected. He was a LOT like Charlie, and I think Alice maybe missed a trick with describing what it is like to admit to your friends and family who think you're one thing, that you're actually something entirely different - but still the same person inside (if that makes sense).

Such a ridiculously cute moment that it makes your heart sing!

Homophobia is also underplayed here quite a bit, and I wonder if the upcoming Volume III will make more of this, as I think it's something that all teens going through the same things as Charlie and Nick will (sadly) have to put up with and be mentally prepared for, from folk who just can't get their heads around love being universal, regardless of sexual preference.

I must admit that this is the first set of Hodder-published Graphic Novels I've seen, and if this is the sign of the direction they're going to move in with their teen fiction, then I'm all for it, as this is a joy-filled and brilliant read and you just cannot help rooting for Charlie and Nick throughout. Very much looking forward to Volume III.

Sum these books up in a sentence: A brilliantly depicted and thoroughly absorbing love story between two teen boys, tackling the complications, awesomeness, pitfalls and euphoria of what falling for someone head-over-heels is really like.

"Heartstopper (Volume 1 and 2)" is out now, published by Hodder Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).