Several books on my recent HBR (Have Been Read) list have had similar feelings and/or themes. And yet, each one is its own unique read. Heartbreak Hotel by Micol Arianna Beltramini and illustrator Agnese Innocente falls into this “alike but not alike” category. This coming of age story is similar to the stories The History of Everything: A Graphic Novel by Victoria Evans, Raging Clouds by Yudori, and The Flip Side by Jason Walz. Yet, it is also its own work and has its own audience. We have LGBTQ characters, a girl who does not want to grow up, a boy who wants to stop altogether and sidecharacters who fill in the types of people we are.
This is an interesting story of coming to terms with heartbreak, heartache and loss, while realizing it might feel like the end, but there is potential for new beginnings. There are uses of alcohol, death in a car accident, mental health issues, for potential triggers, yet it is still tastefully done and good for most aged 13 and up. Maybe 14 and up if your reader is more sensitive to such themes.
While I enjoyed things, I was not surprised by some of the events. We follow one character who, through her point of view, the events that lead up to finding herself in the magical room at Heartbreak Hotel. She lost “the love of her life” and blames the boyfriend of the girl who is “lost” for it. Yet, as we go along, we see through the eyes of other characters, that you are only seeing one side of the story. Each of the four characters has lost something. Most of them have lost a love, but some have lost themselves as well. But to escape a seemingly inescapable place, they must also find themselves.