I went into reading this graphic novel completely blind and I now understand why I need to read the synopsis. I began reading this and enjoying the conversion from ballet to rock, from young girl to young adult. However as the graphic novel progresses and the band becomes bigger, the story becomes disjointed and felt like parts were missing.
I did however like the progression for the characters, from finding love, to finding yourself, to even handling food disorders and smoking well. It was just a shame things were missing in the story.

trigger warning
<spoiler> fat shaming, slut shaming, eating disorder </spoiler>

Val always wanted to become a ballerina, but as her coach starts to weight-shame her, she yearns for another outlet for her emotions and frustrations. Then she meets Kat.

This comic was kinda jumpy. Topics are introduced but then dropped for a while or even entirely, which feels a bit like puberty, but also feels like bad storytelling. I got the feeling it was done on purpose, and I don't think that's the best choice that could have been made.
Especially the introductory riot just was never mentioned again, served solely as a plot device so Kat and Val could team up.
As Val makes a decision regarding her ballet lessons, there is no talk about it with her parents, which feels odd. It should have been shown, because I am sure they had a kind of reaction and I'd be curious to see which one it would have been. Has Val told them what the coach did to her? Did they encourage her to listen to her gut?

What I liked are both the characters and their depiction. Women with body hair! Women who sweat! Who dress like they want to!

Also, this comic introduced me to Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, which was long overdue.
It makes me want to get my goth kit out and do my make-up, regardless of the heat or the necessity to wear a mask when outside.

To sum up: The storytelling and writing could use some work, but I loved the illustrations. A lot.
I'll make sure to keep my eyes out for further works of the artist.

May I take this moment to say how weird it feels to categorize this as historical fiction, when it depicts the time in which I grew up?

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Although I wasn't a teen in the 90s, I do remember that period of time when the riot girls, and wild punk rock girls abounded, which is what this story is all about.

Val thinks she wants to dance, that that is all she wants, but when she goes to her first punk rock show, and realizes that there is a life out there she has never tasted, she formsher own all girl punk band, and although they aren't good, they have spirit, and that seems to be enough to keep the passion that she used to give to ballet, to give it to music.

Lots of swearing, and I do mean lots of swearing, but other than that it would be PG-13. Nice sort of story about loving music more than anything, even boys, who brought you into that world.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

That's what I'm talking about when I talk about character development. The character development was very good in this one and I'm super happy with the way it was written.

One thing to note though. The story (especially during the ending) was a bit all over the place. Sometimes it seemed a bit rushy between destinations and events however it wasn't too rushy where you can't follow it anymore. Just a simple opinion.

This comic is very fun to read and very refreshing from the usual comic that I read. It shows a very bright main character through her life. Starting a band, her ballet classes, you name it. It's very good.

I would definitely recommend this one!

Thanks to the author and publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The blurb really caught my attention and I was like, well this sounds like something I'd really enjoy. Boy was I disappointed. I mean, it was okay, but that's about it. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and that made it a lot harder for me to enjoy this story. They were a bit too feminist in my opinion and that's okay pls don't hate me, but I felt like it was just too much? It did read quite quick and I would recommend reading it despite it being just an okay read for me.