A heartfelt evocation of the last year of high school, where we struggle with uneven side jumps into quips and punchlines a la TV cartoons, very unnaturally-placed speech balloons for the worst reading order experience since the last one, and more, but come out of it with at least some enjoyment. The girls here want to have something on the CV to boast of, but all the extra-curricular groups have been found wanting, especially the sport-focused ones, so they invent a supper club for the half-a-dozen or so of them and nobody else to know about. There they can get in touch with their childhood food memories, and party while eating a touch more exotically than the usual basement blowout. Which is a good thing, when the club suddenly needs to be a very healing place indeed for one of the girls.

And unfortunately, that proves to be too huge a jump in tone, and equally unfortunately, it turns into something of little consequence as we then turn to all the lasses one after the other to see what's eating them, from exam anxieties to stifling parents to this to that. The whole loses all ground and love as it degenerates into something far too soapy. At least the loose art style and the low word count are on hand to make this a very quickly-read coupla hundred pages, which I never regretted turning to but didn't find that much from. But at times, it's "eugh – teenagers" indeed. At least we get some recipes...

Supper Club is a sweet and savory slice of life story following a group of teenagers trying to survive their final year of high school. Their chosen survival method? Food!

In particular, after discovering they don’t have any classes together that year, the friends decide to form a club of their own: Supper Club. Together they learn to make and share a wide variety of foods that being they joy and comfort. And most importantly, bring them together no matter what else is happening in their lives.

This story is packed with great characters, diverse family situations, and all the teen drama a reader can expect from a young adult graph novel. It’s a perfect read for a friends book club, and includes a few fun recipes to try out.

Date finished: 12th November 2023
Publish date: 20th September 2023

4⭐
📱

Thank you @Netgalley for approving this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

With none of the same classes and a tonne of different extracurricular activities, 3 friends; Nora, Lili and Iris decide to create a Supper Club. This way they don't sacrifice spending time together, and cooking up amazing dishes while helping each other get through senior year.

This was a sweet and cute read. The characters were very likeable, although, it did take a bit before I could differentiate each one. The pacing was also a little on the fast side, so some of the problems felt like they were over before they began.

The food that was made in Supper Club looked so damn good. I also loved that there are some recipes in the back of the book.

Cute YA graphic novel. There’s a lot of teen drama but this is a YA book. It was a super fast read. The illustrations are cute. The recipes included at the end look delicious.

This YA graphic novel is super sweet! I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it! A small group of friends decide to start a "Supper Club" to make up for none of them having classes or any other extracurriculars together during their senior year of high school. Not only does the reader see the friends' high moments as they spend time together cooking and eating a variety of diverse foods but the reader is shown the private, low moments each of the girls are going through individually. That time in your life is fun as you're holding onto your last moments of childhood free time. But on the flipside, they are beginning to prepare for their future and experiencing huge feelings, not only about college, but about choices, responsibilities, family, and anxiety. The art is super playful and colorful. The food descriptions and illustrations made me hungry! Good thing recipes were included at the end of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a lovely story. A group of friends on the cusp of their high school graduation realize how much their lives are changing and being drawn in different directions. In a last-ditch effort to preserve their friendship, they create Supper Club where they cook and eat together every week, sharing nostalgic dishes from childhood.

I think it's so important that young people understand that the older you get, the less our important relationships resemble what they did in childhood. You can still be friends even when life is taking you in different directions. You don't have to pull away or worry about being a burden. Real friends won't mind, no matter how difficult the burdens are.

The recipes at the end of the book look wonderful and I can't wait to try making them! What a wonderful read!

The story is predictable with every girl playing a stereotypical traditional teenage stress trope, but they’re all well designed characters.

A little too much time jumping gaps but understandable.

My thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Considering the title of this book, I was expecting more of the girls around the table with their friends, sharing more stories about the food they were bringing and what it meant to them (family, culture, etc.).

What I ended up getting was a little of that and a LOT of drama and lack of communication between friends. Which I thought was kind of weird, as when I was a teenager in HS, my friends and I talked a LOT and we always discussed things that bothered us. We needed a sympathetic year, someone to understand and sometimes to be a shoulder to cry on. I get that not everyone is open like that, but these characters were supposed to be BFF RYDE OR DYE 4EVAAAAA and we got them not telling each other about MAJOR things, so assumptions were made and feelings were hurt. A lot.

Too much drama for my taste. Maybe HS is like that now? Shrug, whatever.

Which is how I felt about the characters. I didn't care about their secret problems and how that spawned more problems for them in the long run. I didn't care about the "forgiveness" theme by the end. I rather have a "tell each other the truth" theme. That's more practical and better then forcing the narrative that one HAS to forgive someone to their face and be accepting of them, even if they treated you like garbage and you don't know why and they haven't changed, so if you open yourself back up to them, they are just going to hurt you again.

How about a Life Lesson on appropriate boundaries?

So this annoyed me more then anything. It was also a SUPER fast read, but I think that was because I was skimming because the drama was annoying.

2, not horrible and good for those who enjoy drama but not my cup, stars.

The supper club was a cute story about friendships and hardships. It was a good reminder to not be angry at someone when they’re going through a hard time. Try to be more understanding when your friends can’t be there for events and can’t be as happy for you because of what they’re going through. I enjoyed the storyline, the characters were cute and quirky, I especially loved Lili. She was the cutest. My favorite part of this book is the fact that there are recipes! Real life recipes so you can make the foods from the book! How cool is that? I very much enjoyed reading this.

A cozy, feel-good graphic novel about the importance of friends even when times are tough. I loved the artwork, the story, and especially the food! I think the book does a good job of showing how food is central to our cultures, families, and lives., and that by sharing food with one another, love is also shared. The book contains recipes so you can make these foods as well.

My only critique of the book is that I wanted more from the individual struggles the friends face. I wanted each story to be fleshed out a bit more.

'Supper Club' by Jackie Morrow is a heartwarming graphic novel that explores the power of friendship, food, and the complexities of growing up. At its core, it's a sweet coming-of-age story that revolves around a group of seniors who find solace and connection through their shared love of food. This unlikely supper club becomes a place where they not only bond but also confront their personal struggles.

This book evokes a wide range of emotions. The warm feelings associated with gathering around a table of food with loved ones had me feeling very nostalgic. At the same time, the story isn't afraid to explore sometimes difficult issues like anxiety, grief, and toxic relationships. I felt empathy as the teenagers confronted their personal challenges.

The book boasts a quick and engaging pace, making it an easy and enjoyable read and the characters in "Supper Club" are incredibly lovable and diverse, each bringing their own unique perspective to the story. While the characters had depth, I couldn't help but wish for a bit more exploration of each character's journey. Delving a little deeper into their individual stories could have added even more richness to the narrative. Additionally, a bit more focus on the role of food in bringing people together, perhaps through a few extra illustrated panels of the supper club meetings, would have enhanced the story's overall impact.

One of the standout features of the book is its subtle nods to culture, tradition, and the powerful role of food in bringing people together. The illustrations beautifully complement the narrative, evoking a sense of community and warmth. It's a delightful story that I could easily envision as a binge-worthy Netflix adaptation, offering an even broader audience the chance to savor its heartwarming charm.

I would happily explore and recommend more works by Jackie Morrow. It's an ideal entry point for those new to the graphic novel genre, particularly young adults and new adults seeking a heartwarming and cozy story. If you're in search of a feel-good, warm graphic novel, this is a great choice.

Rating: 4.25 stars

Special thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet "coming of age" comic about a friend group that is going through their last year of high school and realizing that they don't have much time with each other. I wish that the recipes had been dispersed throughout the book instead of at the end and that there had been more focus on the actual supper club.

I enjoyed this story so much. It is a perfect coming of age story, that happens to include food. The girls in this book are all seniors in high school but all going through such different things in their own lives. The Author has created an amazing story of happiness, sadness, triumph, and learning. Each girl in the story is coming into their own and understanding that sometimes you don’t really know what is 100% going on in someone else’s life. I love the club aspect to it and the variety of foods included in the story.

I feel that even as a 28-year-old I can remember back in high school and relate to these girls. Each one of them has relatable aspects. Whether it be losing someone, having rocky friendships, or having strict parents. Each girl is so well written and displayed their life dynamics that I think everyone can either find one girl they related to a lot or have parts of each that you can relate to.

I honestly cried at points because I remember feeling the same emotions that these girls were going through in different events of the book and how it felt hard at the time to understand why certain life events where happening. I love that the club helped keep them together and always brought them back together not matter what happened.

The illustration style is so cute! It may not be one of my favorite styles, but I think it works for the story and the feelings it tries to evoke. I also really enjoy at the end you get the recipes for all the things made. I am going to try some of them because they looked delicious.

I would recommend this book to anyone I know that is between 12-22 that is going through a rough patch in life, in friendship or if I knew they need a feel-good book to pick them up. I would also recommend it to anyone older then 22 that wants a feel-good book because honestly this made me feel so many things but, in the end, it was like a warm hug.

I felt like this book was a bit unfocused. While it's trying to use food as a metaphor for relationships and changes, it doesn't always succeed in integrating these ideas. Some sections are almost entirely about the food. Others, it's barely present.

It's senior year, and three pals realize they share no classes or extracurricular activities. How can they make the most of their dwindling time together? By forming a supper club that will guarantee they get together regularly to share good food and good times.

This had a nice, old-fashioned appeal to it. I liked the art, and LOVED the fact that this is relationship-based rather than relying on supernatural themes to attract teen readers.

And - recipes! Yum!

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for the read.

This cute comic by Jackie Morrow is entertaining and enjoyable. The characters in Supper Club are three high school seniors, Nora, Iris and Lili, who want to spend the most amount of time together as possible before they graduate. The girls cannot agree on whether to get involved with sports or a school club so they invent the supper club for themselves only. At each meeting they are supposed to bring one dish to share with everyone else. Nora has taken the lead for the group but they alternate meeting at each other's homes.

The characters in this story are believable. They accurately portray how high school seniors behave and the dialogue between them is spot on. Each of them has the usual parental issues to deal with. Some do a better job than others. What the adult reader gets is a trip down memory lane. My own school experiences matched what Nora, Iris and Lili experienced. The comic strip panels were colored with primary colors and I love how the author showed their hair flying in the air when they were frazzled.

I received a free copy of the book by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I am happy to say Supper Club is a fantastic read.

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**

Supper Club by Jackie Morrow was a beautiful and moving coming-of-age graphic novel about a group of girl friends who form a club around food so they can still spend time together in their last busy year of high school. This is a story that truly felt like a labor of love by the author/illustrator. From the unique and interesting characters and their differing struggles, to all the delicious foods described and the recipes in the back, everything just came across as so touching and warm. You wanted to hug everyone and eat everything and maybe even cook something, and that is truly a feat to get me to want to do that. The art was also lovely and colored so prettily. I loved this graphic novel that was really about friendship, food, and family at its core. Some may want to look into triggers, but I would highly recommend this for teenage readers and up.

This was a cute story of friends during their senior year of high school as they navigate the challenges they face. There were some parts that could have been better developed, and I found the addition of extra characters to be confusing and hard to keep track of, but overall it was a sweet slice of life story

Three teenage friends in the final year of high school decide to start a club. They do this as a chance to spend time together and because previously they tried other clubs that didn't work for them.

The three main characters Nora, Lili, and Iris each had an issue they were dealing with and used their friendship and the club to help them get through their difficult time.

The art style was simple and suited the story, the characters were easily liked and relatable.

The food illustrations in this made me hungry!

I feel this book bit off more than it could chew (ha!) - it tried to handle too many themes in a short period, making all of them feel a bit lacklustre. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't super memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-arc! All opinions are my own etc.