Thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

These lesbians are MESSY! This was kind of exhausting for me. Love triangles..love squares? I don’t know. Everyone was involved with everyone.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed it but I enjoyed the art style.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

How Could You follows a group of college students in the wake of breakups as they embark on journeys of self discovery and budding romance.

There's so much going on in this arguably short graphic novel, and I love it all! A (arguably quite large) stellar cast of characters, a plot that hinges almost entirely on the internal experiences of those characters, moody panels, nightmare sequences, heartbreak and self-love, there's plenty to appreciate about this graphic novel. I was convinced this couldn't possibly be a debut, but Ren Strapp just seems to be that good. What these characters go through is messy and dramatic, but in the end I found myself full of joy and love and hope for them.

⭐⭐✨2.5/5

I was really excited for this graphic novel, but it unfortunately just didn’t hit the mark. There was so much amazing rep in this story, including several LGBTQ+ and POC characters as well as a cane user. And the artwork was amazing. I truly loved the graphics. But the story itself left a lot to be desired. There was so much going on in this story, but about 95% was just straight up drama. The characters were all very immature - they felt more like freshman in high school than juniors and seniors in college. There was also a character who I thought was nonbinary but their pronouns shifted midway and there was never any discussion around their identity - so I really have no idea. All the characters felt very shallow with little depth to who they were, even around some very big topics like identity that could have been explored in this story. This story was basically one big dumpster fire of drama and poor choices. Nothing got settled or resolved, and it basically just ended with a giant shoulder shrug.

The graphics in this book were amazing, and so was the rep. I struggled a little bit with the story due to the fact that it felt nothing was resolved in the end and certain things in the story didn’t get talked about. I did otherwise enjoy it, though.

An excellent graphic novel about a group of college students navigating the paths of identity and friendship in their final years of college. The artwork is beautiful and the colouring is bright. I sometimes found it hard to stay abreast of the who’s who and the different relationships but maybe that is also the point of the story with the students, losing themselves and then finding themselves and having revelations about who they truly are to themselves and to each other. It is also quite fast paced but very engaging. A good read.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Here's another graphic novel I read towards the end of 2024 that I didn't love that much!

I loved the art and I loved how dynamic it felt all the way through, but the quick pace sometimes left me grasping at straws as to where we were and who we were with, and there were so many side characters I constantly mixed them up. Everybody was pretty horrible and they were all stuck in very minimal plot so I'm already struggling to recall anything past the basic summary.

On the other hand, though, I appreciate that everybody was horrible - it made the book feel real and raw, which I feel is often rare with queer characters considering that we as queer people are still expected to be perfect and/or sexy in order to be tolerated. More messy people like this!

I had my little issues with this one but I'd confidently recommend it to anybody looking for contemporary queer graphic novels.

I liked this book, but it did feel a little unsatisfying at the end. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but this is definitely a book for someone looking for a graphic novel about queer women being very real and messy.

Rating: 3.5

A wonderfully queer debut graphic novel about the woes of dating and falling in love in your early twenties.

All the characters were very complex and were so intertwined that sometimes it made it difficult to remember who was dating who, friends with, or exes of. Could have been longer to establish these relationships more clearly however I liked that this was a quick read.

The artwork and colouring was absolutely stunning and I loved the bonus content at the back where the artist shared how they used colour within the story.

Definitely a story you would want to read in one sitting so you don’t forget important information about the characters. Unlike myself who read this over a couple weeks. I would be very interested in reading more from this creator in the future.

Life so messy, especially in your early 20s and this graphic novel encapsulates that perfectly! We don't spend much time with the characters, but they are so well fleshed-out that you know them from the first couple of panels. I loved the use of colours to change the mood too.

The art was fantastic - especially the colorization.

I hope there will be another volume so we witness them grow even more and become the awesome humans they can be.

a stunning debut! prefaced by <i>"for anyone who learned lessons the hard way and paid dearly for it,"</i> this queer graphic novel is brimming with drama, angst, growth, and redemption.

i was reminded of jillian tamaki's [book:roaming|62207006]. they are both about a young queer friend group, their baby gay drama, and all the messy angst that comes with it. <i>how could you</i> also has a lot of heartbreak, the anguish of a breakup, and coping by any means possible, even when it hurts those around you.

it's impressive that this is a debut, because ren strapp's art is impeccable. i especially loved the trippy nightmare sequences, dreamy beautiful and painful all at once. there are some lovely pages of bonus content at the back of the book, where strapp talks about her intentional use of color. not only does each character have a color designated to them, but panel color schemes convey moods very effectively. i love the interplay between passion and disaster.

the ending is superb - that classic moment of shaving your head to cleanse yourself, to move forward to something new, all with the hope that your fresh new chapter will be a healthier one.

i loved this book, its vibrant art, its messy drama, and its on-point depiction of the sensation of being trapped inside your own emotions. i'll be keeping an eye out for whatever else ren strapp may release in the future 🖤

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.</i>

Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for this arc

4/5 stars

This was a messy read about college kids trying their best but not exactly getting things right and dealing with the fallout (eventually). I liked the art and colour choices for what was happening in the story. The story was hard to read at times, simply bc I could tell (and so could the characters) the bad decisions would have heartwrenching outcomes, but that's life!

Molly’s life is a mess. Her girlfriend, Olene, dumped her via email — an email written while she was on the plane to France for a year abroad, giving Molly neither a warning, nor the chance to reply. Now all Molly can do is watch Olene on social media as she lives a whirlwind life with her new roommate. Said roommate, Yona, was Molly’s friend and her best friend’s girlfriend until she dumped them both in order to spend more time on her voyage of self discovery in France. With Olene.

Lou, Molly’s best friend, is also suffering through the heartbreak, but not as much as Molly. Still, it’s nice to have someone around who feels just as crappy as she does. When Molly gets invited to a party, she drags Lou along and there the two of them meet Anjali. Tall, beautiful, and everything Molly could want in a rebound girlfriend.

The problem is that Anjali and Lou seem to have struck up a relationship. Plus, Anjali is the ex-girlfriend of Molly’s roommate. So, yeah, Molly’s life is a mess. And it’s about to get even messier.

This graphic novel, story and art both by the author, is a slice-of-life story that takes place over the course of one year in Molly’s life as she mourns a lost relationship, decides to move past it, and makes a stupid decision that will cost her everything. Because Molly is hurting. She’s also selfish, needy, and lost. That isn’t an excuse for her actions, but it’s part of the underlying snarl of why she decides to make her bad decision.

This book is 80% buildup, and then all the fallout of Molly’s shitty choices. There are glimpses of Olene and Yona, off in France, having their own issues — Olene struggling with her sexuality, Yona with her crush on Olene and her assumptions of why Olene encouraged her to break up with Lou before coming with her to France — but it’s mostly Molly.

I’m a sucker for a happy ending, but I also appreciate when a character has to accept and deal with the consequences of their actions. Be a shitty friend, lose that friendship. Be thoughtless, and maybe people won’t bother to think much of you in return. It’s not a happy, feel good book, but it’s a well done story showing various people’s lives, how they come together, and how one person can sever all those ties.

The art is decent, and I enjoyed the variety of body types and skin colors. The color palette, with its soft pastels and softened edges, makes for a lovely visual reading experience. If you’re into sapphic romance, graphic novels, and complex characters, you might enjoy this book. There’s no happy ending, though; instead, it’s open ended, leaving room for Molly to grow and become the person she wants to be.

This book was a great read! The story had a great pace and the characters were well developed. It was very easy to get sucked into the story and in just a few sittings, I was done reading the book!

How Could You by Ren Strapp [Oni Press #egalley #gifted]

A diverse cast of college students as they navigate the complications of friendship, love, and the excitement of being young and exploring the world. This was a fun and heartaching collection of stories as these characters' lives are intertwined.

3.5 stars. Loved the many kinds of people represented within this graphic novel, which was unapologetically queer. The art style was fun, colourful. However, every person was so incredibly messy, which made for drama but may not be everyone's cup of tea. I wanted more time with each character to understand them better and came away more stressed than anything else.

This comic definitely belongs to many other important works you should read or recommend to someone who's discovering themselves or being introduced to the topic of LGBT+. The illustrations are beautiful, the story is pretty engaging as well and despite being chaotic at times, I still had a great time.

This story was a whirlwind of emotions and activity, and I enjoyed the ride very much. The characters were real, flawed, but imperfectly human, and I really felt for the relationships, both romantic and companionship. This is an LGBTQIA+ books dealing with the uncertainties of love and loss and finding yourself while going through college and determining not just who you are, but who you want to be. One thing that took me out of the story on occasion was the formatting, it is a graphic novel however EVERY panel is meant to be read straight across and not along the shared panel edges that might indicate alternate directions (look at page 183, for example.) I believe telling the readers at the beginning to read across primarily or even adding corner arrows on panels may assist with this. Regardless, through this story you will see character growth, lovely graphics, and introspection. I would definitely recommend reading this!

Thank you Ren Strapp, Oni Press, and NetGalley for the ARC! And congratulations Ren Strapp on your first graphic novel!

Unbearable characters which made it hard to root for anyone. Did find the drama interesting tho, like watching a train wreck. And while I hated the characters, it did feel like a realistic messy college queer friend group dynamic. Problem was I don’t think that was the intention, when the author tried to make the reader gain sympathy for the characters, I still couldn't empathize with them

I just think this was just ok. I enjoyed the story but there wasn't too much that really gripped me. And the art style while cute didn't connect with me in a way that rammed up my enjoyment of the story

I don't know. The characters in this book were mostly messy and not very likable (with the exception Lou and Jackie). And be warned - this is not a romance. I have to remind myself that young people are just figuring things out and sometimes things will be messy and you will do things that make you unlikable I guess. And the story was compelling enough (visually and plot-wise) that I went through this super quickly so I don't regret reading it. I just don't think I'm the target audience to be able to love it.

I received a digital Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley and Oni Press in exchange for an honest review.