I really liked this book! It was a fast and entertaining read for me. Personally, I could tell the characters apart just fine, idk why some people were confused?
As someone who loves drama and gossip, the story was made for me! I also like that it didn’t resolve at the end; that would’ve been such an unfitting ending.

A graphic novel with awesome queer representation? Yes, please! That alone makes this book stand out.
The storyline could have been made more flow-y, more smooth, but it goes well with the art and the flawed characters make it a fun read.

I didn't know that a book could capture queer dating and the messiness as accurately as this book does! I love that so many of the characters are so far from perfect, and that while there are loose ends that are not wrapped up perfectly in a bow, its because of the honesty of the book. The demographic representation is diverse, but where How Could You really hits the nail on the head is in the accuracy of naviagting queerness in settings where every queer person is known to you in some way, alongside the fluidity of gender and sexuality. I cannot get over how REAL this book was.

Thank you so much for the advanced copy, I cannot wait to buy a physical copy in the winter!

Hmm, I didn't really like this story as much. I felt like there was constant whining about exes and therefore all four girls started dating each other, which, obviously, went totally wrong. At the end of the book I still hadn't had any idea what I've just read. I did like the artwork though.

Welcome Back!

Last week I talked about a goal to read 7 books in a week, let’s just say I totally failed the challenge. It was a really tough week overall in my personal life and things are finally getting back on track. So I am going to make another run at it this week. I think I can absolutely do it this week. Even though I did not read 7 books last week I did manage to read a graphic novel that is upcoming called How Could You (thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions).

SPOILERS AHEAD

Molly is currently attending a subpar college at best and living in the dorms, life is not perfect but it gets even worse when Molly gets broken up with via email. After several days of wallowing and being extremely upset, Molly decides its time to try to get back out there. But that turns out to be much harder than Molly initially thought as whenever Molly uses social media, her ex is everywhere having the time of her life during study abroad.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. Throughout the story, we got to see many different perspectives of different people involved in Molly’s life or linked to Molly in some way. We also got to see the study abroad trip through the eyes of Molly’s ex. Outside of the story the art, looked amazing. I will definitely try something else by this author and illustrator in the future!

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

***Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

An engaging debut full of queer college drama between sapphic friends, roommates, and lovers over the course of their spring semester. Break ups, one-sided crushes, hook-ups, and situationships fill this aptly named graphic novel in which multiple characters make some questionable decisions.

I enjoyed the flawed characters that I didn’t necessarily love but felt accurate to the sometimes self-centered scrambling for affection and meaning that can be part of late teens and early twenties. There is a prevalence of very cute sapphic love stories and coming of age stories, many of which I really like, but it’s great to see some variety of messy characters and big mistakes.

I do wish we had a bit more time with Lou and Molly (maybe if they were roommates and Jackie had a smaller role as someone who invited them to a party, and the ex was Yona’s friend, so we had more of a cast of 5 vs 6) so we could at least see why they’ve been best friends for years, as we only saw Molly’s post-break-up self-centered behavior and zero positive interactions between them. It felt a bit too far on the side of unlikable characters.

I liked the use of color, the diverse cast, and the variety in how panels were sized and framed to keep it interesting. I liked the ending and the focus on self-growth and that some big mistakes can’t be undone or hugged out. I’d read more by Ren Strapp in the future.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Oni Press, and this is my honest review.

I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot, the artwork was cute and cozy. The characters were realistic for me and behaved like human beings who make mistakes. I liked that this graphic novel showed there are consequences for the actions they took. The romances were amazing to read about too!

This was a really cute coming of age finding yourself graphic novel. The topic of love and friendship is so well captured and what it's like to be unsure of yourself. Friendship and relationships can be messy and learning to navigate that while also learning who you are is hard.
I highly recommend giving this graphic novel a read. And the art is just so well done.

This book was a quick easy read, filled with lots of LGBTQ+ representation, which I love! Although, I felt there were too many main characters with different storylines to follow in such a short comic. If it was just following Molly, or Lou then I would have liked it more, but because the book followed multiple characters over months and months of time, it felt very rushed and a bit all over the place.
That being said, the illustrations were beautiful and perfectly done, and I loved the diversity of the characters and their physical characteristics.
I think I would have liked this book more if it was longer and there was more substance to it flow better.

First a big Thank You to NetGalley, the Author and the Publisher for this ARC.

This graphic novel is all about the entanglement of queer friendships and relationships.
It's a fun and relatable read. Lovely art and cute colours.
I had hoped for a little more dept.
But all in all, this was a fun read.

This was such a great graphic novel - I loved the art style. I found that the characters came across really realistically, with a great mix of personalities and styles. I loved that this was set at college rather than having more of a high school feel to it. A great, quick read, perfect for young adults!

Thank you, NetGalley for this advanced readers copy of How Could You by Ren Strapp!

This graphic novel was all about the entanglement of queer friendships and relationships. It was such a fun read! I found myself laughing and giggling and feeling genuine empathy for these characters.

It reminded me how much I love stories that take place on college campuses.

The ending was a little lacking for me. And it was pretty difficult to root for one of the main characters. But overall the art and the story was good!

3⭐️ (a solid read)

I really enjoyed the artwork and the style of this and loved the diversity and expression of all the characters. I also love when characters are flawed and messy and I liked that that was explored here, showing sides of people that isn’t always explored in fiction. There wasn’t a happy ending but more of a ‘we need to pick up the pieces and go from there’ which is more in tune to reality. I will say that I know this was more a snapshot of life but I do feel it ended quite abruptly and maybe could’ve had a little more wrapping up this particular story, as well as sometimes I felt it didn’t flow as well as it could’ve. Overall though I really enjoyed it and would definitely buy the physical copy

** A copy of How Could You was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

This graphic novel took me back to the messiness and tenderness of (growing up, falling in love, breaking up, and mending in) college. The art style and illustrations fit the story perfectly! This reminded me of a grown-up Heartstopper.

Liked the art, the colours, the cover. But I am a bit disappointed with the story setting and the characters’ interactions. There isn’t a flow to it.

Friends who do not understand you; breakups, finding partners and yourself - this graphic novel has it but I feel we need a story to tell and discuss especially if it involves a main character hurting from the very beginning.

Thank you, Oni Press, for the ARC.

A snapshot of the college dramatics of a group of sapphics, and an ode to how much of a shithead one can be in their early twenties and how difficult it can be to grow out of that and mature. Great for messy queer rep.

I really enjoyed the relentless messiness of the this graphic novel. It felt very real, and I love that everyone didn't neatly resolve all of the conflict to be bffs at the end. The art was gorgeous as well.

This book made me feel like I was 20 again. The messy characters were so real, and were written so well that I feel as if I knew them in school. This book and it's beautiful graphics teleport you back into the confusion of being 20 and desperately grasping at love.

I adored the art and colours. The little drawing of food were delicious. Marseille! The parties!

There was a lot of tenderness and an unbelievable amount of messiness, but in a fun way. The story gets a little hard to follow at times, and I'd hoped for a more satisfying resolution, but overall it was lovely. Lou is a precious baby <3



Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

i’ve recently ventured into the wonderful world of graphic novels, comic and manga and i’m loving seeing how different art styles can bring a story to life!

this story was Very messy and most of the characters were pretty unlikeable at times but i think this was the intention? the art style was very pretty, but unfortunately this fell short for me and felt a little one dimensional.