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.

I'm not sure what to think about this comic book.

I really enjoyed the art style, especially the coloring but the plot didn't work for me.
I think my main problem is the number of characters and their connections. There's like six of them and everyone has their own story arc. But you cannot fit all of it in such a short book. I think the whole France plot is too much because the author doesn't get a chance to create more nuanced story, and both girls are really undeveloped. Meanwhile in US storyline things are happening too quickly.
But I actually really liked the characters, I liked how messy they are. Really felt like young adults who are making a lot of mistakes.
If you're looking for a quick read with cute art and realistic characters, and don't mind chaos than I can recommend How Could You.

Not gonna lie, I kept getting confused between the characters. All the characters kinda suck and were super messy. The only character I liked was Lou but they weren’t involved much. I felt like the story ended abruptly and had no real conclusion. I did really like the art style and colouring.

Thank you to Oni Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel. This art is beautiful, the lgtbqia+ representation is intriguing, and the coming-of-age plot was interesting. However, the disability representation was a bit questionable to me, and some aspects went quicker than expected. Because of these points, I have to give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Great little graphic novel about relationship breakdowns and the aftermath. Got through this in about an hour was an easy read. Loved the colour palette and that the author gave each character their own colour and used certain colours to represent different emotions.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this arc

This is such a "slice of life" short graphic novel. It follows the romantic lives of five friends and their time in college. To me, the banter was a bit high-schoolish but you have to remember that they are all 19-21 years of age. I thought this was an overall fun read that showcases what can happen in friend groups. I also really enjoyed the diversity of the characters and background characters shown throughout the book as well as disability representation. Jackie has to be my favorite character because she didn't hold back on letting Molly know how bad of a friend she was. Also, the ending is so relatable haha!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review! Love a messy queer college story, so scooping this one onto the TBR was a no-brainer.

There's not a lot of growth to the characters throughout and they're all so self-centered and ignorant of possible consequences, it reads very much like a bunch of idiot college age kids still figuring out what kind of people they want to be. The premise did make it sound like it would be focused more on Molly, but having the large cast really worked for having so many intertwining storylines. The art is lovely and soft, and the characters are all well defined. Definitely a fun read!

I had a really hard time getting into this one, because the characters all make pretty huge mistakes in their relationships CONSTANTLY. That being said, the illustrations are amazing and the further I read, the more connected I felt to these kids. They do definitely make selfish decisions, but they are college students who are figuring it out. The queer representation is very nice.

I loved that the ending left it with growth, but also without guaranteed forgiveness for past mistakes. Thanks to NetGalley, Ren Strapp, and Oni Press for the chance to read and review.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

Molly and Lou are two besties who were both recently dumped by their girlfriends, Olene and Yona - who then left (together!) for a semester abroad in Paris. Determined to keep Molly from pining the rest of the year away, Lou devises a plan for them to experience all the lesbians that po-dunk Hillock College has to offer. This involves no small amount of help from Molly's roommate Jackie, who's more outgoing than both of them combined, and seems to have all the connections. Drama ensues when both Molly and Lou hook up with Jackie's ex, Anjali. Meanwhile, across the pond, Yona makes a play for Olene, who (unbeknownst to her) is still figuring out her sexuality.

On its face, HOW COULD YOU is mostly about relationship drama - hot, messy, chaotic relationship drama. As an introvert with social anxiety who lived at home during college - and thus missed out on many of these college experiences - I had trouble relating. Some of the characters are pretty unlikable, and they do some terrible things to one another, but I guess that's kind of the point. But this isn't a "love to hate them" kind of situation, either (see e.g. GONE GIRL). Just a really sad train wreck that you totally saw coming but were powerless to stop.

The ending is the story's saving grace, with Molly realizing the redemptive power of change. Sure, she might be kind of a shitty person now, but that doesn't mean she always has to be.

There's also a ton of diverse representation here: Molly and Jackie are lesbians; Yona is bisexual; Lou is nonbinary (I think) and uses a cane; and Anjali is a trans woman (or at least I thought it was heavily implied).

I had somewhat high hopes for this graphic novel as a queer college student with queer friends who studied abroad in basically the same place as two of the characters, and I’m not sure it really lived up to my expectations. It’s a cool concept, and some of my disappointment is probably because I was expecting to relate more, but it also just felt hard to fully care about the characters, in part because I had a harder time telling them apart and in part because I didn’t understand why I should care about them. The art itself was cool, and I liked the author’s note about how it was used to showcase character associations and emotions. I do think we should have more messy queer stories and if that’s what you’re looking for, I think this is a great book to check out. At the same time, I wasn’t particularly compelled by it, and didn’t really feel like the story arc was all that satisfying, even with what could be called some character growth. I hope that this book finds the people that will love it, it just unfortunately wasn’t for me.

It was almost too fast of a read where I never got into it and didn't vibe with any of the characters. Story didnt feel completed so after I was done reading I wasn't left fulfileld or happy about the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

How Could You follows (and I say this affectionately) some messy ahh b!tches, and we love that for them. A fragmented story, one half follows Molly and Lou through college while the other follows their ex-girlfriends, who appear to be cosying up together in the City of Loooove on their semester-abroad. If you tried to connect all the characters in this book with string on a pinboard, you would tie yourself in knots, making for a complex and interconnecting story where no one can sneeze without it causing a breakup, a hook-up, or a bust up. Objectively, the stakes aren't super high, but it will bring you right back to that coming-of-age point in your life where the relationship tension is taut enough to strum a jaunty tune on.

The main POV characters are kind of unlikeable, so if you're a person who wants someone to root for in a book, that may be an issue. Personally, I loved it. There's something really cathartic about reading a book where people are kind of grim to one another, but in a way that feels relatable and not entirely irredeemable. It's also a great reminder that who you are in college...is probably not the greatest person. But that's okay, because everyone is still finding their feet, exploring their identity, and just trying to get by. All we can do is try to minimise the collateral damage we cause.

This book is a must-read for people who enjoyed Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Loveless, and The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott.

I liked the drawings and some of the parts of the story were interesting but the relationships were too convoluted and one of the MCs was too much of a screw-up without any redemption or even purpose, it seemed. too immature for my liking, didn't work for me