Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for the arc provided to reviewers

This is quite possibly messiest graphic novel that has ever existed–and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It follows a group of college friends who hook up with, break up with, and date each other. It's like the Fleetwood Mac of friend groups. I think it took it just a *smidge* too far but I also think stories about college students making a lot of mistakes are important.

I liked the pacing and the character design and I think the slight exploration of queer identities was well done.

HOW COULD YOU is a fun, queer graphic novel about a bunch of messy college students and the myriad of ways they fuck up in one single semester. molly and lou, having been dumped by their girlfriends, decide to find rebounds to help them put their exes behind them. in the meantime, olene and yona are studying abroad in france, exploring the queer scene and spending time together.

i love graphic novels and this was definitely one i'll be recommending to my friends, though it wasn't without its issues. mainly, it felt like the pacing was SO fast and i'm not sure that the story really felt like it was wrapped up by the end of the book. that being said, i loved how messy and complex all the characters were—it felt very realistic for a bunch of queer 20-somethings who are still figuring their lives out. i think this would have benefitted from being longer or being split up into two volumes to allow the story more time to develop and the characters more room to grow, but it was still a really fun read!

thanks to netgalley and oni press for the advanced copy. HOW COULD YOU is out december 17.

This was just 200 pages of pure dyke drama and I am here for it. I loved the illustrations and generally had a lot of fun reading this graphic novel. It was fast-paced and very immersive. I did find that there was a bit too much going on for a story this short, with many interesting characters and plot points that felt like they could have been explored more thoroughly. Overall, this was a solid debut from Ren Strapp, who I have been following for a while, and I would definitely be eager to pick up anything she publishes in the future.

Thank you to Oni press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This book was MESSY. Lou and Jackie were the only ones who weren’t awful. I know that being a college kid you are dumb and make a lot of bad decisions, but this was a pretty wild friend group. I don’t blame Jackie for saying she was done and was not looking bad after her last semester got ruined. I feel we’ve all learned lessons the hard way and can relate a little to this but it still felt very extra. I also felt like I was missing some story from the beginning. We are dropped on his group of friends and it feels like we missed something from their story.

The art is great and I really enjoyed all the colors. I feel like I have to get better vibe from this creator. Thank you again Oni Press!

This story had a lot of miscommunication or just lack of communication which alot of us really struggle with in our friendships as well as romantic relationships. We follow these characters as they are trying to navigate their college life and to find themselves. We got two girls who go aboard and break up with the girlfriends so they can be free. While the other two girls are back at college together trying to work, throw things together. The biggest thing I got from this story is that finding out who you are can be very messy if you are not honest with the people around you no matter who you are. At the same time opening up to people even if they are your friends can be very hard especially if they do not react well when you do finally tell them. Life is messy especially when you start adding other people to the equation and sometimes you just have to do what's best for you. I hope there is another book so we can see some character growth form these characters as this book they were all mostly hot messes.

EARC provided by Oni Press and Netgalley.

This book fell really flat for me. I didnt find a single likeable character. While I'm all for characters that have flaws, none of these characters seemed to have redeeming qualities. The story crammed together so many different characters into a short graphic novel, that you dont have enough time to get to know them or have any character growth. The story focused only on heartbreak and mistakes, without there being any heart involved. I believe it could have been better if it had been longer and we had seen the characters learn from their mistakes with time.

I really enjoyed this messy story, the artwork is beautiful and conveys its images in a great way. I loved the description of the colors of each character in the back and will definitely make me reread it in the physical form to see and create those connects the author was talking about.

A lovely, messy, sometimes painful but always hopeful little graphic novel.

I really appreciated the themes of growth and redemption, change and boundaries. I really nuanced look at the young queer experience.

The art style was very cute and evocative, but occasionally the lack of differentiation in face shapes made it hard to tell who was who, especially when characters suddenly changed key aspects of their appearance, like hair.

I really enjoyed this and was surprised how easy it was to get invested in the characters in such a short time. The ending was well done; a little open ended, and no wrongs were tied up in neat little bows to be hand waived away.

"Are we always going to suck?"

"I don't know. But I don't think we have to."

This was delightful! It was cute and ugly and real all at the same time. The art was beautiful, and as someone who was (and is) queer in college, and part of a queer friend group, the highs and lows of this are so realistic. I loved the representation in this and I would totally recommend it as a good and super quick read.

I don't really know what to say, I really didn't vibe with this at all. Maybe it's relatable to some queer people out there, but none of this felt relatable to me. Well, the rage and gurdge-holding and envy was relatable, but the "messiness" was hard for me to get through. I also didn't find any redeeming qualities in any of the characters, literally none of them were likeable? So I was in no way invested in what happened to any of them. Well, I liked Lou, but they were just overshadowed by all the other characters.

Obviously very subjective, and this might really be relatable to others out there. Just very much not for me.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

okey, this was a lot to take in, there was so many characters for 200 page comic book and they all were connected and I was wondering who's whose ex and it was very character driven, I liked it though, it was fast and the artwork is pretty

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