Review: Thieves by Lucie Bryon

On October 26, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book ReviewLeave a comment

Ella can’t seem to remember a single thing from the party the night before at a mysterious stranger’s mansion, and she sure as heck doesn’t know why she’s woken up in her bed surrounded by a magpie’s nest of objects that aren’t her own. And she can’t stop thinking about her huge crush on Madeleine, who she definitely can’t tell about her sudden penchant for kleptomania… But does Maddy have secrets of her own? Can they piece together that night between them and fix the mess of their chaotic personal lives in time to form a normal, teenage relationship? That would be nice.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

As soon as I saw this graphic novel, I knew I wanted to pick it up. The art style looked adorable, and once I noticed it had been blurbed by Alice Oseman and Tillie Walden, I knew I had to add it to my tbr. This one didn’t let me down, and I ended up reading it in one sitting and absolutely loving it. We follow two girls at the start of a relationship, with one of them finding out the other steals trinkets from houses she visits. The book then follows the two girls returning these items to their owners, in the sweetest ways. The friendship group as a whole was also adorable.

I loved the art style of this book and the colours were just gorgeous. Each panel was gorgeous and the colours were so soft and gave the book such a distinct identity.

The story itself was so inventive and felt really original, with my only slight criticism being I didn’t always completely understand the motives behind the thieving in the first place, although I liked the way the topic was explored throughout. Overall, I’d highly recommend this one and I really enjoyed it!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: i love this part by Tillie Walden

On October 20, 2022October 23, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Two girls in a small town in the USA kill time together as they try to get through their days at school.
They watch videos, share earbuds as they play each other songs and exchange their stories. In the process they form a deep connection and an unexpected relationship begins to develop.
In her follow up to the critically acclaimed The End of Summer, Tillie Walden tells the story of a small love that can make you feel like the biggest thing around, and how it’s possible to find another person who understands you when you thought no-one could.

This book is one you will read in only a few minutes but will stay with you for so much longer. I’ve wanted to read Tillie Walden’s books for a while and after recently reading On a Sunbeam, I decided to pick up i love this part. Despite this being a much shorter book, I actually preferred this one and found it much more closely aligned with my reading taste.

This book follows the relationship of two girls and I never thought a relationship could be captured in only dialogue, in only 68 pages. But this book truly does capture the essence of meeting somebody and falling for them through the are you okay?‘s and the is it just me and the listening to the same songs together and the sharing of breath, of space, of life. It encapsulates everything and more in a few short pages.

I have so much admiration for Walden that has grown even more after reading i love this part, and every page I could happily have as a print and put on my wall. I love Walden’s art style so much and the colour scheme was subtle but beautiful too.

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Crumbs by Danie Stirling

On October 18, 2022October 17, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book ReviewLeave a comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

In a very special town, there’s an even more unusual bakery with a selection of baked treats hand-crafted to help your dreams come true. For Ray, a quiet young woman with special powers of her own, the order is always the same: a hot tea with a delicious side of romance.
When Ray meets Laurie, the kind barista who aspires to be a professional musician, she gets a real taste of love for the first time. But even with a spark of magic, romance isn’t so simple. Both Ray and Laurie are chasing their own dreams and even when Ray starts to see the future, she can’t predict her fate with Laurie.

Thank you to Harper Insider for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

As soon as I saw this book, I knew I wanted to pick it up. It just seemed so perfect for autumn – a cozy romance with a bakery and magic. And it definitely didn’t let me down.

I loved the artwork and would have loved to have read this in colour, but as I read an ARC copy, the printing was only in black and white. I obviously won’t be taking this into account with this review, but I would love to see the finished copy as the artwork was gorgeous.

The story was super sweet and I liked seeing both of our main characters have their own storylines and individuality. There did seem like quite a heavy focus on Ray’s job, which I didn’t mind but did make the story feel a little disjointed at times and left the world-building feeling slightly muddled.

However, I only have slight complaints and overall this was a super-sweet story and I adored the relationship and friendship group. The baking element was so lovely and heartwarming but didn’t take as much of a central pillar in the story as I expected.

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: On a Sunbeam by Tillie Waldon

On September 11, 2022September 9, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. When Mia grows close to her new friends, she reveals her true purpose for joining their ship—to track down her long-lost love.

What an absolutely stunning piece of art this book is. I’ve wanted to read something by Tillie Waldon for a long time, and my lovely friend Courtney gave me this one for Christmas last year. I finally got around to picking it up recently, and I’m so glad I did.

This book is about friendship, relationship, boarding school, space, emotions, loneliness, being alone, long lost love, found family, and a broken world. I would happily choose any number of these pages to have as printed pieces of art and stick them on my wall, and even then I would struggle with which ones to choose. Each page is breathtakingly beautiful and the colour scheme is striking.

Tillie Waldon is incredibly talented and I can’t wait to read more from her (I’ve already picked up i love this part which I can’t wait to read), but be warned that this book is a beast, clocking in at over 500 pages. Although I don’t think I quite connected with it as emotionally as other readers, I just know that I’ll re-read this and fall in love with it even more next time.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Nimona by N.D. Stevenson

On September 11, 2022September 9, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are.
But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

I’ve been hearing everywhere about Nimona for years now, and I’m so glad I finally decided to purchase a copy of my own at YALC earlier this year. Nimona is a fun, adventurous graphic novel following an unlikely group of companions as they wreak havoc.

My favourite part of this was definitely the unlikely friendship of our main companions, and the interactions between them. I found our characters so entertaining, and the fact Nimona herself could shapeshift made for some really humorous scenes.

Although I wasn’t a massive fan of the art style, I soon got into the story and grew to enjoy it in the context of the book.

The text/dialogue being written in a more hand-drawn font definitely gave the book character, but the printing of the physical book did make some of it hard to read. I found the font very small at times, and was often printed towards the edges of the page, disappearing into the spine and making the physical reading experience not quite as enjoyable as it could have been.

But despite these few small complaints, Nimona is a fun story that has a great found-family component and interactions that I loved!

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

On September 9, 2022September 9, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It’s the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program.
It’s not how she imagined it, though. Aiza must navigate new friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the unyielding General Hende, all while hiding her Ornu background. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the “greater good” that Bayt-Sajji’s military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in greater danger than she ever imagined.
Aiza will have to choose, once and for all: loyalty to her heart and heritage, or loyalty to the Empire.

Squire was a welcome treat of a graphic novel, with beautiful art, a gorgeous colour scheme and a concise, well structured story which I found easy to follow.

This graphic novel tackles a variety of topics, some more in depth and difficult than others. As we follow Aiza through her day-to-day life in the competitive Squire training program, we see her navigate friendships, which felt relatable and really drew me into the story. The art was visually stunning and the colour scheme beautiful too, and the landscapes were definitely a favourite part of the overall story for me.

The pacing really picks up in the second half and the action scenes are really visually engaging, almost feeling like a movie. The ending does feel quite rushed, however, and I do feel like this slightly distracted from the struggles Aiza was facing in regards to her Ornu background.

Overall, this was beautiful and I’d love to re-read it at some point to further explore the story, and I’d definitely read another volume if it was published.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Hooky by Miriam Bonastre Tur

On September 9, 2022September 9, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

When Dani and Dorian missed the bus to magic school, they never thought they’d wind up declared traitors to their own kind! Now, thanks to a series of mishaps, they are being chased by powerful magic families seeking the prophesied King of Witches and royals searching for missing princes.
But they aren’t alone. With a local troublemaker, a princess, and a teacher who can see the future on their side, they might just be able to clear their names…but can they heal their torn kingdom?
Based on the beloved webcomic from WEBTOON, Hooky is in stunning print format for the first time with exclusive new content sure to please fans new and old.

I’d seen Hooky a couple of times while browsing bookshops before I finally decided to pick it up. The art style really called out to me, and the concept itself sounded similar enough to the adorable Kiki’s Delivery Service that I thought it would be a fun one to pick up.

However, Hooky didn’t impress me quite as much as I was hoping. Although the art style never let me down, and was utterly beautiful and incredibly detailed throughout, the story itself felt kind of disconnected.

This may be due to the fact this was originally published as a Webtoon, but I haven’t felt the same about other Webtoon publications such as Lore Olympus. It also just felt like there was a lot going on. I wanted a sweet story following two kids across a magical land, but it almost felt like there was too much crammed into these pages, and it distracted from what I wanted and hoped for from the book.

This was still really cute, and I did love a lot about it, especially the art style. But it sadly did let me down in places.

★★★
3 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Lore Olympus (#2) by Rachel Smythe

On August 23, 2022August 21, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

Persephone was ready to start a new life when she left the mortal realm for Olympus. However, she quickly discovered the dark side of her glamorous new home—from the relatively minor gossip threatening her reputation to a realm-shattering violation of her safety by the conceited Apollo—and she’s struggling to find her footing in the fast-moving realm of the gods. Hades is also off-balance, fighting against his burgeoning feelings for the young goddess of spring while maintaining his lonely rule of the Underworld. As the pair are drawn ever closer, they must untangle the twisted webs of their past and present to build toward a new future.
This full-color edition of Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features a brand-new, exclusive short story, and brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.

I read the first volume of Lore Olympus after my friend Amy recommended it late last year, and I was very excited to pick up volume 2. I actually preferred Volume 2 to Volume 1, which was just as beautiful but had more focus on the relationship between Persephone and Hades. I once again sped through this volume, which is detailed in drawing but doesn’t have a massive amount of text to read through.

The art is absolutely beautiful, and I loved the colour combinations once again. Each character has their own colour, which I really love as it separates each character clearly and makes it easy to focus on the story without being confused about each character.

I’m loving this series and I definitely preferred this volume to the first one, so I can’t wait to see where it goes in future volumes! Just make sure to check content warnings (which are also listed at the start of the book) if you’d like to pick it up.

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill

On August 18, 2022August 15, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

Goodreads | Bookshop.org

When the heroic princess Amira rescues the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, neither expects to find a true friend in the bargain. Yet as they adventure across the kingdom, they discover that they bring out the very best in the other person. They’ll need to join forces and use all the know-how, kindness, and bravery they have in order to defeat their greatest foe yet: a jealous sorceress, who wants to get rid of Sadie once and for all. Join Sadie and Amira, two very different princesses with very different strengths, on their journey to figure out what “happily ever after” really means—and how they can find it with each other.

I read The Tea Dragon Society last year and absolutely loved it, and quickly knew I wanted to read all of Kay O’Neill’s back catalog. When I recently came across Princess Princess Ever After in Gay’s the Word in London (a brilliant independent LGBTQIA+ bookshop I’d highly recommend), I decided to pick it up. This one is super short at only 80 pages, and is following Sadie and Amira, two princesses as they adventure across the kingdom and attempt to defeat a jealous sorceress.

This one was very short and sweet, with a beautiful art style and some great dialogue that made me chuckle along the way. The romance was so cute and left me feeling very happy at the end of the story. I’m so excited to track down a copy of Aquarian Cove, the only graphic novel by Kay O’Neill that I have yet to read.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Review: Paper Girls Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

On April 28, 2022April 24, 2022 By Beth JonesIn Book ReviewLeave a comment

Goodreads | Waterstones

In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.

I’ve been wanting to pick up Paper Girls for a long time, having seen it around everywhere and heard many recommendations for it. My boyfriend, Mark, bought me the first volume for my birthday last year, and I finally decided to read it. I’ve heard Paper Girls be compared to Stranger Things, and I loved the parallels between the 1980s paranormal sci-fi you can see in both series.

My brain hasn’t been able to focus much on reading lately, so picking up a graphic novel was just such a great format to be able to sit and digest in half an hour. The text is clear and well spaced, and isn’t overwhelming in the least. It’s also complemented well by a beautiful colour palette and striking illustrations.

I loved the group of characters, who are absolutely badass as a group but are also brilliantly bold with one another. At first, I was a little concerned about some comments one of the characters makes, but this is immediately called out.

This one definitely kept me on the edge of my seat and I loved the mixture of paranormal and real-life 80s neighbourhood. The ending and last few panels left me needing the next volume immediately!

★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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The Books are Everywhere

Tag: graphic novel

Review: Thieves by Lucie Bryon

Review: i love this part by Tillie Walden

Review: Crumbs by Danie Stirling

Review: On a Sunbeam by Tillie Waldon

Review: Nimona by N.D. Stevenson

Review: Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

Review: Hooky by Miriam Bonastre Tur

Review: Lore Olympus (#2) by Rachel Smythe

Review: Princess Princess Ever After by Kay O’Neill

Review: Paper Girls Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan