Best friends Grace and Lola are on a mission to understand love! In volume one, the girls decide to research the topic, interviewing 
people at school to learn more about the elusive and confusing emotion and keeping their findings in a notebook called The Love Report. In volumes two and three, they have other things going on: new friends and fun adventures, including a beachy trip to Sardinia. Everywhere they go, though, Grace and Lola find reasons to wonder about love. Boys flirt with them, but what are their intentions? Should Grace confess her feelings to her new crush?
The girls are more casual now about their investigation; no more notebook or interviews, just lots of conversations and musing. And love isn’t the only thing on their minds. A boy at school is bullying and harassing people, including some of Grace and Lola’s friends. Grace is frustrated with shuttling between the households of her newly divorced parents. Lola struggles with body image issues. Their friend Adele has a rough home life, but is suddenly finding major success as an artist. But in and around all that, there’s enough romantic drama and intrigue to keep Grace and Lola asking questions about the nature of love.
Strong female friendships are the throughline of this series. Grace and Lola have some challenges to their bond in volume one, but come through them closer than ever. They also befriend Adele, Felicity, and Charlie, who all get more attention in the second and third volumes. Sometimes, the story follows one of them for awhile, showing the reader things that Grace and Lola don’t know. This expands the world of the story, since their experiences are very different—and sometimes creates juicy drama, as when the readers learn a secret Charlie is keeping from the others. All of these girls mean well and care about each other, and they are all spunky and willing to get creative to take on bullies or help their friends.
These books are translated from French (BeKa is a France-based two-person writing team). The translation is polished – minor errors noted in my review of volume one appeared in an advance copy, and have been corrected. The first two English volumes each collect and translate two of the shorter French volumes, while the English book three translates only one volume, so these three books contain volumes one through five of the French version of The Love Report.
These books touch on some heavy topics. Multiple characters have body image issues, and several have strained relationships with their parents. The school bully is constantly harassing people, especially girls, both in person and online. He even gets scandalous photos of a classmate (wearing a bra but no shirt) and shows them to other classmates. There is some harsh language (e.g. slut, bitch), which is used very rarely and not by the protagonists. Sex is only referred to occasionally, with no specifics. Refreshingly, the one queer couple is quickly accepted by most of the characters.
The manga-inspired art is detailed and full of rich, exuberant colors. Each character has a different personal style and shows it off with lots of fun, varied outfits and hairstyles. There are many different settings, from school to Adele’s art studio to the beaches of Sardinia, and they all add visual interest without stealing the spotlight from the characters.
This series will appeal to readers who like lots of emotion and drama. Grace and Lola are curious but tentative and nervous about love and romance, which will be relatable to some young readers. Hand it to fans of school stories and friendship stories, especially those who like high-drama manga.
The Love Report
By BeKa Willcox
Art by Maya Willcox
Hippo Park / Astra Books for Young Readers, 2024
ISBN: 9781662640605
| Volume | ISBN |
|---|---|
| 2 | 9781662640605 |
| 3 | 9781662640889 |
Company Age Rating:Â 10 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
Creator Representation:Â French, Italian,
Character Representation:Â Queer,
