This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned.
The sisters work in a Lancashire textile factory where their mother and grandmother worked. Rachel is full of energy and willing to confront the men in her town telling her she’s worthless, but Hester has a fragility that doesn’t allow for that type of action. Instead, Hester chooses to take a marriage offer from a wealthy mill owner in order to try and better her situation in life while her sister becomes an activist.
Normally, I would not pick up a story like this one as my personal preference leans toward fantasy or escapism from reality. This historical account hits home on many levels of commentary that address the issues of the time but are relatable today to a modern audience. Although this is not a word-to-word adaptation, the creators made sure to include aspects of the original (e.g. accents and colloquialisms). Likewise, the illustrator took care to represent the time period through the clothing and architecture renditions. The color helps distinguish characters, mood, and poverty level by using darker, neutral tones to make everything dark and dirty and saving the brighter and lighter colors for the upper class and their frivolity.
This book is best suited for academic libraries with strong English literature programs or adult collections with patrons interested in historical (or romance) graphic novels. Although this book addresses prostitution, there is no on-page sex. Just a little kissing. Both a foreword and author’s note explain that the slavery indicated by the title is not referring to the horrific trans-Atlantic slavery that is most often acknowledged by history but instead refers to the powerlessness of women and laborers.
This Slavery By Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, Sophie Rickard Art by Scarlett Rickard SelfMadeHero, 2025 ISBN: 9781914224355
Victor is a necromancer, with magic in his blood that lets him cast spells. If anyone finds out, he would be put to death: necromancy is illegal and fanatically persecuted by the religious order that polices the city. And it’s not easy to hide, given that every transaction–from buying a snack to getting married – requires a blood signature, and necromancer blood visibly glows with magic. So Victor keeps to the shadows, solitary except for his cute one-eyed cat, just trying to survive.
Then wealthy young banking heir Enrique makes him an offer: use magic to resurrect his dead bride, and Enrique will use his vast resources to smuggle Victor out of the city to a place where necromancy isn’t illegal, where he can live a normal life. Victor reluctantly agrees, though he isn’t familiar with the spell Enrique instructs him to use. And neither of them expects the result: Enrique’s bride, Mercedes, is resurrected, but her life is bound to Victor’s. If they get too far apart, she’ll die. She has also come back a little… different. For one thing, she has no memories. For another, her beautiful body is now crisscrossed with stitches–and extremely strong. And then there’s the awkward fact that she’s extremely drawn to Victor. Is it just because of the spell, or something more?
Even if Mercedes doesn’t remember him, Enrique isn’t ready to give up on her. And if she can’t be separated from Victor, well, the three of them will just have to stay together. Which might just lead to more romance than any of them was expecting.
Love Me to Death started as a popular Webtoon, inspired by Frankenstein and influenced by Disney films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It also reflects the creators’ love for Mexican culture, especially in its lush visuals, which often call to mind Day of the Dead celebrations.
The story revels in cute, often silly romantic tropes. Oops, Mercedes saw Victor shirtless, and he’s hot! Oh no, they tripped and fell on top of each other! People keep mistaking them for a couple! Blushing abounds! There are serious elements to the plot – it’s dangerous to even associate with a necromancer, let alone be one, and also Mercedes is starting to wonder if she might have been murdered. Sometimes the romance, too, is more serious: Victor has major emotional scars, Mercedes is confused and scared by her new situation, and both have trouble believing that someone could want them when most people would consider them monsters. But there’s also lots of humor and sweet moments. There are a few hints in the direction of the three main characters ending up in a polyamorous relationship, but that’s as far as it goes in this volume, though the author’s note at the end confirms that that’s where things are going.
The artwork is colorful and expressive, full of pretty settings and even prettier people. Victor and Enrique are both cute while being very different types, and Mercedes looks like an attractive woman in a very effective “sexy Frankenstein” Halloween costume. (During a costume party, another character basically assumes that’s what she is.) There are a few manga-esque elements, like roses appearing around Enrique when he smiles and characters looking chibi sometimes in funny moments. We see elegant architecture, fun outfits, colorful festival décor, and lots of sparkly magic. This volume also contains a bonus short story about Victor’s past, which is mostly text with just a few illustrations.
Love Me to Death combines an interesting fantasy setting, sympathetic characters, and hefty doses of both angst and humor. Hand it to fans of shojo manga and fantasy romance.
Love Me to Death By Toonimated Little, Brown, 2026 ISBN: 9780316587198
Company Age Rating: 14+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Lindsey Cheng is like most college freshmen, trying to find herself even as everyone is trying to tell her who she should be. This includes everyone from her overbearing and very traditional Chinese mother to her best friends and bandmates. It seems like everyone has an opinion on who Lindsey should be and where her attention should be focused, be it the band or her studies.
The sole exception to this is Jason—the super-chill lead-singer of a different band, who stuns Lindsey by calling her his girlfriend as he tries to give her a gift while shopping for old records. This stuns Lindsey, who barely started dating Jason and never had a boyfriend before. This makes her anxious to be everything a good girlfriend should be. More, she wants to be cool enough to be the girlfriend of a cool guy like Jason. But is Jason really the best thing to ever happen to her? Or is she just stunned at the idea of any boy being interested in her after a sheltered childhood?
The early press for Lindsey Cheng Dates a White Boy described it as “perfect for fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley and Mariko Tamaki.” I can see why it might draw comparison to the Scott Pilgrim series. It is based around young adults and indie band culture in the early 21st century and Asia Miller’s art shares a certain aesthetic. The general plot even emulates the lessons of that comic, albeit through the female lens. However, it dramatically oversimplifies the story to write Lindsey Cheng off as an older Knives Chau, who has the good sense to realize that Jason is scum before it is too late.
What really sets this comic apart—and indeed inspires the need for a sequel—is the final chapter. This is told from the perspective of Lindsey’s friend and bandmate Mel; a fierce romantic who loves love. It is she who first gets an inkling of who Jason really is but puts on a false face because she wants to support her friend. At the same time, Mel copes with her growing attraction to their third bandmate, V, and the hint that V (who loves video games and hates boys) might return her feelings.
The opening of the book focused on Lindsey does deliver an important message upon the dangers of repressing yourself for the sake of a relationship. And yet, the chapter with Mel is the strongest and feels the most genuine. Personally, I’d love to read a comic about the awkward romance between tomboy V and girly girl Mel as a follow-up to Lindsey’s hard lessons regarding her first love.
There’s no official publisher rating for Lindsey Cheng Dates a White Boy!!! I would personally consider it appropriate for most teen audiences and indeed perfectly suited for that audience given the ultimate moral of the story. There is no sex or even so much of a mention of it. The closest we get is Lindsey taking off her T-shirt to reveal her bra while hanging out with Jason while lounging on his bed. There’s no violence or nudity and no language worse than what might be heard on broadcast cable.
Lindsey Cheng Dates a White Boy!!! By Asia Miller Andrews McMeel, 2026 ISBN: 9798881605827
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Chinese-American, Queer, Character Representation: Chinese-American, Bisexual,
Tripping Over You, Volume 2, from Suzana Harcum and Owena White, picks up not long after the first graphic left off, showing unlikely couple Liam and Milo navigating their maturing relationship. This slice of life romantic comic was adapted from real life couple Harcum and White’s webtoon in February and promises more volumes to come. Fresh out of high school, the pair are growing into young adults and trying to allow their relationship to grow with them. Liam and Milo are in a very interesting phase, kind of semi-out to their families (who bring their own baggage into their relationship) and striving to make room for each other as their lives grow fuller. Liam doesn’t know what he wants out of his future and Milo seems plagued with self doubt, but they keep circling back to find comfort in each other. This volume catches our couple at a very real, very vulnerable time where a high school relationship can evolve into an adult one or where it can flounder under the weight of growing up.
This is a sweet story that young readers can easily connect with. The art is incredibly cute with Harcum and White using a style that hits me as a kind of Disneyified Manga: characters with big eyes and bold lines in a world of saturated color. It is very easy to read and honestly just pretty. Liam and Milo give classic black cat/golden retriever energy and seem hyper aware of the struggles that can come with relationships where people have different needs and communication styles. While this comic does show a growing young adult relationship and the intimacy that comes with it, there’s nothing explicit on page or even suggested and I would probably recommend it as young as 6th or 7th grade, depending on the reader. There are a couple of shirtless scenes and implied sex and Liam still hasn’t kicked his smoking habit from book one. But with that, their relationship maintains an innocence that will keep it accessible to a wide range of readers.
The plot beats were a bit of a hang up to me. The small domestic moments of our couple meeting new people, fighting to find time together, struggling with demanding families, and eventually moving in together feel almost like filler, like all of these moments are leading towards conflict in a future volume. The most striking of these involve Milo’s new friend Hebert, an American theater student. There isn’t immediate conflict but there is definitely unresolved tension and Hebert’s motives are questionable at best. Many of the plot points feel unresolved. Liam still does not have a clear career path and Milo still seems uncertain in aspects of their relationship. All of these things made this feel less like a step in their story and more like laying groundwork for the next book.
But honestly, I don’t know if I care. It was still a lovely read. The characters are ones you want to spend time with and their relationship is easy to invest in. It’s sweet and loving and a ready made next read for my Heartstopper fans. Parts of it do come off as wish fulfillment, particularly the moment where Liam comes out to his father. But queer kids deserve as much wish fulfillment as they can get. I can’t help but worry that these boys will have a tough time ahead of them, but my fingers are crossed for a happy ending.
Tripping Over You, Volume 2 By Suzana Harcum Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250330734
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Lesbian, , Character Representation: Queer, Jewish ,
Aisling is a princess about to turn eighteen, but a week before her big debut, she is kidnapped by Forget-Me-Not, who plans to get revenge for being replaced at birth by a changeling. Aisling is that changeling, although she had no idea of her fae heritage and neither did her parents because they don’t recognize her without the glamour she’s been wearing. As they travel through the fae lands, both Aisling and Forget-Me-Not discover they have more in common than they originally thought and start developing a relationship. We learn more about the fae lands through Aisling’s interactions (and almost disasters) and Forget-Me-Not’s backstory about growing up in an alien world that isn’t hospitable to humans. The story wraps up at the end of this volume and provides an epilogue to tie up all the loose ends of the relationship between our two main characters.
The saturated colors worked well with the fantastical setting, and I personally liked how the lighting was used to convey emotions and ambiance throughout the story. This is a standalone as opposed to the start of a series, which makes it a great choice for teen or adult readers looking for a one-and-done LGBTQ+ (specifically sapphic) fantasy romance. There is on-page kissing between two female characters (one that has a masculine look) but no sexual content. I would highly recommend this book for any public library and high school library looking to follow the romantasy trend with LGBTQ+ content. Your patrons will thank you for it.
Forgive-Me-Not By Mari Costa Macmillan First Second, 2026 ISBN: 9781250784179
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: Brazilian, Portuguese, Character Representation: Lesbian,
Stories can make you sigh for all sorts of reasons. Frustration, contentment, resolve. Angelica and the Bear Prince, published by Random House Graphix in October 2025, pulls a deep, comforting, swoon-like sigh from the reader, at least this reader. This is a cup of cocoa of a graphic novel. A warm, joint popping hug of a graphic novel. A fully broken-in hoodie of a graphic novel. It’s the best kind of sweet, romantic, comfort read.
Angelica and the Bear Prince, author/illustrator Trung Le Nguyen’s follow up to the award winning The Magic Fish, is a very loose reimagining of the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It follows Angelica, Jelly to her friends, who is picking herself back up after hitting a pretty serious burnout wall. Jelly is an over-achiever and a people-pleaser who got so wrapped up in her desperation not to disappoint people that she ran herself right into the ground.
With perfect timing for her to realign herself, Jelly gets an internship at the theater company that was her happy place as a child. She gets to spend the whole winter stage managing her favorite play with her best friend Christine who is starring opposite the play’s lead and the theater’s mascot Peri the bear in Jelly’s favorite play. The mascot whose social media account Jelly has developed a pen pal style relationship with. The mascot who is embodied by a figure from Jelly’s past who is desperate to reconnect with her. The reveal here and the shift in their relationship takes a while to develop but is so, so satisfying.
Per Nguyen, this is a story about grief and it drips off every page. The grief that comes with growing up, grief of mourning a loved one, grief of dealing with mental health struggles. And with all that heaviness, this is an incredibly light, hopeful graphic, partially because of Nguyen’s stunning art. The illustrations are like a manga processed through a Disney lens, giving the graphic a bright, beautiful flow that is incredibly easy to read. The characters feel lived in and real and their hopes and struggles are incredibly relatable. The story is romantic and sweet and so beautifully told.
One of my favorite things about this graphic is that all the characters are given room to grow. So frequently in stories like this anyone who is not the central romantic couple just fade into the background, but Nguyen doesn’t fall into that. Jelly’s mom, still mourning the loss of her own mother, is anxious and uncertain and desperate to help her daughter grow while keeping Jelly her little girl. The stern manager of the theater is learning how to keep loving after their own loss and massive life changes. Christine, who easily could have been relegated to the barely-seen-best-friend role or the focus of Jelly’s jealous for landing the lead role of the Princess in the play, is a ride or die bestie throughout both being there for Jelly to lean on and going to her for support when she realizes her relationship isn’t what she deserves.
Angelica and the Bear Prince is such a lovely, cozy graphic. Teens and preteens alike can easily get wrapped into the romance and coming of age elements of the story and the focus on transformation and growth. It’s a legit pleasure to read.
Angelica and the Bear Prince By Trung Le Nguyen Penguin Random House Graphic, 2025 ISBN: 9781984892669
Company Age Rating: 12+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Vietnamese, Nonbinary , Character Representation: South Asian, Trans, Anxiety, Depression
Jade is a hot-tempered teenaged aristocrat in modern-day France. Her family has prestige but no money, so Jade’s mom keeps pushing her to cozy up to her wealthier peers—and, ideally, marry one of them. But Jade is focused on her secret passion: serious weightlifting.
In fact, Jade has already made so much progress with her lifting that it can be hard to hide her strength. Like when she gets mad at a boorish young rich boy at a party and sort of… launches him into the refreshments table. Society would never approve of her lifting weights, so Jade scrambles to explain her feat of strength before blurting out that she must have been overcome by… love!
Jade’s matchmaking mother is, of course, thrilled. She would be a lot less thrilled to know that the only boy Jade actually likes is a groom in a rich family’s stables—a groom with huge muscles, whose workout routine Jade is determined to discover. Not that Jade has time for romance anyway – she’s juggling friends and frenemies, high school and high society events, all while keeping her weightlifting a secret. But with multiple boys now pursuing her, romance may be in Jade’s future whether she’s ready for it or not.
Originally a successful French webcomic (Colossale), Colossal is a fun rom-com with a shojo manga vibe and an oddball premise that grabs your attention. Who would expect the feisty young socialite to be obsessed with weightlifting? But Jade’s passion for lifting isn’t just a weird quirk: the story weaves it into her backstory and the way she thinks. Jade can be impulsive and irritable, though she usually keeps her temper in check. Early in the book, she sometimes imagines using her huge strength to punch people she finds annoying, which feels a little extreme, but Jade stops doing it after the first few scenes. She often fumbles social situations, but she cares about her friends and doing the right thing.
The rest of the cast has plenty of personality, too. There’s thoughtful Alexander, the groom Jade likes, who is much more than an enviable set of muscles; his employer, a rich mean girl who is struggling to fit into high society; the handsome but unpleasant rich boy who becomes far more interested in Jade after she pitches him into a buffet; Jade’s new friend, a do-gooder who convinces Jade to help with a charity function; and a cute but ruthless boy who discovers Jade’s weightlifting secret and demands she train him. There are also various family members and Jade’s supportive and quirky weightlifting buddies.
The art style is grounded in realism but with touches of a more fanciful shojo manga style. It focuses on the characters, giving them expressive (sometimes comically exaggerated) faces and postures. Their outfits change frequently to fit the occasion as the plot romps through lively scenarios and settings: riding lessons from Alexander, a stag hunt, preparing and staging a costumed charity ball, working out at the gym, hosting a sleepover, and more. Backgrounds are mostly minimal, with just enough detail to establish the settings.
There is no nudity (though Alexander sometimes gets shirtless for non-sexual reasons), but there are a few references to sex and a few swear words. Mostly, though, the story is funny and silly, with some heartfelt moments and sweet emotional connections between characters. Hand it to fans of rom-coms and shojo manga who like the sound of the premise.
Colossal By Rutile Willcox Art by Diane Truc Abrams, 2026 ISBN: 9781419777813
Company Age Rating: 14-18
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16) Creator Representation: French, Mauritian, Character Representation: French,
Anima. Lisa Storm. Vera Vicious. Morgaine La Fey. Gaia.
Five different women, both friends and rivals. Five women among the hottest and wildest girls to be found cruising the Sunset Strip. They make the scene. They go backstage. They enjoy the drugs and the bands just passing through. Every night is a new party. Every party is a new adventure.
That changed with the arrival of The Moon Show—a band on the verge of becoming the next big thing. The girls are there when a major label signs them. They go on the road with the band as they go on-tour. And for a while they are living the dream in style.
However, the girls start noticing something is wrong. Other women the band picks up go missing. And some of the girls start seeing strange things while they’re high. Visions of some darkness behind The Moon Show. Something that calls for blood!
Groupies is a hard comic to quantify. It is horror, but it is a slow-boiling horror story where the terrors are more existential than gory and largely left to the imagination. There is a mystery, but the big secret of the story is telegraphed early and somewhat predictable given stories about musicians selling their souls are common enough. (The label that signs The Moon Show is called Asmodeus Records, for crying out loud!)
Thankfully, that’s not really what Groupies is about. The mystery and horror are just background dressing to the true focus of the comic. Namely, the stories of five different women trying to find meaning in their lives amid the sex, drugs, and rock and roll culture. And their vastly different reactions to everything around them.
Lisa Storm, for instance, enjoys the scene, but still dreams of finding true love with The Moon Show’s front-man, Si, despite knowing deep down he’s a dog. Gaia and Morgaine work together to bring rock stars into bed, yet both would rather spend time with alone with one another. The irony is they are both fearful of saying anything for fear of ending what they have. And then there’s Vera Vicious, who for all her blunt talk and complaints about other women trying to steal her man of choice, is the first to realize there’s something strange about the people from “the label” and something sinister going on. All in all, Helen Mullane does a fantastic job of developing these characters and putting the reader inside their heads.
Similarly, Tula Lotay turns every chapter into a different sort of visual journey. It does the artwork a disservice to describe it as merely psychedelic. Oh, there are shifts in the artwork as the characters get high, but there are different alterations to the style and colors depending on the drug. The dark visions Gaia has after taking datura, for instance, are different than the shared hallucination the women enjoy as they drop acid before going for a walk in the woods and start imagining themselves as dryads.
Groupies is rightly recommended for Mature readers. There is cursing. There is nudity. There is everything one would expect in a story devoted to exploring the dark side of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. And that’s before you bring in all the murder, assault and demons. In short, this is one to put in the adult collection of the public library and one to keep away from the kids and teens.
Groupies By Helen Mullane Art by Tula Lotay Mad Cave Studios, 2026 ISBN: 9781545821268
Company Age Rating: 18+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+) Creator Representation: British, Character Representation: Bisexual,
A lot of the graphics I’ve read recently are BIG stories: epic adventures, fantastic settings, or, in more realistic pieces, life or death stakes. It’s easy to make even a straightforward coming of age tale a BIG story with the angst, drama, and anxiety of even the most bog standard puberty. What’s hard is telling an entertaining small story, one that feels honest and real and intimate, something that at once feels universal and unique. Turning Twelve by Kathryn Ormsbee and illustrated by Molly Brooks is a small story. And it is completely lovely.
This follow up to Growing Pains by the same pair and released by Penguin Random House in October 2024, picks up with central character Katie as she turns twelve. Twelve is looking to be a big year for her: the threat of her first period is lurking around every corner, she’s going to her youth groups annual retreat, she gets to start babysitting, and she’s positive she’ll be cast as the lead in an upcoming musical. The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that was central in the first book still buzzes in the background, but Katie is learning to accept that as part of how her brain works. Things turn sideways for Katie quickly—her best friends move out of town, she doesn’t get the lead in Annie, and things that felt natural and easy last year are filling her with questions and doubt. The biggest question is her new friend Grace. Grace is pretty. Really pretty. Really really pretty and nice and talented and makes her heart go thump thump thump. This is a big problem for Katie whose church makes it very clear that being gay is not okay.
Visually, Turning Twelve is nearly a perfect middle grade graphic. The art is cute and there are a few recurring visual themes that do a lot of story work, like the thumps of Katie’s heart or the buzzing bees of her anxious thoughts. The panels have a smooth, clean layout that moves the story along at a quick clip. This is a really quick read which is good because there isn’t really a lot going on in this story. Even in slow moments, the story doesn’t drag or meander. Katie is a very compelling character who breathes life into the story and gives the reader a solid anchor into the world of the story. Katie is so well developed in fact that the other characters don’t get much beyond a surface level treatment. Hazel, the would be new youth group friend, is never more than just there, and even Grace, the object of Katie’s confusing affection, doesn’t get a whole lot of characterization. The reader never really sees Katie’s parents so there’s no sense of how founding her stress in her awakening sexuality is. This is Katie’s story and Katie’s conflict and the other characters aren’t given much beyond her lens.
When I say Turning Twelve is small, that’s not to say it’s not saying big or important things. It absolutely is. But it’s not trying to solve those big important things. There are no big confessions or clear answers. Just like the mental health struggles Katie had in the first book, there are no fixes in this story because there is nothing to fix, just new ways for Katie to interact with her world and an acceptance of herself. The story ends with the hope that that world will be kind to our main character and that, while her road may still be bumpy ahead, Katie is going to be okay.
Turning Twelve Vol. 2 By Kathryn Ormsbee Art by Molly Brooks Penguin Random House, 2024 ISBN: 9780593650066
Company Age Rating: 8-12
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Lesbian, Character Representation: Lesbian, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
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: 10 and up
NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: French, Italian, Character Representation: Queer,
This graphic novel adaptation of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s romance novel is about sisters, Hester and Rachel, who grew up in poverty and learned how to fight for justice. The original novel was released in 1925 and was based on Ethel’s own experiences in a mill, but was not well received at the time of release. Now Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have adapted the novel into a new format during a time when the world could use reminding that human rights and dignity are inherent, not earned. 
Victor is a necromancer, with magic in his blood that lets him cast spells. If anyone finds out, he would be put to death: necromancy is illegal and fanatically persecuted by the religious order that polices the city. And it’s not easy to hide, given that every transaction–from buying a snack to getting married – requires a blood signature, and necromancer blood visibly glows with magic. So Victor keeps to the shadows, solitary except for his cute one-eyed cat, just trying to survive.
to tell her who she should be. This includes everyone from her overbearing and very traditional Chinese mother to her best friends and bandmates. It seems like everyone has an opinion on who Lindsey should be and where her attention should be focused, be it the band or her studies.
couple Liam and Milo navigating their maturing relationship. This slice of life romantic comic was adapted from real life couple Harcum and White’s webtoon in February and promises more volumes to come. Fresh out of high school, the pair are growing into young adults and trying to allow their relationship to grow with them. Liam and Milo are in a very interesting phase, kind of semi-out to their families (who bring their own baggage into their relationship) and striving to make room for each other as their lives grow fuller. Liam doesn’t know what he wants out of his future and Milo seems plagued with self doubt, but they keep circling back to find comfort in each other. This volume catches our couple at a very real, very vulnerable time where a high school relationship can evolve into an adult one or where it can flounder under the weight of growing up.
revenge for being replaced at birth by a changeling. Aisling is that changeling, although she had no idea of her fae heritage and neither did her parents because they don’t recognize her without the glamour she’s been wearing. As they travel through the fae lands, both Aisling and Forget-Me-Not discover they have more in common than they originally thought and start developing a relationship. We learn more about the fae lands through Aisling’s interactions (and almost disasters) and Forget-Me-Not’s backstory about growing up in an alien world that isn’t hospitable to humans. The story wraps up at the end of this volume and provides an epilogue to tie up all the loose ends of the relationship between our two main characters.
Random House Graphix in October 2025, pulls a deep, comforting, swoon-like sigh from the reader, at least this reader. This is a cup of cocoa of a graphic novel. A warm, joint popping hug of a graphic novel. A fully broken-in hoodie of a graphic novel. It’s the best kind of sweet, romantic, comfort read.
her to cozy up to her wealthier peers—and, ideally, marry one of them. But Jade is focused on her secret passion: serious weightlifting.
They make the scene. They go backstage. They enjoy the drugs and the bands just passing through. Every night is a new party. Every party is a new adventure.
stakes. It’s easy to make even a straightforward coming of age tale a BIG story with the angst, drama, and anxiety of even the most bog standard puberty. What’s hard is telling an entertaining small story, one that feels honest and real and intimate, something that at once feels universal and unique. Turning Twelve by Kathryn Ormsbee and illustrated by Molly Brooks is a small story. And it is completely lovely.
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?
