This graphic novel overflows emotion, anxiety, passion, and curiosity from pages that contain a Japanese/manga personality (if not format). Many of the characters are drawn with feminine features, despite the gender, with slim bodies, girlish facial features, and longer hair . . . unfortunately for Ash. Asher is a boy who has always been sensitive and quiet, and sort of looks like a girl. Eulalie is a tough girl with a thick skin and a rough attitude. They become fast friends, the sort of friends who have mutual experiences with bullying and being outcasts. Unfortunately for Eu, it only takes a few months of their friendship for her to admit that she likes Ash. And Ash response that he has a crush on the cutest boy in their high school. But it turns out that Ash doesn't only like boys; he just doesn't want a relationship with Eu. From first sexual experiences (bad) to first kisses (good) and late nights (bad) to early afternoons (good), this stunning literary experience takes readers through some of the darkest times of teenage angst, confusion, anger, and love. And leaves us breathless. (The characters are as stunning as the pictures portray them to be.) Definitely for older teen readers, though. Reviewed by kate the librarian.
In this follow-up to If I Stay, we learn a lot about where Adam has been and who he has become in the years directly after his (ex-)girlfriend Mia woke up from a coma after an accident that killed her entire family. Adam "Wilde Man" Wilde is the lead singer and guitar player of the chart-topping Shooting Stars, he has hot model girlfriend Bryn on his arm, and he's got a steady supply of cigarettes and pills to help calm his nerves and keep his depression and anxiety at bay - most of the time. The one thing he doesn't have is Mia. Since leaving their hometown in Oregon three years ago for an illustrious Julliard education, she never once looked back and ultimately cut off contact with Adam. And despite his outward success, he hasn't been the same since this loss of the great love of his life. Until he's in the NYC with the band and sees that Mia is playing a show at Carnegie Hall. The whirlwind of memories, emotion, secrets, and revelations that follow is breath-taking, exhausting, and oddly refreshing as we watch Mia and Adam reconnect and - in some ways - deconstruct.
Readers might be sucked into this love story even without knowing the back-story, but those who already had their hearts broken and put back together again while reading If I Stay, will cry and cheer alongside old friends.
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