Meet Olive. She’s just a regular gal looking for love, but navigating the wild world of modern dating is getting her no closer to finding the one – why are there so many weirdos out there?! Follow serial dater Olive on her quest for companionship, as she navigates the terrible world of app-based dating and goes on dates that go from bad to worse to even more disastrous, including a man who disappears after going to the toilet in a restaurant and is later spotted on shift waiting tables; a woman who vomits all over her on the beach; and a professional triangle player who gets into a fist fight and jumps out of not one but two moving cabs.
Will Olive ever find the one? And will they be everything she’s looking for? Following up on the popularity of her dating comics series on Instagram, Disaster Dates and Lucky Escapes is crammed full of outrageous dates illustrated in artist Tess SmithRoberts’s colourful and fun signature style. The sometimes gross, often relatable but always laugh-out-loud hilarious stories are weaved into a narrative, all happening to one main character who’s just trying to find love in an online world, with some dates submitted by Tess’s followers, some inspired by previous submissions and, of course, some fan favourites from her viral dating comics.
Tess Smith-Roberts is a freelance illustrator based in Southeast London, originally from Norwich, who studied illustration at Kingston School of Art. She approaches her work with humour, bold shapes, and a playful use of colour. Her varied clients include Comic Relief, TK Maxx, Apple, Bon Appetit, New York Times, The New Yorker, Chilly’s, Vogue, Medium and Soho House to name but a few. She was inspired to create her popular series of dating comics after a string of bad dates, which by doing so and getting her followers to send in their own, provided a form of cathartic therapy. @tesssmithroberts | tesssmithroberts.co.uk
My thoughts: this was a fun and short graphic novel relating the dating misadventures of Olive, from swiping through the no hopers on the various apps, to the weird conversations and hobbies of the oddballs she dates (the orange juice guy!) It’s very funny, and a bit sad, as a lot of these stories feel familiar from conversations with friends. Dating in the 21st Century is very strange.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 