Tag: graphic novel

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Girl Rebels – Anthology

ramblingmads

Follow the stories of incredible women in modern history, including
Greta Thunberg, Emma ‘X’ Gonzalez and Malala Yousafzai among others.

Beautifully illustrated by a diverse, international creative team, fans
of extraordinary real-life stories will love this!

“From what age are we allowed to change the world?”

Six girls, five empowering adventures. From climate activism to fighting
for education and gun control, each story delves deep into the personal
struggles and triumphs of remarkable individuals.

The Girl Rebels graphic novel shares the extraordinary journeys of six
young women who refused to be silenced in the face of adversity and
have since become symbols of change.
Through rich storytelling and stunning visuals, readers will be inspired by
the unwavering spirit of Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Yusra Mardini, Emma ‘X’ Gonzalez and the Parkway Kids, and Melati and Isabel Wijsen.

Each turn of the page will draw readers into the lives of these young
girls, who never intended to become spokespeople or flag-bearers, but
have now become inspiring icons and role models for thousands of  young people all over the world.

Carefully crafted by a talented team of international authors, the  anthology presents a compelling exploration of youth activism and social change. The noblest battles of the modern world are brought to life by  diverse and renowned illustrators, such as Bret Parson and Gijé.

Girl Rebels is for fans of thrilling real-life stories and youth activism around the globe. Join these brave young women on their journey to change the world and discover the power of resilience, determination, and solidarity.

Girl Rebels is on sale January 21, 2025 at bookstores, comic shops and digital.

Pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million and
Forbidden Planet for UK.

My thoughts: This was really good, bringing these incredible stories to life with fabulous art work. Six young women, each determined to make change and survive the odds, from Malala Yousafzai demanding education for girls in Pakistan and surviving being shot in the head, to the brave American teens, encapsulated by Emma X Gonzalez, demanding an end to the horrors of school shootings in America.

What unites each of these brilliant girls is their courage and determination, their desire to stand up and be counted.

This is a gorgeous book, perfect for inspiring young women everywhere, and older ones too!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Disaster Dates & Lucky Escapes – Tess Smith-Roberts

ramblingmads

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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Twelve Percent Dread – Emily McGovern

ramblingmads

A fast-paced, laugh-a-page graphic novel about friendship, capitalism, and never putting your f***ing phone away!

Katie and Nas are best friends, exes, co-dependents. They share everything, including a tiny room in a North London townhouse belonging to their landlord Jeremy, former host of the hit 90s show ‘Football Lads’.

While Katie bounces from job to job and obsesses about falling behind in life, Nas has bigger things in mind—waiting endlessly for their visa to come through, while working on a seismic art project that will revolutionize politics and society as we know it. Their friend Emma, meanwhile, seems to have it all figured out—job, mortgage, engagement—yet the long hours working for tech giant Arko and endless wedding admin prove equally dread-inducing.

But when Katie’s latest job finds her tutoring the daughter of Arko’s formidable CEO, Michelle, and Emma welcomes the eccentric and enigmatic Alicia to her team at Arko, none of the three women are aware that their lives—and possibly the future of society itself—are about to change forever.

Twelve Percent Dread is a fast-paced, laugh-a-page graphic novel about friendship, capitalism, and never putting your f***ing phone away from Emily McGovern, author of Bloodlust & Bonnets and the hugely popular webcomic My Life As A Background Slytherin.

My thoughts: Bloodlust & Bonnets is still one of my favourite graphic novels of the last few years – it’s very, very funny and we need a sequel please! So I was delighted to be gifted a copy of Twelve Percent Dread to review.

It didn’t disappoint, funny, insightful, intelligent and wry, this is very much a book for right now. With a giant tech firm, its megalomaniac founder poised to try to take over everyone’s lives, while threatening the Prime Minister and barely parenting her teenage daughter, and two young people who have to share a room even though they broke up – rent is not cheap people, just trying to get through life, make enough money to survive, oh and not get deported, this is the satirical read we need!

Katie and Nas are just about surviving, Katie’s addicted to her phone, just lost her job and needs to get a new one – not least because the rent is due. Nas is hoping to stay in the UK (why?) and isn’t allowed to get a job. And now they want to bring down Arko. As things start to spiral out of control, will they be ok?

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Always Human – Ari North*

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First serialized on the popular app and website WebToon, Always Human ran from 2015-2017 and amassed over 76,000 unique subscribers during its run.

Now reformatted for a print edition in sponsorship with GLAAD, Always Human is a beautifully drawn graphic novel about a developing relationship between two young women in a near-future, soft sci-fi setting. Always Human is drawn in a manga-influenced style and with an incredible color palette that leaps off the page!

In the near-future, people use technology to give the illusion of all kinds of body modifications-but some people have “Egan’s Syndrome,” a highly sensitive immune system that rejects these “mods” and are unable to use them. Those who are affected maintain a “natural” appearance, reliant on cosmetics and hair dye at most to help them play with their looks.

Sunati is attracted to Austen the first time she sees her and is drawn to what she assumes is Austen’s bravery and confidence to live life unmodded. When Sunati learns the truth, she’s still attracted to Austen and asks her on a date.

Gradually, their relationship unfolds as they deal with friends, family, and the emotional conflicts that come with every romance. Together, they will learn and grow in a story that reminds us no matter how technology evolves, we will remain . . . always human.

Rendered in beautiful detail and an extraordinary color palette, Always Human is a sweet love story told in a gentle sci-fi setting by a queer woman cartoonist, Ari North.

Ari North is a queer cartoonist who believes an entertaining story should also be full of diversity and inclusion. As a writer, an artist, and a musician, she wrote, drew, and composed the music for Always Human, a complete romance/sci-fi webcomic about two queer girls navigating maturity and finding happiness. She’s currently working on a second webcomic, Aerial Magic, which is about the everyday lives of the witches who work at a broomstick repair shop. She lives in Australia with her husband.

My thoughts:

This was adorable, a sweet, pastel coloured love story about falling in love, making mistakes and finding a way back to each other and developing a deeper understanding.

Sunati and Austen are young women on the cusp of their adult lives, Sunati works as a programmer and Austen is a student, struggling with her course load and stressed about exams.

Set in a future where people use ‘mods’ to alter their appearances, Sunati uses technology with ease, while Austen’s allergy to these patches mean she retains her features and can’t alter them.

Both women try to do what they think the other wants, instead of actually speaking to one another. After a rocky start, their affection for each other grows and blossoms.

A gentle, sweet, old fashioned love story with a high tech twist. Simply charming.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Images reproduced by kind permission of the publisher.

books, LGBTQ+, reviews

🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month Reads 🏳️‍🌈

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June is Pride month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the people we’ve lost over the years.

Pride as an event spun out of the Stonewall riots and if it wasn’t for brave souls like Marsha P. Johnson we wouldn’t have the rights and freedoms we have and we must fight to keep them in the face of homophobia and transphobia.

It’s also a fab time to boost the sales of own voices books written by and about our community. Here are some of my recommendations, please leave yours in the comments.

This was such a fun, joyful read, set at an LGBTQ+ summer camp it follows Randy as he tries to become what he thinks his long time crush wants and learns a lot about himself along the way.

Lia has inherited her uncle’s crown, a kingdom with debts and a poor harvest, there’s conspiracies afoot and she will need her new spymaster Xania to help her save the country and her crown. I’ve read this several times now and love it.

This is madcap adventure where Edward and his friends indulge in some “creative vandalism” and attempt to get Edward into Juilliard. I adore this book, and its sequel Attack of the Theatre People, and even though this isn’t a recent book (it’s from 2004) it is immense fun. Can you tell I’m an overgrown theatre kid!

Fun fact the author and I went to the same secondary school but at different times.

Another gorgeous fantasy novel with a f/f love story, this also has dragons. It’s a chunky book so be prepared to spend some time on it as you follow Queen Sabran and spy/mage Eade as they try to prevent war between their queendom and its enemies.

Currently with 3 volumes published, Heartstopper, the adorable illustrated love story of Charlie and Nick is one of my absolute faves. Starting life as a web series this is now hugely popular, rightly so fyi, and just brims over with love and goodness.

So tell me, what are your favourite queer reads and writers?

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Bloodlust & Bonnets – Emily McGovern*

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Georgette Heyer meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this smart, funny graphic novel by Emily McGovern, the award-winning author of My Life as a Background Slytherin.

The year is 1820, and bored young debutante Lucy knows there must be more to life than embroidery and engagements – no matter how eligible the bachelor might be. Some bachelors, she has discovered, are less ‘eligible’ than they are ‘bloodthirsty,’ however… literally.

It turns out that there are a lot of vampires in late-Regency England, and Lucy has an eye for spotting them and the desire to rid the world of them. It’s not long before Lady Violet Travesty, leader of a mysterious vampire cult, spots Lucy’s talents and offers her a place amongst her vampire acolytes.

Unfortunately, Lady Violent is most horribly slain by the famous Lord Byron before Lucy can accept. Lucy instead joins Lord Byron and his enormous, psychic eagle Napoleon in their ongoing fight against evils such as bloodsucking ghouls and bad taste.

Before long they’re joined by the mysterious Sham, an androgynous bounty hunter, who catches Lucy’s eye. The trio lie, flirt, fight and manipulate each other as they make their way across Britain, disrupting society balls, slaying vampires, and making every effort not to betray their feelings to each other as their personal and romantic lives become increasingly entangled.

A balm for the soul for readers who love Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, novels by Eloisa James and Jane Austen, and the action and adventure of Xena, Warrior Princess, Bloodlust & Bonnets is the most modern action-heavy love-story set two hundred years ago that you’ll read this year.

Emily was born in the UK but grew up in Brussels, where she attended the European School of Brussels II. After graduating, she began a Foundation Art Diploma course at London College of Fashion. She studiously avoided any fashion, and instead spent her time making hand-drawn animations and weird paintings of witches.

She began a BA degree in Russian Studies at University College London and spent a year in Russia working in a rural commune, where she ran a weekly art “gathering” for the kids. The year abroad allowed her to go to many Russian art galleries, which were a revelation to her – artists such as Vereshchagin and Vasnetsov she found influenced her greatly.

She graduated with First Class Honours and by 2016 was building a comic driven social media platform based around the regular posting of her ‘My Life As A Background Slytherin’ comic. Bloodlust & Bonnets is her first graphic novel.

From the author’s website

My thoughts:

This is hilarious, brilliant and just this side of utterly ridiculous. Lord Byron, in possibly his most sympathetic role ever, is a complete buffoon and the vampires are fairly hopeless. Napoleon the psychic eagle is the best character – trust me.

Even my grumpy husband loved it.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.