Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend by Catana Chetwynd
4 stars
Snug is a collection of comic strips from a famous webcomic artist who focuses on making cute strips about her and her partner’s relationship. She and her boyfriend have been the chuckle of many shared Facebook posts. At least that’s how I become familiar with her comic strips. When I saw the book was available for review on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Y’all, this book was CUTE. The comic strips are funny and sweet. There are times when I couldn’t stop laughing, but there were also times when all I could say was, “Awe.” I recommend this collection if you are fan of Catana’s comics or if you just like reading feel-good stuff. I tend to read and gravitate towards darker novels, so this was a sweet palate cleanser. Some of my favorite strips were the fortune cookie, the leftovers note, lost in conversation, I want pasta, when I’m cold, telling a story, and there were so many more I enjoyed, but I won’t bore you by listing them all. Go check the book out for yourself!
I have also never related as much to a comic strip as I do with the “Why did I come in here?” strip. That was so relatable.
Art Scale: 4
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Plotastic Scale: 4
Cover Thoughts: Super cute and it fits the comics so well.
Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
4 stars
Snug is a collection of comic strips from a famous webcomic artist who focuses on making cute strips about her and her partner’s relationship. She and her boyfriend have been the chuckle of many shared Facebook posts. At least that’s how I become familiar with her comic strips. When I saw the book was available for review on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Y’all, this book was CUTE. The comic strips are funny and sweet. There are times when I couldn’t stop laughing, but there were also times when all I could say was, “Awe.” I recommend this collection if you are fan of Catana’s comics or if you just like reading feel-good stuff. I tend to read and gravitate towards darker novels, so this was a sweet palate cleanser. Some of my favorite strips were the fortune cookie, the leftovers note, lost in conversation, I want pasta, when I’m cold, telling a story, and there were so many more I enjoyed, but I won’t bore you by listing them all. Go check the book out for yourself!
I have also never related as much to a comic strip as I do with the “Why did I come in here?” strip. That was so relatable.
Art Scale: 4
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Plotastic Scale: 4
Cover Thoughts: Super cute and it fits the comics so well.
Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
You Can’t Kill Me Twice (So Please Treat Me Right) by Charlyne Yi
3.75 stars
“A child bangs his head
against a wall,
trying to understand
why the adults supervising this world
need convincing that his father
shouldn’t be murdered because of his black skin.”
Poetry is hard to rate. Particularly poetry that deals with personal experiences and showcases a person’s vulnerability and raw pain. It feels cruel to rate poems like those, but I am a book reviewer. So, I will try to rate this collection as kindly as possibly without being too harsh to her experiences. For that reason, those very deep and personal poems are not factored into my rating because this collection is much harder for me to rate because of those few poems. However, that is Yi’s strong suit—vulnerability. I don’t think I’ve read a collection from a modern-day poet that is raw and vulnerable about her experiences like she is. With that being said, huge trigger warnings for most heavy and triggering topics because it is obvious that Yi has had a hard life, but her poetry is a great reflection of how she will not let the substance of her hardships define her narrative. I wasn’t always a fan of this collection. There are some poems that are just plain ridiculous in the sentimentality of love and pandering, but that’s the be expected of modern poetry. It’s become the norm. I much preferred the raw poetry even if it showed layers of her soul. It reminded of Wintergirls in that respect. Beautifully written, but with sad and hard topics behind those vicious and layered words.
“The humans stared at their screens
as they missed another sunset.
Too bad it was the last.”
Yi has a lot of social commentary poems, which I really like. The good thing about these poems is that they feel like a protest against society which are the poems I generally prefer. If you are interested in a poet who isn’t afraid to pack a punch, then I suggest giving Yi’s collection You Can’t Kill Me Twice a shot. I am greatly impressed by it. It has its issues with being consisted throughout, but there are some striking poems inside. Just not as many as I would personally like.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5
Plotastic Scale: 3.75
Cover Thoughts: I kind of love this cover. The colors and the little drawings of two people walking away. I love how the image doesn’t take up the whole cover. It’s different.
Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest review.
3.75 stars
“A child bangs his head
against a wall,
trying to understand
why the adults supervising this world
need convincing that his father
shouldn’t be murdered because of his black skin.”
Poetry is hard to rate. Particularly poetry that deals with personal experiences and showcases a person’s vulnerability and raw pain. It feels cruel to rate poems like those, but I am a book reviewer. So, I will try to rate this collection as kindly as possibly without being too harsh to her experiences. For that reason, those very deep and personal poems are not factored into my rating because this collection is much harder for me to rate because of those few poems. However, that is Yi’s strong suit—vulnerability. I don’t think I’ve read a collection from a modern-day poet that is raw and vulnerable about her experiences like she is. With that being said, huge trigger warnings for most heavy and triggering topics because it is obvious that Yi has had a hard life, but her poetry is a great reflection of how she will not let the substance of her hardships define her narrative. I wasn’t always a fan of this collection. There are some poems that are just plain ridiculous in the sentimentality of love and pandering, but that’s the be expected of modern poetry. It’s become the norm. I much preferred the raw poetry even if it showed layers of her soul. It reminded of Wintergirls in that respect. Beautifully written, but with sad and hard topics behind those vicious and layered words.
“The humans stared at their screens
as they missed another sunset.
Too bad it was the last.”
Yi has a lot of social commentary poems, which I really like. The good thing about these poems is that they feel like a protest against society which are the poems I generally prefer. If you are interested in a poet who isn’t afraid to pack a punch, then I suggest giving Yi’s collection You Can’t Kill Me Twice a shot. I am greatly impressed by it. It has its issues with being consisted throughout, but there are some striking poems inside. Just not as many as I would personally like.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5
Plotastic Scale: 3.75
Cover Thoughts: I kind of love this cover. The colors and the little drawings of two people walking away. I love how the image doesn’t take up the whole cover. It’s different.
Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest review.
Animosity Volume 1: The Wake by Marguerite Bennett, Rafael de Latorre, Juan Doe, and Rob Schwager4 stars
One day the animals around the earth began to think. They woke up and then they started murdering. Suddenly, the animals that have cohabited the earth as pets began killing their owners, animals began attacking each other, but animals also began killing humans in the streets. The world erupted in chaos. An eleven-year-old girl, Jessie, and her dog, Sandor, are trying to leave New York City. This is the saga of their adventures in a world in which animals think like humans and humans begin to think more like animals. I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The premise is interesting and it’s different. I recently took a class on post-apocalyptic literature and looking at the story through that particular contextual lens makes this graphic novel ten times more enjoyable. I’ve recently learned that I really love post-apocalyptic worlds and this is an interesting premise. It’s not the end of the world through cataclysmic events. It’s the end of the world through an animal awakening. Through beings becoming sentient and deciding that they’ve had enough of humans running the show. The plot for the first volume is gripping and intense. I wasn’t interested in Jessie’s brother’s storyline, but I can see it being developed into something really cool in the future volumes. The art is also stunning and there were times where I would turn the page and be struck by how well done and intricate the panels and details are.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Art Scale: 4.25
The characters in this graphic novel series are sweet. They are nothing particularly groundbreaking and I don’t have any huge favorites. Naturally, Sandor steals the show. He’s a gruff dog who loves his girl, Jessie, but he can be ruthless and does not mind killing those who get in his way. Jessie is sweet, but she is kind of a stock character. I haven’t been sold on why I should love her, but I do love their dynamic together. I also really loved Animilitary characters and found them all fascinating. The way characters flip from one side to the other is so fascinating.
Character Scale: 3.25
Overall, this graphic novel is awesome. It’s not the best graphic novel in the world, but the premise is so inventive and gripping that it makes this story digestible and entertaining. I highly recommend it!
Plotastic Scale: 4.5
Cover Thoughts: Creepy, but it doesn’t do a great job of really luring me into the story and wanting to pick it up.
Huge thank you to Diamond Books Publishing for gifting me with a Christmas copy of this graphic novel.
Have you read any of these books? What are some graphic novels that you recommend I check out? Any favorite poetry collections this year that I should read in 2020? Let me know down below in the comments!
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