Title: A Match Made in Heaven (My Boyfriend is a Monster #8)
Author: Trina Robbins
Illustrator: Xian Nu Studio (and others)
Publisher: Graphic Universe (imprint of Lerner)
Copyright: 2013
Price: $29.27
ISBN: 978-0761368571 (library bound)
-----------
Summary and Quick Thoughts:
Morning Glory Conroy is a social outcast at her San Francisco high
school. Everyone is in a clique and everyone has to come up with some
spin on her name. If she had her way, she’d call her parents “mom” and
“dad” and stay home to work on her manga. She is an aspiring manga
artist. Someday, she’ll show off her work. Maybe at the upcoming
comic-con.
Gabriel is a new student who walked out of
who-knows-where. Glory and her only friend decide to help him because he
is cute and so obviously confused about life. As Glory and Gabriel fall
for each other, they meet opposition first from his unseen uncle and
then from his cousin, Luci (with a heart over the ‘i’) who is determined
to destroy what Gabriel loves. Amongst all of this drama, Glory’s best
friend is having problems with her step-father. Oh, and Gabriel turns
out to be an angel.
---------
Recommended Audience: high school
--------
Things to be aware of: mild violence, crude humor
----------
Further Thoughts:
Something about this volume did not sit well with me. After I read it, I
was like “huh.” I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but something about
it was…off and I think it was something to do with the angel portion
(mind you, my knowledge of angels is limited so I might have missed a
lot) or how Gabriel acted.
Glory is a typical teenager
in that she believes the world is against her and everyone, but her best
friend, hates her (which annoyed me at first, but thinking on it is a
very teen thing to do). She lets herself get trampled on by everyone and
teased. She comes to terms with it by the end of the book, but possibly
not in the best manner (is snapping back really the answer?). Glory is
definitely still a “go-getter” in many ways, but not in the ones that
matter to her. She’s afraid to share her manga, but it is ultimately
Gabriel who helps her out. Thanks to him, her dreams come true. (While
his support is nice, should the actual legwork be done by him? Um…)
The
side story in this is with Glory’s best friend and her family drama.
Her step-dad has crossed a line and her mother has kicked him out. He
wants his biological daughter back, but is forced to stay away. This is
what causes the drama in the book. It is also this that gives Glory the
opportunity to chase after Gabriel and ultimately fall for him. He’s
sweet in his naïveté, in a way, but…there is something not quite right
here.
Barry and James are back and it is Barry’s
reaction to Gabriel that makes me really want to know what is ultimately
going on. Mr. James is back to his grouchy self and we hardly see
anything of them later in the book. Bummer after how volume 7 went.
Basically,
get this to keep the series going. I suspect teens would relate to this
(I know I would have hooked into Glory’s view, but maybe not go for
Gabriel), but overall, it left me feeling “meh.”
------
Bonus:
Ok, here’s another publication date issue (number 7 was just as
confusing). Netgalley says May 1st and so does Kirkus, but Amazon says
the paperback, at least, is available now. What?
Source: Netgalley Request.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (My Boyfriend is a Monster 7)
Title: He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not (My Boyfriend is a Monster #7)
Author: Robin Mayhall
Illustrator: Kristen Cella (with others)
Publisher: Graphic Universe (Imprint of Lerner)
Copyright: 2013
Price: $9.95 paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8548-6
-----------
Summary and Quick Thoughts: Oh football. For the little town of Rojo, Texas, that is everything. When there is a game, the whole town can be found at the game. Rather, most of the town can be found at the game. New student Serena Stevens is not in the mood to watch football. She misses her old town and hates that her family moved her to a small town. Luckily for her, her best friend from her previous school still talks to her, but she’s the one that convinces Serena to go to the football game that changes Serena’s life.
At the football game, Serena meets Cam, epic smart student who occasionally shows up at school. After that, she meets Lance, the captain of the football team. As the story progresses, Serena starts to date Lance, but begins work on a project about Jekyll and Hyde with Cam. Unfortunately, Lance has a “thing” against Cam and as time goes on Lance gets violent and only wants to focus on football, leaving Serena sad and confused.
Serena's love triangle adds another strong entry in this series with the added bonus of more dialogs from Mr. James and Mr. Barry. See my further thoughts below.
---------
Recommended Audience: high school
--------
Things to be aware of: emotional abuse; mild violence;
----------
Further Thoughts: Finally! Another volume with the strong heroines that drew me into this series. I missed the spunk and sharp wit of the girls and something about volume 8 left a bad taste in my mouth after reading it (review forthcoming).
That’s not to say this volume didn’t make me uncomfortable. When I grabbed this book from our “holds-waiting-to-be-filed,” the person processing holds that day made a comment that she was worried this series was all about boyfriends who were horrible to their girlfriends, like emotionally or physically abused. I assured her this was not the case and then read this one at lunch.
WEEEELLLL. It does have emotional abuse it in, which is very interesting, yet it is how this volume handles it that makes this a stronger graphic novel. Serena does continue dating Lance in the story. She wants to get more from him, but he’s upset when she won’t talk about football. As his anger issues come to light, he grows even angrier at her when she doesn’t go to the games. Her parents try to support her, but they ultimately leave her to start figuring this out on her own. I do feel that if a real issue came to light, they would intervene. I did find myself wanting to yell at Serena for putting up with Lance. She should have dumped him. She was smarter than that, but she was smitten with Lance, even if it wasn’t convincing.
This is probably my only issue with this story. Serena seems smart enough to step away, and I couldn’t figure out why she was staying. She seemed to see the signs, but somehow she convinced herself to stay. I think I needed to see more of her thoughts and how she really justified it, but somehow I couldn’t really believe the back and forth between her and Lance.
Now, about Barry and James. Oh boy! They finally do more than just hang out on the sidelines. Mr. James quips about “you girls” which speaks to me in this culminating with a huge event involving the girls and the boys of previous volumes (especially when some disappearing). Barry’s office is shown more with the famous X-Files poster “I want to believe.” That somehow speaks volumes about him to me. His posters are so…mixed. He is definitely traveling around with Mr. James which he hints as much.
If you’ve missed something from the previous volumes (I know I did), its back in this one. An enjoyable read, and I forgot to mention that our girl is a little curvy in this one. Keep the monster loves coming!
------
Bonus: Not so much as a bonus, but something confusing. Kirkus has this volume in their reviews, but the publication date says “May 1, 2013.” This is not exactly true as I found it in my library system, on the shelf, and Amazon (sorry, it’s the be-all/end-all on publication dates for me) says it is all ready out, so…maybe a misprint?
Source: Library copy.
Author: Robin Mayhall
Illustrator: Kristen Cella (with others)
Publisher: Graphic Universe (Imprint of Lerner)
Copyright: 2013
Price: $9.95 paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8548-6
-----------
Summary and Quick Thoughts: Oh football. For the little town of Rojo, Texas, that is everything. When there is a game, the whole town can be found at the game. Rather, most of the town can be found at the game. New student Serena Stevens is not in the mood to watch football. She misses her old town and hates that her family moved her to a small town. Luckily for her, her best friend from her previous school still talks to her, but she’s the one that convinces Serena to go to the football game that changes Serena’s life.
At the football game, Serena meets Cam, epic smart student who occasionally shows up at school. After that, she meets Lance, the captain of the football team. As the story progresses, Serena starts to date Lance, but begins work on a project about Jekyll and Hyde with Cam. Unfortunately, Lance has a “thing” against Cam and as time goes on Lance gets violent and only wants to focus on football, leaving Serena sad and confused.
Serena's love triangle adds another strong entry in this series with the added bonus of more dialogs from Mr. James and Mr. Barry. See my further thoughts below.
---------
Recommended Audience: high school
--------
Things to be aware of: emotional abuse; mild violence;
----------
Further Thoughts: Finally! Another volume with the strong heroines that drew me into this series. I missed the spunk and sharp wit of the girls and something about volume 8 left a bad taste in my mouth after reading it (review forthcoming).
That’s not to say this volume didn’t make me uncomfortable. When I grabbed this book from our “holds-waiting-to-be-filed,” the person processing holds that day made a comment that she was worried this series was all about boyfriends who were horrible to their girlfriends, like emotionally or physically abused. I assured her this was not the case and then read this one at lunch.
WEEEELLLL. It does have emotional abuse it in, which is very interesting, yet it is how this volume handles it that makes this a stronger graphic novel. Serena does continue dating Lance in the story. She wants to get more from him, but he’s upset when she won’t talk about football. As his anger issues come to light, he grows even angrier at her when she doesn’t go to the games. Her parents try to support her, but they ultimately leave her to start figuring this out on her own. I do feel that if a real issue came to light, they would intervene. I did find myself wanting to yell at Serena for putting up with Lance. She should have dumped him. She was smarter than that, but she was smitten with Lance, even if it wasn’t convincing.
This is probably my only issue with this story. Serena seems smart enough to step away, and I couldn’t figure out why she was staying. She seemed to see the signs, but somehow she convinced herself to stay. I think I needed to see more of her thoughts and how she really justified it, but somehow I couldn’t really believe the back and forth between her and Lance.
Now, about Barry and James. Oh boy! They finally do more than just hang out on the sidelines. Mr. James quips about “you girls” which speaks to me in this culminating with a huge event involving the girls and the boys of previous volumes (especially when some disappearing). Barry’s office is shown more with the famous X-Files poster “I want to believe.” That somehow speaks volumes about him to me. His posters are so…mixed. He is definitely traveling around with Mr. James which he hints as much.
If you’ve missed something from the previous volumes (I know I did), its back in this one. An enjoyable read, and I forgot to mention that our girl is a little curvy in this one. Keep the monster loves coming!
------
Bonus: Not so much as a bonus, but something confusing. Kirkus has this volume in their reviews, but the publication date says “May 1, 2013.” This is not exactly true as I found it in my library system, on the shelf, and Amazon (sorry, it’s the be-all/end-all on publication dates for me) says it is all ready out, so…maybe a misprint?
Source: Library copy.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
An Interesting Marketing Thing
In the age of webcomics, to have a book that is going to be published all ready, but is uploaded like a webcomic is pretty neat. Basically, for some reason I was Googling Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, the graphic novel, which I'm currently reading the ARC of. The first result was this: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, the website. Basically, until the book is published, a page will be updated weekly. It is kinda, sorta, similar to Erstwhile and Red String and some other webcomics I read with an overarching plot, but updated weekly. Erstwhile was all ready published in the beginning (and generally, I get the impression the stories are done when they start uploading them) and Red String is an online manga that the author is working on all along.
The only downside to this is that the free version will probably disappear eventually (as what happened to Friends With Boys), which is a shame. I like my webcomics and until I can get my hands on the book, rereading it online will have to do (and I don't get many of those because I do not have extra cash for books).
Debate anyone? Thoughts? Either way, if you want to preview it, there it is.
The only downside to this is that the free version will probably disappear eventually (as what happened to Friends With Boys), which is a shame. I like my webcomics and until I can get my hands on the book, rereading it online will have to do (and I don't get many of those because I do not have extra cash for books).
Debate anyone? Thoughts? Either way, if you want to preview it, there it is.
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