Reviews with content warning for Outing - Cross My Heart and Never Lie

Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes

13 reviews

betweentheshelves's review

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Finally got around to this middle grade graphic novel that was one of the 2024 Rainbow List selections from ALA, and it's such a delight! This book captures the difficulty that is 7th grade, while also discovering that you might be different from everyone else. It captures that feeling of middle school so perfectly.

The art in this is also just lovely! Dåsnes captures feelings so well through color and expressions. I can definitely see why this book got so much praise!

Content Warnings

alexutzu's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and everyone that contributed to the existence of this book for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

A cute little coming of age story, packed with all existential crises that people of young age go through. I'd say this is a good recommendation for kids dealing with transitioning towards teenage years and first love aspects.

😍 The good:
A wholesome book about growing up, presenting everything in a nice, soft way. Definitely relatable for middle-grade kids. Great that it looks at things from different perspectives as well, as the story line is focused on an LGBTQ+ love interest.

😅 The not-so-good:
This was a bit chaotic in audio form, probably due to the original structure of the book. It also seemed quite simple at times and did not delve much into some things.

Content Warnings

obscurepages's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

If you saw me shedding a tear by the end of this book, NO YOU DID NOT 😂

I looooveeee the simplicity and profoundness of this book. Yes, it's cute and it's written in a diary/journal format and the MC is a silly, naive little girl. But so much of the story speaks of childhood, girlhood, gender stereotypes, and navigating one's sexuality. Tuva is a young girl who is almost a teenager, and here comes all the "teenage" things and "maturity", and now she (and the reader) starts seeing how young girls are expected to do all of this grownup stuff and fall into harmful and confusing gender stereotypes. Apart from that, there's also the matter of her "falling in love". Young love is so sweet and innocent, but young queer love is also a little bit different and scary, and we see it when Tuva starts to contemplate what it means to be in love and what will happen if she is in fact a lesbian.

Above all, I just also love the friendship and the supportive dad elements in this story. Friends are so special, even when you fight and make up. And seeing a supportive dad in Tuva's dad? I love that 😭

Also yes I really like the diary format illustrations and storytelling! Though sometimes it can be confusing where to read first.

"I wonder... Can you be in love with a girl and still like BTS?"

Exact rating: 4.75 ⭐️ (Might post a detailed review on the blog!)

Content Warnings

drtx_bwt's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

queerafictionado's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

ninahuynh's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is my first Norwegian novel and graphic novel and it was a joy to read. The art is absolutely beautiful and feels just like a hand-written diary by a seventh grader! I like the use of modern and oldies pop culture, and addressing school bullying and outing.

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watershine's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

katiemack's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet-yet-sincere take on what it's like to have one's first real crush. Nora Dåsnes really captures the feeling of being a twelve-year-old girl caught between childhood and teendom (teenhood? teenage-years?) in all of its tentative, awkward glory. I also love how whimsical yet detailed the illustrations are.

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jessereadsthings's review

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hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Hippo Park for allowing me to read a digital copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes with Matt Bagguley was a sweet middle grade graphic novel that I feel needed to be a bit longer to truly wrap up the character’s arcs. First off I want to talk about how much Ioved the art style. The journal format was both really fun and not a style I see graphic novels in often. Seeing this novel pull it off so well was really exciting to me. I also enjoyed that despite the friendship and relationship struggles it ended happily which is always nice to see pulled off well in books for younger readers. My only big criticism is that the story ended pretty abruptly. Which is a shame, because I loved the characters and ending that quickly did affect how well their arcs wrapped up. I feel that even just a few more journal entries could have made their friendship make up really work overwhelmingly better. However, even with my criticism of the ending I really enjoyed this graphic novel and was so happy I got to read it.

Content Warnings

kathi_hoehne's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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