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theartolater's review
4.0
The first volume of a kickstarted graphic novel of supernatural (and supernaturally-influenced) romance comics, it's light but enjoyable fluff. The Beauty and the Beast story at the end is the only real misstep, but all the rest have different redeeming moments making for a great collection, especially for YA audiences.
plexbrarian's review
5.0
A collection of short and sweet, beautifully illustrated, just-romantic-enough stories. Loved the art, the characters, and the variety of settings from modern high school (with a paranormal twist) to a folktale-esque story. Can't wait for vol.2. <3
bibliothique's review
I really enjoyed the roundtable discussions being included at the end of each story
lmatakas's review
5.0
This was so lovely SO LOVELY. Beautiful stories, and holy crap do I want second installments of every single story in this book-they're so so great. SO SO SO GREAT GUYS ITS SO GREAT
booksfortheliving's review
3.0
By far my favorite was 'Ruined' by Sarah Winifred Searle and Sarah Vaughn.
Full review to come!
Full review to come!
witchyficbindery's review
2.0
Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!
I picked up Fresh Romance in early 2016 and had every intention of reading it. Instead it sat on my shelf for over a year and I am just now getting around to picking it up. I didn't realize when I brought this home that it was an anthology of short graphic novels ranging in genre from paranormal to historical fiction. My main takeaway from this anthology is that the stories are entirely too short. I was interested in most of them, but they were SO short that it was really hard to feel like I'd enjoyed them fully. Something I really did appreciate though was how diverse most of them were. Here are my thoughts on each of the four (five?) stories included:
SCHOOL SPIRIT
This story was cute once I got my bearings. I felt a bit thrown into things, but as I understood what was really going on I really enjoyed the romance and the paranormal elements I totally wasn't expecting. School Spirit is the most diverse out of all of these stories and, while it was hard reading about the reactions to Justine and Malie's relationship, I loved them together! Sadly, this story really had no resolution. School Spirit feels like there SHOULD be something more to it - more volumes - but I can't find them. Overall a sweet story but annoyingly unresolved. (3 stars)
RUINED
Completely switching gears, Ruined is about a woman named Catherine, her mysterious backstory with an unknown lover (I'm assuming this is where she was "ruined"? *cringes*), and her arranged marriage to a man named Andrew. I actually really enjoyed this story a lot, but I wish I could find the rest of it! Ruined ends with "to be continued..." and is titled "Volume One," but it seems like there haven't been any additional volumes published and the author has fallen off the map. (4 stars)
THE RUBY EQUATION
This story was a little too weird and fast for me. It's about a girl named Ruby who is from some other unspecified world and her mission is to make people fall in love in a coffee shop for reasons. This one just really wasn't for me. Ruby was okay, but the speed with which she changed her outlook and the lack of explanation given for anything really just didn't do it. (2 stars)
BEAUTIES
Beauties was another really, really weird story. It's apparently a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which Beauty's father is a prince with two other daughters. The Beast is made the family pet and Beauty falls in love with him for (again) reasons. This story was incredibly short and definitely could have stood to be a bit longer to fill in some (any) details. (2 stars)
FIRST, LAST, AND ALWAYS
Honestly, I don't even know what this is. I tried really hard to understand the point. I mean... at least the art was pretty. (1 star)
While I didn't love every story, this anthology had SO much potential! Unfortunately it seems like it has been abandoned and the one story that ended with "to be continued" will go unresolved. After reading I checked out the website advertised in the back of the book ("Can't wait for more Fresh Romance? Head over to rosypress.com...") only to find that there's absolutely nothing there except a link to an old Kickstarter. Keep in mind, this anthology was published in 2016. I feel fortunate to have gotten a copy for free. If I'd paid for it I would've been pretty irritated.
My rating for Fresh Romance was originally 2.5 stars, but I'm taking off a star because the story that ended on a cliffhanger (the only one I really, really enjoyed) has no next volume and the rest of the stories are so unresolved. I've read quite a few graphic novels over the years and I've never felt quite this irritated over the distinct lack of endings. I definitely can't recommend seeking this one out.
Actual rating: 1.5 stars
I picked up Fresh Romance in early 2016 and had every intention of reading it. Instead it sat on my shelf for over a year and I am just now getting around to picking it up. I didn't realize when I brought this home that it was an anthology of short graphic novels ranging in genre from paranormal to historical fiction. My main takeaway from this anthology is that the stories are entirely too short. I was interested in most of them, but they were SO short that it was really hard to feel like I'd enjoyed them fully. Something I really did appreciate though was how diverse most of them were. Here are my thoughts on each of the four (five?) stories included:
SCHOOL SPIRIT
This story was cute once I got my bearings. I felt a bit thrown into things, but as I understood what was really going on I really enjoyed the romance and the paranormal elements I totally wasn't expecting. School Spirit is the most diverse out of all of these stories and, while it was hard reading about the reactions to Justine and Malie's relationship, I loved them together! Sadly, this story really had no resolution. School Spirit feels like there SHOULD be something more to it - more volumes - but I can't find them. Overall a sweet story but annoyingly unresolved. (3 stars)
RUINED
Completely switching gears, Ruined is about a woman named Catherine, her mysterious backstory with an unknown lover (I'm assuming this is where she was "ruined"? *cringes*), and her arranged marriage to a man named Andrew. I actually really enjoyed this story a lot, but I wish I could find the rest of it! Ruined ends with "to be continued..." and is titled "Volume One," but it seems like there haven't been any additional volumes published and the author has fallen off the map. (4 stars)
THE RUBY EQUATION
This story was a little too weird and fast for me. It's about a girl named Ruby who is from some other unspecified world and her mission is to make people fall in love in a coffee shop for reasons. This one just really wasn't for me. Ruby was okay, but the speed with which she changed her outlook and the lack of explanation given for anything really just didn't do it. (2 stars)
BEAUTIES
Beauties was another really, really weird story. It's apparently a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which Beauty's father is a prince with two other daughters. The Beast is made the family pet and Beauty falls in love with him for (again) reasons. This story was incredibly short and definitely could have stood to be a bit longer to fill in some (any) details. (2 stars)
FIRST, LAST, AND ALWAYS
Honestly, I don't even know what this is. I tried really hard to understand the point. I mean... at least the art was pretty. (1 star)
While I didn't love every story, this anthology had SO much potential! Unfortunately it seems like it has been abandoned and the one story that ended with "to be continued" will go unresolved. After reading I checked out the website advertised in the back of the book ("Can't wait for more Fresh Romance? Head over to rosypress.com...") only to find that there's absolutely nothing there except a link to an old Kickstarter. Keep in mind, this anthology was published in 2016. I feel fortunate to have gotten a copy for free. If I'd paid for it I would've been pretty irritated.
My rating for Fresh Romance was originally 2.5 stars, but I'm taking off a star because the story that ended on a cliffhanger (the only one I really, really enjoyed) has no next volume and the rest of the stories are so unresolved. I've read quite a few graphic novels over the years and I've never felt quite this irritated over the distinct lack of endings. I definitely can't recommend seeking this one out.
Actual rating: 1.5 stars
howlinglibraries's review
2.0
When I heard of this graphic novel, I was so genuinely excited to read it, and I honestly thought it would be something really special. It was, but not in a good way... Let me put it this way: it's very rare that I literally regret reading something, but I genuinely, 100% regret reading this graphic novel anthology. It's not that it was all bad, but...
→ School Spirit — ★★★☆☆
This had a lot of potential to be adorable, once I got used to what the heck was going on, but in the beginning, you're thrown into it with no explanation whatsoever and I was actually getting really irritated while trying to figure out what these characters were doing. On top of that, I know rampant homophobia is a very real issue and I can appreciate own-voice authors writing about that, but when there is literally no happy ending in sight for these queer girls? Obviously, it's a 100% valid thing to write about, don't get me wrong! ... but that doesn't mean my queer self has to have fun reading it.
→ Ruined — ?!?!
I don't even know how to rate this story, but it's the #1 reason I say I regret reading this collection. It had a metric ton of potential to be a raging trashfire with the implication that this woman's previous relationship is why she's "ruined" (calm down, Destiny, let's save the rants about the social constructs of 'virginity' for another day...), but I don't think it was meant harmfully, and I was really intrigued by what was going on — so, naturally, it ended right in the middle of the freaking story with a "TO BE CONTINUED"?! Who the hell does that without warning the reader that they're only getting "part 1" of the story? I'm literally angry over this.
→ The Ruby Equation — ★★★★☆
Literally the only story in this collection that I don't have major issues with. This one follows a magical young lady whose job is apparently to match-make, but she's super resistant to the idea of actually being the one to fall in love, so you can probably guess where this one's headed. The art was lovely and the characters were cute.
→ Beauties — ★★☆☆☆
A painfully boring Beauty and the Beast retelling. That's all I've got.
→ First, Last, and Always — ★☆☆☆☆
While reading anthologies of any sort, I keep a note open on my phone/ipad/laptop/whatever, and I take notes about each story so that, when I write my review, I can break them down. My notes are usually a mash-up of quotes, key phrases, and so on, but if this tells you anything about how this final story made me feel, my entire note section for this one is literally just "WTF".
Like I said... I really wish I hadn't wasted my time with this collection. It was miserably disappointing and I am so, so glad I was able to get it from the library instead of breaking my book ban for it (which I almost did). The only reasons it's getting 2 stars instead of 1 from me are the diverse rep and how much I enjoyed the 3rd story.
→ School Spirit — ★★★☆☆
This had a lot of potential to be adorable, once I got used to what the heck was going on, but in the beginning, you're thrown into it with no explanation whatsoever and I was actually getting really irritated while trying to figure out what these characters were doing. On top of that, I know rampant homophobia is a very real issue and I can appreciate own-voice authors writing about that, but when there is literally no happy ending in sight for these queer girls? Obviously, it's a 100% valid thing to write about, don't get me wrong! ... but that doesn't mean my queer self has to have fun reading it.
→ Ruined — ?!?!
I don't even know how to rate this story, but it's the #1 reason I say I regret reading this collection. It had a metric ton of potential to be a raging trashfire with the implication that this woman's previous relationship is why she's "ruined" (calm down, Destiny, let's save the rants about the social constructs of 'virginity' for another day...), but I don't think it was meant harmfully, and I was really intrigued by what was going on — so, naturally, it ended right in the middle of the freaking story with a "TO BE CONTINUED"?! Who the hell does that without warning the reader that they're only getting "part 1" of the story? I'm literally angry over this.
→ The Ruby Equation — ★★★★☆
Literally the only story in this collection that I don't have major issues with. This one follows a magical young lady whose job is apparently to match-make, but she's super resistant to the idea of actually being the one to fall in love, so you can probably guess where this one's headed. The art was lovely and the characters were cute.
→ Beauties — ★★☆☆☆
A painfully boring Beauty and the Beast retelling. That's all I've got.
→ First, Last, and Always — ★☆☆☆☆
While reading anthologies of any sort, I keep a note open on my phone/ipad/laptop/whatever, and I take notes about each story so that, when I write my review, I can break them down. My notes are usually a mash-up of quotes, key phrases, and so on, but if this tells you anything about how this final story made me feel, my entire note section for this one is literally just "WTF".
Like I said... I really wish I hadn't wasted my time with this collection. It was miserably disappointing and I am so, so glad I was able to get it from the library instead of breaking my book ban for it (which I almost did). The only reasons it's getting 2 stars instead of 1 from me are the diverse rep and how much I enjoyed the 3rd story.