A review by madscibrarian
Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven by Kami Garcia

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

 This is by far my favorite of the Teen Titans graphic novels by the duo of Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo. I think it's in part due to this being the first novel where the Titans actually meet and interact with one another. The previous two installments focused solely on Raven and Beast Boy individually, and while those stories were good, I really love the whole team together. And we're not at the whole team yet, but this is a great start. 

After the events of their respective solo stories, Raven and Beast Boy each travel to Nashville to meet up with a mysterious person known as Slade who claims they will be able to help them with their powers. They get to Nashville a little earlier than the set day to meet, so they have some time to kill. Raven and Beast Boy end up running into each other, and while they don't know that the other is also going to meet Slade, they end up helping each other out and touring the sights of Nashville. They each wish to hide their powers from the other since they don't know each other well. Will they be able to contain their powers, and what will happen with the eventual meet with Slade? 

I know a lot of the Titans core history and how some of the story will play out, like I know who Slade is already. But the book still has it's own spin on the story and the characters, especially in terms of the characters learning to control their powers. The art is fantastic, but I'm biased because I have followed the artist on social media with his causal Teen Titans art way before he ever got his contract to write this. 

I've personally never been a big Beast Boy and Raven shipper (DickFire is my personal DC favorite couple), but I can certainly hop on board after this installment. It is a little instalovey, but that happens a lot in Young Adult novels because it works well with the age of the readership it's aimed at. Also it's meant to be a short graphic novel, and there are still a lot more Titans to introduce in the following installments, so some things have to move quickly to get to everything a fan might want. 

Totally looking forward to the next one! It has Robin! He's my second favorite Titan! AHHHHH! fangirls away- 

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC. All opinions are my own.