More like: friends to enemies to lovers, with a bit of second chance trope. Not that it’s disappointing, I do prefer friends to lovers anyways.
I only found it resolved a little too fast, given that the whole high school situation did hurt Tessa a lot. We might’ve only seen Olive’s bullying through Tessa’s diary, and I know people tend to exaggerate in diaries (as have I), still, diaries are a reflection of how one has felt in that situation, so technically doesn’t matter whether it’s 100% what has happened – the emotions are real. Rose-colored glasses of (rose-)crushes can make us weak, and perhaps that’s exactly why Tessa has forgiven Olive so quickly.
I mean, it is realistic, and given the length, the characters were fleshed out really well, so I didn’t necessarily expect it to go that deep. Plus, I’m also all for a happy end. Still, if the author knew they were going for a happy end and knew they couldn’t slow down their relationship a little, toning down Olive’s bullying would’ve been a good alternative.
(That one scene, “Was everything from the past few months a LIE?” hit home. Had a similar situation as her in middle/high school. Therefore I know more or less how Tessa feels like – and if I were her, I would have not forgiven Olive. Not so soon, at least. But I’m also aro-ace and am not blinded by sexual desires…)
Haven’t expected for the art to be monochromatic green; surely would’ve preferred the same style, color-wise, as the cover, but it’s not too bad. Although the flashbacks and present could’ve been differentiated a bit more.
What I also didn’t like much how they were treating platonic feelings – completely erasing them and labeling them immediately as “omg that was definitely a romantic crush”. Like, yes, we know Tessa is alloromantic & allosexual, so it works for her. But I, as an aromantic, have often struggled with differentiating between platonic and romantic feelings – while I may have figured it out for myself now, society hasn’t, and immediately jumps to the conclusion that anything overly friendly or emotionally close cannot be platonic when the orientations match (i.e., a panrose man & heterorose woman, or two homorose women, etc). It’s just annoying. Because: newsflash! You can feel both attractions at the same time; being platonically attracted to someone doesn’t exclude romanticism or the other way round, or you can be platonically & sexually attracted. Or it may develop from platonic to romantic – that doesn’t mean that the entire relationship has been romantic from the start.
I’m pretty sure Kathleen meant no harm, it’s just a personal ick from me, especially because I could never be platonic with people cause everyone around me immediately labeled it as romance/sexual. It’s annoying.
Overall the comic/GN is really good though. The art style is cute, with a lot of characters who have fat and meat on their bones. It works well, wonderfully realistic for the stylization.
Lesbian, gay, bi, questioning and trans/enby rep. Frankie’s pronouns (they/them) being used by everyone flawlessly without any drama was very heart-warming. No phobic behavior from the adults, which is a plus too. Tessa’s relationship with her mom was really sweet, in fact.
I also appreciate the conversation about masculine and feminine gender roles in dating life. Like, what butches and feminine bi-roses are struggling with sometimes.
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Art | 1-5 | 4.5 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 3 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 4 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 4 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 3 |
Finale Grade
B
Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for an eARC.
Finished reading: 4th April 2025
~Arden Skye
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Written By: Arden Skye
Favorite game/film/book: doesn’t have one, cause there are too many good ones!
About: generalist, who likes a bit of everything, but especially has a love for magic, queerness and melancholy. When they’re not arting, they’re probably dreaming/reading through another world, or spending time in nature with their dog.
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