My Selling Pitch:
Autistic girlie vs her abusive narcissistic husband. Your typical good for her revenge thriller.

On my do not read list.

Pre-reading: I’m assuming this will be a good for her novel, and I am not a good for her girlie, but maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised. I LOVE the cover.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on) Thick of it: The voice immediately reminds me of A Certain Hunger and Sky Daddy.

This is kinda boring to me. It’s voicey but not gripping.

Def a whiff of autism about this.

Oh cool, and now I’m just depressed again. God, men are evil.

Title drop

Fuck narcissistic abusers.

That took a turn!

I wish this would speed up.

I’ve loved the phrase in flagrante delecti ever since I learned it in Latin class.

Why a swan though?

Not a good for her girly but will def be celebrating when we kill Drew.

I feel like this is the same narrator who read that annoying “go’way” book. (The Witch of Willow Sound, but it’s not)

Did she say doggo??? In the 70s????

It’s so reflective and slow rather than snappy, and it’s annoying me.

Not a fucking piney boy

Unfortunately, I’m bored.

I hope we pull a My Husband and have a ‘heehee, I planned his murder all along!’ moment. (It does.)

I don’t love that girl lol.

Post-reading: Look, you can be objectively well written, but if you’re bland, you’re getting condemned to my do not read shelf. It’s fine. It’s a fine book. I want so much more than fine.

In my opinion, the pacing cripples this. It makes capable writing seem like such a slog. I can maybe see how the book was going for an old-timey gag by deadpan repeating dialogue and action, but it got annoying so quickly. I wish I could say her husband is comically evil, but he’s not. It’s stereotypical narcissistic abuse, but that’s how they act! They’re caricatures of themselves to begin with. I’m not a good for her girlie, and even I was rooting for his demise. It’s just not my genre though. Girlypop gets away with murder just doesn’t do it for me. She’s positioned as a sympathetic character, but I just didn’t feel anything towards her.

The story doesn’t really have anything new to offer. I’ve read more nuanced pictures of both abuse and autistic representation. The writing, while solid, doesn’t provide any standout quotes or flowery bits I’d want to save. It’s just a meandering recollection of yet another man being a shitbag, and I might be a little burnt out on those stories.

Who should read this: Good for her girlies

Ideal reading time: Anytime

Do I want to reread this: No.

Would I buy this: No, which is a bummer because I love the cover.

Similar books:

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman-lit fic, family drama, autism
• Sky Daddy by Kate Folk-lit fic, family drama, autism
• Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp-lit fic, horror, unreliable narrator, autism
• A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers-litfic, horror, revenge thriller, queer, social commentary
• My Husband by Maud Ventura-lit fic, psychological thriller
• Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski-short story collection, dystopian, lit fic, sci-fi, satire, queer, autism
• Deliver Me by Elle Nash-lit fic, psychological horror, revenge thriller, unreliable narrator, family drama, queer, autism
• The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim-lit fic, psychological horror, revenge thriller, family drama

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
A mixed media horror graphic novel that feels like Life is Strange X Euphoria X Stranger Things. If ‘graphic novel prompts you to open a 43-page redacted PDF on your phone’ intrigues you at all, you don’t wanna miss this.

Pre-reading: This cover is immaculate.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on) Thick of it: The art is incredible. Love that there’s a functional QR code.

The website is so built out!

It’s immediately reminding me of Life is Strange.

Yes, book, fuck Elon Musk!

A me!

Okay, Euphoria

The boy with the green leopard print hair is talking about circus clowns? H’okay. (I’ve never missed a foreshadow in m’life.)

Wait, that’s so fun. You have to scan the QR code and then you get more comic online with the podcast!

I’m sure her best friend, Nancy with the Mean Girls locker, uploaded her nudes with the Mean Girls username.

Also this def counts as CP and revenge porn, like there’s legal action available for sure.

The meme photoshop omg

I’m sure Michael likes her and is stuck with Nancy from blackmail because he’s the serial killer kid?

This is such a maze to read. QR codes within QR codes!

This is so fun, but it’s not the best printed material because you are still missing half the story. Like you don’t have a way to have a physical version of all this other media related to it.

OK, I went back to explore the social media before I started chapter 2 because it was so big and overwhelming at the beginning. There’s a picture on Nancy’s page where she has green eyes but she doesn’t have green eyes. Is this just a coloring error or did Suzy have a wig? (Error)

Not the Wolf of Wall Street quotes. Oh cool, and he’s tone deaf on Bateman.

I love that the social media app updates as you read the story!!!

Oh god, now she’s got Bateman too. God, what a movie. I’m sure she thought she was gonna have a thing with Michael.

God, RJ is kinda insufferable. Don’t say you like Holden Caulfield lmao.

Lmao and Kerouac!

I feel like dk is Ellie but idk how…

Save the dog! (The dog is fine.)

Suzy has brown eyes in her headshot but green eyes everywhere else. What’s up with that? (Seems like a coloring error.)

Suzy was def tutoring Sam. (Yup.)

Every character in this comic is such an awful human being.

Sam’s such a fucking incel.

Suzy was in love with Sam who was in love with RJ? And Michael’s also in love with RJ?

The lighthouse is Ellie and she’s been here the whole time?

It’s very Stranger Things.

God, he SUCKS.

I KNEW MICHAEL WAS EVIL.

The Michael QR code in chapter 5 is super glitched.

Us Scooby kids are a different breed.

Lol, I appreciate the maga corpo dig.

I really picked this up thinking it was gonna be a short graphic novel, and then there’s QR codes within QR codes, and suddenly it’s a 43-page redacted document.

What do you mean that’s the end? That’s not the end. I need a resolution here.

Post-reading: You know when a book is so fun or clever that you're willing to actively suspend any and all disbelief in pursuit of the ending? And then you get to the ending and are like invariably underwhelmed? And then because you’ve got that sour taste in your mouth, you start thinking back on everything you forgave all those pages ago, and you’re like eesh, that was actually pretty sloppy and bad? That’s this book.

The mixed media and the QR codes? Spectacular, give me 14 of them right now. I don’t know if it’s the Capricorn or the Virgo in me, but if you make me work to read your book, and reward that effort? Hoo baby, sold! It was so fun and interactive to load up all those codes on my phone, and then the damn thing’s labyrinthine and there’s QR codes within the QR codes. That’s fucking catnip to me. (There is a glitched page in the final chapter, but that’s a website loading problem. That’s not on the author.)

The actual plotting of the book…that’s where it’s a bit of a car crash. It throws a lot of balls in the air, and you’ll anticipate interwoven storylines. That’s unfortunately not the case. Instead, there’s a it was just this single big bad behind everything the whole time! That’s lame. That’s so lame! I don’t know how you put so much effort into generating so much extraneous content for this world to build it out, and then flop on your villain. And you do kind of just have to go with it. Corporation builds not!TikTok for a nazi magic ritual, but somehow their big ideas to gain a cult following amount to serial killer clown, crowning prom queen, and gaslighting a homeschooler? And obviously it goes wrong because you entrusted this critical manipulation task to an incel teenage boy with next to no oversight, so now the town’s infected with deadly insecurity demons. And like everyone’s just chill as their parents and classmates explode and die. We’ll also completely abandon the plot lines of siren girl group and religious camp. And like I guess the rest of the world just has no Internet connectivity to them even though they’re an island nation, and they would need to import/export goods, and if you think about this story at all, it falls apart.

The ending is incredibly abrupt and dissatisfying. It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a sequel, but this really needs a sequel. You can’t just drop three teenagers off at an abandoned summer camp, and call it the end. Where the hell does the story go from there?

So like it’s gonna disappoint you. But then I can’t help but like it for the sheer audacity of scope. The balls on this book to be issued as print media and still be like lol you have to read half of this on your phone.

And the art! I mean c’mon! It’s gorgeous. There’s not a single ugly panel. Everything‘s clear to read. The character design is diverse and visually appealing. There does seem to be some coloring inconsistencies with the characters’ eyes. I wish an editor would’ve caught and fixed that.

I think you have to pick it up. If you like horror, if you like meta fiction, you’ll probably enjoy your time with this. I don’t think it’ll be a new favorite. I think there’s too many loose ends and unsatisfying plot revelations. But like if ‘graphic novel prompts you to open a 43-page redacted PDF on your phone’ intrigues you at all, you don’t wanna miss this.

Who should read this: Life is Strange fans Euphoria fans Stranger Things fans Mixed media fans Horror graphic novel fans

Ideal reading time: Anytime

Do I want to reread this: I think I'll remember it for a hot minute, but I'd pick it up again

Would I buy this: Yes

Similar books:

• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson-YA mixed media crime thriller
• It Killed Everyone But Me by Ryan Parrot-horror graphic novel, revenge thriller, demons
• The Boyfriend by Seth Sherwood-horror graphic novel, family drama, demons
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski-meta fiction, satire, lit fic, horror
• House of Idyll by Delilah S. Dawson-horror, cults, demons

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.