Wow, this was so powerful.

I loved the queer rep in this story.

The art style and the story were both SO beautiful. It was a really quick read, only took me about an hour, but so impactful. It really gave me a glimpse of what women go through in miscarriages.

I am simply blown away.

TW: miscarriage, loss

An ARC was provided by BOOM! Studios via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not crying. You’re crying.
This is the story of a couple rebuilding their lives and happiness after the loss of a child. It’s every single bit as heartbreaking as you’d imagine but at the same time, a little bit uplifting. They survive the loss because that’s what people do, even when it feel impossible for such a long time.
The illustrations are beautiful and soft, the use of colour is the best way of showing grief that I’ve ever seen. It perfectly captures the emotions of the couple and the people around them, I would highly recommend this read.

Waves is a gorgeous emotional experience of what it means to reclaim yourself. Chabbert handles the emotional aftermath of loss so beautifully and her prose is expertly paired with Carole Maurel's artwork. The intensity of emotion here never feels so overwhelming that you cannot continue, it simply feels real. We partner with the main character as we journey with her through the sometimes tumultuous sea of grief.

Waves is a testament to the human capacity to endure, to reinvent, to heal. Waves doesn't try to make things easy on the reader and for that, I am truly grateful.

Loss, pain, the reality of the human experience inevitability cause shifts and movement in our relationship to ourselves and with our loved ones, Waves fundamentally understands this. This book deals with topics rarely discussed openly and it does so with an incredible amount of grace, integrity, and beauty. You will not be sorry you picked this up.

This graphic novel about love and loss is beautiful and very moving. Based on the author’s own experiences, it’s about a woman and her wife who are trying to have a baby. Sadly, their baby dies before he is born, and they must come to terms with their grief.

The illustrations, in shades of blue, are simple and lovely. The dialogue is minimal and touching. The couple’s emotions are clear on every page.

This was a very lovely book to read, exploring an extremely sad theme.

*I received this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher in exchange of honest reivew*

The story begins on an ordinary day. Two women who love each other receive a great news, they are about to finally have a baby. The news is really incredible for both of them and they start making plans for their child. Suddenly, however, the pain hits them and everything puts a strain on their relationship and all that goes with it. The long journey on the boat in the middle of the sea of ​​the protagonist's dreams shows us a unique and particular, almost predictive whole.
What will happen to the two young lovers? Will they manage their lives and their relationship? What will they decide together?
The plot is well structured: it leaves us with a concise summary and a complete picture of what lies ahead and what we will find.
The cover is wonderful in every single aspect. Representative of the story since the dreams of our protagonist are on this boat in the middle of the sea. For the cover you could not choose a better scene, in my humble opinion. The title of the story is deep and put it this way, without any explanation it may seem difficult to understand but I can assure you that it is much more intense than it is presented. The waves that move events, which move life and that can bring us afloat like sinking. It's a good title for this story.
The setting is apparently unknown, in this story we will not be given many details about it but the tables are really beautiful. The era is certainly modern, a truly current story.
The characters in this story are the two leading women. The main protagonist, however, is the young woman who is carrying the baby. She is the one who bears both the weight of pregnancy and that of loss. He is a very closed character but from which a rainbow of unexpected emotions transpires that the reader seems to discover with her.
The dreams of the protagonist on the boat blend with reality and allow us to see it under two different aspects. The oneiric that seems to make premonitions in what happens in reality and the reality with which the protagonist collides. In both cases the author exploits everything well and creates a story that is pure poetry.

The central point of this story is precisely the loss. Loss becomes the central pillar of this story and you experience conflicting emotions, you face difficult situations and you will be completely addicted to it. The protagonists will know how to conquer you and you will share with them an important part of their life, which although sad and difficult to deal with, is very well made in every facet.
The graphics used are really spectacular. The drawings are crazy and I think the highlight is the moments on the boat. Those moments summarize the feelings of the protagonist and come as a slap in the face. You do not need big words, just look at it and everything strikes us in full in its disarming beauty.
Beyond the tables that are really beautiful, everything is divided into various shades of color according to the suffering. In fact, when the drama that strikes the two protagonists of this story happens, the story goes black and white. As the young woman picks up her life and tries to move forward with her life, she recreates something colorful in the story, until everything starts to be colored. This has given greater emphasis to the feelings and phases that affect the human being in times of suffering. There is the black period, in which we hit something negative and then we begin to rise again, more and more.
The only thing for which I'm sorry is the brevity of the work. It is summarized in the feelings and is unique as well as original but the simple fact of not having given a name to the two protagonists or the fact that you can not understand many things about them beyond the single fact that happens. It would have been very nice to know something more but I think it is very beautiful and complete even in its simplicity and in its brevity.
The story is however original and tells a small piece of life that can happen to anyone. A life story that with its colors, with its drawings and its minutiae, affects much more than anything else. A really well done job.

I absolutely recommend this delicate Graphic Novel. Needless to say that I fell in love with these drawings, this story and these protagonists. It is a touching, difficult story that touches many people in the world and that many are facing. A story based on the experience of the author (as written inside the book) lasts but made incredible by his pen and colors.
Ingrid Chabbert definitely entered my heart after this story. Although short, it is a sweet story, full of suffering and pain but also of hope and love. To read.
My vote for this book: 5 stars.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC. This was truly an incredibly sad story of loss. The artwork is simple but stunning.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. My First wish, and it was granted *Yay*.

Waves is a beautiful and heartbreaking true story of the author Ingrid Chabbert's loss of a child, And her journey through it all, and discovering herself as a writer. The artwork was beautiful, it captures the emotions beautifully, and you can feel it all.

As much as I loved this book I don’t think I will tell everyone to read it, be careful if you decided to do.

A deeply moving, intimate story of love and loss, pain and hope, and the ebbs and flows of life’s continuous waves.

A moving account of the author's experiences of pregnancy and grief. Chabbert shares her own story from the joy of sharing her pregnancy news, through a traumatic birth and the loss of her child, to the process of mourning and slow healing process. She shares what happened, and the emotions she felt with an image of a boat. The use of colour is highly emotive, with a story beginning in colour as the couple experience the joy of sharing their pregnancy, the colours darkening as they experience their huge loss and brightening again as they find friendship in a support group, and they find hope for the future.

Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Such quiet and meaning comic that carries it's weight far beyond the colored pages.
It spoke about compassion, grief, self discovery and much more - all achieved in a few simple words and palette.

It didn't make me cry but it created feelings of sadness and joy as the character rode the waves of palpable grief and devastation. Modern yet simple at its heart - Waves will carry you.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a ecopy in exchange of an honest review.

This made me cry so much. First when they lost their child and during most of the rest of the book. Telling the story of two people trying to conceive a child, succeeding and spending their days in happy bliss while waiting for the baby. Then, things go wrong and there won't be a child and the way this was portrayed, the sorrow and the hollowness of the parents-to-be - especially the one carrying the child - it broke my heart. But the rest of the book gave me hope and I love how the author made told the story through very little conversation and more through the illustrations and the colors. The mood of the characters were truly reflected in how the book came alive.

Who should read this? Anyone who have lost a child, have someone close who have lost a child or anyone who wants to try to understand the pain and how you move on. They way this is told is open and makes it possible for people, like me, who haven't lost a child or had trouble conceiving, to at least try to understand the emotions and the way life does and doesn't move on.

/ Denise

Waves is a heartbreaking and simultaneously hopeful graphic novel, that gives those who haven't experienced anything like this just a small glimpse into what it must feel like, and those who have, some hope and the feeling of not being alone.

The art is absolutely breathtaking. It especially portrays the emotions incredibly well and is what makes it so easy to understand what and how the characters are feeling. I don't think there is a way to express this pain in words and that is what really makes the art essential to this work.

This is a graphic novel that manages to portray one of the worst experiences that can happen to someone in a way that is absolutely devastating and painful but also so very beautiful and hopeful.
On top of all this, it is from the point of view of a woman in a same-sex relationship, which made getting pregnant a different and much more difficult experience than many couples will ever know. I'm glad Ingrid Chabbert decided to share this story with us.

I'd be careful going into it if you have experienced a miscarriage yourself. While this can surely be a healing read, it is also A LOT. I have never experienced anything even close to this and it still absolutely broke me.
I don't think I could've handled this if I had first-hand experience, despite the hope in it. For everyone else this should be a must-read as this will bring you as close as possible to understanding this experience.

Content and trigger warnings for miscarriage, depression, blood.

The story is actually based on the author’s personal experiences and you can definitely feel that while reading the book. It feels so personal and sincere; the hurt, the desperation and the fight to stand upright after a tragic event… Chabbert writes in a direct way -not circling around the subject no matter how heavy it gets- but also makes use of analogies -hence the name of the book. I, at first, did not really grasp the analogy; but as the story progressed it not only got clearer for me, but it also enhanced the story.

Which brings me to the illıustrations: they were sublime! They compliment the story with their soft and pastel approach, while the use of colour is effective as well. The panels with the dialogues are not as striking as the empty ones, but overall they are all quite good.

All in all, the journey is told masterfully. Maybe there could have been some more clarity in certain times but the illustrations make up for it.

★・・・・・・・★・・・・・・・★

This book reminded me of my own mothers experience while she was pregnant for me. She also had a lot of bleeding which resulted in her having to stay in bed for the remaining of the pregnancy. My parents were both so scared and felt hopeless in times. They still occasionally mention how lucky they are that i was born healthy.

Which is why I am glad that there are books out there now that tells such personal stories which are also universal experiences for mothers all around the globe.

Personal note: This book is also scheduled to be released on my birthday (May 7), which just makes me even more excited!

Evocative and heartbreaking simultaneously. The journey of healing and growth is both very personal and overwhelmingly familiar and part of the human experience.

Children's author Ingid Chabbert's first graphic novel reveals an intimate and tragic story of miscarriage and carrying on. Her story had me shedding tears.

This book is a beautiful metaphor for so many struggles that I can see this book apply to so many people. It is devastating after years of trying for a child to lose them and I loved how this book represented that there is no "getting over it" and that healing is a long and arduous process. I particularly loved the use of color to reflect the characters' mental and emotional health, regaining colors little by little as they start to breathe again, to live again. I would love for this book to be a part of my medical library collection for patients who have gone through similar experiences and for professionals who can provide a little bit of color and support for their patients.

I loved the look of this graphic novel when it came up on my Netgalley, but wow I didn't know what I was getting myself into until I read it! In saying this, even with the strong emotional themes of this book, I absolutely loved it, I was so very moved by every page of this graphic novel! I honestly didn't think I would find a graphic novel from Netgalley that I would actually enjoy, until I read this beautiful masterpiece.

When I found out it was based off Ingrid Chabbert's personal experience of her and her partner losing their child, I was even more greatly affected. Through Chabbert's personal experiences throughout the story's plot, the illustrations by Maurel matched them in intensity and depth. I absolutely adored the use of the illustrations, especially the use of colours in the illustrations. I also loved the fact that I honestly felt like the illustrations often didn't need words to match every panel and the illustrations themselves also provide a story by themselves.

The only thing I wish I saw more was the grief and loss the wife went through, as she was in the story as a major form of support, which I totally understand as to be important, but I would have liked to understand her emotions in this painful time.

Thank you very much to BOOM! Studios for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to be completely frank, this was boring.

While the artwork was beautiful, the decision to compose the majority of this comic in snapshots made it so I felt detached from the characters and their plight. I should have been devastated to read about this couple's struggle to have a baby and their miscarriage, but I felt...mainly nothing.

The color scheme connection to stages of grief was excellent (gray with despair, warm hues for perseverance, etc.), the established happy f/f couple is one I've always longed to see in any type of novel, and the overall idea behind the graphic book is heart-wrenching.

I just think the narrative itself was executed poorly and could have benefited from being twice its length.


Thank you NetGalley for sending me an arc of this comic! It was definitely a new reading experience for me, albeit a short one.

Waves is a graphic novel based on the author Ingrid Chabbert and her wife's loss of a late-term pregnancy, told from the perspective of the author who carried the child. Feelings of the pain and grief were poignant and the illustrations beautiful. Where I felt disconnected was how the protagonist's wife dealt with the loss. She just seemed to provide moral support and didn't seem to display much grieving. Maybe it just felt that way because it's based on the perspective of the author.

A moving story about a lesbian couple's experience trying to conceive a child. The artwork was beautiful and the story moved me to tears.