"Think of yourself as dung beetles [...] Dung beetles lug their ball of dung around...we all have our own ball of dung to lug around. We're all dung beetles, in our own way."

This graphic novel is absolutely beautiful. Not only is the art stunning and well made but the story itself is so raw and heartbreaking. It fills me both with warmth and sadness.

Ingrid Chabbert tells us the story of a lesbian couple who finally gets pregnant after a long time trying. But things doesn't go as planned and because of what happens the main characters spirals down into a heavy and dark depression. What slowly helps her get back on her feet is writing.

The topics that is brought to the light in this graphic novel is so incredibly important and the story itself needs to be read by everyone. I'm so thankful for Ingrid Chabbert, Carole Maurel, BOOM! Studios and Net Galley for letting me read this pearl.

The illustrations are brimming with colors, life and imagination while at other times they are filled with sorrow, darkness and a cold blanket of sadness. I haven't seen any of Maurel's work before but I absolutely adore her way of portraying both the characters and feelings in this graphic novel. The way she so vividly showed the reader the difference between happy and sad moments is simply magnificent.

After this incredible read I barely can wait to read more of Ingrid Chabbert's work! I'm intrigued to find out what else she's written and if these stories also are filled with important topics and heartbreaking — and later on heartwarming — moments.

I can’t wait to have this book in my hands!

Thank you BOOM! Studios & Net Galley for the e-ARC of "Waves" by Ingrid Chabbert and Carole Maurel (illustrator).

This graphic novel tells a woman's journey through pregnancy, the loss of her child, and the mourning and reconstruction that comes after. The artistic style portrays the mourning through the use of colors. Highlights show the colors coming back into their world after their loss. This is a very emotional story.

I give this graphic novel a 5/5. The process of grieving and reconstruction is shown so well. I feel that anyone, whether you have any similar experiences or not, will be moved by this book.

Gorgeous, heart wrenching, and inspirational. The struggle to become parents and the pain of recovery from the loss of a child. This story and the art strike at the heart of this unfortunate reality for so many, then goes on to show the growth that can come from therapy and support.

No No No no No. What did I just read. No. This is not my type of book at all and now all I want to do is scrub out my eyeballs. We follow a lovely couple as they try to have a baby. But it is not to be. The waves are a metaphor for grief as each woman comes to terms with what happens. Over all the artwork is fantastic, and the way the illustrator uses color to show emotion is so great. If i knew someone in this situation this would be a perfect book to give them. For general library purposes this book gets a ⅘ stars, but personally for me, NO THANK YOU. I don’t like sad stories. And yes this is my fault for not reading what the book was about before I asked to read it.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, Ingrid. You broke my heart in such a profound way with your introspective graphic novel, Waves.

As a reader, I was taken in by the story and the attention to detail, like how the presence and absence of colors benefited the words in such a profound way. As a mom, I was heart-broken for this couple who had wished and hoped so deeply for their precious son, and only got pain, a scar, and one photograph to remember him by. The pages affected me deeply, and by the end I found myself wiping away tears of bittersweet away.

I absolutely loved the metaphor the waves and the ocean had with the author's story, real and imagined.

I think readers of all kinds are going to identify with this story. I know I did.

This was an utterly beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of love, loss, grief, and hope. Waves offered an unparalleled reading experience, and the story was elevated by illustrations that perfectly complimented the text. I will absolutely be pushing to have this title added to my library's collection.

A heart-wrenching autobiographical story about a lesbian couple dealing with a miscarriage. Carole Maurel's art is fantastic, especially how color or the lack of it is incorporated into the book. After tragedy strikes, the color shifts to black and white. Color slowly seeps back into the book as the couple processes their loss and learns how to move on with their life. It's a powerful use of the comics medium that really packs a punch and delivers the characters' emotions.

What a powerful book. It chronicles the narrative of Ingrid Chabbert and her partner as they experience the joy of becoming pregnant and then losing their son. The poignant grief and healing connect you to the story and will have you cheering on the characters as they reach milestones of healing.
The illustrations use colors (and lack of colors) to add to the emotions portrayed so the reader can experience the joy and pain with the characters of "Waves."
I highly recommend this book.

Representation: interracial marriage, a lesbian married couple, IVF, loss of a child
Trigger warning: difficult pregnancy, miscarriage/stillborn child, losing a child, emergency c-section

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A deeply moving graphic memoir of a miscarriage drawing on the power of deep love, community, writing and remembering to struggle through the darkness back into the light. A book that truly honors the anguish, experience and the memory of a life lost that will linger for a lifetime.

I am really glad that i read this beautiful graphic novel. It was heartbreaking and powerfull. I cried a lot. Ingrid Chabbert was very brave to tell her story. It was beautifully written. Illustrations were amazing too. This graphic novel stays with me forever.

Ingrid chabbert is a Children’s book author and she has created this beautiful masterpiece following her and her spouse through a heartbreaking journey. I finished it in less than an hour and I loved every second of this. I also loved carol maurel’s illustrations in the book. They gave it a Dream-like effect that brought the whole story together. I do have to say that at the beginning, I didn’t know why it was called waves. But i realize its a metaphor. At the end of the book, there is an author’s note. There, Ingrid writes;
“And when that was the case—when I found the strength—it would sink”
I found that absolutely beautiful. This story can only be described as heartbreakingly amazing.

A heartbreaking and moving story about two women who decide to have a baby but have to accept that they are unable to do so. There is a lot of hurt, grief and hopelessness as they come to terms with the reality of their situation. As the story progresses, they once again find hope and rebuild their lives.

The art was great and portrays the emotions really well. It's well worth read!

Based on the author's own experiences, <i>Waves</i> is a graphic novel that follows a young lesbian couple who receive the best news of their lives: they are expecting a child together. Until. One day, the unnamed pregnant wife is rushed to the hospital, where she loses her son and endures a difficult recovery. The rest of the book has few words but is a visual mediation on healing and moving forward, even through immense loss.

Ingrid Chabbert brings tenderness to the main characters' relationship and real urgency and pain to the loss of the couple's son; artist Carole Maurel brings this heartbreaking story to life with beautiful, wistful illustration and a sparse but striking color palette. Before they lose the baby, the book is in full color: mostly darker blues and burgundies interspersed with the protagonist's red hair. Immediately after, Maurel robs her page of all color to simulate the detachment, numbness, and colorlessness of grief. But the color doesn't come back all at once in some epiphanic moment; that would be unrealistic. It comes back in drips and pieces--an orange sweater here, a seascape there.

The main narrative is interspersed with wordless images of the main character in a dreamlike state, sailing in a tiny boat on the sea. This section is an evocative depiction of the descent into loss and coping, which can often feel like drowning, and the hopeful, eventual recovery. This graphic novel is stunning and emotional, anchored with beautiful art that amplifies the narrative.

The only fitting response to this is five stars. It's am utterly sincere and honest look at a young woman whose reproductive systems aren't the best. With her wife she has at last got pregnant – we assume through IVF – but things still aren't great, and the infant in fact dies when the doctors are trying to undertake an emergency C-section. The rest of the book is a look at the depths of fragility and despair the woman faces en route to a glimpse of hope. That sounds like a hard read, and I'm sure some of the things she says and some of the beats the couple live through together will seriously affect people who have been in the same boat, but this is not just bleakness and severity. I can see the volume as being an extremely important one for fellow sufferers, but it doesn't stick with being depressing and maudlin – for one thing it's too much of a page-turner for that, with lots of silent panels, dream sequences and other means for us to escape the potential blackness of things. Anything else to say is more of a comment than a criticism – I loved the dearth of colour, but the fantasies interrupted its return too vividly; and I thought what she ended up doing didn't sound much cop at all. But I loved this book, and that's not because it could be filed on the self-help shelf, or because it's 'worthy' – it's just really, really good.

After requesting this graphic novel, I went into preterm labour and now have a preemie baby in NICU. As a result, I am no longer in a mental space to read and review a book about child loss. I read the first part of the story and liked the artwork and story, but I simply cannot finish because it's hitting way too close to home. I apologize to the publisher, author, & marketors, but I will not be finishing this book in the near future.

As per my personal review policy, I do not publicly review books I do not finish. Thank you for the opportunity to access this title.

This was a short but extremely powerful book. As a parent, I felt strongly for the protagonist and the emotional tumult throughout the book. In the end, it left me feeling good about life, but also thinking melancholy thoughts about some tragedies in my life.

A generous and hopeful look at the harrowing process of losing a child and rebuilding again with hope. Sad yet inspiring.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. It was a very personal and emotional story about two women trying to have a child and I couldn't stop reading. The artwork was beautiful and heartbreaking. I'm thankful that Ingrid Chabbert decided to talk about such an important topic,

This graphic novel based on the author's own experience features a lesbian couple who faces infertility and infant loss. It is full of grief, yes, but above all, it focuses on the couple's love and how they rebuild. The artwork is wonderful, and I love the powerful way color/black & white is used throughout to highlight and/or invoke moods. A poignant, hopeful, and beautiful book.

This was an extremely moving graphic novel, and the authors note at the end really gave the book context (and broke my heart).