The world is under threat of the Ghost Hawk – a mysterious highwayman who uses an actual hawk to pass them everything they need, like handily-placed ropes which which to swing to safety. What nobody can dare admit is that Ghost Hawk is a she, and not a white one at that. When attacking one stage coach – for she has many stage dreams, if you see the title as a pun – she finds an unlikely person to take hostage, a prim and silent young girl from out of town. But what the girl is unable to admit (at first, at least) is that he's a bloke, a lad who was going to be forced into the war. He has other stage dreams – of not only living fully as a woman but treading the boards of those new entertainment hall types. Luckily, Ghost Hawk is completely au fait with this, and she knows to call him a her when he's dressed up, and lo and behold a most unlikely collaboration is formed.

Visually there is nothing wrong with this whatsoever – the artwork has an all-gender-pleasing pastel quality, and the way it uses so many shades of the Midwestern golden hour throughout really does make for a distinctive look. It also allows for visual puns – the five o'clock shadow appearing on 'her' face, for one. I think if anything it's the plotting that lets the show down. Too many of the pages feature a sympathetic dressmaker, and in the end the plot is just too quick to forget the subterfuge and feature the leads' relationship. Still, that IS the point of the book, to be trans-friendly and to highlight those living as other genders, as the handy footnotes at the close proves. And in showing 'her' be the force that lets the two escape it shows up all our prejudices. It's easy for us to be surprised at the sight and strength of a demure befrocked 'heroine' doing what she does, but of course it's not a heroine under that dress. It's just someone being who they want to be at last.

A slightly generous four stars.

"Stage Dream" follows Flor, an outlaw going under the alias "Ghost Hawk". When she robs a stagecoach and holds Grace for ransom, they decide working together is more beneficial for both of them.

Absolutely a feel-good, wholesome graphic novel. The trans character representation is natural and effortless, and the romance has a steady build-up. The soft art style adds to the old western feel. The only major shortcoming is it's a bit short so the plot isn't as fleshed out as it could've been.

Stage Dreams is a queer graphic novel with lovely art and some promising elements but I found it too short to really get into and it felt like the first chapter of a book rather than a whole story. It features a queer highwaywoman in the Old West kidnapping a trans actress for ransom, and the pair go on together to spy at a Confederacy ball, but the short length just didn't give enough room for this to really develop. I also have to object on principle to romances that start with one party kidnapping the other!

Flor and Grace are not like other girls living in Civil War era New Mexico Territory. Flor dreams of buying a goat farm and is busy making money for her future through highway robbery. Grace was actually born in the body of a boy, but ran away from home when her father signed her up for the Confederate Army. When the two meet they discover they share a love of the stage - but "stage" means something different to each of them.
To Flor it means the stage coaches she plans to rob to make her financial goal, and to Grace it means the great and renowned theater houses of San Francisco where she hopes to become a great actress some day. If either girl hopes to make her dreams come true though, they must team up and take the world by storm.
While this is a very short book, I do at least hope it's planned as a series because I do want to know more about what happens to these two characters. It's definitely something new and interesting for the age group it's intended for. I can't think of when I have seen another children's western starring such a diverse cast of characters!

Goodreads Rating: 4 stars

A fun adventure/spy story set during the Civil War era in the US and encompassing an excellent amount of "lost" history. I don't recall ever learning about the Confederate plans to take over part of the Arizona Territory and use it to get to the gold and ports in California to further their mission, and this was an awesome introduction to the topic.

Grace, a trans runaway from the South, and Flor, a stagecoach robber, make a great team as they go undercover to steal Confederate secrets and pass them on to the Union. While I loved Flor, Grace was truly the badass in this story and grew as a character. I would love to see more stories with these two characters and their adventures, see how they grow more as characters and as a couple.

The illustrations were lovely--it wasn't particularly my favorite style, but they were excellent nonetheless, especially the landscapes. I loved the washed out color scheme, as well as the textured page look (echoing leather or rough cardstock), which fits perfectly with the Western setting.

Gillman provides a few pages of excellent annotations at the end of the book, explaining the history they incorporated into the story. Any thoughts I had of only rating this 3.5 stars at first was boosted up to 4 due to this little section (although I do wish there'd been a bibliography of suggested readings, but I'm interested enough in the topics covered to search things out on my own).

Highly recommended for anyone who loves history, especially queer history, or just a fun spy/covert adventure!

If you're looking for something quick, lighthearted, and fun, you've come to the right place.

Stage Dreams is the story of two women (outlaw Flor and Grace, fleeing the war) who team up to go on an adventure and execute a heist in the Wild West during the Civil War. This graphic novel is bighearted, diverse, and will make your heart a little lighter. The colored pencil illustrations are beautiful and the story is well-paced.

That's it? Um... okay. (Maybe there's going to be a sequel or something. I sure hope so. Because this is not a complete story at all.)

While I appreciate the intent of this graphic novel, I'm not sure it worked for me. I had a similar issue with it that I did with Jen Wang's The Prince and the Dressmaker: believability. The issue isn't so much people believing Grace is a girl; there are plenty of examples throughout history that show that it isn't impossible. However, in this book, I felt like I had to suspend disbelief about the attitudes. Lip service is paid to the difficulties trans people might have faced (within their own families, mostly), but the ease with which everyone around Grace accepts her (despite the fact that she's drawn with fairly male-looking features in some parts of the book) just doesn't seem right. Like in The Prince and the Dressmaker, the reader seems to be expected to believe that historical attitudes toward trans and queer people were better--more accepting--than they are today. While I'm sure there were some people who would accept folks just the way they were, I kind of doubt it was the norm... and books like these seem to be glossing over what must've been some difficult (and potentially dangerous) times for those with differing gender identities.

The story (what there was of it, anyway; it seemed to end just as it was getting going) is fine. The illustrations are kind of neat, too. They're done with coloured pencil, which gives everything a dreamy sort of look.

I wouldn't mind reading another book about Flor and Grace (if there's going to be one), because Stage Dreams didn't really satisfy my hankering for a good story. I guess we'll see if the plot continues at some point...

Very short for the amount of story it packs in (100 pages! We go from Flor kidnapping Grace to them running out of a Confederate fancy dress party as escaped spies, with time for some heartfelt queer backstory and a fashion montage, in 100 pages!) but for the most part Gillman pulls it off. Their artwork has a very distinctive style that I appreciate -- I think the soft colors work very well for historical/Western -- and I really liked the historical endnotes.

Read it in less than an hour and it was amazing. Although short, which left little room for anything but the plot it was well written and I loved it so much. The f/f relationship pulled at my heartstrings and I l ove the trans main character. There was no homophobia or transphobia which was extremley refreshing and brought a new sense of emotion to the story. Do yourself a favour and read this book.

Thank you netgalley for the free e-arc. I look forward to more stories by this author.

Stage Dreams tells the story of a Latinx outlaw, Flor to her friends and The Ghost Hawk to her foes, and her friend (and former captive) Grace, a trans girl who has run away from home to escape enlistment into the Confederate army, as they attempt a heist at a Confederate ball.

This story has everything you could want in a short and sweet western graphic novel with an explicitly queer element:

The illustrations are beautifully done, all hand-drawn and colored gorgeously with colored pencil; Gillman's style is very unique and lends itself well to the genre.

The representation is well done (as far as I can tell, as I am not Latinx or a trans woman, but I am queer); it is wonderful to see such a visibly trans character on the page, and I enjoyed how Flor's character is so brazen, especially about her womanhood, which contrasted nicely to the more subdued Grace. My personal favorite character is Luis, the tailor who helps Grace and Flor dress for the heist, and whose specialty is tailoring clothes for trans people (as implied in the story). Each of the main characters was precious, and I enjoyed seeing their growth in the book. I would like to see a sequel, especially so I could see if the relationship between Grace and her father improves, and I would also like to see if she ever gets to pursue her acting dream in California.

The only criticism I can find of this book is that at times it felt like it was a little too fast-paced. Things wrapped up fairly quickly at the end, but there were a few loose ends that didn't get tied, so I am curious to see how those are handled if there is a sequel. Otherwise, I will be disappointed because I won't find out what happens!

Overall this was a precious queer western that was fluffy and sweet, but still had enough action to keep me on my toes.

Pros: Fun story, interesting historical details and context, great queer and trans representation especially for a genre/time period that doesn't often see much of this

Cons: Didn't personally enjoy the artwork that much (though that's more personal preference than anything else), I thought the story moved too fast and there was too much to be fit into such a short comic. The pace that certain things progressed seemed unrealistic to me.

Overall: Not flawless but it's fun and worth reading

When I saw that Melaine Gillman was working on a western story, I thought, that isn't what I want from her. Oh, I was so wrong.

Even if you didn't know what you needed was a good queer western, well researched and well drawn, then, you will be pleasantly surprised by this quite quick graphic novel of Flor, who doesn't even to hide that she is a woman, and Grace, who is trying to hide who she is. Together, they are trying to thwart the confederacy from gaining more territory.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screen-Shot-2019-05-08-at-6.13.28-PM.png" alt="Stage Draems" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5172" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screen-Shot-2019-05-06-at-9.58.43-AM.png" alt="stage dreams" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5157" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screen-Shot-2019-05-06-at-9.56.32-AM.png" alt="stage dreams" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5158" />

There are daring escapes, and spying and thieving, and all around, everyone has a good time.

And I saw that some reviewers thought this all wasn't appropriate for middle-grade children, but there is no graphic sex, just mild flirting. If they can watch Mulan, where she cross dresses, they can probably get into Stage Dreams as well.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Review to come in August.

I received this graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

OMG, I was just squeeing in delight when I saw this graphic novel pop up on Netgalley. Not long before I spotted it I was fangirling over a tweet about it by the artist who I follow on Twitter. I was already planning on reading this book so I am extra delighted that I can read it so soon. Not having to wait until September. Though now I have another problem... I need more of this. This was just the cutest, adorablest (if that is a word), sweetest, and most fun graphic novel in a long time.

Meet Grace, a trans runaway who loves dresses and hopes to become an actress. She was just so sweet and I loved her from the start. I felt for her, that she saw no other option than to run away from her family. It was that or enlisting and no one wants that (well, OK, some people may want it). She wants to be her own person, she wants to be herself. I feel there may be trouble brewing for her given the time period, but for most of this book it seems that most people are either accepting (the tailor whom I am sure knows that Grace is not a girl biologically) or Grace is amazing at being a girl, she has the talk she has the walk and she got a gorgeous dress.

Flor? I loved her as well, maybe not as fast as Grace, but quite soon I could see she was a sweet, adventurous girl who happens to be an outlaw. :P Yep, Flor robs people and steal stuff. With the help of a hawk she is known as the Ghost Hawk. Whereas Grace is quite feminine, Flor is more tough and tomboyish. I do love myself a well-written tomboyish character, and Flor is all that and more. I also love how accepting she was of Grace. Many people wouldn't have been so accepting, but Flor. Flor is totally fine with the way Grace is.

I loved the sparks that flew between Grace and Flor and I was shipping them as crazy. They just had something, sparks and chemistry that made me want to see them share some sweet and romantic moments.

The heist, the adventures, and oh yes the goat, it was all terrific fun. Before I knew it the book was over and I was just prodding my screen to get more story. :P

The art is fabulous, I loved the character designs, but also the backgrounds are just wonderfully done. As I expected!

All in all, this is one LGBT graphic novel I would highly recommend. Sweet moments, fabulous characters, the great Wild West, heists, and more! You won't be disappointed.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this comic!

Title: Stage Dreams
Author: Melanie Gillman
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: F/F romance. Trans MC and queer & Latinx MC.

"To our queer and trans ancestors. Far too many of your stories were lost, but we remember you." - I have to admit that I had tears in my eye after I read this dedication.


First up, the characters:
-Grace is a trans woman, a runaway with a passion for acting, her dream is to be an actress someday.
-Flor is a queer, Latinx woman and outlaw. She was hilarious and I loved her character so much!

The story begins with Flor taking Grace hostage for ransom, but this plan doesn't last long. Once they start talking and realise they want the same things, they decide to join forces and help each other.

Set in the wild west, the illustrations and colours throughout the comic are gorgeous and definitely fit the theme!

One tiny problem that I had, but it's definitely a "me not you" situation, is the fact that I know absolutely nothing about the time in history that this is set, so I was confused about a few things. This is actually the first ever western book I have ever read.

Overall, this was just such a fun, hilarious and romanic short comic. Something to immerse yourself in for an hour or two. I highly recommend to anyone who loves LGBTQ+ comics, interesting plotlines and a lovely romance.

"To our queer and trans ancestors. Far too many of your stories were lost, but we remember you."

If that isn't a heartwarming dedication, I don't know what is.

First off, I absolutely loved the characters. I haven't read many books in a historical setting featuring queer characters, and I especially haven't seen a lot of transgender characters represented in a historical setting. The characters were both really lovable as well.

Unfortunately, the story itself, and especially the setting and the dialogues surrounding the political situation, really confused me. That's probably mainly me, because I'm not American and I just don't know have a lot of knowledge about this time period. But I still feel like the context could have been made clearer. It was very helpful to get a little more background info at the back of the novel, though!

Aside from this, this graphic novel is rather short, and to me, it felt like it was cut off rather abruptly. I loved the romance aspect of the novel, but as far as the plot goes, I don't think it was really finished or resolved or anything like that.

I did absolutely love the art work though. The characters were all so distinctive, and I loved the muted use of colours as well.

Rep: f/f romance, trans MC, brown queer MC, several black side characters

This comic is set in the Wild West and it's a fun, heisty story about a trans woman who gets kidnapped and ends up working together with her kidnapper, who is a queer Latinx woman.

The style of the comic is cute although maybe not a personal favorite, but I love the color scheme and how it fits the scenery, and the facial expressions are so good!

This first volume is divided in a few chapters and I assume it's going to be the first in a series, because the story is by no means done. There's no cliffhanger though, and it's satisfying as a standalone too, until the next one comes out.

So! Heist, Wild West, badass women falling in love while having adventures! Get on it!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy.

This was a unique and we'll-written graphic novel. I wish that it was longer!

A sweet middle grade graphic novel about Grace, a trans woman escaping Confederate conscription, and Flor, a stagecoach robber, who join forces to ... well, I don’t know what. I think their objective is to steal from some rich Confederate barons, but instead they wind up with a map for planned attacks.

I’d give this to higher elementary-lower middle grade students. It’s a gentle intro to both gender questions and, slightly less so, to Civil War history.

I like that Gillman includes notes to explain some of the context, for example, about POC in the American West, as well as a lengthy segment about trans people in history, particularly those who served in the Civil War.

This is a fast-paced, engaging book, and I think young readers will appreciate both the story and the representation. My main point of contention is that it does portray life for Grace and Flor as quite a bit easier than I’m sure, historically, it would’ve been. Still, a kid who likes this book can dive further into that topic if their interest is piqued here. It’s not (always) my job to be a joy-killer.

Stage Dreams is a little western graphic novel set in New Mexico. It’s basically the story of Flor, a Latinx outlaw that everyone knows as Ghost Hawk, and Grace, a trans runaway. The two girls crash a Confederate gala and steal an important map but the real plot of this book is the love story that blossoms between the main characters.
The illustrations are in colored pencil and even though it’s not my favorite I found them nice anyway.
I really wish there was more to read, I found the book a bit too short.

If you've ever caught yourself thinking, "Man, there really aren't enough queer AF westerns in the world, are there?" (I have!), let me tell you, Stage Dreams is everything you've been looking for. It follows the heist of a Native woman and her new captive-turned-friend, a lovely trans southern belle escaping her father's wishes that she join the Confederate army. While the story takes place during the Civil War, not much of it actually focuses on that element; primarily, we're here to watch two ladies break into a party, steal a map, and fall in love in the process. It's cute, it's heartwarming, the art is lovely, and I enjoyed it so much.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!