Comic books, star-crossed lovers, and mental health? Verona Comics is a total win! This queer contemporary tackles serious subjects such as mental health all the way to questioning our sexuality and bi-erasure. Verona Comics is one of those books which evolves with every page. Starting off at a comic convention, introducing a totally adorable romance angle, and then struggles with mental health, it constantly tugs at your heart strings. I am here for all the different queer characters from Jubilee's parents, Ridley's bisexuality, and Jubilee's questioning representation (and struggling with bi-erasure).

Verona Comics is dual perspective and it just works so seamlessly! The characters are so precious. Ridley is struggling with his parent's expectations paired with his totally relatable desire for acceptance and love from his father. At basically all times I wanted to wrap Ridley up in a protective bubble - no one messes with Ridley! At the same time, I adore Jubilee. And I basically fell in love with her from the first page. I want to read about more passionate musicians. As someone who has had to be the kind of figure Jubilee was for Ridley, her character felt so relatable to me.

It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize this was a modern take on Romeo and Juliet. I mean, Verona Comics? The main characters' names are Ridley and Jubliee? Their families are at war? Forbidden love? All the signs were there, and yet. At least this take didn't involve such a tragic ending.

Verona Comics wasn't what I was expecting at all. The strap line has it as 'a fresh and funny queer YA contemporary novel about two teens who fall in love in an indie comic book shop,' which meant I was expecting something fluffy and fun. The reality is that it takes a really serious look at mental health and family relationships, and it isn't all that fluffy at all.

As queer YA books go, I loved the various rep in this novel. The main characters both identify as queer in different ways, and it was pretty refreshing to see a very gentle exploration of Jubilee questioning 'does dating a boy make me straight?' Jubilee's mom's were definitely the cutest couple of the book, such a sweet relationship.

I'm always going to be all over any book that has comics, comic books stores, comic con and general geekiness. This one of course doesn't disappoint, and the nerdy first love was pretty adorable. I was definitely glad for a little bit of light relief here and there, as there are some really heavy topics explored.

My heart hurt for Ridley, and his parents made me so, so angry. I found his chapters pretty tough at times, and just wanted to step in and sort his life out for him, starting with banishing his dad to deepest, darkest Antarctica. I really didn't agree with a lot of his actions in the book, which did make him a little hard to like, but I also felt massively sorry for him.

This is certainly a decent book that covers a whole ton of different aspects of YA life. Definitely worth a read.

Three-word description : comics, feud, angst
My rating : 4.5 / 5 stars

I love this so much! This one is such an easy read for me, a light, fluffy contemporary perfect for a one-sitting read! I absolutely love the premise of the story, two teenagers bonded over a comic convention but the family feuds between them is getting in the way of their relationship. It was love at first page for me, I feel deeply in love with the two main characters, Ridley and Jubilee! Ridley is an adorable and dorky introvert, I feel that he is such a relatable character, stumbling over words when he is nervous, not knowing what to do during situations! He is such a joyous perspective to read from! Jubilee on the other hand is more outgoing, knows what she wants and will sought after them.

the writing style is one that I enjoy, it is simple and easy to catch up with, yet it has authenticity and feelings to it! I find myself breezing through the pages, and I do like the pacing of the book. It is succinct and straightforward, but the book headed in a different direction than of what I thought! The ending was kind of surprising but a little abrupt to me. I really wanted more focus on the Verona Comics and The Geekery because it would be more interesting to see the business side of things in the story! I also could not get enough of comic shop cuteness!

I love how the book deals with identity and sexuality. Both Jubilee and Ridley are navigating a period of confusing times in their lives, finding out who they truly are and where they stand in the world. Instead of being judgemental, both of them are really supportive of each other’s identities and respected each other, which brings a message across the board that no one should dictate who you are.

I feel the book is has a little bit of teenage angst in it too, some decisions made by the characters are not as ideal or as sensible looking back but it definitely portrayed teenagers well. At times, we may do the wrong thing, we may pick the wrong path, but it is more important than we own up to our mistakes and face them rather than running away from them. Jubilee and Ridley both matured and grown so much from start to end I just want to give them a big hug!

All in all, it was an amazing story that ended just on the perfect note and was wrapped up nicely! I would highly recommend everyone to keep an eye out for this when it comes out very soon in April! I am beyond excited for this release and you should add it to your TBR now!

Please see review posted to my blog or amazon account! Planning to add to mix for YA Lit course this summer.