Although I’m always intrigued by espionage and a strong female lead, this story wasn’t really for me, it was repetitive with pacing that was all over the place, and the art style was not my favorite.

'The Spy Who Raised Me' had an intriguing storyline and premise, but was ultimately quite disappointing.

Josie Black is a special operative who works for the Company, under her mother, which she's only figured out now, after discovering some concerning gaps in her memories. As it turns out, she's been mind-controlled and brain-washed into being a special, elite operative, all while believing herself to be just another ordinary teenager. Faced by her mother's decisions and what the truth means, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and realize what it is that she really wants to be.

I found the central story of this graphic novel incredibly interesting. While we may have heard of it before, in other books and movies, the idea of a special operative - a kid, at that - not knowing of their own abilities really appealed to me, and I was immediately drawn to this book.

Unfortunately, this book didn't deliver in the way I hoped it would. Much of the story was very convenient, and I felt that there were many storylines left dangling at the end of the, admittedly, short book. The book felt rushed at times, and didn't delve into some aspects which I found needed to be expanded upon more, with scenes that felt borderline ridiculous. The characters weren't truly elaborated on either, though perhaps the action tries to make up for that.

All of that being said, one of the biggest problems that I had was with the art itself. I felt that the illustrations could have had more detail, and done a better job at basic storytelling overall, with speech bubbles being quite big and more informative of the story than what was happening in the panels themselves. The illustrations weren't exactly what I had been hoping for, to say the least, and were disappointingly bland and unsightly.

Overall, while it sounds great at first, this graphic novel didn't really live up to what I was hoping it would be. While I would recommend it to anyone who would like to check it out for themselves, especially if the premise sounds interesting, I would also tell them not to hold out for much. Here's to hoping for a sequel that goes more in-depth about how this one ended, I suppose.

I read this book as a part of a committee that reviews graphic novels. Overall, the book had an interesting premise but it did not explore the world it is set in very well.

While the art is interesting, the rest of the book disappointed me. The lettering was lazy, just normal type dragged into too large speech bubbles. The story itself felt similarly lazy, rushing into explanations and skipping over what felt like it should be important. That being said, I am aware it is meant for children, but I can't imagine anyone over the age of 11 enjoying.

This was a wonderful story for any young reader about making choices. While i feel the plot was a little unconventional, and the drawings were a bit underdeveloped, I would recommend this for lovers of graphic novels

I tried and was unable to open and read the document, The cover looks really exiting and fun though!

Josie Black is just an average teenage girl, or so she has been led to believe. What Josie doesn’t know is that she is a super spy who can pick locks, infiltrate secure buildings, and beat up federal agents with ease, all while under hypnosis placed on her by her mother. When Josie learns the truth about her secret spy powers, she faces the difficult decision to join her mother as a spy, or escape that world and be whoever she wants to be. While the overall plot might not be the most original, The Spy Who Raised Me is a quick read with interesting illustrations that fans of Stuart Gibbs’ Spy School series and Marvel’s Jessica Jones will certainly enjoy.

This book was a lot of fun, but it was far from what I expected. I kind of glossed over the description and looked at the art and said "Huh, cute. A kid's spy story!" I don't want to spoil the story too much, but a kid is getting brain washed to do spy type stuff by her Mom! (You find this out early, don't worry.) And, after she figures this out it is off to the races in a sophisticated dark tale that wasn't what I expected, but was still terribly fun.

The art felt like something you'd see in an early reader with a very simple color palette. But, action and emotions are well conveyed. This simple art is what deceived me into thinking this book was a little bit more simple than it is. But, it also works really well in telling the story that is being told. And, honestly, the juxtaposition dragged me more into the story. It made Josie's wild second life as much as a surprise to me, as it was to Josie. It's like "Ho hum. Just a simple story about Josie. She's getting ride to school with her Mom. Wait they just got back from Paris. Wait. She spied on people. WAIT. What's going on now?"

I liked all of the characters in the story, even the evil ones. The story took some twists and turns that I didn't expect, and the betrayal was way beyond what I would have expected in this story. It all came together well to make for an interesting exciting adventure.

I got an early copy of this book for review, but this did not affect my feelings on it.

This was such a fun read! I loved this graphic novel with everything inside of me. It took me straight back to my childhood dreams of one day becoming the first female James Bond. The premise of the book is simply perfect. I also adored the illustrations. Props to Gianna Meola. You killed it!! The pictures went perfectly with the story and really made it come to life. This was an excellently executed graphic novel that I would be happy to read again and again. I absolutely recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is a shame that this graphic novel didn't live up to its amazing premise. The story itself is interesting and has a lot of potential to be more expansive. But somehow the art wasn't the best and isn't my taste.
The execution of the plot is pretty.. heavy and horrific. Minor spoilers, the main character discovers that her identity is fabricated. Not only that, her mother had been a part of it. The start of the book is pretty mundane but when the plot started to pick up it throws you into the ocean with no life jacket or anything at all. The plot seemed to be rushed and sometimes it was hard to understand what is going on without rereading few pages again. Unfortunately, the severity of her mother’s actions seem set in conflict with the tone. It’s essentially child abuse.
The art didn't help also, it just made the experience reading it much worse. I'm sorry this book isn't for me.

2.5 STARS
*An e-copy was given through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who grew up thinking being a spy would be really cool, I was very excited to read this. It follows J.B. who lived a very ordinary life but one day found out that she had the skills of a spy and that her mother was hiding a very big secret from her. The storyline was interesting, unlike anything I've read before.

It was fast-paced, though a little confusing at times, but also action-packed. As I kept reading, I became more disturbed by the many lies that J.B. grew up with, especially with how manipulative her mother was. The main character, being a somewhat 'programmed' child, had certain controls that could be voiced activated, such as "Halt and Obey". As if that wasn't messed up enough, there's a [slight spoiler] few frames in the book where it's being repeated over and over again [end spoiler]. I can't help but to wonder if this storyline had a deeper meaning behind it. However, other reviews explains it to be child abuse.

I didn't enjoy the art style. It just wasn't my thing. However, I can appreciate the monochromatic colours since that isn't easy at all to do. It also wasn't particularly memorable. While reading it, I took a break for a few weeks only to feel very confused as I couldn't remember what J.B. looked like. Now, as I am writing the review a week after finishing the book, I still can't remember most details of the book.

I still have many questions after finishing the book. Some are unanswered, some are just events in the book that I am very confused by. There were definitely many points from other review that made me realise there were a few plot holes which I didn't notice at all. Though I didn't change my ratings because of that, it's still an important point to note.

This book left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was interesting and different, not memorable for the most part but there were parts that left me with negative feelings and only those are the ones that are ingrained in my memory.

This is a fast-paced graphic novels that middle grade readers won't want to put down. Graphic novels are often a great pathway to a love of reading for reluctant readers; this is one of those graphic novels that will do the trick.

*I received my arc from netgalley*
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This was a fun and fast paced story. I really enjoyed the illustrations and the idea of the story, I believe if this was turned into a movie it would be an excellent one. However, the book on its own was a little confusing and rushed, too much was happening at once which made it very difficult to keep in track the different events. I also would've loved it if more focus was put into the main character's feelings on the relationships with her mom and also her friend, zoe. I also really enjoyed how our main character finds herself through out book and realized how she's been wronged by her own mother, whom I very much hate. Would recommend this anyone looking for a fun read to finish in one sitting and who wants to read a nostalgic book that reminds them of all the teen movies they used to watch cause that's how I felt and which is exactly why I really want this to be a movie!

Thanks to #Netgalley for making this book available to me.

I flew through this book. Josie Black is a teenager age who slowly finds out that memory has been altered. She would wake up and simply not remember what had happened hours or even days prior. She finds out that mom has been lying to her and manipulating her memories. JB is an experimental spy who can speak multiple languages, fight like a martial arts master and has all that makes a super spy. When she finds out that her mother has been hypnotizing and mind-controlling her, she is not pleased. She uses her spy abilities and tries to escape from her mother.
Then she finds out that her father is in on it and he was only with her to take her back to her mother!

The story was okay but the artwork was not really my cup of tea.

This was a cute, fun, and easy read. I typically do not read graphic novels so this was a nice change for me. What made me interested was the cover, I loved the colors. After I read the description I was intrigued by the mother-daughter concept because I love stories that showcase it. I enjoyed this novel!

The idea of this book, a young girl trained, inconspicuously to be a spy, so she could be the best or better secret agent than her mom was clever, however, the plot twists become a bit murky and the graphic art leaves a bit more to be desired.

This was a lot more fun than I was expecting! It was action packed and adventurous with the lead character overcoming a "family issue" in the form of a spy drama. It was well paced and fun to read. I wasn't a huge fan of the art style but it worked for the story with cohesive illustration and a limited color pallet.

The Spy Who Raised Me had the potential to be a fun spy graphic novel, but ultimately missed the mark.

The story follows a young girl named JB who learns that she was trained throughout her life to be a spy, but is continuously brainwashed to forget it. She decides to run away in order to live her own life outside of the people controlling her. This idea could’ve developed into an enticing story, but had very poor execution. In the end, the novel felt disjointed and lacked the appeal that would keep readers wanting more.

E-arc provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

<b> The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </b>

1/5

What did I just read?

Right. I love spies and the idea of a kid-spy raised by the mum spy seemed so cool. Yet this whole thing of her mum having brainwashed her without telling her and doing things she can't remember is really questionable and I just found really weird. When she questions her mother, she is being gaslighted about the things she cannot remember.

I would not want to read my kids to read about this mother who is twisting a kid's memory, doing things with them without their consent and is gaslighting them. Also in the end her mother tried to guilt trip her child to not face the consequences, hoping she would set her free. What?!

The plot and the art just was not for me, even though I did like the cover. I think that was the best thing of the book, I suppose.

Other than one major thing about the main character's origin story, this wasn't a bad graphic novel and I'm struggling with why I didn't like it more. The art is serviceable and the action scenes are competently drawn, the plot is standard action movie fare, the unexpected evil organization is funny but nothing too out of the ordinary, and the themes of (misplaced) trust and hidden talents seem right for a YA book. Maybe it's that while nothing was bad (other than the waaaaaaaaaay too quick dealing with the utter horror of the way the protagonist got her spy skills), nothing was particularly unique or creative or different to justify not dealing with that underlying gaslighting premise.