A fun exciting story for upper middle grades. The colors are vibrant and pop, and the artwork features bold lines with expressive faces. I think most youth can relate to the main impetus of the plot -- wishing to get away from your everyday life.

**Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Stars, Hide Your Fire by Kel McDonald and Jose Pimienta through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.

Stars, Hide Your Fire by Kel McDonald and Jose Pimienta is a young adult fantasy graphic novel.  It's about two friends who explore an abandoned building and encounter something a little bit supernatural.  It is set to be published on October 5th, 2021. I rated it 4 stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

Andrea and Darra live in a dead-end Massachusetts town, making their way through high school with hopeful (but slim) dreams of escape. Everything’s going according to plan until a chance encounter with an otherworldly spirit named Carmen changes everything!
Carmen promises Andrea eternal life, but a mysterious young boy named Liam shows up claiming he had also made a deal with Carmen, and it didn’t go well . . . 100 years ago. Liam must convince his new friends of Carmen’s evil nature before Andrea is tricked into a supernatural bargain that will upend her new life before it even starts.

I really enjoyed this story.  It's got a simple enough plot so it was easy to follow along.  It kept me guessing and it made me want to keep reading to figure out what was going to happen.  I ended up reading it in one sitting because I was just really intrigued by the story line.

The characters in this story were really interesting.  I quite liked both Andrea and Darra as characters.  They felt both unique from the other and realistic as characters.  These were teenagers that I might find in one of my English classes.  They had strengths and flaws and I understood where they were coming from.

I also liked how we had some confusion over who we could trust.  Can we trust Carmen or Liam?  It didn't last super long, but it added a good dimension of suspense and an interesting conflict to the story.  

The art of this story was really well done.  I liked the character's designs and how it was full colour.  It really made what was happening stand out.  Overall, the art was really well done.

I highly recommend the book, and you should definitely check it out when it releases in October.

This was a good little graphic novel. There was nothing particularly outstanding about it but it was good. I enjoyed reading it and the art style was great it just wasn't anything I haven't seen before. Still it was well done for what it was.

A magical being tempts a young girl to free her, while a young man who has lived for over a 100+ years attempts to convince her that the magical being is lying to her.

Intriguing story, nothing incredible but a good read.