The drawings were cute and it was overall a visually pleasing experience. However, I wasn't invested in the characters or the story.

REVIEW:

✨This was such a great coming of age graphic novel about friendship. With deeper themes sprinkled throughout, I think that Good Game, Well Played had a great art style, a diverse set of characters, and I really fun setting and premise.

✨One place where I think the story lacked the most for me was the pacing. Everything felt very rushed. It's harder to explain what's going on in great detail when you are meant to be looking at the details, but sometimes this graphic novel felt like we were just jumping from one hot button issue to the next. And in the same way that the plot was rushed, I felt like the reader was supposed to feel connected to these characters from the beginning, but I did not feel that way. The way these characters were interacting with each other, you could tell that they were close, but on one page someone is kissing on the next they're fighting, and I just didn't feel an emotional impact from anyone until the end. And even then, it still felt rushed.

✨Being that this graphic novel is meant for a YA audience, I understand why things happened in quick succession, but the dialogue at time felt very middle grade most of the time. Especially with some of the characters that had more of a conflict than others. The way that they were speaking felt regurgitated from stereotypes of the types of conversations that they were having.

✨In the end, I loved seeing where the characters ended up. While I would have liked to see more about their journeys I liked were the characters ended in the end and I feel like the last scenes were so sweet and tied together the whole story really nicely. I would recommend this graphic novel, especially with the art style, to anyone who enjoyed the revamped Archie comic graphic novels that came out a few years ago. I think the art feels similar and more realistic to a teen audience.

I can see what this one is going for but I'm not sure that it achieves it's aim. The heart of the plot is solid but framing it in a scenario more than 10 years after the main events removes some of the impact and connection.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Good Game, Well Played by Rachael Smith and Katherine Lobo is a contemporary YA graphic novel set in 1999 and 2005. The story revolves around Sienna, who is working at a video game store with her four best friends. When the store is threatened with getting shut down, the team has to band together. Will they be successful in keeping the video game store open?

Overall, Good Game, Well Played is a nice contemporary YA graphic novel that will appeal to anyone looking for a fix of nostalgia for the 90's. One highlight of this book is the artwork. The colors are vibrant and the characters are well-drawn. I took off 2 stars, because I was expecting something a bit more exciting from the cover. Instead, this was a pretty standard teen drama, akin to Degrassi. If you're intrigued by the description, or if you're a fan of graphic novels, you can check out this book when it comes out in May.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the copy of this graphic novel!
This was a good read. Graphic novels can be hard as it can only really provide surface level, and not the in depth story, especially in a stand alone. But I loved the topics it touched on, and the gaming aspects.
I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quick contemporary type of read.

This just didn't really work for me. It isn't really terrible. I quite liked the 1999 storyline. I thought it was really fun and interesting. But the 2009 storyline wasn't great at all. It just didn't really make that much sense with the 1999 storyline and I overall just don't really like the choices made for the 2009 storyline. The art is really great though.

Good Game, Well Played is a graphic novel that manages to fit ALOT of plot in a medium with a limited text format. The art it beautiful and the look and feel was really enjoyable.

The story follows a set of teens who work in a gaming store that is struggling. They work together to try and save the store while juggling their own challenges. These include the threat of homelessness, body dysphoria, and unsupportive families. It doesn't always go smoothly and they meet back up years later after a falling out. It was beautiful to see how they have grown and changed over the years and it was satisfying to see them achieve their happily ever afters.

It was an enjoyable read, but it did pack ALOT in! I would have been interested in reading this as a series following each character and giving us a chance to really see the full story and development of each character. But as it is, each character has a full arc and I felt that I got resolution on everyone's stories.

Enjoyable read.

This has a good story with a compelling cast, but rather than give them the chance to really shine as individuals, they're all pared down to what after-school-special morality play the rich white protagonist can make about herself. Despite being at the center of the story, she has very little personality of her own, while her much-more-interesting friends don't get to do much other than give her chances to show what a good person she is and enact her morals upon all who surround her. Would really love to see more from any of the others, tbh, as they're all very cool.

I was looking forward to reading this as I love old videogames. It was a bit disappointing to see so little of it.

The art is beautiful and captivating but the story leaves me kind of unfulfilled. To be honest I don't get how we get a story about a videogame store with lack of games and also it's on the brink of going out of business but there are 5 kids working there?! Well, work is a big word for what they do. It seems like they just hang out all day and the owner of the store is ok with it or oblivious to it?

Then this big fight happens and somehow Sienna takes the blame for everything? But she did end up working with someone from her past but somehow that persons neglects to inform her that she doesn't need to dwell on things and that it's all water under the bridge? The story was a bit random at times although I did enjoy the ending despite the circumstances.

A spectacularly stunning graphic novel! I could not put this down and inhaled all of it at one go. This is about looking back at your life, going back to square one, and finding the family that you thought was no more. I adored this so much and every panel of art was filled with detail and energy - a definite must read.

Special thanks to NetGalley for sharing this free digital copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was an okay read for me. I was a little apprehensive before reading this. I have had a good year in terms of reading and didn't want to be disappointed.
The story had potential but the execution was not good. I couldn't feel any connection to the characters. The plot was a little hard to follow.
The artwork was vivid and beautiful though.

This is supposed to be a nostalgic look back at a video game center in the 1990s in Boston, where a bunch of high school friends worked.

I swear, I read the blurb that told me that was what it was supposed to be, but for the first few pages I thought it was a comic book store. It was never clear what all the kids were doing there. It wasn't as though the games had to be played, or anything. It was all very odd.

The plot is the kids are all working together to keep the store going before the landlord breaks the lease and throws them out. They have drawing and art shows, they have musicians playing, they try everything they can to bring customers in.

The story actually starts 10 years later, after they have all drifted apart after those days, and they see what has become of everyone.

My problem was I didn't care about any of them. I did notice that we had a character who was uncomfortable being a girl, but that wasn't explored very much in the main story, until the reunion. ​

<em>Thanks to Edelweiss and Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em

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

Although the art style was very cute and nice to look at, that's also where my good review for this story ends. These characters were supposed to be best friends, but most of the time it felt like they barely knew eachother and when one of the character made a mistake, they immediatly just cut her out of their lives? I get that she made a mistake but this dude was supposed to be in love with her and she knew all these big secrets about people so it simply didnt make sense for them to not talk for 10 years just for her to come back and suddenly its okay bc she is "the glue of the group" ? I honestly would have been very mad.

Most of the characters were unlikeable, the friendship and relationships didn't make a lot of sense to me and it was very unbelievable that these characters were best friends.

If you loved "Empire Records", and who doesn't. You'll love this book. The description is what caught me first. I was wondering if it would be reminiscent of the cult classic an it did not disappoint. Each character is nuanced and their growth and development is told in a beautiful way. The story has a tragic backing, which is known, but the reader still leaves the text feeling uplifted. The art work is beautiful. I hope this book finds success because it's amazing.