Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Wash Day Diaries! I thought this was a great graphic novel and I flew through it! I enjoyed the friendship of all the characters and the real life issues they were each facing. I’d recommend this graphic novel to everyone!

This story was an ode to Black women and sisterhood. I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading it. If you read this and like it, I highly recommend watching Harlem on Amazon Prime! It has very similar vibes and is a great way to follow the lives of a different group of four Black women navigating life and love in New York.

This is such a great book. It's got gorgeous, joyous art, a lovely focus on Black friendship and Black hair, astoundingly well-developed characters for a series of connected vignettes, and some effective but brief things to say about mental health, toxic positivity and depression, and stalkers. I cannot wait for this to come out in hard copy, and I hope we'll get to see more of these awesome characters in other forms one day, too.

This is my very first adult graphic novel and it did not disappoint. This story is one of friendship, womanhood, and Blackness. I loved everything about it. Even in this short tale, I learned so much about the characters and really cared about their stories. The structure, the color scheme, the drawings, everything was perfect. 5 stars!

I NEED MORE!! I finally understand the fascination with comics. I not into this thinking I’ll relate to the characters because I, too, have an extended Was Day Routine on Sundays. What I got was a telling of my life, my family’s and friends’ experiences. I would purchase multiple of this book and the rest of the series. Everything in this, I ADORED!! The side stories, the moment with Granny, and the mental health awareness all poke to my soul, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have read this.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx.

The book takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair. Each short story uses hair routines as a window into these four characters' everyday lives and how they care for each other.

Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith originally kickstarted their critically acclaimed, award-winning slice of life mini comic, Wash Day, inspired by Rowser's own wash day ritual and their shared desire to see more comics featuring the daily lived experiences of young Black women. Wash Day Diaries includes an updated, full color version of this original comic—which follows Kim, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx—as the book's first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters.

In expanding the story of Kim and her friends, the authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story.- Goodreads

As a 30 something-year-old Black woman, I wish I had a close-knit of Black women friends. This book hit close to home. Not just because of that need but because of Davene. Her story is me. In every sense of the story that was told is me.

But beyond this, I loved everything about this book. I loved every woman, all their stories, how wash day shapes their day, their week. This book is genuine, heartwarming, funny, emotional and just damn good.

It should have been longer and no it should not be a 35 chapters book but a graphic novel series for sure.

5 Pickles

With stunning illustrations, a wonderfully empowering message that encourages readers to embrace who they are, this is a charming and joyful story for everyone to read.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A realistic look into this colorful friend group as well as the members themselves. Wash Day Diaries is heartwarming and reflective and I felt like I could and was watching it on tv. The illustration left a little to be desired in my personal opinion but overall enjoyed reading this graphic novel.

This was a cute little interconnected short story connection about four black friends just living their day to day lives. I love how we gotten to see how each of the girls gotten their hair done and how it connected to their own stories. I would say that my stand out favorites were ride or die, and La bendición. I did wished that it was longer though but overall this was good short story collection.

Wash Day Diaries tells the story of Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie told thought five selections. The four friends share a story of life, unity, community, love, and depression. This was a delight to read as the story touched me in places I have experienced personally and with my friends. The story starts with wash day which for most naturals is a whole story all unto itself (I literally felt the all day nature of wash day and getting my hair braided).
This is the story we all needed and experiences in our every day life. This was simply a delight to experience!
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Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx.

The book takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair. Each short story uses hair routines as a window into these four characters' everyday lives and how they care for each other.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was great! I loved the theme of friendship, the queer representation and the mental health representation.

This graphic novel does a great job at showing how hair is extremely important to black women. It connects us and can bring us together. I highly recommend for a good quick read.

Wash Day Diaries is the empowering graphic novel you didn’t know you needed. This new collaboration by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith focuses on the importance of caring for yourselves, those around you, and what makes you feel most at home.

Throughout the graphic novel, we learn about this close group of four friends in one of the most intimate ways possible: their hair care routines. For most people of color, washing their hair can take a whole day, which causes Kim, Nisha, Davene, andCookie and to pause their life for just a moment and give themselves some self love.

As well rounded and compelling as the main characters are, the true highlight of Wash Day Diaries is the fifth main character: The Bronx. Throughout the panels are snapshots of the daily Bronx life: BEC’s, late night train rides, and the subtle threat of gentrification making its way up north. It was clear that Rowser and Smith not only loved creating these close friends, but they also love the borough they chose to showcase.

If you’re looking for a graphic novel that gives you the strength to love yourself and push through anyone or thing that stands in your way, I highly recommend. However, please note that there is a chapter focusing around depression, so if such content is sensitive for you, I would skip this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for offering a copy in exchange for an honest review.

How wonderful is it to read a graphic novel that celebrates Black women! How we all come in all shapes and sizes. The beauty of our hair and the love and care is put in to make sure they poppin'. I loved how it showed Black women from all walks of life. This shows Black queer women, Black women that struggle with mental health, Black women walking away from what could be a toxic relationship, and Black women putting themselves first before any man!!! We absolutely love to see it.

4.5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This comic was so delightful. I sat down intending to read for a few minutes and ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting. Way day diaries follows four best friends over each of their individual hair wash days and then ends with a chapter about them all going out together.

Each girl had her own color scheme that just perfectly matched her character. I don't know how the author was able to showcase each girl's personality so clearly in only a few pages, but I felt like I genuinely knew each one.

I loved seeing the friendships and it's always great to see a story about Black joy! (But take this with a grain of salt since I'm a white reviewer).

Overall this comic was absolutely fantastic. My one qualm that took this down a half star for me had to do with a scene between Cookie and Davena. Davena is suffering from depression and is telling Cookie about how she's been struggling and had started seeing a therapist. She and her therapist are talking about the possibility of antidepressants. At this point, Cookie tells her not to do it since she looks fine (red flag!), you don't know what it will do to your body and mind (red flag!), and offers her a crystal instead. There's already so much stigma around getting professional help and it's disappointing to see this handled so poorly in the text. This did knock the book down a half star for me, but I would still highly recommend it for comic readers since the overall story and art style were so fabulous.

When the original Wash Day came out, I gobbled it up. And the funny thing is, it was just the story of taking care of your hair when you are a black woman. But it was so sweet, so tenderly told, that it made it into this set of stories, as the first one.

The rest of the stories follow the other friends. Friends of all shapes and sizes. Friends that discuss their love life, and their life in group chats. Friends that sleep around and accidentally run into the two men they slept with at the same event. And friend that keep a nasty "ex" away when he shouldn't be there.

It is a wonderful collection of stories, and funny.

Highly recommend it.

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

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

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith is an #ownvoices graphic novel that tells the story of four best friends and their lives in the Bronx. According to the description, the book "takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair." Through interconnected stories about their hair routines, the reader gets a window into each character's life.

Overall, Wash Day Diaries is an interesting look into the lives of black women. I've been trying to read more diverse books lately, and I definitely learned a lot from reading this graphic novel. I also love that this book is #ownvoices and is based on the creators' own experiences. There definitely needs to be more graphic novels featuring black voices. I did take off 1 star though, because I wasn't a huge fan of the art. If you're intrigued by the description, or if you're a fan of #ownvoices graphic novels, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

This was such a heartwarming comic.

In this we are following 4 different friends who are dealing with different things in their own lives but are also able to come together and provide each other with support and love.

Jamila Rowser does a good job of showing the therapeutic process for Black women of just getting their hair done, the bonding that comes between the person getting their hair done and the person doing their hair; the sisterhood and intimacy behind the whole process.

There was such an accurate description of depression in one scene that literally took my breath away because it was so beyond relatable for me. I really appreciated seeing how the friends rallied together to make sure the girl who was suffering was ok.

This was such a heartwarming portrayal of Black sisterhood and friendship. I loved the friend group in this comic and how they always had each others backs through everything.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

I loved this story! It was so good! I've been looking for a slice of life story about Black friends like this one. Even though it was short it did a great job setting up little bit's of everyone's background and situation. I could definitely see it expanded into a series in the future.

This story follows 4 Black friends who live in the Bronx it starts with wash day and styling their hair and expands to different stories about their current situations. Dating, mental health, careers are just some of the topic touched upon in this short space. These felt like real life women to me.

So many funny and true to life moments. I screamed when Davene pulled that Jamaican flag out of her bra!

A series of vignettes which captures a lot of emotions. There are a lot of relatable day things, like dudes hitting on you, or getting dirty looks on the bus. The brevity of each scene, by necessity of the format, also captures how you can't always dwell on everything. Your friends not understanding your mental health issues, or a family member not accepting who you are, There are some things you just have to live with, that you can do nothing about.

It was relatable, real, and fun! I loved how the author incorporated each woman’s hair routine or styling into their day to day lives and issues. Each woman had their own life problems and I loved how supportive the friends were to each other. It was real and even raw in some forms. I enjoyed it, great to see a graphic novel with characters that look like me.