Marisol returns to the small Texas town of Estrella Roja with her family for her grandmother’s funeral. Kat is a college student, podcaster, and cryptid enthusiast who visits Estrella Roja after receiving an anonymous email about possible supernatural activity in the night sky above the small, isolated town. While Mari struggles to connect with her extended family, Kat tries futilely to get the locals to chat with her about the town’s mysteries. The two girls connect, and get more than they bargained for during a late-night excursion into the dessert. This graphic novel is spooky, campy fun with both a feminist and a queer twist. Perfect reading material for October!

This was really good. Loved the art style. This was a really good graphic novel for the season. Highly recommend

In this graphic novel we follow one of our main characters, Kat, as she goes to the town of Estrella Roja to investigate the supernatural. Kat and her friend Clem have a podcast where they discuss everything spooky or supernatural. One day, Kat gets an email asking them to investigate "devil lights" in the town of Estrella Roja. So of course Kat changes her Spring Break plans and heads out on the road to go investigate. However, when she gets to Estrella Roja, the locals are less than friendly to her and won't answer any questions. That is until she runs into Mari, who is in town for her grandmother's funeral. Together they begin to investigate the devil lights and other supernatural things that are happening outside of the small town. What will they find? Are the devil lights real? Are there witches in town?? You'll have to read and find out for yourself!

I really enjoyed this graphic novel! The artwork was awesome and the story just flew by. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are into spooky books.

✨ Review ✨ The Hills of Estrella Roja by Ashley Robin Franklin

One of my favorite graphic novels of the year!

I love the supernatural stories of South and West Texas -- so often it blends Mexican and American cultures, and this book shows that sort of cultural/ folkloric blending so well.

Kat's a first-year college student who hosts a spooky supernatural podcast with her best friend. When she's tipped off about the spooky lights that appear in Estrella Roja, a small town in West Texas, inspired (I think) by the very real and mysterious Marfa lights, she heads out to investigate.

Kat meets Mari who's in town for her grandma's funeral, and the two begin to dig into the mystery together. Bringing in lechuzas (shapeshifting witch owls) and spirits and the mystery lights, this is a really fun supernatural mystery. Kat and Mari's growing closeness was also really sweet. It made for a really lovely queer + horror + supernatural story.

The illustrations are beautiful, and the pacing was fantastic! I can't wait for what this writer creates next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA queer horror graphic novel
Setting: near Marfa, Texas
Pub Date: 29 August 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ supernatural / ghost stories
⭕️ queer coming-of-age
⭕️ graphic novels
⭕️ rural settings

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books, Clarion Books and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

Loved this story. Thoroughly scary and suspenseful without losing any of the magic of falling in love. A celebration of being who you are and finding people that support you no matter what. The illustrations portray movement and emotion so well, from awkward glances to out of body scary moments.

When a paranormal podcaster gets a mysterious email that there might be mysterious activity spotted in a rural Texas town, she jumps at the opportunity to use her Spring Break as a chance to investigate. When she arrives, she's thrust into an unfamiliar place with no friendly faces, but soon strikes up a friendship with a girl who's returned to town for her grandmother's death.

This was such a cute queer graphic novel! I LOVE the emergence of queerness + cryptids in the graphic novel scene, it fills me with such joy to see the lighthearted representation combined with a topic I genuinely love to read about. I really enjoyed that this graphic novel took a different spin on the cryptid plotline as well, giving it weight and history and spending a lot of time explaining the "realities" behind a lot of the myths that circulate today.

My only complaint was that I felt it was a little slow in the beginning, but I did enjoy how much time I got to spend knowing both Kat and Mari! Their characters were each interesting and there was a lot of pages devoted to really liking them both. I also felt their interactions were a little awkward, but it was cute in a "first crush/first love" kind of way that made me roll my eyes, laugh, and keep reading.

I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys similar topics/themes, but in general this is a super friendly graphic novel to anyone with a passing interest in mysteries or who wants to see themselves represented on page.

Content warnings: MILD/YA - Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Body horror, Death

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and Clarion Books for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review!

Witchy, spooky, a perfect autumnal read! This was a long graphic novel, containing a rich, full story with more detail than graphic novels often do, that was also exciting and readable at a very fast pace. There was a lot going on, a lot of characters and information, but it was all really well done and easy to follow. Atmospheric, exciting and action packed, but with a simultaneous rich exploration of relationships.

This was a fun creepy, queer YA horror graphic novel!! A spooky mystery and dark family secrets bring together a bisexual supernatural podcaster on spring break with a teen stuck in her family's hometown for a funeral. Perfect for fans of books like Northranger by Rey Terciero. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

When Kat, a paranormal podcaster arrives in a small Texas town to record a story about the mysterious lights that hover above the hills, she's met with glares, and unfriendly silences from the locals. The one bright spot is Marisol, a girl who's visiting for her grandmother's funeral. Mari's interested in Kat's investigations, and also, maybe . . . Kat. Together the two head into the hills, and discover the dark, dangerous secret that accounts for the locals' hostile attitudes.

This was a terrifically fun young adult graphic, packed with both humor and chills.
Highly recommended for libraries.

A fun read, especially for fans of the paranormal. The pacing is good, the story moves along at a good clip with plenty of interesting things to keep the reader interested. Clues in the artwork are subtle, and make good use of the medium of the graphic novel. The artwork is a little messy, but it is consistently drawn and the characters are distinctive; it is east to distinguish and recognize the various people in the story. Emotions are easy to see on the characters' faces, including my favorite, Kat's passion portrayed with literal stars in her eyes. The layout of the pages varies enough to keep it interesting, and the action occasionally creeps out into the gutters to make for a dynamic overall composition on each page. There are also many nice details, like the visceral crunching of footsteps in the desert, or the gorgeous but also macabre splattering of blood-red citrus juice on the ground. While the timid, accidental physical encounters portraying Kat and Mari's attraction to each other are somewhat awkwardly drawn, the emotions on their faces make up for that, and the point gets across. Overall, a fun story of paranormal activity with a huge, and very cute, dollop of romance on the side.

A fun little graphic novel with supernatural and horror themes, LGBTQ+ characters, and creepy illustrations.

Though more and more are popping up, it can be difficult to find good graphic novels in the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres. They require more complex storytelling which and sometimes miss the mark. I thought the story in this one developed nicely, but the characters fell a little flat.

I enjoyed Kat's effusive personality, but we don't learn much about her...especially compared to the deep dive into Mari's family. It also felt a little strange how hostile Mari's family was to everyone. If you have a secret to hide, wouldn't you just act normal? Their insistence on being rude and dismissive to everyone was more of a red flag than anything else.

I absolutely loved this and finished it in one sitting!

We are following two teens as they end up meeting in the small town of Estrella Roja. Mari is visiting her estranged family for her abuela's funeral and Kat is investigating some reported paranormal activity in the area for her podcast. As Kat asks around town, and is shot down, she eventually meets Mari who is more that happy to help her with her research. The two end up uncovering a few things that don't make sense and also getting to know each other along the way!

This is one of the most interesting plots I have read in a graphic novel. I was invested and dying to know more! The characters were unique, relatable, and pretty cute. The art was beautiful and definitely added to the story in the best way. Thank you for providing me with and ARC through NetGalley!

"The Hills of Estrella Roja" by Ashley Robin Franklin is a perfectly paced graphic novel about queer young adults faced with family secrets and a small-town mystery. College freshman and paranormal podcaster Kat Fields receives a strange message pointing her in the direction of the "Devil Lights" appearing above the even stranger town of Estrella Roja; meanwhile, high school senior Mari Castillo returns to the town of her childhood to attend the funeral of her abuela... feeling like an outsider and outcast despite being family. Her mother is hiding something dark and mysterious about the Castillos from her -- something that made her flee with Mari and her little sister in the dead of night all those years ago. After a chance meeting at the local diner, Mari and Kat decide to put an end to the mystery of Estrella Roja once and for all.

The publication date for "The Hills of Estrella Roja" is slated for August 29th and I can think of no better preparation for the spooky month of October. It has paranormal investigations, small-town mysterious, unexplainable lights in the sky, witchcraft and monsters galore.

This also takes place in Texas! And, I don't know about you, but with the rampant anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being passed in the South, there's something... wonderful about queer writers taking back the landscape that's often so hostile to us. It's a declaration that we're here and we're not going anywhere.

Kat Fields has a podcast on supernatural phenomenon and when she receives a mysterious email about a weird town where weird things happen, she just has to go investigate. Alone. In this small town where everyone is insanely unfriendly.
Marisol "Mari" Castillo has just lost her grandma and so she has to go to Estrella Roja. She hasn't been there in 10 years and her family who she stays with is less than friendly. But she finds a friend in Kat and the two start start investigating together...

This was really really good. I loved the story, the characters, the relationships, the plot, the myths, all of it. I was captivated from beginning to end. Truly could not stop reading. I really liked the whole mystery and how it was told. I was expecting none of it. I also loved the illustrations and the colorization. It all just felt right. I was also there was the weird family dynamics and everyone just being so weird. It really had me guessing from the start.
So yes, I had a great time, I love the gays, good job.

This was a long, but surprisingly quick read. The story kept me engrossed the whole time and I enjoyed how it played out, and maybe even set up for a sequel?!? The art was fun and I particularly enjoyed the color palette.

I loved everything about this spooky graphic novel! I thought Kat and Mari were interesting and relatable main characters and I adored the relationship between them. I loved the artwork and the colorful panels. The story was spooky with paranormal elements, but also cute and heartwarming. I definitely recommend this graphic novel. I can’t wait to get a finished copy.

This hit all the right spooky notes for me! Kat is a spunky, intrepid adventurer and truth seeker, and I enjoyed her fearless approach to investigation, small towns, and flirting. Mari is super relatable and is going through a tough time with her grandmother's passing and feeling like she doesn't fit in with her estranged family. Together, Kat and Mari make a good team. I liked the mystery of the small town, the paranormal activity, the public library research, the close friendship between Clem and Kat, and the setting. Strong story telling, compelling characters, and eye catching art makes this a great read!

This sapphic graphic novel has the perfect spooky vibes for autumn, so be sure to add it to your October TBR! This was the perfect kind of spooky for me: mysterious with some scarier moments, but never outright frightening. And the art work is absolutely stunning, I was in awe of more than a few of the panels.

This story of paranormal horror is a pure delight. I have read several other stories from Ashley Robin Franklin and loved them all - but this one takes the cake for me! This is a story about the devil lights of Estrella Roja, a podcaster who comes to this small town to investigate, and a family who knows all its secrets. The main characters were both queer and you want to root for them the whole time. Wonderful LGBT rep and a blast from start to finish. I will be buying a copy on release and telling everyone else to as well! Easy 5 stars!

n this delightfully creepy and unapologetically queer horror romp of a graphic novel, sometimes dreams do come true. Just remember not all dreams are sweet...
college freshman Kat Fields receives a mysterious email urging her to visit a relatively unknown Texas town with a history of witchcraft, strange sightings, and “devil lights”—glowing red stars that appear above the town’s hills every night—and she can't resist.

Marisol “Mari” Castillo, is also headed for Estrella Roja to attend the funeral for her abuela whom she hasn’t seen since childhood. Feeling lost and bored, she decides to help Kat after a chance meeting at the local diner—and, okay, it doesn’t hurt that Kat is super cute.
This graphic novel has a great sense of inclusion that most of us can remember from our teen years, is well drawn, and a pretty decent (of predictable) story.
It comes out August 29th, so save a few bucks and give this a read. I think you'll like it.