Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read a preview copy in exchange for an honest review! I'm a fan of Andi Watson's work, and I was pleased to find Sunburn was a great read. It's a lovely coming-of-age story bolstered by beautiful artwork. My main critical feedback was that I saw the surprise coming from a mile away. Still, I'd read more work by Watson.

"Sunburn," by Andi Watson with illustrations by Simon Gane, follows Rachel as she escapes her routine summer camping trip with her parents to spend an exotic vacation in Greece with family friends. Despite their party lifestyle and lack of children, Rachel embraces newfound freedoms—drinking, romance—and navigates life lessons. The graphic novel carries an underlying tension, though it surprises with its direction. The artwork, while generally good, occasionally feels disjointed. Overall, "Sunburn" captures Rachel's coming-of-age journey amidst an unsettling atmosphere, questioning the decision of parents who would send their daughter away for an entire summer with another couple. Definitely recommend it.

Beautiful art and setting to this book. It had an interesting underlay to the classic coming of age story, with a nice build up to the secret that is discovered. Overall an enjoyable and short read!

An interesting scenario, though I found the ultimate reveal a bit obvious. The foreshadowing is a bit over the top and the final sections are anticlimactic. The illustration style well suits the plot, though.

Honestly? I just couldn't get into this. Not sure why though. The art was nice. The story was compelling. The pace was nice. It just wasn't for me.

Sunburn is an excellent choice for high school readers who are looking for a great summer/beach read. The illustrations are beautiful and the story line is an easy to follow teen romance with a retro vibe. Recommended for all teen collections!

The art in Sunburn is great, but the story was simply okay! A quick coming-of-age graphic novel, but I probably wouldn't read it again.

‘Sunburn’ by Andi Watson with illustrations by Simon Gane is a graphic novel about a young girl coming of age on an exotic vacation.

Rachel lives a bland life with her parents with the same summer camping holiday looming. When family friends invite her to spend the summer in Greece, she reluctantly agrees. The friends have no children and attend parties most nights. Rachel learns to drink, meets a boy, and learns some hard lessons about life along the way.

This book has a creepy undercurrent from the start. I wasn’t sure where it was going to go, and fortunately I was wrong. It definitely has an unsettling quality to it and I have no idea what kind of parents would send a daughter off with another couple for a whole summer. The art is good, but had some odd disjointed qualities at times.

A gorgeous portrayal of a Greek island, bathed in sunlight, all rambling hills and whitewashed buildings. The peek into ex-pat summer culture makes for a fun read, and the coming-of-age story shakes the heroine, but doesn't wreck her.

The only saving grace from this lackluster, somewhat sinister feeling, coming of age story is the beautiful art depicting a beautiful place. It’s not clear to me what any of these adults actually want in this story.

What a beautifully drawn, anxiety inducing book! From the start the concept made me rather uncomfortable, and the book did nothing to soothe my worries. The art is truly some of the most beautiful I’ve ever come across, and I’m glad to have read it! The story left a little to be desired, but overall very enjoyable!

This graphic novel, while beautiful, really didn't go anywhere unfortunately.

It was a nice summer jaunt around a Greek island, however I thought the plot was heading for something much more intriguing and mysterious. Unfortunately, that isn't where it went and I was left feeling fairly underwhelmed.
Looks beautiful but it's all style and no substance I'm afraid.

The title and cover once again brought my attention to request this book. The illustrations were beautiful. The story, I am not so sure about. So I think the parents let their 16 year old daughter go away for the summer with some friends. The daughter doesn’t even remember these friends. I find it strange that the parents are letting their child go away for the summer to a different country with friends they haven’t seen in years. The couple has no children, but lets the 16 year old drink with them. It also seems as if the adult female is trying to hook up the 16 year old with a boy…….but I am not sure. Then is the adult female seeing this boy? The adult male no sure what his story is.
Why does he keep looking at their wedding picture? I don’t get it. Not sure what the meaning of this story is.
Sunburn….the characters never got sunburned. Hmmmm

Mostly to avoid spending her summer working in a butcher shop, teenager Rachel accepts an out-of-the-blue invitation to Greece, offered by old friends of her parents. She is greeted warmly by the glamorous couple who have no children of their own. What a life they lead! Parties every night, days spent frolicking in the water, or exploring the quaint village. There's even a young man waiting to steal Rachel's heart.

So, what's the catch?

I was expecting a Patricia Highsmith kind of sinister, so the big reveal was a bit of a letdown.

That said, the artwork by Simon Gane is stunning, with many pages of lush scenery, and a serene color palette.

I would buy this for the young adult graphic novel section of the library just to have something for teens that's NOT supernatural.

Before I start discussing the story, I wanted to highlight just how much I love the art style. The colour palette is gorgeous and perfectly fits the island vibes. The donkeys, the scooters, the goats--I was in Crete in May and this comic brought me straight back. Plus, the artist pays a lot of attention to small details (I noticed that Gucci bag straight away!).

Now, to the story. When I saw the reviews here, I was quite shocked. I think a lot of readers read this comic with the wrong expectations, and I also firmly believe that the intended audience is wrong. It's meant for a Teen+ audience, but I'd say it's more suited for adults. A lot of the subtle dialogue will probably fly over your head if you don't pay attention. Why would a girl get invited to a luxury holiday with friends of the family? There are only a couple of explanations.

Contrary to the other reviewers here, I really enjoyed reading this comic. I opened it with the idea of reading it over a few days, but couldn't stop reading it once I'd started. There was something special about this story. Maybe it was the undoubted "Britishness" or the Greek charm, or maybe the fact that it's set in the 80s or 90s. But I enjoyed every second of it.

Recommended for more mature audiences and lovers of Greece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

With how the plot blurb was written, I expected this graphic novel to be much more dramatic and have more mystery than it actually did. The "mystery plot twist" I guessed correctly from the beginning, and the other "plot twist" I expected didn't happen. I will admit, my hackles were raised when the adult host couple both kept commenting on how "beautiful" Racheal was with weirdly sly smiles to each other right after she arrived in Greece. Thankfully, that ended up being nothing of significance, it was just legitimate compliments. But when the plot blurb exspouses that the novel with have "shocking secrets" and "nothing is what it seems" types of scenes, you're already expecting the worst. The "romance" between Rachael and Benjamin is fairly bland. Stereotypical, teenager summer fling type of plot line. I won't lie, it was a cute little romance, but again when you're expecting mystery and drama, it just falls flat. The "dramatic reveal" at the end felt both out of nowhere and completely predictable. It was one of my primary guesses of how that plotline would end, so I had no emotional reaction to it. Just an "Oh, I was right" moment. I still want to know why they invited her, and why was there a line "They invite a new young person every summer!". My interest was peaked with that line, but then it was literally never brought up again. The art style I did enjoy. The limited palette really added a different vibe and made it feel like the story was set in the 1960's. I'm not sure what time period this novel is set in, but it didn't feel like it was a modern time period.

I loved the atmosphere of the book-- even though I've never been to Greece, I felt transported. So I really appreciated the setting. This is a great summer read. It feels like there's a lot of possibility and potential, which I think is quintessential summer vibes, especially when you're young. But there isn't a lot happening in this book. I wanted Rachel to take more risks and go through big changes, but I don't think this book showed that as much as it could have. I felt on edge for her because even though it was a generous offer to bring her to Greece, I thought it was weird that her parents pushed her to go with a family friend that she only kind of knew and I just had the vibe that things were not exactly as it seemed. Rachel was on a ride dictated by those around her and I wanted to see her push back more at times.

Overall, this book is nice for escapism, but I probably won't be re-reading this book.

Sunburn
By Andi Watson and Simon Game
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review
Sunburn is a graphic novel set in sunny Greece and the artwork is amazing I really loved it.
It was a very quick read, the story was ok I liked it and found the main character Rachel a teenage girl who gets invited on a trip to Greece by some old family acquaintances. A good coming of age story.
On a personal level I found the story a little repetitive.
I would recommend this graphic novel for the artwork alone.
Rating 4 stars

I really liked the artwork in this graphic novel. It was bright and sunny, capturing perfectly the feel of a Greek island. I enjoyed the first half of the story but then it took a darker turn that I didn't really like. However, it was a powerful coming-of-age story and I overall had a positive reading experience.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This graphic novel jumped out to me because of the color palette and art style. It screamed summer to me, which was exactly what I was looking for. The story follows Rachel, a teenage girl, who randomly gets invited to spend the summer with her parent’s acquaintances, the Warners, in Greece. Throughout the summer, she goes to a lot of parties and meets a teenage boy who she begins to fall for. Her hosts are continually pushing her out of her comfort zone, often in slightly unsettling ways that I could never put my finger on. One of the consistent ways they did this was by bringing her to adult parties and encouraging her to drink.

The setting was amazing for the story, perfect for the tone and color palette of blues and whites. The Warners live on top of a hill which gave many opportunities for beautiful panels of the town and water from above.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t end up being a full win for me. The parties the characters went to were very repetitive. Maybe that was purposeful, but it didn’t add to the reading experience or the plot. The biggest issue for me though was the Warners. At the end of the story there is a “revelation” about them that is supposed to hint to why Rachel was invited for the summer. The information given however was not really substantial enough to give the reader a clear idea what in the world was actually happening. You are just left with a weird feeling and no real conclusion or any clarity at all. I apologize for the vague description of this, but I don’t want to spoil for those who choose to read this.

So while the plot is lacking, it is actually worth reading just for the art alone. If you don’t mind some confusion, repetition, and weird vibes, I would recommend this graphic novel because the art really is that nice. I think it really could’ve benefited from less words and more showing through the art.