This is overall really cute and I loved a lot of the elements of chosen family and focus on community as family. The romance between Tessa and Maddie was sweet though definitely had some stuff to work through given the whole coming out scene - which had me absolutely cackling. I especially enjoyed the humor that kept coming up during the most dire moments, which helped keep the story overall very lighthearted.

Full Shift is a YA sapphic paranormal graphic novel. I’m a little bummed that the illustrations were blurry with my eARC download, but I read Coven by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton and know their work is beautiful so I’m sure it’ll be perfect when the graphic novel is released.

I enjoyed this graphic novel. I’m a sucker for paranormal stories and even more so when they are sapphic. I also loved the themes of self acceptance and coming of age. I wished I could have seen more of the pack. We see a small glimpse but I would love to know more of the pack dynamics and the werewolves who make up the pack.

Regardless, I really liked the characters we got to see a lot of in this story. The love interest, Maddie, and Tessa’s sister, Kylie. They were the exact influences Tessa needs in her life and to lovingly call her out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a graphic novel, but it is more a novel... with graphics.
I loved the illustrations and the story was great.

3.5 stars

There was issues with the ARC editions. On the Kindle version all the pages were tiny and blurry and missing all the text bubbles and boxes with all the text below the pages but not even properly matched to the pages it is supposed to be on. The NetGalley app version had all the text in their bubbles and boxes, but the art while full screen was still very blurry and hard to make out any details. Which is frustrating since this is a graphic novel and you lose a lot when you can’t properly see the art.

The actual story was pretty good. The pacing could have been better and I overall think the story would have benefited from being a longer graphic novel or have been a novel so we could get to know the characters more in depth. Knowing the characters more and why they do the things they do would have also helped with some of the frustration I felt at them for certain actions. I wished we could have gotten to know the pack more, they all felt so background which I guess is on purpose for the story but I’d had liked to at least know the ones that played some form of role in the story like Ethan and Charlie.

I do like the idea of half shift and full shift for werewolves, gives both versions of werewolves in a single interpretation. Wished more time could have been spent on the lore because as it was stated and what we were shown it seemed inconsistent for main and secondary characters versus pure background characters in the pack.

While I guess I kinda get why the author went with the Alpha bit for the werewolf lore for the story and character dynamics I can’t help but still be annoyed that we’re still getting debunked Alpha nonsense in werewolf stories, especially when it’s not really needed. But that’s just a personal gripe I have with werewolf media.

Tessa is part of a family of werewolves, only problem is she hasn’t been able to fully shift over into her wolf form. Most children who are born into this do so at a much younger age, so she also feels immature. Plus, she has a crush on a girl that she has known since 4th grade, and she seems to have a crush back on her. Is she also supernatural? She hints that she might have a secret.


But, no, not giving a way too much by saying that Maddie is just queer, but totally human.


Then Tessa hears about a cure for werewolves, and thinks if she can just become human, that all her problems will go away,and she can have the perfect life.


As you can probably predict, that is not what happens.


The whole story is cute, and fun, and full of love and companionship (from her family), and love and friendship from her crush. If only those darn werewolf hunters would just go away.


Good queer werewolf story. Although in the ARC, it was a bit hard to see the artwork, from the cover I assume that it will be just as crisp and clear.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published the 27th of August 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

It was really hard for me to read the book for some reason, but I still enjoyed what I could see of the art. Idk if it was me or the download but the pages were a little blurry. I was still able to get most of the story.

This is my second Jennifer Dugan graphic novel and I’m definitely a fan. Coven was great and this one is up there too. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what I thought of Tessa. She got a bit annoying in the way that she treated people, but I can see where she comes from. Her need to belong and fit in mirrors my own at times. Maddie seemed ready to do anything for Tessa even though she really didn’t deserve it, so you have to give it to her for being a good person and a good friend.

The pack seemed so fun and I loved them. Having a big family to do stuff with seems both annoying and exciting. Even though she didn’t see it at first, I’m had they were there for her when she needed them. Mack turned out to be a great leader and father figure and even Kylie seemed like a great sister after the beginning. I teared up near the end.

The only thing I wish was we could have seen more monsters since they were mentioned. It would have been cool!

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for an early copy for review. This title is set to release on 8/27/24 from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers.

I really enjoyed Full Shift and would recommended to YA readers who are looking for a coming of age story that might be different from some others they've read. Full Shift is a mixture of a werewolf story and pack drama but also has a strong message of accepting yourself which resonated with me as an adult. The art was beautiful and really made the story come to life. I believe there will be a lot of people who enjoy this and have. strong takeaway from it at the end. Also it's. sapphic werewolf story, what more could you ask for?

this was such a fun read, Jennifer Dugan has became an auto-read author for me anything she writes I will immediately read. Tessa and Maddie were so cute and seeing the dynamics of the pack was honestly super fun as well as the small story of grief that was added in. Overall if you're looking for a sweet, fast read I'd definitely recommend full shift. the art style is super pleasing to look at and I'm hoping for more graphic novels from Jennifer Dugan like this -- especially another graphic novel in the same world to see the pack crossover with vampires/witches.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the e-arc all opinions are my own