I struggled to get through this one. The characters are not likeable and while the story, sequentially, is easy to follow, the actual storyline is not. The artwork is well done but this could have benefitted from a little more story development.

Geneva Bowers’ <i>HoverGirls</i> initially seemed like a book I would adore. The cover art was gorgeous and the synopsis was promising enough. And it’s worth noting that the art quality is pretty high throughout—if nothing else, you really love the look and artistic quirks of the characters. Unfortunately, <i>HoverGirls</i> was thoroughly lacking in the writing department.

Overall, the plot was clunky and odd. While sequentially, it’s fine, the story is unfortunately confusing to follow and doesn’t really have much of a payout as far as twist reveals go. While the setting is meant to be present day earth, it does feel so much more as though it’s a fantasy alternate universe. The odd water-made sea creatures are quite cool at first, but when we finally learn what they are and why they’re around the explanation feels like it comes out of nowhere. The <spoiler>possession</spoiler> plot, also, feels like it just pops up randomly. Foreshadowing doesn’t seem to be a strong suit here, either.

As a result, I almost felt like I was reading an amalgamation of differing stories and plots forced together in an attempt to make them work. Just when I began to settle into what I thought the story was going to be, something new crops up with absolutely zero prior indication and completely changes the understanding of the plot, leaving it feeling quite clunky. This all might have been okay if, in the end, the connection built with the main characters was a little bit stronger. In all fairness, the character personalities are well portrayed, but not quite enough for me to be deeply invested.

<i>HoverGirls</i> was not terrible overall, but there’s still definitely a lot to be desired.

I was super excited for this one actually and thank you for the ARC but it kinda fell a little short. The illustrations are awesome and the characters are great, the plot was just a little too… chaotic? It felt a little choppy. Fun read though and I’m sure many will enjoy

Weird

I love Geneva Bowers’ art so I was excited to read this graphic novel, but it ended up being kinda just weird. I didn’t dislike it and the art is cute/fun, but some of the plot felt really outta left field.

HoverGirls by Geneva Bowers is a Young Adult graphic novel that follows Kim and Jalissa - cousins who move to Los Aguaceros together. A strange accident at the beach gives them supernatural powers, which Kim immediately gets excited about and thinks it's the perfect way for them to get famous online. She dreams of being a fashion designer and she designs superhero costumes for them. Along with that, the two of them work at a coffee shop to make ends meet, which is mostly up to Jalissa who is a bit more responsible.

My favorite part of the book is definitely the friendship/sister-like relationship between Jalissa and Kim. They have a bit of a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, which I'm used to seeing in romance but not any other relationship dynamics, and I loved that. Kim is very light-hearted, fun, and upbeat, and Jalissa is quiet, brooding, and a bit angry because she's been through a lot. It was so fun to see them together and their relationship felt so genuine and natural. I really want to see more platonic or family relationships in books.

Along with that, I love the art style. It's bright, vibrant, colorful, and unique, and it adds so much to the story. It's atmospheric and so pleasant to look at, and makes the setting very vivid.

As for the plot, it was probably my least favorite part since it felt a bit rushed and chaotic at times. At first, nothing was explained very much, and then there was some info-dumping later on.

That being said, it is a really fun story, and I loved the main characters, and would like to see what adventures they get up to next. If you'd like to read a graphic novel with gorgeous art, supernatural powers, and two grumpy/sunshine main characters, pick this up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this!

I think this was the first web-comic turned graphic novel in a while where I hadn't read it during it's original run. However I think I would have enjoyed this more if I did at that time as opposed to now. The pacing and story were alright but the adjustment to this new format seems clunky. The word paneling was a little hard to follow as the lines towards the person speaking were often too thin and there wasn't a color blocking the space if they overlapped but different people were talking. Except for the black word bubbles for the latter half of the book.

The art was super beautiful though, I did enjoy the color scheme and character design. It just wasn't the book for me overall

I wanted to love it, I really did! I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous art and fun premise (love me some magical girls), but I really could not connect with the story or characters. Kim's naivete and optimism struck me as more infuriating than charming, and while I liked Jalissa (big Rosa Diaz vibes), her attitude and anger are never really explained or explored (WHY did she pull out a grenade at her quinceanera??). Limited character development aside, I found the story was sometimes hard to follow. Conversation bubbles did not always flow intuitively, the flashback scenes weren't well-demarcated (visually or narratively), and the action scenes left a lot to the imagination. It was originally a webtoon (which follows a single-panel layout), so I'm wondering if some of the visual communication issues are due to it being reformatted into a multi-panel page layout?