Sports romances aren't my favorite things in the world, but 'Total Suplex of the Heart' was one I actually enjoyed.

I was initially drawn to Total Suplex of the Heart by its cover. Little did I know that the art style that initially captivated me was just a glimpse of the heartfelt and emotional story that followed. The narrative, while engaging, is not without its emotional toll, with themes of eating disorders, toxic relationships, and childhood abuse. These elements left me emotionally drained yet craving more of the story.

Georgie, our flawed yet wonderfully relatable protagonist, is a freelance reporter who embarks on a story about wrestling. Her journey leads her into the tumultuous world of wrestling, exposing her to both its fun and dark sides. Along the way, she encounters a diverse cast of characters, some of whom become her true friends, like JT. Her romantic choices may leave much to be desired, but her realness makes her story seven more engaging. I wish there was more of JT and his Mom.


I was unsure when I started reading. It was grittier than I was prepared to read, but it kept me locked in. Wanting to know more. I'm so glad I kept reading. Georgie’s story is one of survival. It's a story of strength and finding yourself. I would recommend this to others.

I received Total Suplex of the Heart from NetGalley. Thank you for letting me read an ARC of it in exchange for an honest review.

The pace of the story felt slow, and I couldn't get into it, but when I went on StoryGraph to look at the reviews to see if I could find anything to help me push through, I found the trigger warning list, which is approved by the authors on StoryGraph. I wondered why it wasn't included in the book, especially when topics include domestic abuse, eating disorder, physical abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment, and emotional abuse. Topics that could heavily trigger the reader if they go into the story blind.

Fun concept that unfortunately gave me literary whiplash. Giving this a 3 out of 5. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

When I read the summary for this graphic novel, I was immediately interested. I love seeing author's use art to explore their own stories, and this one definitely hits on some darker, more serious topics. However, the pacing of the story felt rushed at times. It wasn't always clear when a time jump had taken place, which led to some confusion over some of the behaviors and choices of the MC.

This story takes place in the boxing world, it shows how relationships can be very one-sided and unhealthy. There are a lot of things that happen in this story that are not suitable for younger readers. This is definitely an 18+ book. The art is very good, and the story does keep you invested.

I am a fan of comics as memoir and pseudo-memoir, and I liked how words and images came together from this creative team to explore this story. Proof that all varieties do story can be told in the form — including romance with nature storytelling elements.

Thank you to NatGalley and Humanoids Inc | Life Drawn for the ARC for a honest and in-depth review. And of course none would be possible without Joanne Starer and her hard work and creation.

4 out of 5 stars.

'Total Suplex of the Heart' by Joanne Starer is about a young and beautiful journalist who decides to first write a story about wrestling, but soon gets caught up in the magical world she never knew existed.

With stunning illustrations, quirky and loveable characters, this graphic novel will pull you in from the very first page and have you unable to put it down until the very end. With great humor and story comes a great graphical novel.

I would happily read this again and recommend it to others.

Fantastic read.

I really liked this graphic novel and while yea it’s about wrestling to an extent. It’s about so much more than that. Georgie has had crap thrown at her many different times and she has zero confidence in herself. We get to see Georgie grow and learn who she is and how she should make decisions for herself. I liked the deep aspect of this and appreciated the emotional and mental journey of Georgie. I kind of thought there would be more wrestling but overall great book and art.

3.5 Stars

I came into this story with an understanding of wrestling, but was still suprised at some of the inner-workings of the wrestling business that are described during the graphic novel.

The story covers various topics like misoginy and unfair treatment of women in the wrestling world, while our mfc has other issues she is dealing with from her personal life. Touching on the topic of how to discover yourself while being presently aware of the way people percieve you as a person and your persona/character, I think was very well done. I do think that there was a lot of interconnected plots going on, and found myself having to go back an re-read the prevous pages.


Thank you to NetGalley, Humanoids Inc., and Life Drawn for an e-arc!

I was not totally sold on the pacing of this book. I enjoyed the topic, but it felt like it moved through events so quick that I did not have time as a reader to process what happened.

This was an easy read, even as it tackled challenging topics. It made sense to discover at the end that it’s based on the author’s life, definitely had that memoir-esque, slice of life feel and I appreciated the context of how easily we can find ourselves in toxic or abusive situations or relationships, how difficult they can be to move on from and how much we need community to get through it all.

Georgie, like many people, is dealing with the consequences of untreated childhood trauma coming into adulthood but often attributing those issues to personal moral failings. As they grow, get to know themselves better and build new relationships they start to discern better what is and isn’t better for her and the life she wants.

I think the author and illustrator did a great job of depicting complex themes of abuse, fatphobia, trauma, eating disorders, misogyny while normalizing found family AND that these issues may stand out in dramatic moments and/or simply be unnoticed as they are woven into the very fabric of our lives. Whenever we notice and whenever we are able to take action, to remove ourselves to safety, to ask for help and support from folks around us - every choice is valid and it all counts. There’s so much of it that’s conditioned and reinforced subconsciously and it takes so much work, risk and resources to believe and choose something different.

I think many young adults and teenagers could benefit from reading this and talking to people they trust about what comes up for them as they do.

Thanks to Humanoid, Inc and Netgalley for this digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

thank you netgalley for sending me an eArc

i don't really know how to judge the plot of this graphic novel because it's based on the author's life. i think it's okay to say that there isn't a real plot but it's someone telling you about a period of their life

i loved the art style and the color palette and how hot every character is

I found this to be a fun read and if you like drama this definitely had it in there! As a wrestling fan I found it interesting but it was a bit different than I expected. I wish the ending was more rounded out and the relationship with one of the love interests seemed a little disjointed, but overall it was a fun read!

This was a nice surprise. I hate wrestling so I was pleasantly surprised to like this book. It also had more heart and humor in it than I expected. It's loosely based on the author's life. The main character is trying to make it writing for online websites and goes to write about the local wrestling circuit in New Jersey. She quickly gets embroiled in the life and it becomes about her circling around the wrestlers, male and female. The story can feel a bit disjointed but so can life in general. I never expected this to explore toxic relationships, body issues, misogyny and homophobia in the sport though. Good stuff with solid art.

I was easily sucked into this graphic novel. The writing and art is really captivating. Georgie is a fundamentally flawed person whose character arc showcases what childhood trauma can bring into adulthood. The various relationships shown are a good mix of fantastic friendships, toxic friendships, and toxic romances. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and felt it did a great job showing complex themes of eating disorders, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, both on the visible side and the underlying subconscious thoughts and actions.

Loved the story about a female wrestler in a love triangle. Funny and heartwarming. A must read. I’d love to read more by this author.

The spectacular art, and the heightened surreality of a story centering around the world of local, semi-pro wrestling, lighten the tone of this really soul-baring, lightly-fictionalized memoir of a person dealing with trauma and unhealthy patterns in their life and relationships. It's anxiety-inducing, but also sexy, funny, and raunchy. I can see it making a great movie.

The couple of time jumps were a little confusing, as it wasn't clear for a few pages that they had happened, and overall I lacked a sense of how long anything in the story really took, or how much time had passed between scenes. I was surprised every time some panel was like "I'd been working on this for weeks". It felt a bit disjointed. I think for me it would have been less jarring with like a "3 weeks later..." chyron every once in a while.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Rounding up to 4 stars because I connected with the FMC more than I thought I would. I absolutely loved the art and storyline, it was fast paced, funny, and heavy all at the same time. Really falling for the "you can build your own family" tropes right now, and this one was one I didn't expect out of a graphic novel. Learning after the fact, that this was an actual memoire makes it so much more meaningful and relatable, really wish it was advertised as such!

I do wish that some of the heavy-trauma inducing topics were given a little more weight and art time, but I understand that that would drag down the overall story of Georgie and her new found family and life.

I’m not sure why, but this graphic novel was not what I expected it to be. I somehow thought it would be focused on the wrestling and journalistic investigation itself, while it was mostly about the protagonist’s relationships with others and her personal growth.
I thought the first part was honestly a bit over the place, with a lot of important issues raised but never as fully focused on as I had wished. That being said, it matched the ‘lost’ energy of the main character.
Although I really liked the art, I’m not sure I felt as invested in the story because, even though it is an autobiographical graphic novel and the author is very honest about who she was, I read it as a book first, and often felt annoyed by the main character’s reactions and decisions.
I deeply appreciated the author’s note at the end which gave a lot of perspective to the whole thing, though, and made me look back with a kinder eye upon some parts of the story.

At first glance I thought this was going to be a story about the wrestling world, the highs and lows ya know. I did not expect to be pulled in and see how the main characters story progressed from their background with dv, to how that shaped how they interacted with other people, the cycle of abuse, the abuse that they tolerate from their partner, the body image issues. I feel like this truly captured how things start off small, an offhanded comment here another one there and how it snowballs in this huge mess. There is somewhat of a fulfilling ending even though the author mentions that it did not happen that way in real life.
Overall 4/5, I felt a connection to the MC and I enjoyed the art and story progression.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this captivating book.