I found myself misty-eyed through most of this read 💗 This graphic novel is a stunning slice-of-life story, filled with depth and all the emotions. The representation of cerebral palsy and PTSD was handled with care and authenticity, and I appreciated the thoughtful exploration of healthy relationships and LGBTQIA+ issues. This might just take the top spot as my favorite graphic novel to date.

My new favourite book!
I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to read this amazing book. Thank you SO MUCH to the authors and to NetGalley.

As soon as I finished, I started missing Gabby and Neesha. I love my girls sooo much!!
If you loved Heartstopper and would like to read something similar to Tara and Darcy's relationship, this one's for you!

'Navigating With You' is a graphic novel with POC-led WLW romance.
In it, two new friends go on a adventure to find all the volumes of their favorite manga.

Our two main characters, Neesha Sparks and Gabby Graciana, are both new at school.
Neesha is a disabled, vocal community activist with a passion for costume design and Gabby is an optimistic surfer with PTSD.
They are the og extrovert × ambivert.
When the two girls discover that they like the same manga series, Navigator Nozomi, they decide to create a book club to read it together, since neither of them had finished it!
As they realize how hard it is to find the books, they start a game: whoever finds the book, gets a point.
Inevitably, while looking for the missing volumes and hanging out together almost everyday, they fall in love.
Their story is also intercut with the tales of Navigator Nozomi! How cool is that??
I loved everything about this book!
The illustrations, the characters, the background story, ugh.
It's truly perfect. Dare I say - even BETTER than Heartstopper (and I ~love~ Heartstopper).
I'm SO utterly in love with Gabby. Neeks, I GET YOU. She's a sunshine. She is so happy and yet so marked by her past. Her PTSD was so well handled by the writers.
I hope they really are like One Piece. I need thousands- wait, scratch that- millions of volumes!
It's really just a cozy, comforting, fast and heartwarming read, with the tiniest bit of suffering.
I loved it with all my heart. And I hope you do too, if you decide to give it a try.

Neesha, from the Bronx, and Gabby, from a beach town in Florida, are both the new girls at a North Carolina high school. They both have their own struggles that they are privately dealing with. Neesha stays quiet and hides her cerebral palsy in class because she doesn’t want to be treated differently. Gabby is a year out from the death of her mother and silently fights her PTSD. They meet on the first day of school and as much as Neesha just wants to lay low and blend in, she can’t deny the charisma of talkative Gabby. They become fast friends when they realize a shared love of a sci fi yuri manga, and decide to start a book club and competition to find all the volumes of the series. Sometime in the midst of this reading adventure, they fall in love! So sweet! I loved both characters: their passions, their vulnerability, and their unwavering support for each other.

An extremely cute and well-crafted story, with fantastic art, about adolescence, friendship, fandom and romance. I loved the switching between the story of Gabby & Neesha being new at school together and developing a friendship around completing the "Navagator Nozomi" manga series, and issues of the manga series itself as the girls collected them. Extremely clever! The sweet story deftly handles issues of dealing with disability, and with trauma and grief, without ever feeling maudlin. Superb romance.

This was a cute graphic novel about queer teenage romance, disability, and moving forward despite trauma. I thought the characters were rich and compelling throughout the story. Once I picked up this book, I just couldn’t seem to put it down. It did contain a smaller graphic novel within the story that the main characters were reading, so if that’s not your cup of tea this book might not be for you. Overall, I think this book is good for anyone looking for a raw story about growing up, a realistic portrayal of disability, or a sweet but slightly geeky read.

Any fan of the Hearstopper series will love Jeremy Whitley's Navigating with you! Such a cute teen romance that addresses healthy relationships, disabilities, and LGBTIA+ issues.

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

Neesha and Gabby are the new kids at school. Despite Neesha's attempts to start off as a "loner," Gabby manages to talk her into eating lunch together and being lab partners. They eventually start talking and realize that they read the same manga when they were younger. The two decide to find the volumes to read together, which prove to be a bit difficult as they're out of print and hard to find.

Their friendship blossoms as they spend the school year searching for the manga volume by volume. While they read the adventures of Navigator Nozomi, a romance starts to bloom between the two of them.

I enjoyed the scenes of the manga incorporated into the story. It helped to see how Gabby and Neesha could've interpreted parts of it differently while they were reading. Neesha is a young girl who feels like she has to fight all the wrongs in the world, and possibly the world itself if it tries to say that she can't do something due to her disability. Gabby, on the other hand, seems to be able to go with the flow and brush off a lot--until she doesn't.

The graphic novel itself deals with characters struggling with PTSD, the world not being accessible to all, and, overall, family and friends who accept you and are supportive. This was a great read.

Navigating with you is a tender story full of representation and moments where we can see the protagonists slowly getting closer to each other's story and finding comfort.

It is a light, tender story about friendship, trust and love. The bonds, the growing up... what young person wants to read about this in a comic?

Both the history and the art are beautiful. I recommend it!

Thank you Mad Cave Studios for the ARC I read on NetGalley, a change from an honest review.

I really enjoyed Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley, a graphic novel with two LGBTQ+ main characters, Neesha who is living in Cerebral Palsy and Gabby, a surfer dealing with the loss of her mom. They are both the new kids in town and at a school in North Carolina, and they go on a quest across the state to find missing volumes of a manga series. I loved their budding friendship (and potential romance) as well as the portrayal of Neesha living with CP, showing her struggles and how she advocated for herself. I appreciated Neesha and Gabby’s open family relationships. Strong character development and beautiful illustrations by Cassio Ribiero make this a compelling graphic novel. Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the eARC.

Such an adorable and wholesome read! I loved having such poignant (an necessary) conversations about disability and how that interacts with dating and your day to day experiences. I am truly honored to have been given the chance for this ARC and I recommend this to all who want a cute sapphic love story. I know that I would have loved to have a story like this to read when I was in middle school or high school, but even though I am not in the age range of the characters, it still resonated deeply with me. This truly has everything you could ever need in a story and the illustrations were incredible, I am absolutely in love with the art style and character designs.

i loved this book SO MUCH!! usually, graphic novels tend to be so short and quick the stories don’t feel very well-rounded, but this one was and had many layers to it. i thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Neesha and Gabby and watching them fall in love! i enjoyed the sub-story with the manga excerpts from what the characters were reading. i’ve read another graphic novel that did this but i didn’t enjoy it because the excerpts felt out of place and confusing, however, Whitley did an amazing job of creating parallels between the main story and the manga story. lastly, the art was gorgeous!!!!

Thank you to the publishers and to netgalley for sending me an Arc of Navigating With You!!

I loved this. Navigating With You is a heartwarming story about two girls who find each other and help each other find themselves. Gabby and Neesha’s were great protagonists, and I loved loved loved how the artist showed us both of their thoughts throughout the graphic novel.

The art was adorable, the representation was wonderful and I would definitely read another graphic novel about these two.

I will be honest—I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did when I first began reading it. Neesha has her walls up and comes across very defensive. Gabby puts on a happy face and seems to lack emotional depth. PLEASE believe me when I tell you that the character development in this story dissolved my initial hesitation and doubt!

By the end, I had laughed; I had cried (a few times); I had FELT, which is ultimately what any good read should do—make the reader experience an emotional journey with their characters. Navigating With You touches on many important social concepts and offers a glimpse into realities of what people with disabilities and trauma survivors go through in their day-to-day lives.

Although not skimping on emotional and evocative scenes and dialogue, this story also highlights just plain teenage fun in a slice of life style. You like road trips? You got it. Yard sales, thrift shops, and flea markets—and a weird magical traveling thrift store van?! Look no further. Oh, you also love Yuri Manga? BET! This book is for you!

I could write more, but it’s best to just say: READ IT!

It was an immense honor and genuine pleasure to read this ARC, and it in no way influenced my review or rating of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Maverick for providing an arc to reviewers.

This was the absolute CUTEST. I am so impressed by how much story and character development was fit into this short little book. One of the sweetest little lesbian love stories I have ever read. Navigating With You follows two girls who bond over a manga series that is out of print and decide to hunt down all of the volumes together. They form a beautiful friendship and then romantic love along the way and I am not ashamed to say I teared up. This was so lovely!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review! What a cute cover and premise, and oh boy did it deliver!!

While there are some moments that felt a little unrealistic (like shouting at a principal on the first day and not getting suspended?? incredible) and the narrative skipping chunks at times that made me check if I accidentally flipped a page ahead, overall it's a very solid, cute book with plenty of fandom, sapphic love, mixed with some heavier themes as well.

The art is so cute!!! Everyone smiles genuinely wide like Eiichiro Oda's work. The soft colour palettes really work, and having the girl's inner thoughts be different coloured blocks was a great way to visually separate them!

Definitely will be recommending this book to anyone who likes a cute graphic novel read.

Neesha and Gabby are two queer nerds who run into each other on the first day at their new school, with Neesha taking on the sexist, homophobic, and ableist principal. Great start to the book.

Gabby finds her way into being friends with Neesha, both girls eventually bonding over a manga, Navigator Nozomi. But, like many great older manga, the easiest way to find it is super expensive. So begins their quest to find and read the novels. Over the course of this adventure, both girls talk about the challenges they face (Neesha has cerebral palsy, and Gabby has a shitty boyfriend who doesn't think being bisexual is real, and the recent loss of her mother.) and grow comfortable with each other.

I loved watching these girls grow close, learn to help each other, and fall in love. And, you get two stories for the price of one, as you also get to enjoy the Navigator Nozomi story. Plus, love the Revolutionary Girl Utena mention.

I definitely recommend this book for any queer reader, especially those that love manga, and I think the way both the cerebral palsy and PTSD were handled was well done. No complaints from me. Kind of reminds me of some personal experiences, in honesty.

Two girls on a quest to collect every book in their favorite series and they might fall in love on the journey. My goal this year was to read more characters with disabilities. I had yet to read a YA book with cerebral palsy and I loved learning about Neesha's daily life with braces and balance. The pacing and some of the details just did not work for me. I liked the main character until it felt like she had no real flaws. She's an activist, a great student, a seamstress, and emotionally intelligent (and maybe almost qualified for a Paralympics team?). While Gabby the other main character, feels less developed. I would recommend this to my teen readers who enjoy manga and cosplay and could see themselves in the girl's positions.

A YA slice-of-life graphic novel with sapphic romance featuring a half Puerto Rican-half Mexican bisexual main character.

An adorable story about two girls who begin the journey of their friendship thanks to Gabby's insistence of being friends with the fellow new girl at the school and their shared love for a manga series of which they both have not seen through the end!

And so, a book club, with just the two of them, is born. As they go on their quest in search of the rest of the series, they find much more than just the books, they find understanding and love.

This was adorable. A cute story that didn’t shy away from handling topics such as the harsh realities of living with a disability, dealing with trauma, PTSD, and bi erasure/biphobia.

I also liked that both the women were sapphics of color.

One thing I did not like, a thing that kept me from loving this book wholly, was the cheating. I admit, Josh is a shitty biphobic git, but couldn't Gabby have ended things with him before kissing Neesha? I appreciate that she was honest about the kiss with Josh but that whole thing could have been avoided and I wish the book had gone a different route there.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

The book “Navigating With You” by Jeremy Whitley is a moving work and full of fun. The novel powerfully shows the challenges that come with relationships and personal growth. Whitley has well-developed characters who are easy to relate to, making it easy to lose yourself in their tales. The language used is direct and emotional, engaging you into the story from the very beginning. This makes it a highly interesting novel that stays with you forever , and everything about the book was just perfect and mindblowing .

thank you for this writing this beautiful book and for this eARC.

Phenomenal! Loved it! 5 stars! Charming well-developed characters, a fun and unique premise, and an excellent execution. Neesha’s identity as a lesbian disabled Black girl and Gabby’s as a bisexual Latinx girl were both handled wonderfully, with elements throughout that embrace and represent those aspects of their identities while still providing full and nuanced characters.

Gabby is a surfer and an older sister who loves her family and misses her mom she lost a year ago, and seeks to keep her memory alive through family recipes and traditions.
Neesha is a costumer who loves cosplay and does custom commissions for cons in her area, and a daughter who is close to her mom and struggling to stay connected to her dad after a recent divorce.
Both girls have hopes and dreams and hobbies and relationships outside any one aspect of their identities, and bond as new girls in school that loved but never finished the same manga about a girl 2nd in command in spaceship races.

They spend the year after they meet hunting down each volume overtime and reading together to discuss, while growing in friendship and developing mutual crushes. The manga serves as a fantastic tool of a story within a story that helps to represent their own real life struggles and pivotal decisions at key times, be it standing up for yourself or deciding to accept a chance to be vulnerable.

Topics like how to be a supportive friend or partner to someone who needs an accommodation like a slower pace, is in crisis and needs gentle comfort, or sharing a past experience in which struggles like racism or biphobia were invalidated are handled perfectly. We consistently see one of the girls respond respectfully and supportively to one another, and the positive response of how validating and affirming it is. For the bad we see either brief interactions of malicious or ignorant passerby getting it wrong, or a short retelling of a past experience. But the negative is always brief and balanced out by experiencing the positive now. It’s handled honestly but in a way that doesn’t force us to watch these sweet girls be mistreated, and emphasizes the way to support and encourage others.

Their friendship and eventual romance feels genuine and well-earned, and I loved that they got to know one another’s families as well. An absolute treat. And I was just excited to see how the manga would turn out as they were!

I received an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you Mad Cave Studios for approving me! What a fantastic graphic novel, my review is my (very enthusiastic) honest opinion.
I will absolutely check out more by the author and the publisher, and I’ve already recommended this to two friends today before writing this review.