First off a BIG Thank you to NetGalley, the Author and the Publisher for this ARC!

This was just sooo cute! 😍

Heartwarming and very love filled read, whether it be a friendship or as lovers, it was very respectful.
Topics like how one can be a supportive friend or partner to someone with different needs, or is in crisis and needs gentle and caring comfort, or sharing a past experience in which struggles like racism or biphobia were invalidated, are all handled perfectly sweet.
We consistently see the girls respond respectfully and supportively to one another, and the positive response of how validating and affirming it is.
But we also see either brief interactions of malicious or ignorant passerby, or a short retelling of a past (bad) 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 the girls be mistreated.

This is one of the rare stories that feels like it was written for teenagers instead of adults reflecting on their teen years from their current perspectives. It dwells on the thoughts and emotions felt during those years in such a perfect way. I really enjoyed it.

I binged this book in one sitting. Neesha and Gabby’s friendship was so natural and believable. The way they provided safe spaces for the other and respected each other’s boundaries was refreshing and sets an example for readers’ to think back to and refer to in navigating their own friendships. Getting to read along with their book club was fun (even if I wished those pages were more detailed and felt less like sketches) and the arch these friends go through is a joy to follow.

This is a teenage romance that really feels like being that age and dealing with big emotions and hard situations and it being so hard to navigate. Which is why the title of it fits so perfectly. These two girls are figuring out life. They’ve both had past relationships and breakups and different intensities of heartbreaks.

They become friends through the love of a hard to track down manga, but eventually as they support each other through highs and lows for them both they come to realize their feelings run deeper than friendship. It’s nice to see the development of their maturity as the comic goes on. They realize and grow together both as friends and later on as girlfriends and it was really beautiful to see. The full circle moment we find them in at the end really brought home to me how great of a read this was.

While I would’ve loved to have a comic like this as a teen it still feels relevant to now. We all experience tragedies and we all experience good and bad relationships in life. When we find the people that are truly there for us and love us exactly are those are the people that are treasures to never let go of.

This is a beautiful read for simply being human.

📚✨ BOOK REVIEW: Navigating with You by Jeremy Whitley ✨📚

I just finished Navigating with You and wow, this graphic novel really hit all the right notes! It’s not my usual pick when it comes to illustration style, but the story sounded so intriguing that I had to give it a try—and I’m so glad I did!

The story follows two young characters on a journey of self-discovery, love, and friendship during a transformative summer. What really stood out to me was how supportive the parents were throughout the story, especially the relationship between Neesha and her mom. It reminded me so much of how I was with my own mom, who passed away 17 years ago. That connection made this read even more special.

Plus, how fun is it that the author, Jeremy Whitley, also wrote My Little Ponies? When I told my daughter, who’s currently obsessed with My Little Ponies, she got so excited! It’s always fun when our reading worlds collide like that. 🦄📖

And Gabby? As a Florida girl who loves the beaches and outdoors, I felt an instant connection with her character. The ending was perfectly imperfect—realistic and satisfying, which made the story feel even more genuine.

If you’re looking for a heartfelt, inclusive, and beautifully crafted story, Navigating with You is a must-read. Highly recommend! 🌊💕

I love to see more and more types of representation showing up in books. But to me it felt like that was the only purpose of this book. The characters and ploy felt like an after thought from someone who wanted to make a point. And a point that has been made MANY times already at that. Felt un genuine to me

OH THIS WAS CUTE! a story about two girls starting a book club and falling in love is such a cute premise!

This story was really wholesome and realistic to how relationships form. There was a heap of representation for queer, poc and disabilities and while I can’t speak to how accurately it was portrayed, I did appreciate the list of resources at the end of the book!

The only part of this book I struggled with was the short stories of the manga they were reading in between. It really took me out of story and I struggled to follow the side story along with the main.

I loved the references to nerd culture with cosplay and conventions!

alsoooo revolutionary girl utena reference <3

Thankyou NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for an ARC of this graphic novel for an honest review

This cute graphic novel follows two queer teens in their quest to finish their favorite manga series and their journey to self-acceptance. Neesha Sparks, a passionate costume designer and outspoken community activist with a disability, is starting fresh at a new school. Gabby Graciana, an optimistic surfer, is also the new kid in town. When they discover a shared love for the manga series *Navigator Nozomi*, they quickly bond over more than just being the new faces at school. However, there's a twist—they've both read the series, but neither has finished it! Determined to find out how the story ends, the girls embark on an exciting quest to track down the remaining books. Along the way, their story intertwines with the adventures of *Navigator Nozomi*, as they discover not just the missing books, but also acceptance, friendship, understanding, and love.

This was a beautiful story that was told in a unique way, with us following the characters' journey while it was told in parallel to their manga. It brought up some heavy topics too such as toxic relationships and survivor guilt. I recommend this book to anyone who has found companionship in a shared interest for a book!

This comic is lovely. The art style is really cute (it feels like the artist may have been inspired by One Piece in the way he draws faces, but it's a lovely unique style), with really lovely colour work. The story also flips between the main story, told in full colour, and a manga the girls are reading, which is black and white, and that style switch is a really nice touch.

The story is great -- two girls moving to a new school, one battling with grief over her mother and in a long-distance relationship with a controlling biphobic dickhead, and the other jaded with how the world treats her because of her disability. I really liked both characters a lot.

My one complaint with the book is that the test is pretty small and it does that horrible thing Western comics do where every third word is in bold italics and you get really bad eye strain because you keep having to emphasis random words in your head . Like, enough, please. It didn't happen much in the first half of the book (I'd have DNFd it if it had), but suddenly 60% through it's like they realised they weren't hitting their bold italics quota.

This was such an enchanting story of love, friendship, disability, support, just gave me all the feels start to finish. The relationship between Neesha and her mother was so pitch perfect, Neesha's blend of vulnerability and self advocacy, Gabrielle's optimism and anxiety. I sometimes feel a little jealous of tweens and teens coming of age in a time of such great books, reading this book was definitely one of those times.

This was the sweetest and most wholesome story. I loved the diverse representation and their friendship, their shared love of manga, and their journey. I like that they set up a sequel and I really hope there is one.

This is a lovely book featuring diverse main characters. Neesha and Gabby are teens who meet at school and bond over a shared interest in a manga series they both started reading but never finished. They decide to track down the books and read them together. They soon bond and develop a strong friendship while reading the manga series together. As they continue getting to know each other, a sweet romance blooms. If you are looking for a cute story that features manga and developing relationships look no further. Thank you Mad Cave Studios for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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.