I LOVED this graphic novel. The story was packed with friendship, healing from trauma, and discovering who you really are. And the characters held so much emotional depth. Can't wait to share this with some kids at the library.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Navigating with You is a slice of life graphics novel following two high school girls who bond over an old manga series they both love but never finished reading. Neesha and Gabby are both new in school, so when they find a common love of the Navigator Nozomi books, they set out on search to find and read the whole series together. Along the way, Neesha deals with her disability and her crush on Gabby, while Gabby struggles with an abusive long distance boyfriend and her sexuality.

Neesha and Gabby are both coming into themselves throughout this story. They both make mistakes, but they also both show great love, support, and respect to people around them. Readers with love and be annoyed with these girls in turn. I loved the positive friendships and family relationships shown in the novel, and how they help to offset the destructive behavior of other characters. I also really enjoyed how there were sections of Navigator Nozomi books interspersed throughout. Fans of queer coming of age stories will enjoy this graphic novel.

So sweet really I couldn't even put it down once I started and I'm really happy that I was able to read a story like this, from someone who loves anime and manga this was the perfect format to make this story.. actually it was also fun that they also like manga.. Well Neesha and Gabriella really made me feel so cozy and happy.. They remind me part of my childhood and that was amazing.. Also the disability mentioned? I loved seeing that on the book and how normal it is

Such a heartwarming story! Also, I kind of want to read a full version of the manga that we get glimpses of as the girls are reading it - Super Navigator Nozomi... This is definitely a book I'll get for my school library so I can start recommending it there. I think my students will like it even more than I do.

This was a fantastic story of friendship, romance, and connecting with people around you after grief. Both characters had gone through hardships that brought them together through a mutual love of a manga series. I laughed, cried, and felt emotions alongside the characters as they grew and developed together. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would gladly put myself through the turmoil of enjoying their connection again and again.

First off, a big thank you to NetGalley and Jeremy Whitley for letting me access this book! I started this graphic novel not knowing what to expect, but hoping for amazing artwork—and it did not disappoint. I love it when comics have clear, vibrant art, and this book captured my heart right away.

The friendship between Neesha and Gabby was a delightful surprise. Neesha is usually quite reserved, but Gabby brought her out of her shell, and they supported each other beautifully. It was no surprise that their bond grew into something so heartwarming and cute!

I enjoyed each character in this book. The development given to each one shows the writer took his sweet time crafting this story. The only downside was that the font was a bit too small, so I had to zoom in and out a lot. But overall, I really enjoyed it!

Neesha and Gabby meet on their first day at a new school. They bond over a manga series they both read when they were younger. Soon they are on a mission to find each book in the manga series they love and read them together. As their friendship grows throughout the story, so do their feelings for each other.

This was my first book by Jeremy Whitley, and I really enjoyed it. I think he did a great job developing both Neesha and Gabby as characters. I love that they come from different backgrounds and have gone through some difficult things. I also loved the disability representation. I also enjoyed that the manga they were reading was included in the story. I highly recommend this to anyone that enjoys graphic novels and sapphic romance! I give it 4/5 stars.

I had a tough time reading this book because of the digital formatting, so it took me longer to get into it than it would in a printed format. Once I got going, I found myself really invested in the main characters, Neesha and Gabrielle. A really heartfelt and beautifully done story, Navigating With You is very honest about the feelings and difficulties experienced by both girls. I was really impressed by a depiction of a PTSD induced flashback. As someone with PTSD, I had never really seen that in a graphic novel before and I thought it was handled with a lot of care. Additionally, Neesha’s experiences with cerebral palsy and ableism are also given a lot of intentional thought. A fun addition to the story are pages from a manga that Neesha and Gabrielle read together (a big plot point). My only feedback really is that the way in which some text boxes are illustrated makes it a little confusing at times to tell when someone is thinking to themselves, or speaking directly to another character. This could also be a product of reading on a tiny screen. At any rate, the art is great, expressive and effective, and I’m glad to have found another example of a queer story balancing growth, struggles, and joy.

Neesha and Gabby are both new in town and during their first day of school they bond over a shared interest in a Manga they both never finished. Together they form a book club and decide to track down all the volumes in the manga to read together!

Firstly I want to thank NetGalley and to Mad Cave Studios for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Navigating with you does a great job of showing strong female characters who aren’t afraid to speak their minds. Both main characters were very unique and wholesome, I enjoyed reading about their relationship.

I liked that the author included panels from the manga the MCs were reading so we could also enjoy along with them.

I will say for them supposedly being seniors in high school they definitely didn’t act like it, it felt more like middle schoolers or freshman. Not necessarily a big deal but it was hard to see them in certain situations because I kept forgetting they’re not thirteen.

Another irksome thing was there were times when scenes would end seemingly abruptly,I would double check to make sure I didn’t skip a page.

I would recommend reading this book, it was a cute story but I wouldn’t read it again.


🏳️‍🌈Representation🏳️‍🌈
-WLW
-Gabby is bisexual
-One of the main characters has CP

⚠️⚠️⚠️
Check Trigger Warnings
-PTSD
-Abusive relationship
-Body Shaming

Thank you Mad Cave Studios and NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Navigating With You is a powerful queer story about two girls who start a book club to find missing volumes of their favorite manga. They don't anticipate how this journey will affect their relationship. Neesha is a Black lesbian girl with cerebral palsy, and Gabby is a brown bisexual girl from a challenging background. Their voices speak out about queerness and disabilities, conveying that it is okay to be different, because what matters most is what you love. I loved the little snippets from the manga and the visuals of this graphic novel as a whole. I adored these characters and their story, and I hope it moves others as it did me.
TWs: ableism, death, biphobia

A queer romance between the two new girls at a high school in the South. Whitley handles this so well. But that shouldn't be any surprise. He's written a ton of great comics. Neesha has CP and stands up for herself like most New Yorkers. Gabby is a surfer girl from Florida. They bond over a manga they both never finished, dealing with life's speed bumps along the way. I like how we get little snippets of each volume of this out of print manga as they track them down and read them. Very good stuff.

4.75 stars

This is a really cute graphic novel that tackles some hard issues like accessibility and trauma.

Neesha and Gabby are both brand new to school in North Carolina and decide to create a book club for a manga series they both read but never finished. As they search for and read each book, they fall for each other.

There are so many things to love about this graphic novel. The representation is incredible. Neesha has CP and Gabby has PTSD episodes and anxiety attacks. The story within the story is a cute Sapphic sci fi story. I adore how the girls go from strangers to best friends to lovers. They work together to support each other and problem solve and are so sweet together.

It seems a little strange that two teens were allowed to go on a two-day trip by themselves several hours away, but it is fiction.

Content warnings for death of parent, PTSD, chronic illness, and infidelity.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

This book is awesome. Both main characters have a lot going on with CP and PTSD along with self doubt. Gabby and Neesha try to hide this from each other for a long time until they start trusting each other. I love that Whitley uses a manga scavenger hunt as a means for the characters to get to know each other better. The extra added manga pages from a made up series reminds me a lot of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl with snippets of the made up Simon Snow series (that she eventually made into a real book series). I highly recommend Navigating with You.

Cute Book! I definitely would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a cute sapphic love story! Definitely a good read !

I got 21% of the way through this and was unable to keep reading because - very frustratingly, particularly given the topic of the book - it wasn’t provided in an accessible format. I normally try not to talk about this in my review, but given the topic of the book it feels particularly important to mention here. As I said in feedback to the publisher, I’d be absolutely thrilled to read this if it was provided in a format which allowed the page to fit to size, so I don’t have to scroll both sideways and vertically in order to read the entire page. Particularly given this is a book that focuses on the barriers to access in society, it would be nice to know that the ARC experience was designed by the publisher with accessibility in mind.

4 ⭐

Two girls just transferred to a new school in North Carolina. Neesha has cerebral palsy, while Gabby is dealing with the death of her mother. They become closer as they both like the same manga called Super Navigator Nozomi. Both girls went on an adventure to find all seven volumes from the series. Neesha and Gabby soon realize that maybe they're more than just friends. The story is cute, I like Nozomi's story too.

Thank You to Mad Cave Studios for the e-ARC!

Navigating with you is a cute little graphic novel about two girls, both in a new city and new school, who bond over an old manga they never finished-- but seeking out the out of print books brings them closer together, and through this they learn to understand each other, their troubles and traumas, and the things that make us just humans in a society not easily built for us.

Neesha is a Black lesbian teen with cerebral palsy while Gabrielle is a Latina teen still learning to cope with her mother's recent death, so there's a good handful of rep (including bi erasure, being treated as a prop when using mobility aids, etc) and an author who really understands the vibe of manga and conventions and honestly that sometimes when you're disabled the best way to make money is by doing commission work (shout out to several friends/acquaintances that have gone this path!).

Also I DID... almost shed a real human tear so there's that!

Good book, please give it a read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios/Maverick for the eARC in exchange for review!

This charming graphic novel offers delightful diversity, showcasing main characters with identities like disability, race, and queerness. The girls' genuine and loving relationship unfolds naturally, though the pacing, covering a full school year, occasionally rushes through moments. Despite these minor issues, it's a heartwarming read, perfect for fans of sweet sapphic romances.

I got an ARC of this book.

When I saw this cover, I thought the surfboard was a coffin. That is clearly on me and it would have drastically changed the tone of this graphic novel. Surfboard works better. Gabby is very much not a coffin kid.

The pros of this are numerous. The disability rep! Neesha has some issues with her disability, but they are not the fact she is disabled, it is how others treat her. She has some baggage from a previous relationship that make her less likely to use her chair. It was wonderfully done. She is clearly a badass activist, but that baggage can run deep. The biphobia that gets addressed! Bisexaul people do exist and it was clear the biphobia was wrong. There is retaliation. It was a power moment. The cute queer characters everywhere. The cute level of queer women around that just sort of make the story more whoelsome. The involvement of the parents. I would not have been surprised in the parents got together, but the way they were busybodies and supportive was perfect. The way that books brought them together. Having a manga bring the girls together was sweet and fitting.

The cons: there were some weird parts. Like what kid makes thousands of dollars doing cosplay sewing to the point of being able to buy a car and get it fitted to with hand controls? What parents let two 16-17 year olds go hours away and rent a B&B, especially after the parents know they are interested in each other and both experiencing disabilities that make this potentially dangerous? The way that the last book was acquried just felt weird and overly done.

Overall, suspend some belief and this is a wonderful read. If you think too hard at certain parts the story will crack. Read it and enjoy the cute, just go with it.

Summary:

Neesha Sparks and Gabby Graciana are two very different young women. While they met by chance, if it wasn't for one common passion, they may never have become so close. That passion? The love of a comic series (Navigator Nozomi).

Together, these two determined fans will hunt down the missing comics to re-read them – and hopefully, track down the conclusion they never got. There will be many adventures and life lessons along the way.

Review:

Navigating With You is not much what I was expecting, but it was a delight to read. It's the story of two passionate young women with vast dreams and a commitment to finding something they love.

In truth, I feel like the core of this plot will resonate with almost any reader—who here doesn't have a book or series they read when they were younger, only to somehow lose it (time, memory, damage, you name it)? I know it hit me hard, and so it wasn't hard to root for Neesha and Gabby.

Likewise, I enjoyed watching their budding friendship grow and transform. It's one of those slow-building (friends-to-lovers) romances but with a lot of heart. There are bumps along the way, which makes the story feel all the more human.

Highlights:
Young Adult
Coming of Age
LGBT+
Romance
Disability Rep
Book-within-a-book

Thanks to Maverick and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.