Welcome Back!

Last week, I tried really hard to focus on my reading and make it through the week. Each night wrapping up work and spending time reading in my favorite cozy space in my home. I also set up my wax melter and put in some fun fall scents (I know it is summer but I love fall scents so much)! Sitting in this spot each night I was able to read quite a bit over the week. I am not sure if I was just in the reading zone last week or if the books were just really bringing it but either way, I am excited to chat about what I read! One of the first things I picked up was a graphic novel E-ARC of I Felt Myself Slipping (thank you so much to the publishers for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions).

SPOILERS AHEAD

The gymnasts at Station Six gymnastics are hard-working and driven but they also all support one another. Kota a long-time gymnast at Station Six has been working hard to try to make their Olympic dreams come true. This year as Kota is running to gymnastics one day, Kota sees another person on the path ahead of them. Which is highly unusual, Kota is the only one who takes this pathway to Station Six. Once at practice, Kota learns they have a new team member named Riley. Riley and her dad have just moved here but she has been in gymnastics for a long time. On top of being new to the area, her dad works a lot and she recently lost her other father (which has been devasting for her and her dad). Riley is also feeling isolated because she does not really have any friends here not even at gymnastics. Riley has hearing problems and speaks ASL, during gymnastics Riley takes her hearing aides out. The coach has told everyone on the team and has offered to teach ASL to anyone interested. Kota really wants to talk to Riley so Kota takes the initiative and begins to learn ASL and eventually begins to try to talk to Riley. Riley and Kota strike up a friendship and begin to really bond, even sharing their dreams and secrets for their lives and for gymnastics!

I really enjoyed my time with this graphic novel. Getting to know both Riley and Kota as well as their families, gave a small peak into the world of gymnastics and how tough it can be to make your gymnast dreams come true. I also really loved seeing Kota, want to learn ASL and want to be friends with Riley. Kota preserved and even spoke with their family about how they communicated in the past when they had their own barriers. I definitely recommend picking up this graphic novel when it hits shelves on September 10th, 2024!

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

****Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

thank you netgalley for giving me an arc of this graphic novel

this was a cute read but it didn't quite captured me, i felt like it was rushed and something was missing. I liked the color and the art style was cute

Sweet story about 2 gymnasts who overcome boundaries become friends. Kota learns sign language to communicate with Riley and Riley learned that she's not just a gymnast with Kota's help. They obviously both enjoy the other's company more than anyone else, but handholding and hugging are the extent of their physical signs of affection. Maybe there will be a second book with a more serious relationship on the horizon?

i love how popular graphic novels are these days and this one is just so good, so lovely, cute, heartwarming, pulls you right in from the very beginning. i loved the relationship of riley and kota, i loved their dynamic, the connection and understanding between them. the art style is a cherry on top, clean, simple but very lovely.

a sweet and powerful graphic novel about a gymnastics team and a hard-of-hearing MC.
with a story set in the 1990s, we've got ourselves a heartwarming novel with a very inspiring message and the touch of learning ASL was amazing.

Thank you to Oni Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel. This was an intriguing story about how to handle grief, how to build relationships, and how to become more than one aspect in your life. I loved the Deaf representation and the gymnastic representation, however I wished there was more to the characters than just the two main ones. Overall, though, I would recommend this, but I would like a sequel to this. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Ray Nadine for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in two sittings and found it to be an interesting and inspiring story. The graphic novel draws heavily on the author's own athletics past and this really shows in the realism and specific elements which are shown throughout which I enjoyed. In addition, I liked the extra elements of one of our protagonists having a disability and the LGBTQ elements which I thought were dealt with well.
The art told the story well though personally wasn't really to my preference but I think it conveyed the emotions of the characters well. I felt this story was perhaps a little short in terms of its plot and I would have liked there to have been a little more and for this book to have been a little longer as I feel like the emotional emphasis would have been greater. I did like the realism of the ending however, even if it was bittersweet but getting to see both Riley and Kota grow closer and happier throughout was great and in particular, I felt that Riley had the more fulfilling journey, letting herself discover what she likes out of athletics. The fear around injury in sports was prevalent throughout too and this anxiety was portrayed well.
Overall I liked this graphic novel but it's not one I would pick up again.

This was a really nice story about friendship and learning to trust others with our vulnerability. I was around the same age as the teens in the book when it was set, so that made me feel old but also amused. I have two small boys who do gymnastics so I was especially excited to see a book featuring boy gymnasts. The emotions they felt and struggled to convey was very heartfelt and sincere, and I really enjoyed seeing two boys work so hard to openly express their inner thoughts. We don’t encourage that enough in society, and this friendship showed how you can build trust and a deep friendship just by being yourself and being a good friend. Seeing the characters grow and become more confident and happy was really nice. I’d like to see another book with these characters.

This was a quick comic with a great deal of diversity from many perspectives, which I really enjoyed. The graphics had an interesting style and the story was wholesome. The final part was a bit abrupt for me, though, maybe as I am not a big fan of open endings.

I enjoyed reading about Dakota and Riley. Their friendship grows and it's nice to see. Riley is deaf and this book showcases bits of ASL which is nice to see. You can learn a bit of sign language from this book and you can also see how worried Riley was when she moved to the school, not knowing anyone, thinking she couldn't talk to anyone because she couldn't hear but Dakota didn't want to leave her out and tried to learn sign language so they could speak to each other.

They have a mutual love of gymnastics and I like the illustrations when they are on the beams and bars.

Powerful message in this book, don't leave people out, support each other and you'll get it back!

Review to come in September on blog/goodreads/other places.

I received this one from the publisher/Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

To first get something out... I thought, based on the cover that this would be a m/m romance with gymnastics. I didn't read the blurb, sometimes I just make decisions on the cover, haha. It took me until the characters got to gymnastics and were announced as girls to understand that this is f/f? Why did I think this? Because most of the female characters look VERY masculine/male. I was even angry at Kota in the beginning when Riley popped up and they mentioned Riley as a girl. I was like, are you basing that on the pony tail? Lots of guys have long hair. But oh, they are girls? It never really clicked for me because 1) they look masculine (and while gymnastics is a heavy sport, I know from lots of watching that almost all girls still look girlish despite the muscles) 2) Kota is a boy's name. I don't think in all my anime/manga watching over the years I have met a FEMALE Kota. As my mind kept being confused in the end I just saw both of them as guys and it clicked for me from there on. I am so sorry. But the art was just not working out.

Now to the good stuff.

💖 I loved the representation of Riley being hard of hearing. See ASL being used. Read how it is for Riley.
💖 Plus, I loved that nothing stopped Riley from getting to the goals they had in mind! And I am also happy that everyone was accommodating and made sure Riley could participate in all the events.
💖 Also Riley kicked some major gymnastic butts and I wished I could have seen the moves in action because Riley is SO GOOD!
💖 And we also find out about loss and how Riley (and Riley's dad) are trying to work things out together now that they have this empty space where Riley's other dad used to be. Even though Riley's dad isn't the best at conversations, I did like that he at least tried.
💖 I loved LOVED that Kota immediately went to learn ASL. OK, I did found it a bit fast, and it came across maybe as a bit desperate, but I am still happy that Kota wanted to learn this eagerly and was open to learning much more. I also learned some new things though at times the illustrations of the hands were hard to see so I am not sure if I got them all. Plus, this is ASL, so I will probably not use them as I am a Dutch girl and we have NGT, but the alphabet seems to be the same, so that is fun! Oh, and I liked how we got to see the way the signs went with arrows to make it more clear. 
💖 I loved seeing them together in that special place of theirs (starting at another place at first which was also sweet) and getting to know each other. Not just by learning signing, but also by writing in that notebook, which I thought was just the most adorable thing. I loved that Kota got the idea from their dad (had a laugh there when Kota got the diary of his dad and was worried there would be kissing in it).
💖 I love the gymnastic parts! They were just oodles of fun and I love seeing the team work hard to get better. To try out new routines. Visit new competitions, get ready for bigger fish.
💖 I loved that we didn't just find out about Riley and Riley's hearing problems + the reason why Riley moved to this new place, but also got to know Kota more closely and see that Kota also has issues. Kota has anxiety and we see how that affects Kota's practice + also eventually goes in Kota's normal life as well. I loved that Kota and Riley could talk about this and that they could help each other.
💖 While the art wasn't my thing, I did like the colours and the limited palette. Plus, seeing the palette eventually gain more colours at the end just made me so happy!
💖 The ending just made me so happy, well, OK, it did feel a bit out of the blue, but I am still happy with the snapshots we get to see of what happens afterwards with this duo.
💖 OH OH, I cannot forget the adorable blushes that the characters made, especially Riley. I was just shipping them like mad and this made me happy.

All in all, despite the art not entirely working out, this was a fun book about two people falling in love and doing gymnastics! I would still recommend it!

I really liked this book. Lovely art and details as well, it was easy to follow along with the main storyline. A beautiful and wholesome graphic novel about friendship, facing your fears and allowing yourself to let go of your negative thoughts.

I adored this sweet, understated coming-of-age story of gymnastics and young friendship.

The art is lovely- distinctive but also incredibly soothing, in this gorgeous green-and-blue palette. The story is incredibly wholesome and tender, a big hug for my tired brain. Loving friendships, acceptance, overcoming anxiety! Beautiful gymnastics action! Plus great Deafness representation and lots of ASL, and the heartwarming tale of an accepting, inclusive team.

The ending felt a little abrupt - but overall it was really quite wonderful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for the eARC in exchange for review!

I liked this wholesome (which is to say, will appeal to younger audiences, not edgy) middle grades/YA graphic novel, I Felt Myself Slipping, focused on two girls, gymnastics, disability and friendship. Da(Kota) welcomes Riley to their gymnastic team. She’s quiet, subdued, so seems to others initially as aloof, but it turns out she is deaf. Kota decides to reach out to her and also learn ASL, though they initially communicate through a notebook. They become friends, though it is possible Kota wants it to be more, though it doesn’t come to that. Yet. Though this looks like a stand-alone book.

The gymnastics aspect will appeal to sports fans, as the girls are good enough to compete for Nationals and maybe even the Olympics. Riley seems the superior one, and Kota is also great , but has some anxiety in one of her areas that needs to be addressed (See title, which I thought was deliberately NOT titled IIt Feels Like I am Falling to avoid the natural assumption of falling in love, which this book is not quite about, I think).

Riley had two dads, and one died, and the living one is black, which I’ll admit surprised me for a book set in the nineties, but hey, they came to the midwest from California, so it could have happened, and at any rate I still like it. Cute sweet book! PS and as I have hearing aids, I appreciated that aspect of it, one of the main reasons I picked it up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Oni Press, and Ray Nadine for the opportunity to read this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

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

I really liked the limited color palette of this story, it kept things grounded as Kota and Riley got to know each other. I love that Kota called out her teammates for not making the effort to communicate with Riley when the opportunity to learn sign language came up. I also liked the blur layer about the outside scenes when it was snowing. Just the small things of the paneling and art style made it a really nice read. Gymnastics is such a cool sport, getting to see the characters move and connect with it was a wonderful base to the story too.

I do wonder where the extra 20ish pages went. I'm sure I read the ending but the arc I read has 190 pages and the finished copy has nearly 210. I don't think I missed anything but it just cut off abruptly.

I read this through Netgalley and it is so cute and wholesome (female friendship is portrayed so well!), and so accurate too! Gymnastics mental blocks are terrifying and that is captured so effectively here. The hard of hearing and ASL representation was also great.

This is tagged as LGBT+ on Goodreads, and whilst I do headcanon Riley and Kota as ending up romantically together, this does not happen on page so I think that this classification is in error and could lead to disappointment. That said, if there is more volumes planned for this (I’d love it if there was!), obviously their relationship may grow further. (Unless the LGBT+ tag is simply because Riley has gay dads?)

I Felt Myself Slipping is a heartwarming tale of gymnastics, disability and young friendship (or maybe more?)

The story tries to do a lot in the span of a typical length graphic novel, but it does it all surprisingly well. To give you an idea of what to expect, it manages to have authentic disability representation with a character who is Hard of Hearing and much of the dialogue happening in ASL, another character has anxiety and possibly panic attacks, there is trauma, LGBTQ representation aplenty and all this on top of elite gymnastics and typical teen lives. As I said, a lot going on, but the narrative makes sense, our main characters show real progress and there's so much wholesome interaction and healthy communication that I could read this all day long.

And let's talk about the art because I loved how clever it was, and it carried so much meaning alongside storytelling. The book mainly has a limited blue/green color palette, which is absolutely lovely to look at and works so well. But once things start shifting in the story, so do the colors. I was giddy to realize this at the right moment - I won't spoil it for you - but it was beautiful and added to my enjoyment.

In short, if you're into sweet and wholesome stories of young people finding themselves such as Heartstopper, you might really enjoy this one.

✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.

Coming-of-age graphic novel with a focus on friendship and learning about who you're becoming as a person, teammate and friend. The depth into the feelings of each character was refreshing and effective. Joining a new competitive sports team cannot be easy, especially when the sport is gymnastics and is both a team sport as well as individual. I appreciated Kota and Riley's characters development, but at some points I felt like I was getting lost in the words or wasn't getting enough from the story.

The use of ASL was beautiful and made me emotional watching Kota learn for a teammate in hopes of helping them feel welcome and included.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for the eARC in exchange for review!

This was an interesting story but I thought it needed to be fleshed out more. Love the disability and queer representation and I really enjoyed the artist's rendering of ASL and the gymnastics movements. However, the art overall, the color choice, the exaggerated lines, didn't work for me. I do think some of Riley's background history needed to be fleshed out and Kota's fears that seemed to spring up out of nowhere with no solid resolution.

This graphic novel set in the 90s follows the blooming friendship between two teen gymnasts and I can honestly say that I recommend it to absolutely everyone.
The art and colour scheme are beautiful and perfectly suit the story and characters and I love that it features hard of hearing and ASL as well as some queer rep but that is not the focus of the story at all and that is completely fine.
The heart of the story is the friendship that forms between the two girls, and there is little to no romance so it makes it perfect for everyone from middle grade to full-grown adults, everyone will find something to relate to and connect with in this story.
I would love to see this adapted because it's amazing and it would be a comfort watch for teens and young girls for years and years to come. The sapphic, sportier Heartstopper ;)
Please let there be a sequel, even if this is already perfect.
Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this DRC