Member Reviews
Super wholesome little read, with a gorgeous illustration style. I loved every moment of this and without giving any spoilers, I think the ending was done remarkably well.
This was so cute and wholesome!! I definitely recommend everyone to read this now!!
The ending hit me in the feels🥺
3.5 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.
I am absolutely obsessed with this story and I want to share it with everyone now!
I love all the letters and the ending is so prefect ❤️
I loved everything about this book: the plot, the illustrations and most of all the characters. I received a free eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.
Anything less than 5 stars would be a crime for this heart-rending narrative of friendship, loss and empathy.
Thank you Yen Press | Ize Press for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.
This is one of those (comic) books that deserves all the stars in the universe..
I highly recommend it if you enjoy reading comics like Heartstopper or watching movies like the ones from Studio Ghibli.
I adored the illustrations, especially the full page ones, those might be my favorite illustrations ever, I just wanted to jump into them and be there. The story is so good, so beautiful, engaging, quirky and well thought out.
Sori Lee is a middle schooler who one day decides to stand up for someone who is being bullied. This leads to her class turning against her and she soon transfers to another school. But later in the story we learn how important it was that she did the right thing and the effects it has. We also learn the importance of being kind, even in small ways and that bullying leaves scars.
Changing schools is scary but she finds a letter stuck under her desk, that changes everything! It’s like she has a friend who’s making her feel at home and helps her navigate the new school. One letter leads to another and so on. And in some places the letters are hidden, there’s a boy and they soon start looking for the letters together and what happens next had me in tears, happy tears! I cannot recommend this one enough! Such a wholesome and great read!
Your Letter by Hyeon A Cho, 270 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. Ize Press (Yen Press), 2024. $15.
Language: PG (3 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: SEVERAL
Changing middle schools is difficult for Sori, not only because it’s mid-term but because she expects the students around her to be as mean as the students she left behind. Then Sori finds letter number one taped to the bottom of her desk—leading to more letters around the school and an unseen friend.
Kindness doesn’t have positive results for Sori at first, but she persists in doing the best she can with the circumstances she is in. The negative results affect her life, but Sori does not let them change who she is at heart. Beautifully illustrated, Sori’s story is an uplifting one about kindness being unexpectedly passed along and eventually returned.
The characters are Korean. The mature content rating is for illegal activity and partial nudity. The violence rating is for assault.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
This was the best Korean comic I read in the last 6 months, and this story will stay with me, Sori is a nice girl that worries and looks for others and because of that she starts facing bullying in her school, the person she helped, moves school, and she is left alone facing all by herself until she cant do that anymore, and she also moves school, but it seems how the bullying would follow her, until she find something hidden on her desk, and this takes her in a treasure hunt for more letters, and while she is doing this, she meets a boy that at first she thinks that must be him leaving this letters for her.
This is a story of friendship and how people learn to do the right thing and how that gives you strength to carry on, it has a couple of twists in the story that really gave some warmth to my heart. I really recommend this book for all ages, get this book for yourself or to give as a gift.
Thank you NetGalley and Yen Press | Ize Press, for the free ARC and this is y honest opinion.
Here’s an excerpt from my review on https://allthefujoshiunite.com/
“ Your Letter might not look much on the surface, but it’s a sincere story that leaves an impact on the reader and manages to do so in a mere 10 chapters. Bullying in schools in South Korea has always been a serious issue, persistent enough to become a frequent theme in comics or TV series.
Your Letter‘s take on the issue is more encouraging and concludes on a positive note. This, however, doesn’t mean the series lacks nuance. “Doing the right thing” isn’t as straightforward as it seems; you might end up doing something wrong despite your intentions, or you might have done the right thing but your actions might still backfire on you. Choosing to turn a blind eye has a moral weight on its own. The comic explores these situations in an earnest, albeit light-hearted way..”
This was a tender, heart-forward story with stunning illustrations. While I didn't always feel compelled to keep reading the story, I did appreciate its overall message and would love to see it in print (the formatting of the e-ARC made it somewhat difficult to read).
it feels like my heart has hiccups...
love the background stories
love the plot twists
love it so much
i am actually surprised how much i liked it. stories involving being bullied tend to be very childish (or it used to be), this book made me anxieus for these characters.
This was a lovely, uplifting, tearjerker of a story about standing up to bullies. Many YA readers will enjoy this - the art style, characters, and plot will feel familiar and appealing to manga and manhwa readers, but I think the full color art style will also help pull graphic novels readers who aren't used to the black and white illustrations typical of manga into this - and middle schoolers in particular are sure to relate to the characters' struggles with bullies. The ending is definitely not the most realistic, but it's so satisfying that I didn't care, plus it felt in line with all the other little touches of magic sprinkled throughout.
This is pretty much just going to be one big gush of a review.
ALL. THE. FEELS.
I can't tell you the last time a manga had me almost in tears by the end of it, while smiling so hard my face felt like it was going to crack.
I am not spoiling a darn thing about this book other than to say the characters, the storyline, the connections, the artwork, THAT ENDING, ALL blew me AWAY.
5, this was ordered for my permanent library so I can re-read and hug to my chest every time I finish it, stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Yen/Ize Press for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
The book starts with a typical bullying scene but it plays out quite differently from other stories I read so far. The part of Jung Hoyeon plays actually made me cry twice!
The art is not my usual favorite yet okay and the usage of colors is quite amazing.
There are quite a few good teachings in this story. For example one of the sentence that gave me a deep impression; "The moment I recognize someone and give them my attention, they start to exist to me."
Very cute slice of life with a tinge of sadness and a happy ending. I think this will be well liked by the niche that reads it. One of those ambiguous age group stories that could appeal to anyone middle school-adult
A poignant story about healing from the trauma of bullying and forming new friendships. Your Letter has beautiful illustrations and has the slow meditative quality of a ghibli film while also keeping the reader engaged in the mystery.
A perfect read-alike for series like ORANGE and I WANT TO EAT YOUR PANCREAS. Thoroughly engaging story & beautiful artwork, I'd highly recommend for junior high & high schools looking Ng to expand their manhwa & graphic text collections.
Honestly, this was so cute and had such a great message about bullying and finding friendships in tough times. Did I have to extend my disbelief a little bit that the three main characters were all connected? Yes, but it did not deter from the fact that this made me cry at the end. The art style was really cute and just added to the overall wholesome feel of the manhwa. If you're looking for something quick to read that will pull at your emotions, then I highly recommend!
Thank you so much for letting me read this manga. I liked this story very much. It is such a heartfelt, uplifting story.
Sori Lee stood up for her friend, which led her to become the new target. Her friend transfers schools, so Sori decides to follow that example. She finds a letter taped to the bottom of her desk inviting her on a scavenger hunt. Following the clues to find the letter writer, she explores the people and places around the school and learns to trust in people again.
Kids will understand Sori's ambivalence at helping her friend when bullies ganged up on her. Of course the bullies turned on her, and Sori explains that she regrets the outcome of her actions, but would have regretted it more if she remained silent and let it happen. She has an honorable core, and feels awkward moving in the middle of the school year. That shyness makes other kids feel she's stuck up, leading to more shyness and second guessing herself in school. Middle school is hard enough, so the first letter taped to the bottom of her desk is a huge hand in friendship that she seizes on. It's clever and informative, with a map of the school, drawings and names of the kids in class so she won't confuse them, and a little information about all of the teachers. It then sends her off to find more letters hidden in the school, drawing her out of the self pity and anxiety that she wrapped around herself.
This is a great story for middle schoolers; middle school in Korea is structured slightly differently from US middle schools, but the emotions and potential for bullying are the same. There are some cultural explanations in the back which help explain some details within the story, too. This is a story of Sori learning to make friends and come out of her shell, but also that of the other students and friendship in general. I really liked seeing it all tie together, and that the letters brought the kids together, and Sori also got letters from the friend she defended, letting her know how much it meant to her that Sori was there. Doing the right thing is hard, but it led to more meaningful relationships and associations, which every middle schooler needs to have reinforced.