I had a really hard time getting into this one, because the characters all make pretty huge mistakes in their relationships CONSTANTLY. That being said, the illustrations are amazing and the further I read, the more connected I felt to these kids. They do definitely make selfish decisions, but they are college students who are figuring it out. The queer representation is very nice.

I loved that the ending left it with growth, but also without guaranteed forgiveness for past mistakes. Thanks to NetGalley, Ren Strapp, and Oni Press for the chance to read and review.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

Molly and Lou are two besties who were both recently dumped by their girlfriends, Olene and Yona - who then left (together!) for a semester abroad in Paris. Determined to keep Molly from pining the rest of the year away, Lou devises a plan for them to experience all the lesbians that po-dunk Hillock College has to offer. This involves no small amount of help from Molly's roommate Jackie, who's more outgoing than both of them combined, and seems to have all the connections. Drama ensues when both Molly and Lou hook up with Jackie's ex, Anjali. Meanwhile, across the pond, Yona makes a play for Olene, who (unbeknownst to her) is still figuring out her sexuality.

On its face, HOW COULD YOU is mostly about relationship drama - hot, messy, chaotic relationship drama. As an introvert with social anxiety who lived at home during college - and thus missed out on many of these college experiences - I had trouble relating. Some of the characters are pretty unlikable, and they do some terrible things to one another, but I guess that's kind of the point. But this isn't a "love to hate them" kind of situation, either (see e.g. GONE GIRL). Just a really sad train wreck that you totally saw coming but were powerless to stop.

The ending is the story's saving grace, with Molly realizing the redemptive power of change. Sure, she might be kind of a shitty person now, but that doesn't mean she always has to be.

There's also a ton of diverse representation here: Molly and Jackie are lesbians; Yona is bisexual; Lou is nonbinary (I think) and uses a cane; and Anjali is a trans woman (or at least I thought it was heavily implied).

I had somewhat high hopes for this graphic novel as a queer college student with queer friends who studied abroad in basically the same place as two of the characters, and I’m not sure it really lived up to my expectations. It’s a cool concept, and some of my disappointment is probably because I was expecting to relate more, but it also just felt hard to fully care about the characters, in part because I had a harder time telling them apart and in part because I didn’t understand why I should care about them. The art itself was cool, and I liked the author’s note about how it was used to showcase character associations and emotions. I do think we should have more messy queer stories and if that’s what you’re looking for, I think this is a great book to check out. At the same time, I wasn’t particularly compelled by it, and didn’t really feel like the story arc was all that satisfying, even with what could be called some character growth. I hope that this book finds the people that will love it, it just unfortunately wasn’t for me.

It was almost too fast of a read where I never got into it and didn't vibe with any of the characters. Story didnt feel completed so after I was done reading I wasn't left fulfileld or happy about the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

How Could You follows (and I say this affectionately) some messy ahh b!tches, and we love that for them. A fragmented story, one half follows Molly and Lou through college while the other follows their ex-girlfriends, who appear to be cosying up together in the City of Loooove on their semester-abroad. If you tried to connect all the characters in this book with string on a pinboard, you would tie yourself in knots, making for a complex and interconnecting story where no one can sneeze without it causing a breakup, a hook-up, or a bust up. Objectively, the stakes aren't super high, but it will bring you right back to that coming-of-age point in your life where the relationship tension is taut enough to strum a jaunty tune on.

The main POV characters are kind of unlikeable, so if you're a person who wants someone to root for in a book, that may be an issue. Personally, I loved it. There's something really cathartic about reading a book where people are kind of grim to one another, but in a way that feels relatable and not entirely irredeemable. It's also a great reminder that who you are in college...is probably not the greatest person. But that's okay, because everyone is still finding their feet, exploring their identity, and just trying to get by. All we can do is try to minimise the collateral damage we cause.

This book is a must-read for people who enjoyed Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Loveless, and The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott.

I liked the drawings and some of the parts of the story were interesting but the relationships were too convoluted and one of the MCs was too much of a screw-up without any redemption or even purpose, it seemed. too immature for my liking, didn't work for me

It's a comic about a group of lesbians who study and university and party. Ow and all of them are exes. 🙂 I liked it enough but it's a bit short for my taste. Plus there are 6 characters and it's a bit difficult to keep track of everyone. I am sorry I can't remember anyone's names. They get in all sorts of funny, awkward and "WHY did you do that?" kinda situations.

You do not drag an introvert to a party to then abandon them. 😡

I also wish I had rich parents lol.

#NetGalleyARC A great look at the complexity of relationships, both friends and romantic. A great read that tackles real life situations and makes the reader feel like they’re not alone if they’ve had these experiences.

Intriguing
This cover immediately spoke to me on Netgalley, especially with the genre description. The book was advertised to fans of Heartstopper and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me. I enjoyed both graphic novels/comics, but this story surely has a more mature vibe to it. For once, our main characters are set in college and find themselves having way more sex than the other characters. Secondly, they go through more relationships on both romantic and platonic level. Our first protagonist has a lot of baggage and struggles with maintaining healthy connections. But not only Molly struggles to find herself and love, but also the other characters teach us about heartbreak and boundaries.


The story
We are thrown into a setting of breakups and heartbreaks. The mood is thus primarily sad and dense, but lightened by the friendships the characters cherish. Our main characters are Molly, Lou, Olene, and Yona, who try to find themselves through their last year of college. Some of them change their course of life and their perception of themselves entirely. And I loved this representation of drastic change, although they struggle with sustaining their friendships through these changes. Although the story only covers a few months, the characters go through a lot of troubles—some self-induced, some in response to other’s decisions. Friendship is the main focus of the story despite the initial scenario of romantic heartbreak. The ending is less overtly happy but important and realistic in a way of a continuous struggle to be a good friend and person.


The style
By the end of the book, Ren Strapp allows us to see behind the scenes of this debut graphic novel. We find some earlier stages of the pages as much as cut characters. Strapp made it easy for us to distinguish the characters due to their distinct personalities and moods, but also by their diverse styles. The cast of characters itself is wonderfully diverse and becomes even more diverse during their self-discovery. The illustrator moreover put specific emphasis on colors, as she explains, and thus gives the whole book amazing dynamics and a lot of thought. Both the colors and the structure of the panels and illustrations emphasize the moods represented in them, which I adored! The book is thus very three-dimensional in its story and on the surface.


In conclusion,
Easy to read but still emotional and complex, this story quickly drew me in. We follow mainly four characters on their way to find love and themselves, struggling with friendship and desires. I really enjoyed this colorful and proud story of growth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was so MESSY and GAY. I've never read something that so succinctly captures the experience of every lesbian in an isolated area knowing each other and having canoodled in some way or another. I feel like I was just whispering "oh my god, please stop" for the entirety of this book, but I also could not tear my eyes away. Some of these girls need a time out, I swear to god. The art style is so delectable, which could be to blame for me not giving myself a break from this stress! All of that to say, this book was also incredibly hilarious and messy, and I had a great time reading it.
I haven't seen such creative use of panels and bleeds and layering and breaking the walls of panels since reading the manga Our Dreams at Dusk, and I adored how visually stunning it was. One scene that really entranced me was when Molly was running while crying--just so fucking cool. The author's choice of color was so playful and bold, and I was just in awe. I loved that the author included a little bonus explanation behind their choice of color in this book. This is the messy lesbian rep we need!!! 5 stars, no notes.

This was an extremely fast read but I didn't get into it. The characters felt pretty surface level, they lacked a little depth and I just didn't truly care about their "love" stories. I didn't really feel the feelings, it was all a bit surface level really. There were so many terrible decisions that just came out of nowhere and I was just left confused. It almost felt like it should have had a first volume or something that I missed. I basically didn't get it.

This graphic novel did not go how I expected. The synopsis made it seem like we would have two separate storylines going (Molly and Lou then Yona and Olene), but everyone was completely intertwined in a confusing way. The story essentially followed six main characters. With the main characters all being exes of each other, that made it really difficult to keep them straight. I had trouble differentiating Lou and Molly at the beginning, too, because they look so similar and were in the same panels together. All the characters fell flat, too, with no real depth to them. I really struggled to care about them.

A main focus of the novel should have been self discovery, but I felt there was very little of that going on. It was clear that all the main characters were queer, but they didn't seem to really be discovering anything about their identities. There was one part where one character learned something about herself, but that didn't feel like a very powerful moment. I couldn't even keep track of what everyone's gender and sexuality were in order to watch their growth throughout the story, likely because of how many characters we were switching between; we didn't stay with one character long enough to fully learn about them before hopping to another.

Overall, I struggled to figure out the point of the story.

The art was very cute, though, and the artist did very creative things with color. The end showed author's notes explaining this in more detail, which was interesting to read.

A lighthearted graphic novel debut about 5 queer college students and their messy relationships with one another. While I really enjoyed the bubbly art style and compelling storyline, I didn't find all of the characters very likeable (except for Lou who can do no wrong). Any terrible actions done by some characters were not sufficiently challenged by the narrative by the end, at least in my opinion. With that said, this made for a nice summer read, so I wouldn't be opposed to checking out the author's future works!

I feel there Is a lot of characters and a lot going on, where I couldn't remember who's ex is who's and what drama is going on. I read it a second time and things were bit more clear. I wouldn't pick this book as a go to book but would read again

A coming of age story that is fun and interesting. With the visualization and the way the writer and illustrator play with the colours is really nice. Although the story makes for a fascinating read, I honestly didn't end up enjoying it as much. It was overall just an okay book and one I would not recommend.

If you like unresolved mess then this is a great graphic novel to check out. It's queer and makes a big point of showing how insular dating is in areas where the queer community is relatively small and how this makes getting over exes and navigating new relationships (that never seem truly new since everyone is interconnected) infinitely harder. While it's far from a happy story, I don't think that's a bad thing, it's very realistic to life in that people make bad decisions, have conflicting emotions, and often don't get closure. I will say, I personally found the art quality to be inconsistent and that did detract from my rating, but I think this book is worth checking out. I also appreciate that the author wasn't afraid to depict flawed queer people and did so in a way where I still found them sympathetic in a way that did not excuse their behaviors.

Oof, the characters in this book are messy messy messy. If you enjoy reading Am I the Asshole subreddit you'll probably really like this.

I didn't love the colours in this - the characters are completely flat with no shading, and their colours are just SUPER bright and disjointed from the backgrounds, which were often in monochromes. There were some scenes that looked nicer (like the Paris stuff and the parts set in night clubs/parties had fun lighting), but the day time stuff colours just didn't mesh for me. And the artist at the end talks about having used a colour board when making the story, but it was not evident to me while reading it I'm afraid.

The panelling was also confusing. If two panels are in line with each other, then that usually means you read those panels after each other - so if the two panels in the left of the page are in line, and the three on the right are in line, you would read it left-down and then right-right. But with this comic they threw those panelling rules out the window, and the rule was always read left to right. There are multiple pages that do this.

That said, I did find the story pretty compelling.

I loved the artwork in this. Ren strapp definitely has a talent for drawing. I also think there is promise in the storyline. However, i did feel this was a bit messy/confusing. I think every character made terrible mistakes, and every character was kind of an ass sometimes, which makes it hard to connect. But then i also get the point that that's reality, everyone is messy, everyone makes mistakes, and there is no good or bad. I also noticed that this wasn't just a love triangle but more like a love star? Everyone was in love with multiple people at the same time, and others also were in love with those people etc etc. While i do get that there is no one love interest and i also get that two people often like the same person, this love star was a bit too much. Now i am not gonna lie, if there is more content coming? I will read it <3 the art is definitely worth it and i think the story is good for a first time. I bet the second one will be even better. Keep going!

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed the art style of this book but found the overall storyline just ok. While this book definitely encapsulates college life and the dumb decisions people make in their late teens/early 20’s, I found it hard to like some of the characters and root for them. Overall this was a good read, just not my cup of tea!

I usually love messy gay college dramas, but those need good and strong character growth to be pulled off (and, you know, actually solve the drama). Sadly, How Could You did not have that character growth.
The book introduced the four to five main characters well enough and set up the drama excellently, but when it all blew up, all of the characters got stuck in their petty ways instead of learning something out of it and actually growing. Also, almost all of their friendships ended over said drama and there was zero communication throughout the book. Because of this, I was very unsatisfied by the end of the boo and also need to admit that I didn’t like a single character by the end of it. Maybe that was the point, I don’t know, but it was not enjoyable.
Also, some of the things that were said by the characters really rubbed me the wrong way.
The art style was pretty though.