Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review.

I didn’t mind ‘how could you’ but I feel the end was unsatisfying it left too many things in the air, nice illustrations though I like the look of the characters.

Rating 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

How Could You is the debut graphic by Ren Strapp and follows the relationships of a group of queer women at college. I really enjoyed this story and the characters felt really tangibly clueless about how to navigate their feelings in the way that you do when you’re just starting out in life as a queer adult.

This book gave me similar vibes to Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni, with a more new adult spin, although realistically it reads more Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me but every single character is Laura Dean.

Some reviewers have been turned off by how messy or unlikeable many of the characters are, but for me that is what young queer relationships are like - too many feelings and no brakes; in a world that feels so tiny and yet so vast compared to years of not understanding yourself. I was charmed, your mileage may vary.

Strapp’s character designs and layouts also really shine here - the beats that really embraced whimsy and cartoonish breaks in the form really added a sense of levity to this story of heavy emotions.

This was a book that left me feeling sad, and also frustrated for the characters? Nothing is resolved. They just end it all up in the air. And while all of the characters are flawed, there's at least one character that acts like they did nothing wrong and the plot does nothing to address this. I think I would feel less disgusted if all of the characters were acknowledged as flawed.

Thank you for sending me this advanced reader copy. I loved How Could You, it was such an easy read and I felt like I understood the characters in the short amount of time I spent with them. I would love to see another story in the same style as this one from Strapp. Thank you again.

This graphic novel is delivered in a very cute art style which reminds me of Heartstopper. I loved the characters in the novel and how it depicted the issues young people have in college in relation to relationships and sexual orientation. I would love to see a follow up for this to see where the characters go in the next year.

I really enjoyed this book so much!!
The story captivating with flawed but lovely characters, the character design was amazing!! loving the diversity and casual representation of not only many different cultures but also disabilities and bodies <3

I felt so uncomfortable reading this the whole time. there was horrible writing, characters with low motives for the most immature reasoning. especially Molly! These are college students? the author has probably been out of uni for a while now or has never gone at all.

I adored this graphic novel, the characters felt so real each one was unique and the art was eyecatching and expressed so much emotion. I highly recomend everyone gives this book a read becasue I loved this coming of age story!

How Could You is a slice of life queer romance about a group of friends and their interpersonal problems and lives. The main friend group is all queer in college, dealing with their sexualities and former and future relationships. There wasn't a huge grand plot here but I really enjoyed the characters and seeing this kind of friend group being highlighted in a book was very refreshing. I'll definitely read more from this creator.

Thank you Oni Press and Netgalley for giving me an ARC I return for a fair and honest review.

How Could You? Is a story of selfishness, growing-up, and being messy following Molly Song and her group of friends/girlfriends/exs navigate their finals years of collage. And yeah, it's perfectly mid.

None of the characters are really interesting but are held up by a decent plot that doesn't go as far as it could. It handles its themes of toxic relationships and what behaviour is acceptable, what's not in and out of a relationship well with a conclusion to Molly's story that's overall satisfying. The dialogue is good, with threads of humor and snark throughout that work really well. The art style as well is absolutely gorgeous and fitting for this kind of graphic.

I think that's my biggest issue with this book, though: it's super safe, doesn't really stretch itself, and is simplistic in a way that borders bland. I just wanted a little more out of these characters and plot that was never actually delivered on. A massive shame!

If you like any of Alice Oseman's work, then I think you may really like this, especially if you're craving something a little more mature or a little more sapphic. On the whole though, this novel is more missed opportunity than anything else and not going to be my go-to nomination for the best queer graphic novel of 2024.

How could you is a story about mistakes and living with your choices and trying to see if you can fix them. I enjoyed this story because it wasn’t all happy and rainbows. Mistakes were made. It shows that everything has a reaction and consequences, and you can either try to fix things or just move on. I think even though the story wasn’t my favorite it still has good aspects to it and a story that the author felt that needed to be told. It’s giving for me one of those drama tv shows where you want to look away and lowkey hate most of the cast but you can’t look away at the same time.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

WOW, everyone was a piece of shit (well, OK, not Lou, Lou is a precious baby and deserves better. Oh, and I guess Jackie isn't the worst either, but they are just side-characters). But Anjali? Go the fuck away and stay away, wtf is up with you? Molly? OMG I hated her so much and all her dramaticness and overdumbness. Olene? Fuck off. Stay in France or just go even further away. Yona? Please just disappear. All the drama, the messy shit, the problems, and how no one seemed to learn anything. I just wanted to punch all the people for all the shit they do. LORD. I kept hoping that maybe someone would find a brain but no the pit of despair just got bigger on each page and the punchability of these characters grew.
But hey, I did like the art. A lot.

What a fucking disappointment.

This is a gorgeously illustrated graphic novel that follows MC Molly as she navigates college and the heartbreak of lost friendships and relationships. I really enjoyed the story and the trip I was taken on, I felt that there was some unnecessary language used, and at times I did lose track the plot, but I love how the story came round on itself, there should definitely be further books, as I feel there is still so much more to give from each of the characters, and I would love to see where those who graduated ended up. This is one for fans of Heartstopper, it's just slightly more mature.

I really thought this book was really cool! You never see any graphic novels about young adults in college above freshman year. Maybe sophomore year. New adult novels in the graphic novel format are hard to come by. This is actually I feel some customers are looking for. Yes, the characters were very very flawed, but I definitely would love a sequel on Lou or a redemption arc. I know this is classified as New Adult, but I think it would shelve better in the YA graphic novel section.

“What’s a kiss between friends?”

How could you is a story about five queer college friends who are dealing with messy relationship drama. I’m not a huge fan of this one,I think the art is really cool and the character designs were well done. Unfortunately the characters themselves were really unlikable except for Lou who deserves some justice.

The thought process for some of the characters choices were so bizarre, some of them were just plain rotten and upsetting. I understand that they’re human and everyone makes mistakes so I’m not judging them too harshly but again justice for Lou!


It kind of ended abruptly and I wish we found out more about everyone else’s end.

Thank you NetGalley and to Oni Press for giving me this Arc in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for the arc provided to reviewers

This is quite possibly messiest graphic novel that has ever existed–and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It follows a group of college friends who hook up with, break up with, and date each other. It's like the Fleetwood Mac of friend groups. I think it took it just a *smidge* too far but I also think stories about college students making a lot of mistakes are important.

I liked the pacing and the character design and I think the slight exploration of queer identities was well done.

HOW COULD YOU is a fun, queer graphic novel about a bunch of messy college students and the myriad of ways they fuck up in one single semester. molly and lou, having been dumped by their girlfriends, decide to find rebounds to help them put their exes behind them. in the meantime, olene and yona are studying abroad in france, exploring the queer scene and spending time together.

i love graphic novels and this was definitely one i'll be recommending to my friends, though it wasn't without its issues. mainly, it felt like the pacing was SO fast and i'm not sure that the story really felt like it was wrapped up by the end of the book. that being said, i loved how messy and complex all the characters were—it felt very realistic for a bunch of queer 20-somethings who are still figuring their lives out. i think this would have benefitted from being longer or being split up into two volumes to allow the story more time to develop and the characters more room to grow, but it was still a really fun read!

thanks to netgalley and oni press for the advanced copy. HOW COULD YOU is out december 17.

This was just 200 pages of pure dyke drama and I am here for it. I loved the illustrations and generally had a lot of fun reading this graphic novel. It was fast-paced and very immersive. I did find that there was a bit too much going on for a story this short, with many interesting characters and plot points that felt like they could have been explored more thoroughly. Overall, this was a solid debut from Ren Strapp, who I have been following for a while, and I would definitely be eager to pick up anything she publishes in the future.

Thank you to Oni press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This book was MESSY. Lou and Jackie were the only ones who weren’t awful. I know that being a college kid you are dumb and make a lot of bad decisions, but this was a pretty wild friend group. I don’t blame Jackie for saying she was done and was not looking bad after her last semester got ruined. I feel we’ve all learned lessons the hard way and can relate a little to this but it still felt very extra. I also felt like I was missing some story from the beginning. We are dropped on his group of friends and it feels like we missed something from their story.

The art is great and I really enjoyed all the colors. I feel like I have to get better vibe from this creator. Thank you again Oni Press!

This story had a lot of miscommunication or just lack of communication which alot of us really struggle with in our friendships as well as romantic relationships. We follow these characters as they are trying to navigate their college life and to find themselves. We got two girls who go aboard and break up with the girlfriends so they can be free. While the other two girls are back at college together trying to work, throw things together. The biggest thing I got from this story is that finding out who you are can be very messy if you are not honest with the people around you no matter who you are. At the same time opening up to people even if they are your friends can be very hard especially if they do not react well when you do finally tell them. Life is messy especially when you start adding other people to the equation and sometimes you just have to do what's best for you. I hope there is another book so we can see some character growth form these characters as this book they were all mostly hot messes.