After losing her job at a coffee shop in Vancouver, lesbian struggling artist Tessa is suddenly available to return home to Ontario in time for her parents’ anniversary party. She’s surprised to learn that her parents are renting their basement apartment to none other than Olive, her former high school best friend-turned bully. When they interact again for the first time in ten years, Tessa realizes there was more going on between them than either of them were willing to admit.

Yes queer rep! I really enjoyed this one. This is one where you can guess where the story is going but it was told in an enjoyable way.

I found it interesting and relatable that Tessa had repressed her high school memories to the feeling of “I don’t remember what you did but I know you were mean to me.” Using her journals as a way to bring those moments back was a great bit of storytelling.

I appreciated seeing the growth that the characters went through. They still made mistakes as adults, but they were different and they learned from them.

I also enjoyed the discussion about the point in an artist’s journey when they have to determine whether they were in a place to keep hustling or whether they were comfortable letting art be a hobby and not how they sustain themself.

I loved the art in this and the variety of bodies. Would definitely read more by Gros in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for this ARC.

I've absolutely loved Kathleen Gros' previous graphic novels (Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort Of) and Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of)), which both bought fresh, modern twists to beloved classics while still capturing the heart of their original stories. So I was super excited to read her latest, I Hated You in High School, expecting another heartfelt and engaging read. While this was definitely a super sweet story with charming artwork and a cozy, nostalgic feel, I found the storyline a little basic and not quite as compelling as her previous works. The emotional beats were there, but they didn’t always land as strongly as I’d hoped, and I wished for a bit more depth in both character development and the central conflict. The romance had its moments, but the enemies-to-lovers dynamic felt somewhat rushed, and I struggled to fully buy into the reconciliation.

That being said, it was still an enjoyable, easy read, and I’d absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a cute sapphic graphic novel.

For me, this is closer to a 3.5 star read but I don't have that option!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

First, thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange or review.

I didn't love this, there's no way around that so let's get it out of the way early. Benefit of the doubt, this one just wasn't for me. I was grabbed title cause I'm a sucker for a hate to love, but it just really didn't work for me. Maybe I'm not a an of contemporary romance when it's staged as a graphic novel? It just didn't feel like there was enough going on to support the book, romance kind of lives and dies on its descriptors for me so when you lose that scene setting and internal monologue it becomes a harder sell without an additional plot, I guess.

It also read a little young, to me. Maybe it's meant to be new adult, though not to sound like an old fogy I don't really get that as a descriptor anyway. Some of the interactions between these twenty-something adults read like they could have just as been easily occuring between their high school selves, the difference being the interactions ended positively. That feels harsh especially for a book I was ultimately fine with, I think there's an audience for this but it wasn't me.

A cute, sapphic graphic novel that portrays the enemies to lovers trope well, with a time jump added in.

I really enjoyed the characters and felt the plot was believable and relatable.

I landed on a 3.5.

The novel itself has fun characters and overall drawn well. The coloring took me out of a lot of the novel. The story is simple but works. I wished that it went a bit further, and the characters got together sooner. But would still recommend and has some great rep in it as well.

Tropes:
Coming-Out, High-school Crushes, Enemies to Lovers, Second-Chance Romance , Forced Proximity,
Bio:
Struggling 20-something Tessa has a dead-end job as a barista and the dream of a creative career that never quite seems to take off. When the coffee shop where she works goes out of business, she's able to visit her parents for the first time in years. Arriving at her family home, she discovers that her parents have rented out the basement apartment to her high school nemesis, Olive Virtue.

Love this 💕:
💕 Creative Burnout rep
💕 Career path of Creative
💕 Enemies to lovers
💕 Personal accountability
💕 Complex Love interest

Cup of tea ☕️:
☕️ Mocking Older Sibling

Ideal Reader:
✨Fans of books that right previous wrongs
✨Readers looking for good Sapphic Rep in Manga/ Comics
✨Fans of Enemies to lovers romance

10/10 no notes. Truly the most heartwarming queer coming of age story and the characters redemption arc truly shows how everyone is on their own journey. Might have shed a tear or two while reading this!

Oof a rough one in terms of connection to the material. I wish I enjoyed it more because I could relate to both of the main characters. However, I just didn't. I also didn't love the style of the illustrations.

Finally some adults who just talk to each other like adults! Really enjoyed this graphic novel romance, something I don't think I've read too much of. Very quick read but interesting characters with a lot of depth. And I cannot stop thinking about that speech bubble through the heart!

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is a queer enemies-to-lovers romance graphic novel that follows Tessa, who, while visiting her hometown, finds out that her high-school nemesis Olive has moved into Tessa's parents' basement, which leads to Tessa having to face some old memories between them. I liked the color palette of the pages, and I really enjoyed the clever usage of the text bubbles in some of the panels. However, I found the dialogue a bit lackluster for the most part. The progression of the romance was also a bit too fast for me, but it was not a huge problem considering that this is a fairly short, standalone graphic novel.

I would recommend this to people who want to try reading graphic novels but don't know where to start.

This was pretty cute! It's very low-drama, slice-of-life-y. That's not to say that there's NO drama, but there's none of the implausible mayhem that some romance stories include. It's all very plausible and low-key.

Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more depth in places, as Olive in particular didn't feel fully developed. While parts of this read as very YA, the characters are in their mid-20s and trying to figure out what comes next in terms of housing security and career options. I suspect that the target audience is in their early twenties and feeling that same sense of loss and uncertainty. That said, this is closed-door (there's some smooching on-page and some implied canoodling) so it's not like it's a "mature" comic in any sense of the word.

This was pretty cute and fluffy. If you're looking for a cozy little enemies-to-lovers with an HEA, this could be for you! In general I prefer stories with a little more emotional heft, but I'm also not going to complain about a cute sapphic love story with a happy ending. <3

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. My musings are my own and have been left voluntarily.

netgalley ARC
I really enjoyed this and felt like the characters were very easy to care about and relate to! i like the art style. it was nice to see a supportive family.

I Hated You in High School is a graphic novel about Tessa, who returns home to find Olive living in her parents' house. Tessa has big feelings about Olive, who was a friend and then a bully in high school, and must work through those by talking to Olive about her own experiences. I loved all the different characters we meet, and I liked the high school flashbacks, but the relationship progressed a little fast for my taste. I still had a fun time reading this and enjoyed the art style. Thanks to Andrews McMeel and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I Hated You in High School is a feel-good friends to enemies to lovers story with beautiful representation of queer friendship, love and joy. It can be somewhat formulaic at times but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - romance tropes such as forced proximity work well in this queer story, and I will never complain about more sapphic romance representation! Overall I had a good time with this graphic novel and felt that the characters were very relatable, particularly Tessa. I also appreciated the healthy communication between the characters, something which I feel can sometimes be lacking in the romance genre as a whole. I do wish the ending hadn’t felt quite so quick, though, and that the epilogue provided more info on what our characters are up to now.

I didn't realize that this wasn't a regular book, but a graphic novel. Unfortunately I am not a fan of these, so I didn't read it.
However, if you are a graphic novel fan, it would be worth checking it out. The graphics looked well done from what I saw.
I receive an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"I hated you in high school" by Kathleen Gros is a super quick, cute and fun read, that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Distrust, Friendship, Romance
Three topics in this book, a book that stole my heart. The dynamics, the characters, the art style. This book was a feel-good one, a refreshing switch from what I usually read.

I loved the wide array of characters, the friendly and family relationships, and the (predictable) twists. The plot was fairly predictable, which threw me off but also made me feel good because I knew how happily it would end.

I Hated You in High School is the story of Tessa who just lost her job and comes home to see her parents and organises their anniversary celebration. The thing is, her high-school nemesis Olive lives with her parents and Tessa will have to spend time with her..

I loved this story, it was so so cute. Her relationship with Frankie was amazing too and I loved that we got to see Tessa’s diaries!

I can only recommend it and would give it 5 ⭐️!

A little bit insta-lovey (not a bad thing, in my opinion) because even though their history is prevalent the length is shorter which speeds the plot up. I loved the queer energies and communities of friend and family relationships. All in all a super cute, fun, quick read.

This delightfully queer graphic novel follows Tessa as she goes back home for the first time in years, only to find out that her high school nemesis, Olive, is now living in her parent's basement. Now they are forced to be together and see if they can work past old hurts.

Overall, I LOVED this graphic novel! The storyline, the plot, the yearning !!! I felt as though the author did an amazing job being able to show how much both FMC's cared about the other, both in the past and in the present. The side characters were also all amazing, and I would love to see more stories of their lives! I do wish there would have been more of the story during the HEA; it felt as though it ended abruptly.

I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone that loves a good queer story, or enjoys the enemies-to-lovers genre!