4.5⭐ rounded up
After losing her job at the coffee shop, Tessa is freed up to go home to Toronto for her parents 35th anniversary; on arriving home she discovers that her high school friend turned enemy, Olive, is renting their basement room. Olive seems a lot nicer now, but forced into close proximity, can they get past bad high school memories?

This was such a cute read and felt so true to life. Lots of classic romance tropes with a sapphic lens. I enjoyed the art style which can make or break my enjoyment of graphic novels.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book was published on 4/15/25.

When Tessa finds out that her high school nemesis Olive is living in her parent's basement apartment, she is overcome by a wave of bad memories and feelings. Why doesn't everyone remember how terrible Olive was to her? How is Olive so close with her parents? However, when Tessa returns home to help with her parents' anniversary party, she rereads her high school journals and realizes that her feelings for Olive were more complicated at the time. As they spend more time together planning the anniversary party, Tessa finds herself in a new place with Olive. How does she feel now? Does Olive feel the same? Enemies to lovers with some great conversations about friendship, career development, and young queer love.

This was a straightforward read. It wasn’t particularly angsty, and there weren't too many conflicts in the present timeline.

The artwork wasn’t particularly impressive, but the shading was visually pleasing and made things easy to follow.

The story itself was a mixed bag. Some parts were really enjoyable, but others felt kind of meh. I wasn’t fully convinced by the backstory and the eventual resolution. It felt like the past issues resolved way too easily.

Despite these flaws, it’s an okay read if you’re looking for something positive, simple and overall warm.

A quic and delightful read that was relatable and honest. I really enjoyed the illustrations and the complexity and reallness of the chacters. <3

I Hated You in High School was a nice quick read! I wish there was more of a conversation/apology around the two main characters' past relationship and how that ended. It felt like such a major part of Tessa's misfortune in high school and it didn't feel like it was treated with the same impact by Olive (or Tessa's family). I did like how Tessa and Olive's relationship progressed though after the initial rekindling and in the future!

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely love Kathleen Gros' work. I loved her Anne and Jo, and I'm excited for her upcoming "Carousel Summer" this year as well. But I'm also happy for her doing a story with slightly older characters, and I hope she makes more in the future. No notes, 5 stars.

I wasn't a big fan of the art style for this one, but I enjoyed the section where we got to see the past through diary entries and how the art was utilized to depict it a lot. I was a bit mixed on the pacing of the relationship between the main character and love interest. I thought the flashbacks were cute, but the level of memory loss surrounding a friendship that seemed pretty intense followed by continual bullying didn't make sense to me, especially since our main character seemed to remember a ton of the details outside of the journal entries. I liked the ending outcome, but did find it was a bit rushed. I think the characters felt very realistic though in terms of their flaws and need for communication.

Would you like to read a graphic novel that feels like if "Fleabag" met "Heartstopper" at the sound of Chappell Roan and support Canada at the same time? Then let the depressed, formerly gifted lgbtq millennials and Gen z's who did not meet expectations have a seat. The first row is reserved for those who went into the arts and haven't done art in ages.
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This isn't the most disruptive, genre-defying story ever, there are no supernatural villains or colourful scenes to grab your attention. Tessa has a great support system, normal dating woes and the same existential dread everyone is living through.

Tessa's parents are so perfect and she has such a loving community go out to lunch and talk. This is a middle-class fantasy for me. Or maybe happy families are just like that and I'm so below the poverty line and traumatized that I can't even imagine such a thing. But I also love that a happy marriage is being celebrated.

There is something so fresh and hopeful in these pages. I can't wait to see what this author will give us next because I devoured this in one sitting and immediately went to look through her backlog.

I was unsure about the art but it quickly grew on me, particularly the flashbacks over the notebook pages as Tessa read through her teen diaries. One star is just for that actually.

This is one of those projects that captures a shared living experience so well that you know it could only be the author's own too. Everything, from the haircuts to the clothes, to the body diversity was so lovingly captured by the female gaze and that didn't restrict itself to the drawings but the dialogue too.

If you are a queer woman you will recognize a lot of Tessa's struggles. I for example was reminded that I don't have a single original experience in my life because I too delete my lgbtq memories, get drunk and make bad decisions.

Sadly, I would rather eat glass than support this couple. I don't like bully romances and always distrust the "enemy to lovers trope" because there isn't a power on Earth that can make me root for this relationship. But everyone is so original.

I don't care that this book has one of the most beautiful love declarations I have ever read. I don't care I loved how the author wrote their most intimate scenes. I don't care that the author tried to show us the best of Olive. I refuse to be convinced, even less when she tried to make it look as if Tessa had ever done anything wrong in her life, ever!

Not only did I love where we left these two, but the author gave us an epilogue too. This would be an amazing movie or limited series. I need a powerful Lesbian to pick this up and make it happen.

Thank to NetGalley, Edelweiss and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this DRC.

GO CANADA!!!

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. Old wounds resurface during Tessa’s stay.

Not hard to figure out what comes next, a enemy to lovers start if ever I saw one.
This is an incredibly sweet story that brings back so many memories of being young and having the unobtainable crush on someone in high school. I think we all,regardless of where on the rainbow flag we sit, have been to this dance. Some ended with kisses and so many with tears.
What if you saw them again? Would you confess that young obsession? Would they see how they had felt the same? Oh the missed opportunity! Lmao!!! Made myself giggle at the thought.

Anyway, awesome story that has beautiful illustrations. Kathleen Gros is quite talented and should go very far. I look forward to seeing what comes next and maybe an update on that group of friends and loves of Tessa.
Highly recommended. Expected publishing date April 15, 2025

Thanks to @netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I Hated You in High School is a friends to enemies to lovers graphic novel about a queer twenty-something struggling artist named Tessa who reunites with her high school crush/mortal enemy on a trip home to celebrate her parents’ wedding anniversary.

The realistic portrayal of the characters’ relationships is the highlight of this novel. Tessa and her best friend Frankie tease each other, have inside jokes, and call each other out on their flaws in a way that only best friends can. Their history and affection immediately translates, and it’s easy to fall in love with their dynamic and feel like part of their friend group.

Tessa also has a realistic relationship with her sister who she both resents and loves in a very true sibling way. They also have their own inside jokes, like how they address each other as “sibling” and “brethren”, and they share an affection for their very loving, accepting parents who are great side characters in their own right.

Another refreshing aspect of this novel is that these characters are adults who talk to each other! There’s no contrived miscommunication here. People actually say what they’re feeling! They talk through their thoughts with their friends and family and then they directly address the issues at hand. It makes the characters feel responsible and likeable even when they aren’t all perfect people all of the time.

The art style is nicer than I expected as well. The simple cover art does the book a bit of a disservice. The actual illustrations are quite careful and detailed. There’s a lot of comedy in the structure of some of the drawings as well. Both the writing and the drawings are very competent and make great use of the graphic novel as a medium in tandem.

Overall, this is a good book about forgiveness and friendship and finding your way in the world. I really enjoyed it.

Awesome characters, great sapphic story! I loved how it has an adult looking back at their past- particularly in the queer community at what could/should have been. I great read!

What a cute book. I was so happy to read a book about an adult looking back at her high school years & being able to use her adult brain to realize she read the situation completely wrong & yes this thing did happen but there was so much more going on than just this one thing. AND THEN they actually communicated after the fact because if there’s one thing I hate is when people in books or movies don’t communicate. I loved the artwork In this book & I’m excited to check out some of her other works.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this graphic novel. This did not have any impact on my review.

I loved this graphic novel! It's a short novel, but entertaining and deep enough for it to be a finished story. The illustrations were done very well (and were absolutely adorable), and I really enjoyed the story. It was very relatable, and as a theatre girlie myself, it was fun to have a little insight into the stage making side. Also, this is so queer and diverse! If you're into this, give this graphic novel a try.

5.0

📚 Review: This was so cute! A very sweet, queer, enemies to lovers graphic novel. Being a graphic novel, this was very fast-paced, but the romance felt like it built at a good pace and felt believable. Even more than the romance, I loved the friendship between Tessa and Frankie. Though there were some very real topics discussed, like internalized homophobia and coming to terms with one’s own queerness, this book was lighthearted and left me smiling. I definitely recommend this for a quick, feel good read. I’ll be reading Kathleen Gris’ other books, and hope to see more from this author!

🌸I Hated You In High School is out April 14, 2025! Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the eARC.🌸

"I Hated You in High School" is the graphic novel form of your peers texting you "did you see that so and so is dating a woman now." But instead of it being your friend from high school it's your parents letting your arch enemy move into their basement. This book was a really delightful evening read. It's your average 90s baby whose queer story about coming home and rediscovering that the one person who hated you hated you for reasons that were never your fault.

The art style in this book was delicate and delightful and lent itself really well to the text. My only big problem is that there was an issue with apostrophes and the word why're, where the apostrophe blended in on my computer. Overall I really enjoyed this book! I look forward to seeing if Gros makes more with the characters or if this was just a one shot (come on let our leo(?) royalty find love! We love them!!!!).

I was given the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review thanks to #netgalley and Andrew McMeels Publishing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC! This was such a cute, kick your feet giddy romance. I'm not usually a fan of second chance romances, but I feel like this one did a great job of showcasing their growth and them actually addressing their issues.

I absolutely adored this and if you like sapphic romances, I bet you will too!

I had so much fun reading this book!! The characters were great, and I got to connect to all of them. If I have to pick a favorite I would probably have to go with Frankie, they were hilarious and a great friend. The plot was simple but well executed and the art both visually and as a way to tell the story was stunning. Quick to read, beautiful and fun I think this is a must-read when it comes to LGBTQ+ graphic novels.

This is a fantastic graphic novel following Tessa as she goes home and is confronted with her high school nemesis who has become an integral part of her family. Now that description makes this graphic novel sound like it is very intense and would result in a rather combative energy throughout the book but that isn’t the case. The whole story is relatively sweet and discusses how people perceive situations can lead to miscommunications and the best thing to do is just talk it out. I loved the characters and the world and the drawing was fantastic. I highly recommend it.

This is so funny. The art is adorable and as someone living in a similar pnw city I loved it the realism of the struggle now and the rent/landlord bits slid in. It was fun to read a book about an MC who was *already out* as queer but was still oblivous about her big gay feelings towards her friends rather than the denial being bc of her being comphet <spoiler>Although of course her comphet ex best friend and love interest... when it was bi panic all along 🌈 who can't relate to that iykyk </spoiler>

Thank you to net galley and Andrew Mcmeel publishing for the arc! This was delightful.

This book was provided to me for free by NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is exactly what I needed! Something that felt realistic and just wholesome.

The characters I found were very well-shaped. With their imperfections, they felt even more real, which worked perfectly for me since I love characters I can relate to one way or another. I loved how the relationship between Tessa and her family and her friends was presented to us. They are just the cool neighbours that everyone would love to have!

Although it is an uplifting, cute story, it also carries a deeper message: that of self-acceptance, self-discovery, not to just assume but talk things out, make amends, and simply be who you are.

Overall, I gave it a solid 4 stars.

The art was quite nice, and I like the monochrome green style the author has adapted, but it did not quite sit well with me. I wished it had more colour. The writing was approachable, realistic and easy to follow.

I do recommend this graphic novel if you are having a gloomy day or just are in the mood for something that will make you all warm and fuzzy inside!