A beautifully rendered story of sports, friendship and inclusion with fantastic Deaf and queer rep. The graphics ar simple and the blue/green pallette works well to convey the characters' identities and environments. A quick read and an easy recommendation.

I really liked this book. Lovely art and details as well, it was easy to follow along with the main storyline. A beautiful and wholesome graphic novel about friendship, facing your fears and allowing yourself to let go of your negative thoughts.

This graphic novel set in the 90s follows the blooming friendship between two teen gymnasts and I can honestly say that I recommend it to absolutely everyone.
The art and colour scheme are beautiful and perfectly suit the story and characters and I love that it features hard of hearing and ASL as well as some queer rep but that is not the focus of the story at all and that is completely fine.
The heart of the story is the friendship that forms between the two girls, and there is little to no romance so it makes it perfect for everyone from middle grade to full-grown adults, everyone will find something to relate to and connect with in this story.
I would love to see this adapted because it's amazing and it would be a comfort watch for teens and young girls for years and years to come. The sapphic, sportier Heartstopper ;)
Please let there be a sequel, even if this is already perfect.
Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this DRC

Oh how absolutely lovely this was! I loved everything, from the gorgeous art to the depiction of friendship, sports-related anxiety, intrusive thoughts and grief. A fantastic graphic novel!

Absolute 5 out of 5.

The art style is classic and clean in a beautiful way and the story is just heartwarming. It is nice to see a story of two (presumed) queer characters who don't necessarily have a romantic relationship, but develop a deep and special friendship.

The representation of the deaf community and of trauma/PTSD in sports is also spot on.

I mentioned this graphic novel in my list of books to read for disability pride because of the representation of a deaf character and the other characters learning American Sign Language to be better team mates. And I did love it for this – I also learned from it, especially as ASL and British Sign Language have some differences. Yet mostly I loved it for the demonstration of tender teenage friendships, and the beautiful thing they can be.

We see panels from both Riley and Kota’s points of view, with their separate struggles with confidence, grief, loneliness and anxiety. Despite both of their pains though, we really see them united in their friendship. When Riley arrives, she expects point blank to make no friends with her team after saying she prefers to practice without her hearing aids in. Not to be deterred, Kota asks their coach for ASL lessons, and receives encouragement at home too; because her parents also had a language barrier when they met, they communicated by writing in a journal while her dad practiced his spoken English. Taking this inspiration with her, Kota surprises Riley by not only speaking with her in ASL, but also asks her to hang out, and suggests the same method as her parents while she improves her signing. More than that, Kota also tells her friends to do better and include Riley more, pointing out they’re not making an effort to learn ASL. With her keeping them in line, they swiftly realise there is far more to Riley than simply being deaf, and their friendship, and feeling of being a true team, swiftly grows.

The sportmanship themes that run as the parallel storyline to this also allow for various story points to be considered. Kota is struggling with a fear of hurting herself on the beam, with visions of falling interrupting her when she attempts moves. This impacts on her performance, understandably, but even here the friendship storyline overrides anything else. Where Riley could have felt or behaved differently because of her success while Kota struggles, instead she spends her time listening to Kota and reassuring her that nothing will change their relationship even without them going to the Olympics together.

The colour scheme of muted tones, pale blues and greens with greys really suits the story. It doesn’t feel cold, but adds a dated feel, making you feel very much transported back to the 90s. It means that when there are moments of bright, vivid shades, you feel the warmth like a physical presence, and puts across the growing dynamic between the girls, as well as the rest of the team.

As someone with multiple disabilities as well as a sensory impairment, it really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling seeing Kota ensure she could do everything possible to include Riley. It’s so easy to feel pushed to the sidelines when you stand out in any way whatsoever, and I love stories that demonstrate the kindness that humanity can offer when people just try. Because that’s all you need to do. Try. Ask what you can do. Do your best. Make a bit of an effort. We’re worth it.

This was such a fun graphic novel to read, especially during the summer Olympics! It is such a sweet story about perseverance and friendship. I absolutely loved the deaf representation and how the artist drew ASL in the panels. I also loved the way the artist drew the gymnasts doing their routines. It felt like I could really picture them flying!

I Felt Myself Slipping is a fantastic YA graphic novel about competitive teen gymnasts. The inclusivity in this work is fantastic! The colors really set the town and help draw the reader in. Highly recommended for all YA collections.

A heartfelt YA graphic novel about two teen gymnasts, Riley and Kota who both dream of going to the Olympics. I really enjoyed the disability rep in this book (Riley is hard of hearing and Kota has anxiety). The friendship between the two is heartwarming and I loved how they found a unique way to communicate with one another that was all their own and help each other with their worries and grief. Riley is feeling lonely having moved from California and is also still grieving the death of one of her fathers. Highly recommended with good illustrations too! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Oooo, interesting! A queer graphic novel where the love interests don’t end the book together, and not because they break up or something tragic happens. They just haven’t got there yet by the end of the book, and yet the book wraps up nicely. The point of the book isn’t romance! It’s human connection. Friendship. And thus, you end the book really rooting for the characters to connect deeper in their lives after what we read. A sequel, perhaps?

Kota is a gymnast with great ambitions, and she is super impressed with the new member of her team, Riley. Riley is hard to connect with, partially because she is avoiding people, but also partially because she is Hard of Hearing. Kota, though, wants to make that connection, and so begins attending ASL lessons. Eventually, Riley warms up to Kota, and a large portion of the book becomes them communicating via ASL (we see a few signs, but whole conversations aren’t drawn out; instead there’s English translations), writing, and spoken English (Riley has a hearing aid).

I’ve studied ASL (not consistently enough), and love to see it represented in comics. As I said, not everything is drawn, and I do wish we’d seen a few more panels for signs. This story could be really cool to watch as a short TV series.

I’d love to see a volume 2, but the story wraps up pretty nicely. Obstacles are overcome, connections are made, and the characters have grown significantly. It’s the lack of mushy that makes me want volume 2, and not loose ends. So, I’ll be keeping an eye out, and hope to see more from this artist!

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

This graphic novel is gorgeously written and illustrated. I am always looking for disability representation and have not encountered many books with good deaf representation. As a hearing person, I felt that the initiative to learn ASL, encouragement of others to learn, and tough love in holding others accountable to have a more accessible space was authentic. I also loved the many ways to communicate (like the notes, sharing music/vibrations of music, signing, lip-reading, use of hearing aids, etc.) as ASL is being learned and practiced was realistic and great to see. The striking art style in greyscale with mostly blues and greens stood out and using some other colors to shift the mood or highlight a specific moment made for a cool effect. Any athlete will relate to fear of injury beyond just being injured— I felt the anxiety of the risk in competition as I read. Beyond the deaf representation, there is seamless queer representation in both adults and teens. It heals my inner baby bi every time I read a story where queerness is just a fact of life and not necessarily a huge deal in the storyline. The connection of the language barriers for the deaf character and the biracial main character’s dad’s family was also a highlight. This graphic novel somehow covers the loss of a parent and the fading of friendships due to growing up and moving away in addition to all of the previously mentioned topics and it never feels like anything is being thrown in just because. I highly recommend this one for teens and adults alike. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!