chantaal's profile picture

chantaal 's review for:

Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir
4.0

Camp Spirit was an absolutely random pick for me on Kindle Unlimited, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

The main outline of the story isn't all that unique; an angsty teen is forced to be a camp counseler by her parents, and she makes friends and has a romance along the way. What made this stand out for me was the paranormal twist on it, and even though that could have gone pretty trope-y, it worked for me. Elodie can't shake the feeling that something weird is going on, especially regarding the quirky and weird camp chief, but she's also dealing with very teenage issues. The balance between the teen angst and spooky storyline was great.

There's a silly humor to this that I really enjoyed, and it's backed by the art and character design. While super clean and easy to follow, there's a humor and heart in every panel that really does a lot of heavy lifting to tell us what each character is like. I could practically hear some of the panels as if I was watching a cartoon instead of just reading a graphic novel. It was great fun.

Camp Spirit is a really solid and fun story with quirky campers, a bit of spookiness, and a grunge-loving teen just trying to figure out what she wants. Very much recommended for older teens, and anyone who thinks it sounds interesting.