The graphic novel Pilu of the Woods follows Willow, a young girl who has a fight with her sister and runs of into the forest. There she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who has also had a fight with her family and cannot find the way home. Willow decides to help her, and together they journey through the forest battling demons inside of themselves.

This graphic novel was very, very sweet. The drawings were so cute, and I loved the artstyle! The message this book gives is to not fight your inner demons, but to accept them and work with them. I think this came across nicely. The characters were also lovely, the dialogue easygoing. I seriously feel like I need a physical copy one day so I can stare at it more thoroughly. If you like sweet graphic novels and wants something touching, definitely pick this up!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me with an eArc.

You’d Be Mine follows Clay who is a famous teenage country star. He has been behaving badly and is set to recruit Annie Mathers, who is the daughter of two very famous, but deceased, artists. Together they set on a summer tour, where they get to know each other and themselves.

I have a hard time finding out what to write for my review of this book. It is not a bad book, but not something that really captured my attention for all its attempts. It is first and foremost a love story, and I guess here is the main problem for why I didn’t enjoy that much. I just didn’t care. I didn’t care that Annie liked Clay or Clay liked Annie, and their reason for being together or not being together. I already knew they were going to end up together, so all the battering just felt like a buzz in the background to get to a point.

There is also a lot of music in this book. It is not like a minded it, when they talked about how much music meant to them and how it was their life. It believed them and I wanted them to have music and be happy in it. I guess I cared more about Annie and Clay’s happiness apart from each other, then together. They both have pretty complex and interesting backgrounds.
They both need to face their past in this story and it was interesting to see how it played out. Clay’s character developed was okay, but not really surprising. The same goes for Annie, even though she didn’t really develop that much. She was really the same throughout the whole book.

I just felt that even though the story had all these bricks holding it up, it wasn’t delivered in a convincing way. The writing didn’t really capture me, and it felt flat and boring telling the story. I guess I was supposed to be touched and care for the things happening on the page, but I just didn’t. The words didn’t flow into me, but through me. If you get what I mean, hehe. It has interesting ideas and moments that could touch me, but it doesn’t quite get there. It was also quite predictable all the way through, but I think that could have been okay if it had just been more engaging?

I liked it okay enough. If someone asked me if I recommended it I would say, maybe, depending on their tastes. But it is not a book that would pop into my mind unless I’m being asked about it. 3/5 stars.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me with this eArc.