First of all, isn't the premise relatable? I'm really glad that mental health books of all kinds are getting published more often. 

The art here is very clean and the expressions and situations and environment are easy to recognize and thus relate. The concept itself is quite fascinating -- a "magic"-type twist on a mundane situation. The combinations of different supernatural side effects with normal ones was fascinating, although that really isn't the focus of the story. The crux of it is, obviously, the mental health, which was realistically depicted and well handled. I enjoyed the romance here as well, not only does SIDE EFFECTS accurately portray the giddiness of a crush but also delves into how a relationship is, essentially, about supporting each other. 

The only drawback here is the fact that at times the story felt like it was skipping over some essential details, which is a common issue with graphic novels. For example, *mild spoiler* we jump from Hannah walking into her dorm on the first day straight to her break down a month later without indication. 

However, overall, this was an accurate depiction of mental health struggles with a fun twist. 

I thought this book would be perfect for me and ended up not caring whatsoever.

Ever since The Great Gatsby came into public domain, we have gotten a surge of retellings of it and I could not be happier about that fact. 

This is my first Anna-Marie McLemore book and it definitely won't be my last because the writing of this book was simply phenomenal. There were all these deceptively simple turns of phrase that really painted the image we were being presented with or dug deep at the characters' emotions. 

The plot sticks to all of the main plot points of the original story but freely deviates in between those and that structure is an excellent fit for this story. I highly enjoyed the added mystery element, it enhanced the story to its magnificence. 

The characters have been given a lot more depth and some have been granted more emotional significance. It could easily be said that they were improved upon -- they definitely feel more real. I loved the exploration of the themes of betrayal, belonging and forgiveness, they were all fully fleshed out and really emotionally poignant. 

Overall, a wonderful read! I highly recommend it.

Let's start this off clear and simple: I'm disappointed. I had mostly really enjoyed Delilah's book, and was looking forward to seeing Astrid develop.

The worst issue this book has is with it's method of diversifying the cast. Frequently, when characters of colour were introduced, their race was stated before anything else about them. A few times, characters had discussions of feminism or mentioned trans and non-binary characters and whenever they did that, they would speak the same way a Wikipedia article reads. These attempts, although much appreciated, were stilted and awkward and broke the flow of the entire story. 

One of the major problems, for me, was Jordan. She was highly judgemental without ever analysing her own actions, quick to blow up at Astrid for minor things. The most infuriating thing Jordan did was getting upset at Astrid for doing to her the same thing she was doing to Astrid. This made for an incredibly annoying read, as the focus was very often on her and not on Astrid, which just enhanced the feel of disappointment.

This, in of itself, was also a major complaint I had: Astrid's story barely got any development despite her being the main character. All of the internal struggles she had felt contrived in order to allow more space for Jordan. 

Jordan and Astrid's supposed "chemistry" was completely unconvincing. When they were in the "rivals" part of their relationship, I felt none of the tension that was supposed to be there, and since that was technically the foundation of their relationship, it made their romance difficult to root for. 

 I did not like the way Meredith was portrayed here at all, I feel like Jordan was quite unfair to her. Most of the newly introduced characters barely had any effect on the plot. However, the coven's characterisation was consistent to the previous book, which was nice to see. 

The TV show element was highly underdeveloped -- frankly, it barely had any effect on the plot. 

Overall, I'm honestly rather disappointed. I had hopes and none of them were met.