The author starts a new series with a ton of humor and a lot of sexy.  If you have not yet picked up Colton & Tor's story, I would encourage you to do so.  Just like other books from Emma Hart, this one is a 1-click wonder.

Colton and Tori are part of a large friends group, where they basically act like they hate each other.  With the lines of love and hate blurring, the couple sneaks around and thinks that no one has taken notice.

Tori is starting to acknowledge her feelings and this enemies to lovers trope does not disappoint.  Colton makes a great book boyfriend.  The heat between these two is off the charts hot and a great read!  I give this a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

This was very relatable! Many comics described exactly how I have been feeling when for example, the phone or doorbell rings. These collections tend to get a bit too much of the same after I while but this did not bother me with Quiet Girl in a Noisy World.

The drawings were very cute and I liked them a lot. Keep up the good work!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I Picked Up This Book Because: I enjoyed the author’s most recent release


The Story:

I love how Debbie talks about meeting her husband and how he knows what she needs to be happy. That’s the dream. Debbie talks a lot about how much people exhaust her and quite frankly this book exhausted me. The constant overthinking, analyzing and I’m not even sure I just know it’s killing my spirit. I’m sure this reflects more on my current mood than the authors work. I respect that she was able to share such delicate emotions so openly.

The Random Thoughts:



The Score Card:



3 Stars

Debbie Tung is an introvert, although she didn't always know that. At the beginning of this graphic novel, when she was still in grad school, she figured she was just weird. As she meets the person she'll eventually marry, finishes grad school, and deals with her first job and a work environment that seems to do nothing but drain her, she gradually figures herself out and becomes more comfortable with and less apologetic about her introversion.

This was a quick and largely relatable read. Her "what it's like to be an introvert" and "books make me happy" comics seemed really familiar, so I'm guessing I've probably seen Tung's comics shared on Booklikes and elsewhere.

I was a little surprised at how long it took Tung to figure out that she was an introvert. That said, I can't remember exactly when I found out about introverts and realized I was one - I feel like I've always known, or at least there was no "eureka" moment for me like there was for Tung. I could understand her relief at finally having a word for what she was, however. While not everyone is fond of labels, they can be a nice way for people who feel they're "weird" to learn that they're not alone.

There were a bunch of book- and introversion-related comics in this volume that I loved. I also thought it was sweet how well Tung and her extrovert husband seemed to mesh. The only parts that didn't work quite so well for me were the comics related to job hunting and job quitting.

I don't know if Tung streamlined her experiences in an effort to keep things simpler for her comics or if this was how things actually went for her, but it took me aback that, as far as I could tell, she only had to go to one job interview before she was offered a job (which involved an "introvert's hell" open-plan work environment she didn't know about until her first day on the job, so I guess the interview didn't involve a quick tour). And her only concern about quitting her job seemed to be that she'd be letting everyone down. Meanwhile, the first things that came to my mind were money and how long it might take to find another job (she opted to become self-employed).

For the most part, though, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to other bookish introverts. As long as they're not currently involved in a long job hunt.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Go For It, Nakamura! is comedy with gay high school romance elements. I want to emphasize, however, that it isn't a romance. If the series ever gets another volume (maybe it already has, just not in English?), I could see it becoming a romance, but this particular volume is not.

Nakamura is an awkward, introverted, and occasionally uncomfortably intense 16-year old. He adores his pet octopus, Icchan. He has no friends and practises conversations in his head all the time but has difficulty actually having them in real life. He also happens to be gay. He has an enormous crush on his popular and outgoing classmate, Hirose, and his goal is to 1) actually talk to him and 2) become friends with him.

I picked this up on a whim. Happily, this turned out to be a good decision. For the most part, I loved this volume.

I don't handle secondhand embarrassment well and found myself having to take breaks several times while reading this. Nakamura was painfully awkward in ways that, yes, were played for humor but were also often realistic enough that awkward and/or introverted readers could probably find something to relate to. One particular horrible moment Nakamura remembered exactly matched a horrible memory from my own middle school years. Seeing it on-page was a bit horrifying.

I rooted for Nakamura, but I also had issues with him. I disliked how completely focused he was on Hirose. He had zero friends, and yet when his efforts to talk to and impress Hirose led to him meeting and talking to Hirose's friends, he never once considered them to be potential friends. Instead, he viewed anyone who was even vaguely close to Hirose as rivals and possible sources of information about Hirose. He also didn't seem to realize that a lot of the things he was doing to try to get to know Hirose better were kind of creepy, like eavesdropping on Hirose's conversations to find out what sorts of things he liked.

Chapter 2 contained one of my least favorite moments, a single panel in which Nakamura had a sudden tentacle rape fantasy about Hirose. And Chapter 4 was a little weird, introducing a fujoshi artist who developed a crush on Nakamura. I'm still not sure whether she was aware that Nakamura liked Hirose, although I don't see how she could've missed it considering the nature of Nakamura's request.

Aside from those things, however, I really enjoyed this volume. The artwork was well-done and reminded me a lot of Rumiko Takahashi. And the humor usually worked for me, despite my secondhand embarrassment issues. It was focused on Nakamura's awkwardness and his efforts to accomplish something where his secret crush was concerned, but it didn't feel, to me, like Syundei was being overly cruel to Nakamura or making fun of him for being gay. (Be warned, however, that there are a couple instances of homophobia. At one point, for example, Nakamura's teacher laughed at the idea of two boys dating.)

The last couple chapters had some surprisingly serious moments, as Nakamura began to lose hope that he'd ever truly connect with Hirose and become his friend. He compared himself to his effortlessly cool teacher, who Hirose certainly idolized and, Nakamura feared, possibly had a crush on, and found himself focusing on all the ways he fell short.

The ending was sweet. I considered it reasonably satisfying, although some readers might not feel the same. Syundei gave Nakamura a bit of happiness but left plenty of room for the story to be continued.

Extras:

A couple full-color pages, character profiles for Nakamura and Hirose, and a 2-page comic-style afterword by the author. In the afterword, Syundei talks a little about each chapter's creation - I wonder if the "tentacle rape" panel would have made it in if Syundei had known the series was going to continue?

Rating Note:

I debated between 4.5 and 5 stars for this. I don't really know that it deserves 5 stars, considering its problems, but I've found myself going back and rereading parts of it several times since I finished it. I decided that's worth bumping my rating up.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)