Review: Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley

Navigating With You
by Jeremy Whitley
illustrated by Cassio Ribeiro

My Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: f/f

Blurb:
A charming POC-led WLW romance where two new friends hit the road in search of the missing volumes of their favorite manga.

Neesha Sparks is a disabled, vocal community activist with a passion for costume design. Gabby Graciana is an optimistic surfer – and, like Neesha, a new kid at school. When the two girls discover that they like the same manga series, Navigator Nozomi, they become more than just fellow new kids. But it was more than just having read the same book series–neither of them had finished it! Soon, they become new friends on a mission – to track down the remaining Navigator Nozomi books. This slice-of-life romance follows the two girls as they adventure across North Carolina to find each book, with their story intercut with the tales of Navigator Nozomi. Neesha and Gabby find more than just the books though—they find acceptance, friendship, understanding, and love.

My Review

I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I requested this on a whim when I saw it on Netgalley as it sounded fun. I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, but I didn’t give it much thought and hit request. I loved this book, the more I read the more I enjoyed it and I definitely want to try and read more graphic novels going forward.

Navigating With You tells the story of Neesha and Gabby who both start a new school. Gabby is this bubbly chatty character who keeps talking to Neesha and while at first Neesha seems to find it bit annoying, they quickly become friends and eventually fall in love. I liked the plot line of them connecting over a manga series they both read, but neither finished it and now they are collecting the books so they can read and finish the series.

This was just such a lovely read. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of it at first, but just as Neesha’s reluctance towards Gabby disappeared so did any of my doubts about this book. I quickly got hooked and wanted to keep reading. I loved reading about these characters they tight bond they form and then seeing them fall in love. I enjoyed seeing them banter together, spending time together, being there for the other and figure out where to get the next manga book. I liked how they both feel like real and their personalities really come to life.

I also appreciated how Neesha’s disability was handled. It’s clearly a part of her, but it’s also not everything she is. I thought this was handled so well and the way it was addressed in the book was awesome. There are struggles she has to got through because of her disability and I thought those parts were well written even though they made me sad too. Then there is how Gabby loves her for who she is. How Gabby handles Neesha disability was great to see. Both girls also have some emotional baggage from previous relationships and I thought it was good to how that got addressed and how this relationship differs form their previous ones. There are also some mental health topics that get addressed, don’t want to mention details as it’s a spoiler for later in the book.

I loved how these two were there for each other. Their relationship was just awesome to see and most of all I loved how accepting they are of each other. It really was awesome to see.

At first I wasn’t really sure about the artwork. I don’t read a lot of books with art and most I’ve read are manga’s, so this was a very different style and not really my favorite. As I progressed through the book the art style grew on me and most of all I just felt it fit the story well. Having the art alongside the story really adds another dimension and I forgot how much I can enjoy that. The way the art is part of the story is awesome.

I thought it was interesting how the manga series they try to find and read again is part of the story. There are some pages that tell the story of the manga they read and I liked how this made it possible for the characters to talk about the story and as the reader you know the plot of the manga too and can appreciate their conversations more.

To summarize: This was a lovely romance story and I really enjoyed it. This book took me by surprise with how much I loved it. It’s about two girls who meet at their new school and become friends while trying to find all the books in manage series they both read, but never finished. I liked how the plot of them searching for this manga series progressed throughout the book. And I loved seeing the friendship and later romance develop between the two of them. They were so encouraging and accepting of each other and it was awesome to see. Neesha’s disability was handled very well and there is some mental health representation as well. The artwork took some time to get used to, but by the end I liked it and thought it fit the story well. I like how the art is another dimension and adds to the story. Having pages of the manga they read be part of the story was a nice touch too. All in all this was an amazing read and I am really glad I picked it up.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.