This graphic novel was mediocre for me. 

I loved the illustrations. They were beautiful and fun to look at throughout the story. The colors were bright and vibrant. I liked the art style, and the ratio of artwork to word bubbles was perfect. 

But I just wasn’t blown away by this story. I’ve seen so many rave reviews for this graphic novel, but I don’t quite understand it. It was cute and charming, but not a big standout for me. It wasn’t too memorable, and it was very predictable. 

The main character, Lora, was a sweet, charming, and relatable character, but she just seemed really immature for her age. That was the point of the story; she didn’t want to grow up when her friends were, but she came across as very juvenile to me. I couldn’t relate to her and started to get annoyed with her instead of feeling empathy or compassion for where she was in her stage of development. I wasn’t feeling patient enough to read about her journey, so I started feeling annoyed and frustrated. 

I did enjoy the ghost, Alexa, in this story. She was very sweet, and I liked learning about her past and her death. I actually preferred this character over the main character. I felt more empathy and compassion for her. 

Again, I found parts of this book inappropriate because there are queer side characters, and I don’t believe that mature content belongs in children’s books. So that was a turnoff for me. Once again, publishers with their checklist of forced diversity, which is getting very boring and tedious and extremely cringy.  

Overall, it’s a sweet, whimsical, and mildly entertaining coming-of-age story. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. I wouldn’t personally recommend it, but I wouldn’t discourage anyone interested in picking it up. It was middle of the road for me.