e-ARC, 288 pages
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Published by: HarperAlley
Read from: April 25, 2025
Stand-Alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a free e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Suicide Attempt, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Physical Abuse
For Readers Interested In: Graphic Novels, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (South Asian- Indian)This debut teen graphic novel from social media influencer Jyoti Chand and rising star illustrator Tara Anand follows one girl’s journey navigating high school and her mental health within a traditional South Asian family. Perfect for fans of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever and Tillie Walden’s Spinning.
All Nitasha’s parents want is for her to be the perfect Indian daughter—something she is decidedly not. Everything she does seems to disappoint them, especially her mom. They just don’t get that she’ll never be like her doctor older brother. To make matters worse, she’s never quite felt like she belongs at school either, and lately, her best friend, Ava, and her crush, Henry, seem to be more interested in the rich new girl than in her.
Alcohol takes the edge off, but when that doesn’t work, Nitasha turns to cutting. She can’t stop asking herself: Will she ever be enough for her friends or her family? Or even for herself?
This authentic and powerful teen graphic novel shines a light on how harmful the stigma of mental illness is and how lifesaving a community that is honest about mental health can be.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I’m not gonna lie, this one was a hard read. Even in graphic novel form it was hard. I hope that you all really read the Content Warnings in this one and remember that this one is going to be alongside an image of it as well. Please take heed in those warnings.
Ok with that being said, I will say y’all know I don’t read the synopsis or read anything about the book before I pick it up. However, I think this time I should have. This one was a doozy. Normally I don’t have issues with reading books with those content warnings, but this time hit different. I usually come up with it in my own imagination. But seeing it on page like that really hit me. I sat there for a good while and cried. Not only because of the image, but also because of they WHY. All of this happened because someone was jealous. All while she was jealous of them. I hate it had to come to that.
The message in this one was so good tho. She was trying so hard to be Americanized and leave her culture behind. The people that mattered and that loved her wanted her to be exactly who she was. I also liked the ending that gave her and her family something to bond over. When all the secrets came out, it was very eye-opening, but also very sad. I did love that the main character helped to bring down a generational curse tho. She and everyone else involved deserved so much better. I DID want to see more of HER getting treatment and not so much on the other people, but I still liked it for the most part.
The artwork in this one was really good too. I loved how the one major color that was that blue-ish purple. It was striking and made everything more bold. This is different for me because usually I like when they’re lighter. But I guess it makes sense because this book was also dark. The line work and the drawings were also really good. I also read it via my iPad, so I’d like to see what the physical one looks like. I like using my iPad more because I can blow it up and see every little detail. In the physical ones we won’t get that, but I’d love to see this on the glossy paper. Definitely something to look forward to.
This was a good story, but I fear it skipped over a lot of how she came back from the bullying and getting better. I just felt like if they went that in-depth to showing what almost happened to her, they should have showed her getting all the help she needed. This book was good, but I think it could have been a bit more. I am happy that there is a good graphic novel focused on mental health for teens tho.
Overall, I give this
