This is a story within a story of a platonic and yet also romantic (bot not sexual) friendship between two women. Remy is dealing with the inevitable aging-and-distancing of her best-friend group and she meets Simone who is pretty closed off but maybe open to being friends. Both women go through a lot in the short course of this novel. Remy is also trying to undo some writer’s block after her first successful novel and decides to write about their friendship.

I got this book as a giveaway in exchange for an honest review. This is an achingly poignant story about a guy who grows up in a religious household trying to “pray the gay away” for eight years with conversion therapy programs all the while enjoying a very successful career as a social media marketer for the same churches which don’t accept him. He eventually comes to a better place as a queer adult but it’s a long slog to get there and he remains very religious, but within an affirming community and supportive friends. If you’re someone who just can’t stomach people with strong religious beliefs, this one may not be for you, but it probably is for everyone else.

A graphic novel about two teenagers in their last year of high school who are both interested in food. One works in her parents restaurant. One misses the way her grandmother would make big meals that brought the family together. They meet up during the whirlwind of senior year and the whole “Who is going away to college and who is staying nearby?” uncertainty and begin cooking together and healing some of their unrecognized underlying feelings. Sweet and well-drawn.

This is a graphic novel about why open borders make sense both from an economic perspective (i.e. most immigrants give more to their new country than they receive $-wise) and also by other measures. It traces some of the history of immigration in the United States and shows, using a lot of stats and studies, why fewer restrictions on immigration would benefit the US in a number of material ways and help turn it into a more just society. Not just an essay with pictures.