My Goodreads review:

Man... The feels with this one.
Started crying nearly halfway through and didn't stop.

Spoilers ahead!

I knew from the start that the father would die. For me that didn't do much. I get that it hurst especially when you have a close bond. (I don't have that with either of my parents due to circumstances) but I know how Val feels. The hunger, the bingeing, purging, the emptiness, the hate and disgust you feel about yourself. Never being happy with yourself and not understanding how someone else can be happy when they don't meet the "beauty standards" society has decided on. The feeling of never being enough, always hearing the disappointment in their voices and seeing it in their eyes even when it's not there.Them telling you what's wrong with you and if they say it enough you not only start to believe everything they say but you also start to see what's "wrong" with everyone else. Even though there is nothing wrong with them or you. You get bitter and ugly inside and in the end it will come out and you'll hurt the wrong people, maybe you didn't mean to. But you did. For me "being happy" or "finding happiness" is one of the hardest things in the world. I'm 33, i don't love myself and I'm still working and trying my best to be the best "me" i can be. But the darkness is so much more inviting and not as much work. But we try ever day. For me that's what the last part of the book stands for. Trying. To be better. To feel better. To be yourself. To love yourself. ❤

"I guess grief is supposed to make you hungry".

I was intrigued by the gorgeous cover of this book and the cool title. And I'm delighted to be approved for this one:) Thank you to the author, publisher, Netgalley, and Hear Our voices tour.

This book was just incredible for me, the illustrations were so sweet and vivid, the moral lesson is captured well through every pages. This book will also grip us to travel to Paris for a while and it was just so adorable. As the book title is "Hungry Ghost". I only found the hungry spice in the story without seeing any Ghost or gothic vibes as I was expecting this book focuses more into horror, this fact got me kind of disappointed!

However, I couldn't lie that I like this book and would definitely recommend it to every readers who enjoy Young Adult books!

I read it in one sitting and loved it so much! Thank you for allowing me to read it in preview!
I work in a bookshop in France (excuse my English, please!) and I look forward to being able to recommend it!

Stacy Willingham is setting the bar high for thrillers in 2023!! This follow up to her debut is strong, compelling and completely bingeable as an insomniac mother tries to uncover what happened to her missing son while everyone keeps assuming she's the one responsible for his mysterious disappearance! Great on audio narrated by Karissa Vacker. This book is every parent's worst nightmare and had some great twists and turns. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

Beautiful art and a raw account of a teen's struggle with bulimia and finding love for herself. Depicts body dysmorphia, difficult family relationships, grief, friendship, and crushes. A great addition to all graphic novel collections serving teenagers.

This graphic novel grapples with eating disorders, identity, self-love, and mother-daughter relationships. Valerie is thin and is pushed to extremes by her mother's constant obsession with what she eats, sometimes at the detriment of her friendships and overall wellbeing.

I loved it, The story is sad and hopeful at the same time, and I suffered a lot with the main character and his constant struggle achieves the same.

The illustrations are beautiful, which makes reading enjoyable and charming. Totally recommended. Good job to the author for conveying a great message of self-love and acceptance in this graphic novel.

If, like me, you have ever struggled with an eating disorder, this book will be a reminder that it is always worth fighting for yourself.
Important, valuable and full of understanding.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for my advanced reader’s copy of Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying.

“Maybe it doesn’t take being thin to be happy.”

Tigger Warnings: eating disorders, body shamming, and loss of a family member

Our main character Valeria has an eating disorder, but she doesn’t want to admit it to herself. After a tragic accident Val must decide what is important to her. Being thin or finding ways to love herself?
Wow oh wow. I do not have the words to describe how impactful this story is. Even as someone who has not struggled with eating disorders, I have struggled with my weight and my body image my whole life. I could relate to Val, especially with her negative thoughts towards her friend Jordan, because I have had those same thoughts at myself. I am like Val in the ways that I am still trying to find ways to be happy and love myself. A story about self-love and being kind to yourself. I think this is a story that everyone can relate to in one way or another.

Other quotes:
“Will people care that much about my body when I die? Am I my body? How can this thing, this thing that I hate- how could anyone care about it that much?”
“You can’t rely on her to be enough for you. No one ever is. You have to find your own way to be happy.”

(I'll be reviewing for a professional magazine) so I can't publish all my thoughts specifically however this is a PHENOMENAL graphic novel specifically with the coloring, mood, and character development. I will have multiple copies for my high school library.

Tw: eating disorder, grief, depression, mental health

The illustration in this graphic novel is stunning, i love the pink colouring, the art style well suited the story. This book focused on eating disorder with our main character suffered from ED and emotional abuse from her mother who constantly monitor her weight and foods she taken to the point she becomes bulimic. This is a harsh reality and certain scenes reminded of what i gone through but in here, it was much worse and bad for our MC. Her mother was always particular on weights and insulting others for their body size which makes me mad. Living with a person with this toxic mindset affected you much worse and for our MC to go through her life this way, make her depressed.

There is friendship but also crushes when threatened, they pose threat to the relationship. This was a sad read for me but one i like a lot

With her mom's constant reminders about not eating too much or getting fat racing around her head, Val falls into a binging and purging eating disorder. I really enjoyed this title, and thought it tackled a lot of the underlying issues around eating disorders.

Uff....Such a heavy topic in beautiful pictures.
It felt like a slice of life, very authentic and emotional. I liked the characters a lot and the struggle although it was a bit of cliché for the storytelling but I still enjoyed it very much and wouldn't think much about.
It's a though topic and so so important for anyone.
I hope to see more of Victoria Ying in the future.

This had sooo much potential but missed the mark for me. The book did a great job capturing what it's like to live with an eating disorder and one's innermost thoughts, but I felt annoyed at the Val's and her other's fatphobic sentiments. Also, way to lash out and insult your friend while the male character who gave mixed signals remains blameless...

Good that this graphic novel briefly touches on themes of grief and mourning, I wished it had gone more in-depth. The character arcs were also incredibly unsatisfying, especially Val's mother who displayed zero growth and wasn't challenged enough. She was clearly a toxic parent but never suffered the consequences.

I loved the Chinese representation and food illustrations. Having grown up in an Asian household myself, I could definitely to relate to a lot of what's depicted here e.g. nosy relatives and their unsolicited comments about your appearance, the pressures, how we express our love through food. The colour palette of light turquoise and peach was subtle and beautiful.

Overall, it was a good read but I wanted so much more.

3.5 stars! This is a great comic, the emotions it stirred up in me :') Sometimes you can't change others, but you can change yourself, and the way you think and such. I think this comic has that YA feeling, since the main character is in high school, I'm sure teens would love it, but I also liked it! It's a quick easy read, the illustrations are beautiful too!

For Valerie Chu food is constantly on her mind. Not just food, but her mother. No one knows what’s going on as Valerie leaves to use the bathroom after every meal, and tragedy strikes, everything breaks down. Will she be strong enough to speak up and get the help she deserves?

Hungry ghost was a powerful read about a girl struggling with eating disorder. I found it to be devastating to read about how someone that important in her life would say such horrible things to someone they love. From experience, ED is a cruel mental disorder, and I hope that everyone who finds the courage to seek help, will learn that you are good enough. You truly are.

An important story to tell. I want to also compliment the artwork—it was amazing. It suited the text and it made the story float. The transition happened a little bit fast, which was the only negative part I can come up with. But other than that, it was a worthwhile read.

I’d recommend it to readers who likes graphic novels, stories that are based on real life experiences, or if you are interested in the topics of mental health/disorders.

Happy reading!♥️

I got this book for free from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and powerful. This was a tender and painful story about love, loss, friendship and self-acceptance.

Apparently I'm on a roll with the tough reads today, because Hungry Ghost is a painful one for sure. It follows a teen girl named Val whose mother's constant body-shaming and food obsessions have gradually pushed her to the point of disordered eating. Don't go into this expecting a perfect protagonist who heals easily or quickly, or views the world in the right ways, because we definitely get to see how broken her perspective is at times, especially when she even begins to body-shame her fat best friend.

As a fat person with a long history of disordered eating, stories like this can carry an extra layer of pain because of the combination of ED rep mixed with the main character's fatphobic views of those around them, but I'm really glad that I kept going, because Val grows so much as a character within these pages and I was absolutely rooting for her all the while. I only wish we had seen some sort of character growth from her mother, anything at all, but unfortunately, that isn't always how these things go.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

Hungry Ghost tells the story of a young girl's struggle to live up to her mother's standard of thin. Her mother constantly pushes to just taste the food and not eat the food so she doesn't get fat. In contrast her best friend is shapely but very happy with who she is (and she gets the guy!). The artwork is beautiful and the story will strike a cord with any young girl who sees only her flaws. My only regret for the book is that the recovery or coming to terms with how to live with food and be happy is glossed over at the end. Being in a high school with impressionable young students I would want that part to be a little clearer and addressed more in the story. I understand that it might be difficult for the author to talk about but the ending is what some students will really need.

What a strong a powerful book. Thank you to @Netgalley and @FirstSecond for sharing this book with me.

First, I want to say take care if you decide to read this book. There are mentions of body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.

In the afterward the author tells us that she's not Valerie (the main character) but Valerie is her. I think that's why this book resonates so hard. In a world people are bodies are used to berate or "celebrate" (cough cough... trash) watching how Valerie moves through life is heartbreaking. Watching her interactions with her family and her friend while hearing her deepest thoughts about the people around her is so powerful.

This is such an important story that I hope helps someone who needs it one day.

On sale April 25, 2023