Cover Image: Ghost Friends Forever #1

Ghost Friends Forever #1

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Member Reviews

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. GFF #1 started off to be pretty interesting. A family torn apart by an event they won't talk about. A teenage girl just wants to fit in and for things to go back to normal. On her way to school, Sophia decides to take a shortcut because she is running late. She runs into a ghost named Whitney who appears to be a reoccurring apparition at an old covered wooden bridge. Since ghost "counseling" runs in the family, Sophia decides that if she can solve why Whitney is stuck at the bridge, she might be able to fix what is wrong with her parents and get them back together. On the other side of town is Felix, Sophia's brother, and his friend Jake, Sophia's ex. When Jake stops and talks to Sophia to see how she is doing, he sees that she is up to something and recruits her brother to help with the problem. Once Sophia gets to know Whitney, she feels compelled to help but also is afraid to lose her new "friend". On a chance meeting during a full moon, Whitney becomes solid and decides to take things a little further, which makes things a lot more complicated for Sophia. On top of her parents recent divorce, her ex and brother following her around and meddling with her "professional service", Sophia is now dealing with feelings she never thought she would have towards a girl. I liked the context of the story but I didn't care for how it developed. It changed very rapidly and didn't seem well developed towards the middle and end. With some editing and a bit more filler (details), I think this could be a great graphic novel. I do like the idea of a strong headed female-lead figuring things out for herself and finding out about herself and what she does and does not like.

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There’s a lot going on in GFFs: Ghost Friends Forever, but it’s all good-hearted. This supernatural mystery romance feels like a modern Nancy Drew, except in this case, ghosts are real.
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The art style is simple and direct, with a manga influence younger readers will feel comfortable with.... Things move quickly because readers need to see various relationships repaired as well as solve the mystery of what happened to their new ghost friend Whitney. The question of what drove the family apart is held for a future volume.

The book can feel at times like it’s talking down to young readers, but that’s a struggle many YA authors face. Writing for kids takes skill, and it can be tricky to find the balance without risking sounding a little patronizing, particularly when the graphic novel has a relatively short length and is this overstuffed. Future volumes of GFFs should calm down a bit. Regardless, the characters are worth spending more time with.

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Another cute graphic novel for a junior audience. Not quite as good as some though.

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A very cute story with a different kind of romance and a fun mystery.

Sophia and her brother, Felix's parents are ghost hunters. They had a paranormal family business until their parents got a divorce. Sophia meets a ghost named Whitney and decides to help her herself. She learns more and more about Whitney's murder but also learns about herself along the way. Felix tries to stop her from solving the mystery and tries to banish Whitney's ghost, but ends up causing more harm than good. This was a great story of self-acceptance and a great murder mystery with an awesome AHA moment!

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I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

What starts as a way for Sophia to get on with her parents' ghost business turns into so much more, and I was just squeeing in delight every page that Sophia and Whitney got closer and closer, and I was worried and angry (at who did that) when Sophia couldn't see Whitney. Would she be able to see her again?

This book sure was a ride. I loved how Whitney and Sophia connected. They had an instant bond, and I just adored it. Sophia could tell Whitney all sorts of things, and Whitney was there to listen and give advice.

I liked figuring out what happened to Whitney, who the culprit was, and the reasons why it happened. I liked that it wasn't a reveal that happened instantly, instead it took much longer and was spread over the entire book.

Plus due to Whitney other things also came to light + it gave the parents a bit more of a spotlight.

We don't really find out much about why the parents got divorced. Yes, we get some hints, but not much. Something big happened, but that is it. Frankly, given that they still seem to love/care about each other I don't see why they even divorced in the first place. Did someone threaten them or their kids? I don't know. Hopefully we get some more answers in the next book.

The brother? What a terrible dorkweed that was. I am sorry that your best friend has a crush on your sister, but no need to go angry when she doesn't reciprocate those feelings and instead falls for someone different. Gee. And then there are many other times I just wanted to hurl him off a cliff. :|

I also didn't like what Jake and Whitney did at one point, it just felt out of place and weird. Plus later on it is like it never happened....

Then there was a problem with pacing issues. At times we are at x location and the next page is a whole different location. But you haven't had the feeling these characters actually moved. At times I just checked the page numbers to make sure that I was actually at the next page and not a few pages further. Case in point, after the parenting conference the mom returns home with notes from the kid and confronts him, the next page however is our group at the bridge again. And there are other instances in the story. It is quite jarring.

The art was so-so. It was a bit weird how a lot of the adults looked like teens (especially the dad) whereas the teens looked either older or their age. Perspectives are also a bit wonky at times (what is up with the giant teacher in one of the later pages?).

But all in all, this book definitely had its good moments. Whitney x Sophia (ship ship ship), the mystery of what happened to Whitney, the big battle/ending, that sweet thing on the last page, Sophia was a great character, I loved that each parent had something they were good in regarding the ghosts.

I will be reading the second volume when that one comes out.

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Based on the text alone, this sounds like a really cute story. However, the images are just gone! I could not really tell in what order to read the text bubbles without any visual cue. I do think I would be interested in seeing a final copy though.

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*thank you to Netgalley and Papercutz for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
I had no idea that this was also a lesbian themed graphic novel! It was SO adorable and heartfelt. Plus it was about a (broken) family who are paranormal investigators. The daughter lives with the dad and the son lives with the mother. The kids want so badly to get the family back together and the heart felt emotions were evident. The kids are obviously in pain, struggling with the seperation of their parents and have avoided talking to each other. Well at the beginning anyway. The story then takes us to a ghost who died in the mid 90s and that Sophia can see. She wants to help Whitney (the ghost) remember what had happened to her all those years ago. I was really really pleased with this and I can't wait until the next in the series comes out! After that little bit of a message at the end, I'm really interested for book number 2!

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