This graphic memoir was impactful, well-drawn, and definitely will find its audience soon enough since it is so well-done.

This was an interesting story, with great accompanying illustrations, and I enjoyed the recommended listening scattered throughout the story. Nina comes to the city hoping to making it big as a musician, and quickly finds herself drawn into trying to track down and fight Nazis. WWII might be over, but the fight is still going on behind the scenes. Of course, things are rarely as they seem, and Shapiro does an excellent job of building tension while moving the plot along smoothly. Chan's illustrations really help bring the story to life, and add extra depth to the story. Curious to see where the rest of the trilogy goes!

I finally managed to read this many years after my original NetGalley download expired, so I can post a review. It was an interesting enough start to a trilogy that I'd pick up the others if I came across them, though the premise wasn't necessarily matched by the execution. Illustrations are nice though nothing more. I'd certainly suggest picking it up if you spotted it in the library, but I wouldn't say it's one to rush out and get.

'Queen of Kenosha' by Howard Shapiro with art by Erica Chan is a graphic novel about an up and coming singer recruited for a covert operation.

Nina Overstreet is hoping to make the big time, but playing in small clubs may not get her there. When she is recruited by Nick Ladd and a group of ex-FBI operatives to hunt down Nazi operatives in the states, she takes it.

I liked this story of a young woman who wants to do right and gets caught in a world where things are not clearly black and white. I liked Nina's independence and willingness to think for herself. The art is also pretty good. This book is part of a trilogy, and I'd like to hunt down the rest of the books in this series now.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Animal Media Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Amazing art, characters and plot! Just what we look for in a graphic novel!
Nina is just that main character that resonates with you and you want to follow along as she goes her way!

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for release of this review copy!

I enjoyed this. I wasn't sure I would since I am not much on music/singing books and based on the cover when I seen this, I still wanted to give it a shot. I am glad I did. This was very good. It did give it a rating of 3.5 so I always round up on the rating scale.

I love a book that has parts that take place and NY and so yes! When I seen that had NY in it, it was a must read. I do recommend reading this and seeing the journey this artist when on! highly recommend. It was very touching to see this story unveil. I do believe this is the first in a series so I will continue on as I get my hands on these.

Just not something I could get into. I managed to finish it despite being mostly uninterested. It's a rather fast paced and mostly quick read.

Nina Overstreet is an aspiring folk musician in New York City. At one of her gigs, she interrupts a mugging and gets recruited by an offshoot of the FBI that is targeting a conspiracy to create a Fourth Reich in the US of A. Her music career could be a cover for her CDA activities. But there is mole in their organization that keeps disrupting their plans and disaster strikes. Will Nina be able to overcome this and who is pulling who's strings? An interesting take on the 1960s folk scene and conspiracy theories.

A quirky graphic novel about music, Nazis and Nina.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The artwork is what drew me into this graphic novel. In 1963, a down-on-her-luck singer is recruited by a secret government agency to fight Nazis in this first book of a projected trilogy. While there were some weird song choices for the chapter headings (not right for the time period) and some other threads that were dropped without going anywhere, I found the storyline intriguing enough to look forward to the next book in the series.

A graphic novel series that quickly lands in the "keep following " pile. Nina Overstreet is an aspiring singer/songwriter from Wisconsin that's hoping to get her big break. One night she meets a mysterious man at the bar and soon finds herself involved in hunting down a secretive Nazi cell organization. Intriguing plot and richly written characters kept me very invested. Of course, I hope to find out what happens next.


Goodreads review published 19/09/19
Publication Date 19/10/18( I am auto approved for Animal Media Group on NetGalley)

I really thought I was going to like this a lot more than I do. While I really enjoyed the art, and thought it very fitting for the story, the story itself was a little too predictable for me. It just didn't quite grab my interest.

I picked this up as it involved the area near me, and had seemed that it would be a good read, but I was a little disappointed.

Nina is a struggling musician from Kenosha, WI. She's moved to New York to try and make it big in the music scene, but even with her cousin being her manager and helping her out financially she isn't doing that great. One night she goes to return a wallet that a man left at the bar. She gets caught in the alley by these two secret groups that are fighting each other. She gets recruited by the US side in order to fight the secret Nazi cells that are hiding out in the US after WWII.

First, I didn't understand why she was recruited? She was able to throw a punch because she takes karate lessons, and she's a musician that travels, so that's enough to go in and become a secret agent. She's also angry because the person in charge of the group is a sexist racist, and so she fights constantly and this is supposed to create a level of distrust between them.

Second, the setting was really odd to me, it was supposed to be New York in the 60s, but it didn't feel like the 60s, didn't feel like New York, and I just couldn't get into the book. It felt like it was trying to fight with 1930s New York and modern day New York, and I could never really sink into the story because of this.

Third, the plot twist at the end was so predictable, and so I don't really care to read anymore of this series because the inevitable fight scene between them will happen in the next book and I just don't care enough to read it.

The artwork was alright, I think having a physical copy versus an electronic copy would have made a difference to my appreciation of the artwork. I'm glad so many other people enjoyed this, but it wasn't for me. Copy of book provided by NetGalley and publisher.

Coming off the high of Daisy Jones & the Six, the cover of Queen of Kenosha immediately caught my eye. I was in the mood for more musical reads.

Set in 1963, this graphic novel focuses on Nina Overstreet, a folk musician from Kenosha, WI who moves to NYC to pursue her music career. She's working in a bar in Greenwich village when she meets a man who pulls her into a secret organization that hunts for Nazis in America.

The Good: As previously stated, I really like the cover. I also liked the first page in each chapter where their were several songs listed. Some of the songs were from that era but others were more recent (Pearl Jam, U2). I love have music to go with what I am reading.

Otherwise: I never really connected with any of the characters. The storyline also never truly drew me in and was a bit too dry for me. This is the first book in a 3 part series and I am not sure if I would pick up the follow-up reads.

Queen of Kenosha is set in early 60s New York, where Nina Overstreet has come from her small town of Kenosha to pursue her dream of being a professional musician. At a gig, Nina encounters the mysterious Nick, who eventually recruits her to be part of a covert anti-Nazi operation. Initially attracted by Nick's ideals, and by the very welcome money, she soon starts to question the group's methods and comes to be seen as a liability by her colleagues.

Shapiro's plot is a good one. I thought I had it figured out pretty early, but some surprises in the ending proved me wrong. There's certainly enough intrigue going on to keep me coming back for more, but I did think there were a few aspects of the book that were less successful. Nina's conveniently advanced ability in karate is a very unlikely skill for a US small town girl in the 60s, especially one who says that music has dominated her life. When would she have had the time to learn this? I also thought the art work was a bit lacking. Some of the expressions on Nina's face at times looked, frankly, a bit dopey and out of character. The cover art shows Nina as having black hair when she has brown hair in the book, an obvious glitch that should have been easily spotted and corrected. Still, these nit-picks won't stop me from reading the second volume when it comes along.

If you like slow paced "secret agent" detective story with a lot of talking and a few actions. You're in the right place. But if you're demanding reader, be wary. Because I sadly find it rather a bit dull. It's heavy leant on characters and dialogues, which can be a good thing, especially if the art is rather on the mediocre side. Some may even say it is quite dull and I wouldn't dispute that. Art is a bit like (new) Archie style, which is not exactly my cup of coffee. And it's rather simplistic, with very flat background and the colouring didn't help it either. Yes, that's a problem, but it becomes a bigger issue when the writing is off. The story plot is interesting, wannabe folk star becomes an agent of undercover team hunting Nazis in the USA. But I didn't feel sympathy for any of all those characters (not mentioning thanks to art they all look almost all the same), I didn't feel any chemistry between that two major characters and I lacked energy in all dialogues. They were mostly just boring and without empathy to any character nor grudge against that secret Nazis it was very tough reading. And little insight to the "villains" here: they are introduced as evil and threat. By guys who are at the time shadier than them. They did nothing so far, but they're slaughtered and tortured by those agents. The enemies are written in the worst manner and they make no sense. Even villains from Scooby Doo would do a better job.

There are recommended listenings for each chapter, which is a very nice touch, and I always like the fine soundtrack to my comics. But here I did not feel proper resonation with comics and with me, which is a bit letdown. But I can't tell if it's me or it just the problem of the comics. But with dull art, flat characters, nonsensical villains and juiceless dialogues I'll just blame it on comics. I really looked forward to the story and I'm really disappointed...

I really wanted to get into this. The cover and the artwork really drew my attention but I feel like the dialogue was too slow and I became bored only a few panels in... Not to say this isn't interesting or worthy of the read for anyone else, but for me I just couldn't get into it and had to DNF. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset to read it at the time, but it was a pass for me.

Although the plot wasn't really intriguing for me at first, Shapiro's historical graphic novel is definitely enjoyable, with defined characters and beautiful artwork; I will be looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Book Review
Title: Queen of Kenosha
Author: Howard Shapiro & Erica Chan
Genre: Graphic Novel
Rating: ***
Review: So, Queen of Kenosha is a coming of age tale, that is also the first installment of the Thin Thinline Trilogy, that follows the fiercely independent Nina Overstreet who has an axe to grind. A talented singer-songwriter slogging her way through the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1963, the Queen of Kenosha, Wisconsin, realizes that standing on the cusp of stardom gets her little respect and barely a cup of coffee in New York City.
One night while playing a gig Nina meets a man named Jimmy and when she tries to return his wallet which she left at the bar Nina is attacked and knocked unconscious by a mysterious woman. We soon learn that “Jimmy” is actually Nick Ladd, a government operative, who works gathering intel and arrested a rogue band of Nazis who can to the USA before the end of World War II. Seeing that Nina has some skill Nick asks to recruit her into their organization as she would be unknown to the people they are tracking and her career as a singer is the perfect cover for having to travel a lot.
2 and a half months after joining the government agency Nina and now on a similar level as all the other agents, but she is still seen by some as a second-class citizen because she is a woman. I did have a little bit of problem with the sexist comments made by some of the characters, but context is key given this is set in the early ’60s when this type of attitude was still very common. Another month goes by before Nina goes on her first assignment and it a massive flop. They catch two Nazis, but Nick has been ordered to kill them which Nina refuses to do and it turns out that she was right. Their inside man informs them they were more valuable alive because they held a wealth of information, but the fault is pinned on Nina rather than the man who ordered their deaths.
Over the course of the story, Nina is faced with a lot of moral decisions and has to make a lot of moral compromises on her part while dealing with bigoted, sexist and racist comments from the men around her but Nick does provide some comfort to her. As she is drawn further and further into a world where everyone walks the line between right and wrong and Nina is struggling between sticking with the decision she made or calling it quits altogether.
In the end, I found the story to be compelling, the artwork is beautiful but there are two things I had issues with, the first is Nina and Nick’s relationship, it is set up as romantic but never gets that far and I felt certain plot points would have had a greater impact if the pair had a romantic relationship. The second is the sexist comments, now I know it is meant to highlight the society at the time the story is set and give some conflict between the characters but there is so many of them it kind of put me off the story a little and apart from the ending I don’t really see where the story can go from here but I will be picking up volume 2 to find out what happened to Nina.

This book is deceptively a spy thriller, almost evocative of a hard boiled detective story. The main character has great depth and you can understand her motivations and odd path through the story. I would say it’s for YA or above due to some content, but definitely one of my recent favorites.