Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. My reviews are spoiler-free and unaffected by the free copy.

I like to get my criticisms out first so I can end on a positive note, but honestly there's very little to pick on here. Probably the biggest one I noticed was the lettering. Sometimes the "D" and "O" looked very similar, which made reading certain words a little difficult. There was also a hand-written letter I couldn't read very well because of how the script looked on the page.

The solution to the mystery also might be a bit of a let-down with some people. Especially considering everything else that was built up in the story. I'm assuming that there's going to be a sequel or a continuation that will pay off all that building up. I hope so, anyway, because this world is fascinating and I would love to see more happen in it.

Before I dive into the story and characters, I have to praise the art style of this graphic novel. It was absolutely gorgeous! The use of color was so good, and all of the characters were unique and nicely designed. It definitely pulled off the noir atmosphere with the gloomy setting and the darker shades. Whenever a brighter color showed up, it really popped and drew the eye.

The story was really good. I liked Bucky's character a lot. I thought it was a cool choice having him dressed in a classic noir style with the hat and trench-coat. His progression through the story was captivating-- I didn't want to stop reading and learning more about his world. It was compelling, too, and a very interesting take on magic. All of the other characters were done well. I would've liked more fleshing out, but they at least had unique enough designs and powers that I knew who was who. And when it came to investigating the mystery, all of the suspects had logical reasons for being the culprit.

It was imaginative, intriguing, had a great noir style and built up a fascinating world that I hope is revisited.

Let me begin this review with a reader's advisory: if you want to fully enjoy this work, you have to do two things. Number one: read the work as a hard copy and not an e-version. The digital edition is extremely fuzzy and very hard to read. Number two: learn to suppress your gag-reflex over the name "Bucko." I'm still working on it dear readers so best of luck with that.

Now! Onto the story itself! Firstly the illustrations are absolutely stunning and beautifully capture the tone and tension of the work. Secondly the characters are well-developed and quite likable. I also greatly enjoyed the world Vera Greentea and Yana Bogatch created and learning how things came to be in the town. The basic premise of "only women have magic" is reminiscent of Molly Ostertag's "The Witch Boy" but Greentea and Bogatch do a commendable job of making the trope their own.

And yet, with all that, I think the creators did themselves and the story a disservice when they rushed the ending. Indeed, as I was reading and getting further and further along in the page counts, I was *certain* that it was leading to a "continued in part 2" or something similar. You can imagine my surprise when suddenly the band-aid holding the plot line together was brutally ripped off and everything was wrapped up within the few remaining pages the work had left. Boom. Done.

And because of this, I felt that the concluding events were too convenient to be really believable and I was disappointed. The creators have a great story and a very cool cast of characters to work with so it's disheartening when the brakes are stomped on, a "bad" character bursts in proclaiming "I've been good all along!" just for the sake of a happy ending. The novel is still worth a read but in this humble reader's opinion, the ending could have been so much better.

I really loved this graphic novel. The story is all about a town where all the girls born in the town have magical powers. Our story starts off with Heidi, the daughter of the town sheriff, going missing. Her brother, Bucky, tries to help investigate her disappearance and goes around the town asking questions. I really liked this book because there were plenty of twists and turns throughout. I thought I had figured out what was going on but I was wrong which I actually enjoyed! The worst thing in a mystery type book is when you figure it out from the beginning. The artwork was really gorgeous too. It really added to the story and was very visually pleasing.

I really enjoyed the mystery that surrounded the plot of this novel and felt that it was just the right level for my middle schoolers. I think the advanced students would still enjoy it and be able to read into the illustrations more for even greater detail.

While I did enjoy this graphic novel, something was missing for me. I'm not sure if I wanted more from the story line or perhaps more information about the characters. It did have an interesting plot and I would recommend giving it a chance.

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel has a few plots going on at once: set in a town called Blackwell, where all the girls are witches, a teen named Bucky yearns for power of his own - despite the fact that no witch can leave the town. Ever. Bucky's younger sister, Heidi, is kidnapped, and Bucky joins forces with his estranged friend, a teen girl named Chamomile, to look for her. Within this main story are threads of other plots; the hostility Chamomile's father, Blackwell's deputy, has toward Bucky (who also happens to be the sheriff's son); a coven of Mean Girls/The Craft witches called The Crows, who want to set plans in motion that will set them free to leave Blackwell, and a ghost of the very first witch, a child named Griselda, whose death at the hands of witch hunters set the curse on Blackwell's daughters into motion.

The storyline has moments where the storyline becomes confusing to follow, but has some touching relationship bits that I'd like to have seen more about. The relationship between Chamomile and her father runs deep, and we only get a surface glimpse, for instance. Will we get more Blackwell stories from Vera Greentea and Yana Bogatch? We can sure hope so; I think there's a lot more to tell in a town with a history like theirs. Tween and young teens will enjoy this human, paranormal tale with a twist.

Bucky Orsen's sister is lost. Lost in a town full of witches, clique battles, and a history that he never fully grasps. His father is the town sheriff, but because of misplaced loyalties to the mayor and others, Bucky takes it upon himself to investigate the disappearance. Clues are thrown in his way, and he's pulled left and right off the trail, but he's persistent.

The town of Blackwell has a history of witchery, but the charms are passed down through women and the mighty Coven of Crows, a group that hides secrets and power. Bucky must pick apart the ties that bind these young women to find what they are protecting in order to ultimately get his sister back.

The story is a bit jumbled. If that puts us in Bucky's shoes a bit, that is good... but it seems confusing and only through select flashbacks did I really start to figure out what was going on in the town and between Bucky's supposed allies. I appreciated the art and the varied backgrounds and the grim aesthetic, yet found many of the characters limited by the style and the color palette.

Overall, Grimoire Noir is a story with links to Salem and small-town amateur sleuthing. Pick this one up for a twisty tale that at times takes you down one too many bends.

3 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
This is a fun enjoyable story that feels like it could have been fleshed out a little more but is still delightfully enchanting. The art is wonderful and spooky and eerie.
Bucky Orson lives in the town of Blackwell, which was created to protect their witch inhabitants... by also never letting them leave. The story starts shortly after Bucky’s younger sister Heidi goes missing. He starts an investigation of his own after his father, the sheriff, hits a dead end and can’t go any further without causing unrest with the local witches, whom their laws were designed to protect.
Bucky’s investigation teaches him about the history behind the town and what is currently going on there and why exactly it is someone may want Heidi to disappear.
While the story was enjoyable it felt like there we’re some areas that could have been fleshed out a bit more and the ending has me hoping that Vera Greentea will return to this world and explore it some more.

I loved this book. It is a fascinating tale about a town full of witches. Rather than fear the witches, they protect them and keep them in the town. But what happens when one little girl (a prodigy) goes missing?

This is a story about the town of Blackwell and it's magical inhabitants. The main character Bucky Orson has a sister, Heidi, who has gone missing. He spends the novel trying to find out who kidnapped her and why. He also struggles with the strained relationship he has with his childhood friend Chamomile.

The story bouncing between the story around his sister Heidi's disappearance and a town curse that happened 300 year ago when a young girl was branded a witch and killed. The story does not flesh out very well leaving much unknown. However, there is enough here to enjoy the story. I give the story 3 stars but I bumped it up one because the artwork is absolutely beautiful!

Thank you Netgalley and First Second books for an e-arc of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Received via NetGalley for review.

First off, this is a beautiful graphic novel. The watercolor-esque panels and the character designs are stunning (though they skew a little young). And a standalone, meaning no real cliff-hanger!

The plot is a little rushed and disjointed, it's true - there are many questions left unanswered and motivations left unexplored, which is frustrating. But I appreciated that the ending was true to the characters and the story, even if that doesn't necessarily mean it's a happy one.

I wanted so badly to love this storyline because I loved the graphics! I just could not immerse myself in the story and found myself unable to concentrate.

The art and world building in this book are great, I love the background of the story. However, I don't feel like the story was well paced, and I was more interested in the world building than the story itself. I thought this was an enjoyable read and that teens will like it, but it was not my favorite simply because I felt the story was weak.

This is a little tough to rate, because I honestly want to give the artwork 5 solid stars, and the storyline 3 at best. It's a positively stunning book with a lot of lovely and unique characters, but the plot needs more fleshing out and the ending was confusing, anticlimactic, and didn't really make much sense. There are definitely some <i>noir</i> elements to allude to the title, but by the time you reach the conclusion, it feels like there were a lot of vague red herrings thrown out there just to up the "mystery" of it all. All in all, I wasn't a huge fan of this one, but it has potential and I'd probably give these authors another chance if they release another graphic novel as pretty as this one.

<i>Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!</i>

As much as I try, I just cannot love graphic novels. I appreciate the artwork and the story, but put them together and I always feel like I've missed most of the story. Unfortunately, I had that experience here. There's the kernel of a great story here, but I am left feeling unfulfilled. The characters have so much potential - a Mom who makes it rain when she cries, and the clever person who made that happen to aid an escape from some serious magic - I want to know more about this!

I expect that this will definitely appeal to graphic novel fans who gravitate to the paranormal. The artwork is luscious, and as I said above, they story is interesting.

In this exciting graphic novel, a small town steeped in magic is coming apart at the seams, while a boy searches desperately for his little sister. The art is amazing, and the story is compelling and fast-paced. Definitely recommended for fans of beautiful southern gothic.

A wonderful graphic novel that is less noir, but still fun! Absolutely beautiful art work and a well plotted story. Combine witches and a missing child, ghosts, haunted homes, detectives and more ghosts, and you have a perfect read.

Wonderful graphic novel that combines fantastic story of a town with a secret. Witches live among the general townspeople and cannot leave the town. What happens when Bucky's sister Heidi goes missing is at the root of the GN.

There are ghosts of the past, ghosts of the present. Haunted houses, soulless boys, evil and good witches, the mystery of the missing Heidi, Bucky who tries to find his sister by playing detective,...

The illustrations are on point and add to the slightly sinister feel of the story.

I never realized how much I enjoy reading graphic novels, especially this one: Girmoire Noir. It is about a town where girls have magic, but boys do not. It is about a boy whose sister is missing, and he takes it upon himself to find her. It is a mystery and a fantasy. The artwork is beautifully dark, and I enjoyed the color-switch between present and the past. There were several subplots, but it felt like neither of them was fully developed. While there was a clear ending, it seems that there should be more to follow? I hope so, because I want to know what happens with the witches who escaped the town!

Thank you NetGalley and First Second Books for this eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I wish I could have read this to completion, but unfortunately the quality of the text was blurred to unreadable on every device I attempted to read it on. I read through the first chapter, but I missed a lot of the dialogue due to the difficulty I had in reading it. I don't think this will be a problem with the published book, but the ARC file isn't clear on my computer or phone, with Adobe Reader or iBooks or Calibre.

Regardless, I enjoyed what I have been able to read so far. Grimoire Noir is wonderfully illustrated and has an intriguing concept. I like Bucky's design, and the design of the girl who appears to him in the first chapter (if her name was stated, I couldn't read it). I'm really looking forward to the publication date so that I can enjoy the graphic novel to its fullest.