Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This memoir examines the often complicated and confusing process of coming out. Coming out is not a one and done situation. There are times where you yourself can doubt your own sexuality, never mind having to tell other people about it.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very sweet and understated, but did a great job of explaining what so many queer people go through. I also really liked the simple illustration style. I think it really showed the author’s personality

I went into this only knowing about the content based on the blurb and was blown away. This was so much better than I thought it would be. The fact it is a graphic novel just makes it that much more engaging. I appreciate the author being brave enough to put their journey into a story for everyone today to read. I wish I had something like this to read when I was younger. I believe it will be helpful for youth today. I am going to struggle with my verbiage in this review as I enjoyed it more than I can really put into words.

I received an advanced copy of Times I Knew I Was Gay from NetGalley so that I could share my review with you!


Times I Knew I Was Gay is a relatable and frank graphic memoir chronicling one young woman’s experience of coming out. For most of her life, Ellie felt as though there was a secret she was keeping from herself, waiting until the time was right to learn who she is. It was like she was carrying around an envelope with a secret truth, but she couldn’t open it until she’d proven she was worthy of knowing what was inside. Because of this, Ellie spent many years wondering why her relationships just didn’t feel right. Years later, Ellie is able to reflect on the many times she probably should’ve known she was gay.

You can get your copy of Times I Knew I Was Gay on October 6th from Scribner!

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the way it explained coming out as a process, rather than as a one-time event. So often, the coming out experience is viewed as a single moment, after which you are “officially” out of the closet. This is rarely the case. Instead, coming out exists as an ongoing chain of conversations with the people around you and with yourself as you discover what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community. In this way, I felt that Times I Knew I Was Gay was a very successful graphic novel!

My Recommendation-
If you enjoy reading graphic memoirs, Times I Knew I Was Gay should be on your to-read list! This was a quick and light read dealing with sexuality and self-discovery, so if you enjoy books on those subjects, Times I Knew I Was Gay would be a good pick for your next read!

I loved this graphic memoir! As someone who struggled with their sexuality for so long, I felt how Eleanor was feeling throughout certain times in her life. I think the graphics were wonderful and obviously the story was interesting with some funny moments.

Overall, this is a great memoir that I think a lot of people should read even if they aren't struggling with their sexuality or part of the LGBTQ+ community.

a quick, easy coming of age graphic novel. I was able to relate to a lot of this and enjoyed the art style. I do wish there was a little bit more "meat" to this but overall, I still enjoyed it!

The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes invites you to tag along on the author’s road to embracing her sexuality. I really appreciated that, unlike many coming out stories, she clearly shows that it’s a winding path and not a single realization or event. We experience the journey through the eyes of a whimsically drawn character that is desperately trying to figure out who she is.

In the introduction, the author wrote that one of her goals in writing this story was to help anyone who is on a similar quest . . . which would be everyone. Who has not struggled with their appearance, their body, their relationships, their jobs, and their future? This book has something to offer everyone not just members of the LGBTQ+ community.

However, there are a few minor suggestions that I would make:
1) It was occasionally difficult to distinguish the main character from the other characters. I struggled with this the most when her hair was shoulder length. So maybe give her something that’s even more distinctive on those pages.

2) On page 178, the dialogue reads, “It’s so stupid that they’ve given me class the day before hand-in.” While I think I got the gist of what she was saying, I’m wondering if there might be a word missing from that sentence.

3) I was confused on page 203. We see the main character and her girlfriend through a bus window pointing outside. The narration, about their potential future together, does not seem to match the illustration. I don’t understand how that setting depicts that conversation. Are they pointing at the scenery or the car behind them or something else? What does that have to do with their relationship?

4) Page 224 is just text explaining how she came out to her house. Then the next three pages are illustrations of what we just read. It would make more sense to me to sprinkle that narration throughout the illustrations. Having a large block of text then multiple pages of illustrations feels redundant, but if they were together, it would just feel descriptive.

5) I would encourage the publishers to crop the digital version of this book so that there is less white space around the drawings/text blocks. With more than three hundred pages, the huge borders often made me feel like I was doing more scrolling than reading. (FYI, I was reading it on my Kindle Fire.)

All that having been said, I still think it’s a great little book, and I would definitely recommend it.

I was super excited to read this because my daughter loves queer memoirs and I jumped at the chance to read one from NetGalley.
I’m not really sure who the target audience is for this one. I’m fully supportive of my gay daughter (who came out in junior high) but I wouldn’t have wanted her to read this when she was in elementary school. It’s written like it’s intended to be read by preschoolers but it talks about sex with high school boyfriends and eating disorders. I requested it hoping it would be like the memoirs she enjoys. I guess I didn’t realize it was like a young child picture book. The things she talks about as a child could have been about anyone. Wearing pants to a first communion doesn’t make you gay. It means you want to be comfortable. My non-gay kid wore grey sweats to dance class when everyone else was wearing frills and tutus. Being emo doesn’t mean you’re gay. I didn’t want to have sex with any of my high school boyfriends either but I’m very much into men.
It was just flat and disappointing for me. The title held a lot of promise.

I loved this book. It’s similar to many coming out graphic novel memoirs, but/and I never get tired of them.

I love the art, I love the story. No notes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this advanced reader's copy of The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes.

I really enjoy graphic novels and this was no exception. The illustrations were charming, with details that helped the reader understand the author's story even more clearly. Certain details, like the author's hairstyle as it changes from age to age, aid the reader as they follow along on the journey from childhood to adulthood in visualizing the reality of the illustrations. I loved that the story relied more on the illustrations to carry the plot than on narration.

Overall a really solid read, especially for graphic novel lovers.

What a wonderful, honest portrayal of someone's coming-out story (or stories, as it were). I found this to be a really quick and easy read, accessible and light-hearted, but still serious when it needed to be. It was relateable at the best of times, and heartbreaking at its lowest. The artwork is cute and fun, very stylistic.

content warnings for eating disorders and homophobic slurs!

it's always really hard to rate memoirs and graphic novels, but especially memoirs because they're so deeply personal. i really enjoyed this one though because i could easily relate to the content, being a lesbian myself, but also because the art was really cute!

this graphic memoir included a lot of experiences that i think are common for lesbians to go through, and it was really validating reading about someone else having a lot of similar experiences that i had growing up and discovering i was a lesbian.

i also really enjoyed the art style! it's simplistic yet still adds interest to the story telling element.

This book was a really great and fast read. I think readers will find it relatable, interesting, and cool. I really loved the art style too.

As a child, Eleanor Crewes tried to conform with her friends and date boys but nothing really clicked for her so she began to wonder if she was gay. She came out to her friends several times and they were always supportive but she still felt like she should try to conform. I thought this graphic memoir was a great peek into what it’s like to struggle with sexuality.

A very lovely coming out/coming of age story about the author. The book follows Ellie from childhood to adulthood as she deals with coming to terms with being gay and covers the rather messy process of coming out. For those who haven't read a memoir like this before, it's a great view of how the process of coming out and realizing you're not straight can take a lot longer and require a lot of introspection. While the book doesn't say it directly, the effect of compulsory heteronormativity and how it affects Ellie is pretty clear and harsh to watch.

3.5/5 as it rehashed a lot of familiar concepts to me and I didn't particularly feel that the art (which was cute) did anything to make the story more or less profound. I would have been just as happy reading this as a short essay over a graphic novel.

I love the art and the illustration style in this book! Sadly though, the art style was the only thing I really liked about this book.
My main issues are with the pacing. So many details are glossed over and as a reader I didn't really get to understand the author, which is the purpose of a memoir. I was hoping when reading this it would be similar to Spinning or Fun Home, but the short length and fast pacing kept this book from being deeply personal and emotional.

An easy and fast read for people who can relate to the author's challenges with heteronormativity. However, I feel like the pacing of the book was too fast for me to REALLY get to know Eleanor throughout the pages of the book. There were some assumptions mentioned that I just didn't understand. For example, if Eleanor's parents were displaying interest in keeping up with the lesbian relationship of Willow and Tara portrayed in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer from when Eleanor was growing up, then the details are missing from the book that accurately represent the reasons behind her struggles to even admit her sexuality to even just herself. (I'm not saying that heteronormativity isn't a HUGE factor in this; I am merely commenting on the syntax and sensory details that were present throughout the book as well as the details that were not present.)

Overall, I love the honest illustrations. I love that this book has the potential to help someone. I just wish that the author would have chose to use more effective language.

This book is a graphic memoir of Eleanor's coming out story. I adore graphic novels and this one was great. I just wish Eleanor would have given us a little more of her love story once she found her person. Overall, cute story. Great for anyone who enjoys graphic novels or is struggling with their own identity.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a pleasure to read and experience!

Seeing Eleanor’s journey through her sexuality was complex and I really enjoyed seeing how she got to navigate through the ups and downs aid coming out 5 times haha.

I truly recommend this book to anyone, whether you’re still trying to figure things out or no.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

THE TIMES I KNEW I WAS GAY is a quiet and poignant look at growing up queer. It's honest, hopeful, and nuanced--not to mention the art is both charming and full of life!

I loved Ellie's look at how someone's relationship with their body can interact with their sexuality, especially when grappling with who exactly you are. I'm very thankful for the honest introspection surrounding eating disorders, body image, and those connections to sexuality.

I'm equally thankful for the portrayal of coming out not as one big, singular, definite act, but rather as something that many queer people do all the time; we come out to other people over and over again, and often times we come out to ourselves more than once, and I loved how that was talked about as a process and not a one-and-done deal. The introspection was also done so well--the moments where Ellie comes out of the narrative to reflect on her past actions were some of my favorites.

And, of course, everything is tied together with gorgeous art that fits the narrative's buoyancy and candidness.

Overall, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in a quick read about growing up and coming out.

I got an ARC of this book.

I’m not sure what I expected from this book. I am a fan of graphic memoirs and all things queer. So I thought this would be a book for me.

The issue is, it just fell flat. I have no idea why. The story wasn’t all that compelling. I read the whole book in less then twenty minutes. I didn’t feel attached to the characters. I couldn’t really relate to Crewes. I didn’t really see any reason why this book existed. Usually a memoir makes sense to me. There are stories that make a person and they tell a story. This just felt like nothing happened. So while I am thankful Crewes didn’t experience horrific things to make this more compelling of a story, it just didn’t make sense why this was a memoir. It was missing something.

The art was better than my art, but that bar is super low. There was nothing really engaging with the art. I wasn’t bowled over with skill or how certain lines were made. It just felt like a generic comic. Nothing special or unique about it. One of the characters was Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I couldn’t tell that she was Willow from the art without the context. The one time I actually get a reference to popular culture and I almost miss it. I am a bit let down.

I wish I had more to say. I was just underwhelmed over all. There was nothing that made this stand out or make it relatable. It just felt unfinished.