I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
I would give this a 3.5 stars!

This is a really original concept, and I love how it so heavily takes inspiration from the science fiction and creepy-ness of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein! It really captures the vibe, and does exploring identity and dealing with expectations from family pretty okay! Maybe wish it spent a little bit more time on that aspect, but overall pretty good!

My biggest issue with this is that I wish it was longer, actually! I wish it was longer so that it was allowed to explore everything even more! I don't know if this is intended to be a series, but god I kinda hope so because I would 100% be interested in seeing Mary's journey in healing, relating more to her dad who is a doctor, exploring her friend's magic. Everything!

This graphic novel took me by surprise!
Mary is the x5 Great-granddaughter to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. All the women in her family have been successful writers, but Mary doesn’t think that writing is for her, and she’s not quite sure what her ‘thing’ is. She’s just a moody emo teen trying to make it past high school while dodging the hard conversations about being the next writer in the family.
But things soon take a turn when she meets a strange boy with the now very much alive frog she dissected in biology class. Soon, all sorts of mythical creatures come to Mary in need of a Doctor to help heal their ailments. Mary isn’t certain why or how this could be happening, could it have something to do with her family lineage? Was Mary Shelley’s book more fact than fiction?

—
I really didn’t know what to expect going into this book, however, the results were brilliant.
I loved seeing Mary really come into herself and discover this hidden part of her family’s legacy. I thought the supernatural aspect of this book fit very well, I was highly engaged and very much enjoying myself.
I loved the artwork in this one, such a gorgeous style.
This was the perfect spooky fall read, highly recommended!
4 stars!

**ARC provided by Six Foot Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had so much fun with this read and the perfect way to get into the mood for the spooky season. It has such a fun concept and great artwork!

I had a little trouble following the beginning of the story, a couple of times having to go back and reread portions thinking I'd missed something. Things seemed to move super quickly, without much explanation, jumping from scene to scene. But once the story had some foundation and we got into the meat of the story, I really enjoyed where the adventure went!

I enjoyed seeing how this set up the world and introduced characters, and I was left wanting to see what other hijinks they get into. I will definitely be picking up the next volume when it comes out!

This was a super cute and spooky read! I loved the art style and overall I thought it was an entertaining read. It kept my attention well, and I thought the storyline was interesting. Highly recommend reading if you're trying to get in a spooky, Halloween-ish mood!

This was just the right thing for a intro into the spooky season. It had the air of the classic with bolder revamping for a more modern twisted take. I definitely enjoyed the art work and the lay out for the story. The characters had a bit of the gothic classic it orginalizes from which definitely helped you sorta of cross over from old school to new and ease into a retelling. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and definitely will be getting a physical copy to add to my collection.

As an avid lover of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I was very excited by the initial description of this novel. We follow the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Shelley herself as she discovers not only that monsters are in fact very real, but that she holds the power to heal them. This was such a fun read. I found myself completely hooked from start to finish. I loved how alongside the funny and enjoyable fantastical elements of the story, there was an overarching theme of staying true to yourself and finding your own path in life, however different that may be from others expectations. I really hope this is the start of a series, as I just want more of these wonderful characters.

Mary by Brea Grant and illustrated by Yishan Li is a Young Adult horror graphic novel, with a tint of fantasy and paranomal romance to it. We see our badass character the young Mary Shelley, who has been born and bought up with having to be only a writer when she grows up just like her ancestors and mother. But her interests lie somewhere else and not in continuing her family's legacy of being a best selling author.

Then we see a strange boy named Adam, who comes and asks her to heal a wound. Mary learns something new about her family which she didn't know till date, and was kept hidden from her. We see a lot of adventure in this book, and also her best friend Rhonda has a secret which is kept hidden from Mary.

The writing style and the art in the book definitely does justice to the storyline. I liked this small and quick read. We definitely see Mary grow and come out of her comfort zone. But we need to see more in this world and with the character of Mary Shelley. The story definitely sounded like its just the beginning so I look forward to read more.

Also, +1 for the Grey's Anatomy reference in this book 😜
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Releasing 6th October 2020
Thank You to NetGalley and 'Six Foot Press' Publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for a honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for this graphic novel! This is my first graphic novel so I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it and I’m pleasantly surprised! I thought a graphic novel story line would be hard to follow but it was very easy to understand the story and the art work omg!! It was so beautiful 😍

Mary, a decadent of Mary Shelley, is struggling with what direction her life is going. She doesn’t know what her future holds. One day she finds an old book and then a mysterious boy (and a cast of monsters!) turn up in her life and she’s faced with a future she didn’t know she could have:

I thought this was a fun and quick read. I thought the concept of Mary possibly being a monster healer was a fun connection to the Frankenstein books of her relatives. I did think there was a few scenes where I wish I had more details to piece the puzzle together. I feel like the ending came pretty abruptly, but that could mean there’s more to the story to come so I won’t fault that! Overall I really enjoyed this graphic novel! #mary #netgalley

The premise of this grabbed me immediately: Mary Shelley's great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter is an angsty teen goth who has adventures with monsters! I also knew of Brea Grant from her podcast Reading Glasses with Mallory O'Meara, and knew her to be a reader and writer of cool and interesting things. I've also learned that she's written other comic series, films, and even has an Emmy nomination!

This graphic novel delivers - it's weird and funny and fun to read. Mary has some witty lines, and the supporting characters are also developed enough to be interesting - especially her uptight writer mother and kooky intellectual aunt. The monsters are odd and unique (a harpy! a ghost inhabiting a stuffed bunny! a giant marsupial with laserbeam eyes! and more!) It weaves in references to current pop culture, monster mythology, and coming of age growing pains. Mary learns through the course of the story to ignore the expectations of others and to follow her own path, unexpected as it may be. The end of the book has a cute catalog of the monsters and a short bio of Mary Shelley.

This is a graphic novel that would appeal to lovers of horror, sci fi, women writers, Mary Shelley, and funny/creepy things. Parts of it reminded me of the comic Lenore.

Hoping that there are more installments in this story - it seems like Mary is just getting started!

This graphic novel is going on my top five GN list--I loved so many things about it!!
Right off the bat, I was captivated by the synopsis. I love Mary Shelley, so a twisted, modern retelling is just for me!
The book itself had me intrigued from page ONE when the portrait of Mary Shelley walks out of a painting and into a creepy, dark forest. I was turning pages so fast my eyes could hardly keep up!
The main character, Mary, is a sixth generation descendent of Mary Shelley and she is so tired of high expectations put upon her by the women in her family who want her to be a writer like those before her. However, one dark and rainy night, a (handsome) stranger shows up and asks her to heal a mysterious wound, and Mary learns that she has a power of her own: the power to heal monsters.
From this point in the story, the twists only unravel more and the book is so fun. The monsters include a harpy, a demon possessing backyard rodents, ghosts, a large egg, and more.
I highly recommend this book because of the diverse characters, the varied monster references, the humor and all-around fun. I sincerely hope there will be a series around Mary's character and her monster-healing adventures because I would definitely read more!

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this title but it ended up being a really fun read. I like the idea of the Shelley family all being authors and all the characters were really fun and it was interesting to watch them interact with each other as very different members of a family. The thing with her being a monster healer was a really fun idea and I enjoyed all the different creatures featured in the book as well. I have to give it a very *slight* eyeroll for the romance angle between her and the 200 year old Adam, but I guess that is pretty much just a YA staple at this point and it was honestly not as bad as a lot of other books I've read. Also really loved the art and all the character designs. Definitely a fun read for the Halloween season!

So I thought I'd start with my first thoughts of this book–aka the notes I jotted down in my Goodreads before even reading the book–to give you an idea of my beginning and ending interpretation of the book. Right off the bat, I wanted to read this graphic novel because I liked the cover and at (a very quick) first glance, the premise seemed interesting. I scrolled through the Goodreads reviews and quickly grew worried. My attention fell to a few different 3 star reviews and I worried that I wouldn't enjoy the book and that it'd be a chore to get through.

Luckily, I was wrong. [Upon another glance at the reviews, most are actually 4 stars and generally positive. Must have missed them in my ridiculously quick scan, naturally ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ] I was worried that the target audience and general plot might be a bit *young* for me, and I'm glad that is not that case. I think there was a depiction of a middle finger on the third page, which made me smile.

So now for my thoughts after actually reading the book. *The important part.*

Immediately, I was STUNNED by the amazing artwork by Yishan Li and loved the gothic vibe of the main character, Mary. Mary is in (upper?) high school, which is relatively close to me in age, and with the addition of the middle finger and the general ~vibe~ my concerns about the book feeling young were errased. The beginning features a well balanced blend of backstory/character introduction with the actual plot, creating a close connection to Mary and her family. There's also a few fourth wall breaks thrown in that make me smile (reminds me of my loves Spider-Man and Deadpool <3).

I also really liked each of the characters and their personalities (even if Tawny, Mary's mother, was sometimes frustrating). Each had unique identities and some even had their speech bubbles in different fonts, which helped add to the overall ~vibe~ of the story, or the character's individual personalities if you want to be more formal. I really enjoyed the whole idea that Mary has powers to heal monsters, which sets up a good (in my opinion) opportunity to have many books of the different monsters Mary treats and the difficulties she may face in such an occupation, which is ideal for the success of a series.

Overall, I loved Mary and the many other characters introduced in this first book, and I would love to read other books in this series as they come out. I think I'll definitely remember this book and its characters in the future.

Though I did really enjoy this graphic novel, I do have some critiques, hence why I can't give a 5 star rating. I felt that much of the plot and conflict was cliche and felt forced, especially in the beginning. Mary struggles with deciding if she wants to follow in her families footsteps of great writers or find her own path, a fact that is mentioned a few too many times and forcibly discussed, especially by Tawny. Also, from the characters we've met so far, the book is not incredibly diverse. So far the only major minority character is Mary's BFF and we haven't seen much of her story yet (THOUGH I DEFINITELY WANT IT! SHE SEEMS BADASS AND SUPER COOL) aside from her interactions with Mary. Also the romance felt a bit rushed and blunt (which does fit with Mary's character), but for a short graphic novel this may make sense.

Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this graphic novel and I'm super glad I decided to read it! I would totally recommend checking it out for yourself. Though I did have a few critiques, they were not enough to sway my enjoyment of the book and some of it is a result of my personal storytelling preferences. I'm also super glad that many of my first concerns proved to be wrong! Aka, never judge a book by its cover ;) teehee

Rating = 4 stars

BONUS *featuring some of my Goodreads reactions*
- "Tawny, the fictional one, is One Punch Man lolololol" => look it up to get the reference
- "Stan Shirley (Jackson) -- the ghost" => Shirley quickly became one of my favorite characters
- & "Damn. Rhonda goes right for the kill" => my reaction to her badassery

My Review: As a big fan of Frankenstein, I of course had to read this one. I have to admit that this was not at all what I was expecting but that made it all the better. I loved the modern day setting but with the unique paranormal twist. This is also a great YA book as it speaks to the coming of age and family expectation tropes. I loved the paranormal and fantastical characters that we meet along the way. The color tones and illustration style also lent to the darker style of the story, it worked so well. I really hope that this becomes a series and we get more graphic novels in the future.

My Rating: I really enjoyed this graphic novel, it was a unique use of Mary Shelley's life and story (she doesn't actually have a great-great-great-great-great granddaugther, at least according to all my research). I loved the paranormal twist and the quirky side characters that are added to the story. I look forward to more and give this one a rating of Four Paws and a Stump Wag!

In this graphic novel, we follow Mary Shelley. Not the one who invented science fiction. But, her great-great-great-great-great granddaughter who is also named Mary Shelley.

Mary is [mostly] a typical girl who is in high school. But then some strange things start to happen. Like harpies showing up to her treehouse with a giant egg. Shirley Jackson’s ghost inhabiting the body of Mary’s stuffed rabbit. The frog that Mary is supposed to dissect for school is maybe somewhat alive again. Plus, there’s a nice, cute boy named Adam who maybe is mostly made of body parts from dead people. You know, less typical for a girl in high school.

It’s a fun science fiction adventure as Mary realizes she has the power to heal monsters. But does she really want to? I also really liked her best friend in this. I would definitely recommend this to middle schoolers and high schoolers who are interested in science fiction. Also, I’d definitely check out a sequel if they made one.

Grab this book.

Would like to thank Netgalley.co.uk who provided me with an ARC of this story in return for an honest review.

This graphic novel? Wow. Firstly I am a die hard fan of Mary Shelley, so when I saw this text I leapt at it with dear life.

The story follows a descendent of Shelley’s is who is unexpectedly plagued by monsters and ghosts in need of her help.

First of all the concept HAD ME. The storyline is something so unique and almost Tim Burton in representation.

I would highly recommend this to all the goths, nerds and classic lit fans- but also to anyone who loves great illustration. The pictorial additions to this tale are stunning- everything from pallet choices to styling.

However, one things that let me down slightly was the lack of dialogue and focus on the monster/ghost character additions to the story. I wanted to know more of them. This was literally only a minor blip in my view though.

4 stars, a great read!

I loved this book. As the first book i chose on Netgalley, 'Mary' by Bea Grant and Yishan Li was the perfect choice.

The book follows the life of Mary Shelley, the great great great great great granddaughter of Mary Shelley. It shows the trouble Mary goes through, with monsters, demons and dealing with a family of famous authors. You know, like a normal teenager!

I actually really liked this book, Mary is an incredibly relatable main character who i liked and related to what she was worrying about. The side characters were written nicely and all the characters clicked together nicely.

But there are some downfalls. It's not a very long book and i felt the ending was a bit rushed. There was no climatic ending, almost the opposite, but i still appreciated the ending because it left the ending open.

I'm hoping there will be a sequel in the future because i need some more scenes of Adam, the cutest boiii ever, and Mary. Those two were so cute!!!

I would highly recommend this book to any reader whose wanting a small fantasy book with a dash of romance.

Such a quick and fun reimagining of Mary Shelley! Even though this was a short graphic novel, the characters really jump from the pages and I hope more is to come!

I don’t know if you are familiar, but I’m obsessed with the podcast, Reading Glasses, hosted by author/actress/director Brea Grant and author/producer/filmmaker Mallory O’Meara, and when I heard Brea had written a comic about Mary Shelley’s great-great-great-great-great granddaughter, I didn’t need to know more. I hit that request button so fast!

I am happy to report that I was not disappointed, however, I do need more. And I need it soon. Mary isn’t like the rest of her family. She doesn’t believe in destiny, and she doesn’t want to be a writer just like every woman in her family all the way back to Mary Shelley. When a high school frog dissection goes weird, Mary discovers she has an even greater power. She can communicate with/help supernatural beings. So begins the adventure of Mary as she discovers her powers, flirts with a cute (dead?) guy, and helps a harpy protect a 200+ year old egg.

I loved everything about this graphic novel. The story. The characters. The art. I really hope this series continues, because now that the world has been established, there are endless possibilities for supernatural adventures, and Mary still has a lot to learn about her powers, and the real history of the Shelley women.

This one is out on October 6th. Perfect timing for all the spookiness of Halloween month. It’s an indie publisher, so make sure to support indie and purchase from your fav local bookstore, or request it through your local library.

Thank you to Netgalley and Six Foot Press for sending me an ARC!

I'm never really in awe with graphic novels and this one was no different. I must say the art style was quite nice and pleasing to they eye. I am guessing this is going to be a series and that's why we didn't really get to understand the lore of the story but it kept me wanting more than I got. There are many unanswered questions and random pieces of lore thrown in at weird places. This story is fast-paced, which is usually good, but in this case, it made me feel lost. Many things are just thrown at you. It also seems like the setting of this story isn't fleshed out enough. I would just want a little more from it. In summary, while it was just okay, it left me with more questions than answers.

This graphic novel follows a descendent of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Mary is an angsty teenager who doesn’t want to follow in the family tradition of becoming an author. However, she finds out she shares another characteristic with her ancestor, the power to heal monsters.

I was really intrigued by this graphic novel; after all, Mary Shelley is endlessly fascinating! However, if you are a big Shelley fan, don't go into this with too much expectation. Its not about Mary Shelley, and that's kind of the whole point!

My favourite part of this graphic novel was the humour of it. It does not take itself seriously at all and there are so many silly moments, as well as instances of more sophisticated wit.

The art style is a conventional comic which the author describes as "gothic, a littlethrowback to the '90s, and then an Asian influence as well". I usually prefer a softer style with a lighter colour palette, but that's all just personal preference.

The one thing I found quite jarring about this graphic novel was the pacing. I think it could have done with being a tad longer. It was like we were only just getting a sense for the story before it ended. However I get the sense that this will be developed into a series, and if so then I think it has the potential to work out the pacing.

This graphic novel is classed as young adult, and is definitely ideal for the young side of YA, particularly for kids that are going through a period of angst.

Ultimately, I don't think I was the demographic for this graphic novel, but I still had a lot of fun reading it, and I will be recommending it to some younger family members.