I'M SOOOOO SAD!!!

I was sooo excited to read this but it wasn't available to send as a kindle download and my appstore doesn't have netgalley shelf.

Even though I wasn't able to read it, it looked super good and one of you with netgalley shelf should read it for my sake at least, haha

I'm guessing I would rate this five out of five stars though :)

The Spy Who Raised Me, is a graphic novel about a normal girl, finding out she's a secretly programmed super spy. She never remembers anything about the missions she goes on with her mother, and when three hours are missing out of her regular day, she starts to get suspicious of her 'normal' family. I enjoyed this book, I thought the artistic style was super enjoyable, and the humor of the book was really creative in the ways it made you laugh. I thought the pacing was a bit off at times, and it rushed through bits that I would have loved to see it explore more. Overall though, I thought it was an enjoyable read, and helped me get out of a reading slump I have been stuck in for a while.

Thank you to the publishers for the gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The story seemed very promising but it just didn't deliver for me. I thought there would be a bit more substance to it. It was a quick read I just wish there had been more to it and that I'd enjoyed it more.

"The Spy Who Raised Me" is an amazing concept and a similarly fantastic title. This is a great novel for teens who want a fast-paced story to quickly read and get a sense of accomplishment in finishing a book. Some readers need a confidence boost or quick escapism read, and this graphic novel is perfect for this type of reader goals.

This spy novel does have some violence, of course, but nothing totally gruesome or gritty -- no objectionable content in that regard. No romantic relationships. This story explores friendship and family relationships. I thought that this was going on a totally Jason Bourne story line, but there was a twist that send this story down a different direction, which I appreciated.

The author did a good job of developing the villain's character. For kids who legitimately have terribly controlling parents, I would have liked to see this story delve a little deeper into the emotions that come along with betrayal. I think letting the character feel all the feels would have brought in the much needed "heart" layer to this story, and it would also provide a way for readers in these hard situations to process their emotions along with the character. There were also a few plot holes and elements/relationships that were not wrapped up,

However, even without this deeper layer and some of the jumpiness in the plot, the story is still a fun, fast read.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the review copy.

Sometimes I read books or graphic novels where I'm more in love with the concept or the potential of the thing I'm reading than I am with the actual thing I'm reading. The entire time I was reading The Spy Who Raised Me, I kept thinking, 'I wish there was more here.' And I don't mean that in a negative way. The Spy Who Raised Me is a perfectly good middle grade (or maybe on the younger end of YA) graphic novel, but its concept was far more interesting to me than anything that was actually on the page.

In The Spy Who Raised Me, Josie Black is your average teen girl who discovers that she actually has secret spy abilities and has been trained by her mother and a secret agency to be a spy without her knowledge. This is serious Black Widow Natasha Romanoff back story stuff, and the story suffers (in my mind) by not giving it enough weight. Josie seems mad and hurt by what her mother has done, sure, but the plot shifts too quickly into action, solve-the-mystery territory to actually deal with any kind of trauma. And because this is a middle grade graphic novel, maybe it would never just go there anywhere. And to me, that feels like a missed opportunity. Basically, I just wish The Spy Who Raised Me was actually a three book YA or adult series and not a graphic novel that barely clocks at 175 pages because I want more of it all.

I did enjoy Gianna Meola's artwork, though I absolutely despised the lettering. Maybe that will change before publication, which I hope because the lettering is ugly and does not really fit the tone of the story.

So should you read The Spy Who Raised Me? Yes, absolutely! I think younger readers will like it a lot. I am definitely not the target audience for this, and I fully admit that. I think I really want a Black Widow or Black Widow-esque spy origin story series, and someone should work on writing that for me. Also, though, I'd take a sequel to The Spy Who Raised Me because I feel like there's more story left here.

2 1/2 stars. This story is most teenagers’ worst nightmare with some excellent side benefits. Teenagers think their parents are trying to control and here Josie finds out it really is true. But the plus side, if any, she speaks 12 languages and has awesome skills.

The storyline is entertaining but the drawings weren’t as good as I would like and the color palette did not complement the images.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Some interesting ideas and characters, but as a whole the story felt disjointed and rushed. I imagine some young readers will appreciate the twists and reveals.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review*

I remember when I read Swamp Thing: Twin Branches I said that the art was horrifyingly ugly, but I’d clearly never seen this before. This art makes the Swamp Thing: Twin Branches art look like the Mona Lisa.

I want to gouge my eyes out. This is the embodiment of hideous. Honestly, stick-men would’ve been an improvement from this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re going to make a graphic novel at least make sure the art is somewhat good. If not, then make sure the storyline is top notch, which in this case it was so far from that it’s actually laughable. The storyline was an incoherent and repetitive mess. Not to mention super lame.

It’s a shame, really, because the premise was alright and the first 50 or so pages were okay plot-wise. If only this was written in a different medium like a book, had a change in storyline, had more dynamic characters, oh, and a completely new writer. That’s right, just change everything except for the bare bones of the story and then you’d have something that’s not as rubbish as this, and considering just how rubbish this was, the bar is extremely low in terms of what is better than this!

This turned out to be such a fun read.
Josie thinks she's average until she discovers that her mom has spent her whole life brainwashing her into being the best secret agent ever. The discovery sets off a series of events that show Josie that she's better than she ever thought and that all she needs is to take control of her life.
The art is sketchy, dynamic, and somewhat wonky at times, but it works perfectly with the story.
It's definitely something I would recommend for younger readers to enjoy.

Manny happy thanks to NetGalley and Graphic Universe for the early read.

This graphic novel follows a girl named Josie Black, who finds out she's being mind controlled by her mom, and decides that she's gonna ruin her mom and the institute she's affiliated with.

The premise of the book is really good, and this book deals with some really dark topics, like parental abuse and emotional abuse. But it doesn't feel heavy, but really lighthearted. The story is really refreshing, and overall, very fun. I do think that some themes could've been explored further.

The art style was my favorite thing about this graphic novel. It was simple, and I loved that they stuck to a theme in colouring instead of incorporating all colours. The colouring really matched the tone of the book, and created a very pleasant effect while reading. The drawings were really simple, but that just made the story stand out more.

I was really disappointed in the ending. It was open-ended, which left it open to interpretation but because of the abruptness of the ending, there wasn't much scope for interpretation as well.

Overall, if you're looking for a light and fun book, that you want to finish in one sitting, go for this. I'd rate it a 3/5 stars.

Though the topic was a little far-fetched this was still a fun read that shows how you can take control of your own life. This is one that will have many young readers entertained and wanting to be a spy.

↠ | two stars

um. what the f*** was that?

this was ... not good. if it wasn’t a graphic novel, if it wasn’t something i could finish in an hour, i wouldn’t have finished this. i would’ve stopped around page twenty. minor spoilers will be included because there is absolutely no way for me to get around them.

when you first begin this, it is extremely mundane. then, randomly, it picks up and throws you into this extremely fucked up story. let me preface this by saying i love spy stories and all of the negative trauma that comes along with it. however, this... this was something else. mainly because a child was involved.

our main character (JB? i don’t even remember...), discovers her mother enrolled her into a spy program and has literally controlled every aspect of her life since she was born. that is the main issue i have with this story. this type of abuse made out to be a light hearted subject. on top of that, this was far too fast paced. once you were thrown in, you got whip lash every few pages because something else happened. this took place over the course of... two days? three at most? in that time, this child literally solved a case the CIA couldn’t. it was far too convenient and far too easy.

this lacked details and explanations that would have only enhanced the story—not that i’d want to subject myself to something longer, but adding just a few more pages could have benefited the reader’s understanding of this mess. i think this would have also been benefited from being written as a novel. again, i definitely wouldn’t want to subject myself to it, but i believe it would have more potential to be executed better especially because the art wasn’t that fantastic and the color palette was mediocre.

overall, this was a rapid paced story of glorified child abuse. the authors could have done this exact same story without allowing the mother to abuse her daughter for years. it didn’t have to be like this. it could have been far more enjoyable. it wasn’t an awful read given the fact it took about an hour to finish and it was mainly pictures, but i can assure you, you can skip this. please, skip this. you don’t even need to bother with a summary.

NOTE:thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this graphic novel. this in no way impacts my decisions. all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This graphic novel follows Josie Black, a girl who has unknowingly been trained by her mother to be the ultimate spy. When Josie realizes that she’s been being used by her mother all this time, she runs away and, with the help of her best friend, tries to find a way to defeat her mother and gain total self-autonomy.

I thought that this was a pretty good, light read. It had the potential to really explore abusive parenting and the weight of parent’s expectations on children, but it regally just skimmed the surface. If you want something quick to read, this could be your answer.

Hey, I like spy stuff! Tends to be the more morose Le Carre kind, but I'm in for a good adventure.

This book falls in the crack between the two styles. Josie, a young girl, finds out that her mother is a spy, and was forced by the CIA to have her daughter brainwashed and reprogrammed. She has been using her daughter in all kinds of espionage capers, Josie's memory getting wiped right after. This has led to her mother gaslighting Josie about all the holes in her memory.

I think this is pretty horrific. Josie basically finds out that her identity, and her past are fabricated. Who knows what is real? And not only that, her own mother had a large part in this. Terrifying.

The book does acknowledge this.. a bit. It also wants it to be the start of a fun YA spy adventure. And I just had a real problem getting past the basic horror of the premise.

It doesn't help that the art isn't great. Faces have shifting features, action scenes are bordering on laughable.

In the end I don't know what this is, and I don't think it knows what it wants to be.

This wasn't really my deal! The colors hurt my eyes and I didn't like the illustrations. The story was fun and could have been even better, but I just can't get over the fact that my eyes were not feeling all there with all the reds and oranges. Also, the abusive mom - not my thing.

I received an advanced reader copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange of this honest review.

UGHHHHH. This one is tough to review, without talking about spoilers! The provided description made it sound like something I could get behind, but the concept was poorly executed. I didn’t even enjoy the artwork – the colours were interesting, but I didn’t like how sloppy the faces appeared. 1 star out of 5, I simply did not like this!

J.B. is a pretty great kid, but so messed up. I didn’t like that the mom turns out to be so evil (can’t say to what extent because of spoilers). I also didn’t like who she works for because it makes no logical sense, nor is it clear what the motives behind the special ops J.B. has been forced to do are.

Instead of leaving me satisfied with at least an entertaining read, this left me wanting for more. What even happens to J.B.? What happens to her dad? What happens to her mother and to her mother’s employer? I am confused at this lack of ending, of closure.

The expected publication date for The Spy Who Raised Me is April 6th, 2021.

Many thanks to Lerner Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story wasn't for me unfortunetly, I didn't like it much, the art was not to my liking also.
I'm not an fan of the art in this graphic novel, it was flimsy and the coloring was annoying, and the story was just a regular YA story.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This graphic novel was about a young girl who finds out she was actually a spy who was being controlled. It was an alright read, but not my favourite. It felt very rushed and was confusing at times. I think a younger reader who is interested in spies and cool female main characters would enjoy this graphic novel more than I did. The art style was interesting though!

3 stars *may change
JB has one problem: she's painfully, terribly, boring. That and the fact that her mom is a bit cooky. Okay, a lot cooky. Turns out it runs in the family, which is quite splendid since I almost thought I was going to have to read about this ordinary girl. (I really should read book blurbs before I start them...)
It's not a surprise to anybody that I'm not necessarily the target audience for this book, as immature as I may be. Still, I thought it was a cute enough story to read between classes.
The art style is charming along with a sort of autumn color palette that feels homely. The story was, obviously, written for children. It's paced very quickly and explains everything neatly.
In terms of a children's graphic novel, well, that's what this is. A simple-to-understand comic with nice pictures. The plot itself wasn't anything crazy, although I was taken aback a bit by the mother-daughter dynamic. I'm glad it went in the direction that it did at the end. The mother's actions can only really be compared to child abuse, and I really thought this book would pull one of those annoying turns where the child forgives the parents because "Oh, I was doing what was best for you!" Thank God that didn't happen. Really, it's the bare minimum.
If I was, say, 7 years younger I think I would have really enjoyed this. That being said, I am not 7 years younger. Though I'm sure that to a kid this is a wonderful story.
Thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for providing an arc.

3 stars.

This was a fun graphic novel. But also kinda bad in parts. This is a story essentially about child abuse but written in a funny tone. I also wasn't a huge fan of the color palette used throughout the book, nor was I a fan of the way the characters were drawn in a "human but slightly off" style.

However things i did love? I loved them a lot. There was a lot of good one liners and the plot moved at a consistent place. The little funny plot reveals were cute and adorable. The plot twist about the mom volunteering her up for this came at the right point and the author did a good job at dehumanizing the mom further and further as time went on. Big Sugar being the evil company was very apt.


The ARC of this graphic novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.