I've always enjoyed seeing Julia's cartoons on the internet, so it was super cool to see them all condensed here, covering a year of her life. This collection of comics captures so many things at once. It captures a piece of Julia's life and the mundane day-to-day joys and frustrations she faces, it captures her experience as a trans woman, it captures heartbreak and the chaos of the dating scene, and it also documents her year in a way that unfurls each day upon the next. I really enjoyed getting to watch Julia evolve literally page by page, dealing with breakups and moving and so many different changes. This is a life in transition, not just regarding Julia's trans identity, but it's also quite literally capturing a year in motion for the life of a woman caught between new loves and old loves, new and old places, new and old relationships, and so on. It's a testament to queer and trans joy and a testament to change, in every way.

*I received an advance copy from Netgalley*

I'm a little biased because I have followed Julia (the author/illustrator) for years on instagram and adore her. I really loved this collection of autobiographical comics about love, loss, healing, and transition. They feel intensely personal and relatable at the same time. She manages to capture so much emotion and nuance into these three panel comics. I was really impressed touched and want to buy a physical copy when it comes out.

I received an electronic ARC from Andrews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley.
Kaye brings readers into her continued journey to discover who she is and who she wants to be. Her artwork and humor offer a first hand look at the gamut of emotions she feels during this process. The detailed character expressions are wonderful. Readers can infer so much from the facial and body expressions. Looking forward to her next book.

I feel like the format for this just isn't right, it's a lot of obvservational humor diary style comic strips, and I feel like this would work better as a sort of through-narrative like Fun Home. Or maybe it isn't the best format to read a lot of comic strips all at once... I figure some of these were originally posted online which would be a superior format but I'm glad the author is making money for them. Maybe part of my hesitancy on these is the format of a comic strip immediately says "funny" and a lot of these aren't outwardly funny.

I liked this book and I appreciate that the publisher put out this comic because stories like these are so important for others to see and read They allow people who identify similarly and others to see themselves in the author's journey and find comfort in it as well and also to learn about a new perspective. The story is told in little comics that serve as journal entries which helps the reader see this period in the authors life, however I think for me this was a little hard to follow/enjoy at times because some things are introduced and never brought up again while other subjects are often touched upon.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this graphic novel!

Rating: 4.5 stars

I absolutely adored “Super Late Bloomer” by this author, so when I saw “My Life in Transition” to read on NetGalley I instantly hit download and read it in one sitting.

I loved the overall format, where each page is a day in the author's life over the course of 6 months.

Overall, I highly recommend this to anyone looking for more queer and/or non-fiction comics. I can’t wait to read more by Julia Kaye!

This book is written in comic strips. It was very interesting to see the progression throughout a long period of time of someone who is transitioning. I especially liked how the relationships and way of thinking changed. The author is very brave for putting their thoughts out.

This was a great slice-of-life cartoon compilation, and I certainly appreciated how much range Julia Kaye captured in this volume, from joy to misery to more ambiguous emotions. The premise (drawing a cartoon a day for 6 months) is immediately engaging, and this is a great complement to her first volume.

There was a lot for me, as a cismale, to consider and think about in this book. It was funny and heartfelt. What I liked most about it is that the comics made clear that trans people are people. They have thoughts and emotions that are, in some ways, not so different than anyone else. They are not some scary "other." All this made without bashing the readers over the head. I enjoyed this book.

This is a wonderful and honest comic strip depicting 6 months in the life of the author/artist, a trans woman. It will be relatable for those who have transitioned or are thinking of it, but it's also relatable just as a human dealing with insecurities, breakups, grief, toxic family members, friendships, etc. It is not a funny comic strip but it's an ultimately hopeful, poignant, interesting and impactful one. Highly recommended.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book via Net Galley for review.

A cute and genuinely fun life comic, still dealing with heavier themes of family and relationships, all in the midst of transitioning. The found family moments alleviated the heavier parts; the stress inducing aspects of dating and recent heartbreak, and the anxiety of less than accepting family. A very vulnerable comic.

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley from Andrews McMeel Publishing. This 2nd volume in Julia Kaye’s journey really hit its stride. This volume focuses on a specific 6 month period of dated graphic strips of her life during transition. There are ups, downs, anxiety, romance and so much more. She does a nice foreword, epilogue and afterword, which makes joining her journey deeply personal and not just about the day to day of this time period. I thank her for putting her life so fully on the page.

My Life in Transition
Author/Cartoonist: Julia Kaye
Genre: Collection of webtoons
Pages: 167
Publication Date: 2/16/2021

This collection is written and drawn by Julia Kaye and describes Julia’s experiences after she transitioned. It focuses on her life after the early days of her transition and covers topics such as break-ups, mental health, dating, and friendship. The collection covers a six-month period from December 2018 to June 2019.

What I liked:
*I love that this collection focuses on life after the transition. When trans people are depicted in media, the focus is often on their transition and the early days. This collection allows us to see some of Julia’s authentic experiences of what her “new normal” is going to be.
*The art style reminds me of the Sunday funnies. It is easy to read and very cute.
*I really enjoyed the chronological nature of this collection showing us small victories and setbacks for Julia.
*I liked that this comic depicted the complexity of gender after the transition. The societal influences do not disappear after someone transitions but continue to impact how they see themselves, how others see them and who they attracted to.
*The afterword was *powerful* talking about regret. As someone who came to her queerness later in life, I have grabbled with this. I really hope the author explores this theme in future comics as it is powerful!

What I didn’t like:
*The cover was very hard to read due to the lack of contrast. I had to enlarge the cover to be able to read the title and see the art. The cover also did not draw me in as I scrolled by it several times before reading the description.
*At times, I felt like the narrative did not fit the three-panel cartoon. Subsequently, some of the third panels were filler or platitudes that did not feel authentic.
*The story arc about Julia’s relationship with Liv felt abrupt. In several comics, we are shown how happy they are and then they break-up with little explanation. As the reader, I was unclear why they broke-up. Julia talks about how they just were not a good fit, but it would have been better to see that lack of a fit depicted in comics before their break-up or in flashbacks.

I would highly recommend this collection of webtoons. The artwork is cute and will remind you of the warm feelings you had reading the Sunday funnies as a kid while the narrative is powerful depiction of life after transition. It is a quick and thoughtful read.

Love this book and this author! I found this artist through Instagram a few years ago, and was so excited to see this book! I love every page. It’s so nice to have narrative of the transition process, it’s honest and really what stories should be getting told right now.

More than anything, I appreciate Julia Kaye for taking the time to document these parts of her life. Many people often only see the beginning stages of transition or the focus ON transition and Kaye takes the opportunity to allow people to explore life beyond just that singular detail while acknowledging that being trans is often a major part of identity and self.

The comics are short and fun to read and I feel that, even if someone is not trans, they would find themselves able to relate to many of Kaye's experiences with dating, breakups, family struggles, and more. As a queer person, the added layer of familiarity compared to my own life was a touch of homecoming, recognizing that there are others who experience similar things as I do too.

My Life in Transition: A Super Late Bloomer Collection
eARC Netgalley Review

I loved this collection of comics by Julia Kaye. As a whole, it was endearing and powerful in its simplicity. Julia's story is very different from my own yet I still found myself relating to her.

Spanning over the course of six months, Julia drew a comic a day. It's a collection of moments, big and small, three years after she began her transition. Some days were devastating and others had me laughing out loud.

For anyone who enjoys reading stories told in comic form -- this is a must read. I would love to own a physical copy once published. I’m also about to go buy her first collection now too!

Have you ever been so lucky to find yourself a new favorite author? I feel like 2020 is just filled with amazing gems that I’m utterly grateful.

This is the second graphic novel I read by the author and I totally love the way she draws her daily life, since I think we all can relate to funny, wholehearted moments with friends, as well as the loss and grief of someone loved, perhaps you don’t know what are you doing with your life, but that’s OK. The beauty of life is that nobody really knows what the future would hold and pretending to have it all figured it all is more painful than not. We have both good and bad moments, and we should cherish them all. Life should not be taken for granted and we all should make the effort to live the way we really want to.

Anyway, Julia takes us into her private life and she show us her doubts and struggles with dating, or the exciting feeling of meeting new people. She lets us know she has the best friends as well as the important moments of solitude: those we need to heal from past relationships and maybe, even learn how to take care and forgive oneself.

I seriously loved every single page and it made me chuckle the same way it made me realize that perhaps we don’t see big changes from day to day life, but after six months, a year or more, we surely change –hopefully into someone better, kinder.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Life in Transition follows right on the steps of Julia Kaye’s previous book Super Late Bloomer. In this book we get the same type of humour, sadness, and raw honesty which made its predecessor so enjoyable. This time we get a little less transitioning experiences and more romance / friendship feelings. I think this made the book more relatable than its predecessor, but also less enlightening, as in, it didn’t teach me as much about the life in transition experience. But overall even though they have a slightly different focus I loved both books equally. If you enjoyed the first one I highly recommend to pick this one up too.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for giving me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

In many ways, this was a quick read because each page is a 3 panel comic, but this is a book that feels like it's one the reader can return to again and again. While there are some everyday parts of her life that she depicts, there is also a huge range of deep emotions that readers are taken on as well: joy, pain, recovery, uncertainty, healing.

While there are parts of her story that I cannot fully relate to because I'm cis gendered, there were also many emotions that I could relate to in my own way. And that reminder that even though our experiences are different, we are all still so human and all feel many similar emotions throughout our lives is beautiful and powerful.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone would enjoys stories about real people going through life, but especially for anyone who is transgender to be reaffirmed that you aren't alone on your path to expressing who you are more authentically to the world.

I haven’t read any of this author‘s previous works, but knowing any other of Julia‘s comics wasn’t necessary to understand this book.
First things first. The art style: I didn’t love it, but that’s just my personal subjective opinion.
Secondly the plot. Since the comic tells the author‘s personal experiences it’s difficult to review it. It was incredibly interesting to get insights into the experiences of someone who is transgender. Some of the incidents mentioned were almost painful to read because I really felt for Julia.
Sometimes the change of scenes felt rather abrupt though. For example we‘d get to see a scene where the author has a really hurtful experience, and the next scene would be about having fun watching tv with some friends. I would’ve preferred a little more depth in these moments.
Parts of the book we’re also a little repetitive.
Overall this was an interesting read, but flawed based on the autobiographical nature of the comic.