WOW I loved this. I’ve been looking forward to SQUAD for ages, and it lived up to expectations and then some. Gorgeous, evocative art and a tight plot with rich themes. Not a false note in the whole book. I can’t wait to share this with everyone.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for letting me read an ARC of this title. #Squad #NetGalley

This one really surprised me!

Becca is a new student transferring from LA to a rich neighbor and she’s instantly embraced by the Squad, a group of popular girls who she doesn’t quite understand why they chose her but eventually learns they’re werewolves looking for a fourth in their pack. Soon they’re eating boys, howling every month, and going to parties. But when a mistake crashes everything down around her Becca suddenly doesn’t know what to do.

All she wanted was friends.

Now she’s in the middle of a nightmare.

Very on topic, funny, sweet at times, and the art is gorgeous! Will definitely be looking for more from the author and the artist!

SPOILERS!!!







Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review
While I am a firm believer in female empowerment and taking down the patriarchy, this book went about those values in the entirely wrong way.
First, the black character in this book was constantly sidelined and silenced…hard stop. Friends don’t treat each other that way.
Second, the “popular” girls were horrible to everyone, including each other. Body/fat shaming their “friend” (who was a size 4 BTW!), and saying she wasn’t good enough the way she was.
Third, the parent in this book being excited about underage drinking and encouraging it because she wanted her daughter to “fit in”..??!! Nah. Just…..no.
.
I liked in the end that the mother was kind, and understanding when her daughter came out.
I was all for the girls eating the scumbags who didn’t take no for an answer lol.
It simply seemed like theirs GN had all the potential to be AWESOME, and it fell very short for me… :(

This took girl high school clique to a new level, WEREWOLVES, and I loved reading every moment of it. Plus I loved how it started with Marley and Becca and ended with them together. Can we get another?

Girls turning into werewolves and getting revenge on sexual predators? Sign me the f*** up! Sharpen your claws, readers, because this one’s not for the weak of heart. As a premise, Squad definitely hooks you from the first sentence.
The inside of the graphic novel holds up the promise of the premise. It’s a fast-paced story following Becca, the new girl at school, who finds herself drawn into the popular girls clique at school who are, unbeknownst to her, actual werewolves. When an unfortunate encounter with a pushy guy leads to Becca learning the truth about her new friends and being invited into the pack, the fun begins. Full moon after full moon, the girls take revenge on sexual predators and toxic men. But when lines begin to blur between those who deserve their fatal fate and boys solely being in the wrong place at the wrong time, things take a complicated turn for Becca and her friends.
Squad is an incredibly fast-paced read. There isn’t ever a lull and you’re in Becca’s head right from the start. As she gets to know the girls and their secrets, Becca herself also changes. I liked that we got to see her choosing her friends and power over remaining voiceless and even the moral struggle she felt compelled to ignore in favor of doing what her friends told her to – it really spoke to the “pack mentality” we so often get to hear about.
Fans of revenge stories will also get their pound of flesh (pun very much intended) while reading Squad. It’s definitely satisfying to see the bad guys getting what they deserve and in that aspect, it really reminded me of another sapphic read of this year, Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin. I think that this will make lovers of that genre howl like a wolf in support at least once while reading.
Really, the only thing I just didn’t mesh with was the dynamic of the ‘squad’. The ‘friendship’ between the four girls is reminiscent of the friendships in early Gossip Girl years. There are a lot of side comments and micro-aggressions that remain unchallenged throughout the story. Especially when it comes to commentary concerning food intake, unhealthy dieting and sizes as well as some racist remarks, I would have wished for them to either be at least addressed by the characters or simply acknowledged as wrong. Really, that reminded me of ‘older’ plots and friend groups in television and literature that were harmful rather than uplifting, and hardly ever challenged. It’s hard to be sympathetic of the very girls that tear each other down with seemingly off-hand comments. Still, I did enjoy flying through this graphic novel. If you’re in need of a fast-paced palate cleanser, then this definitely is the read for you this fall.
With stunning artwork, color palettes reminiscent of Heathers and Mean Girls and a fast-paced narrative that makes the pages fly by, Squad is the perfect read for fans of revenge stories, unapologetic girl power and anyone who ever wanted to bite back!

This was such a fun romp! Part campy teen horror, part feminist queer twist on cliques. I'm sort of obsessed with the vibe of this book, and I enjoyed my time with it. The ending wasn't my absolute favorite, but otherwise, I can't wait to promote this when it's released.

This graphic novel had me intrigued right from the start. Right away I was getting heathers/mean girls vibes with cliquey popular high school girls taking in a new girl to their group. I loved the idea of this book, popular girls clique who are secretly werewolves who go after and get revenge on sexual predators and toxic men. It was a fairly fast paced story and I liked that it never felt like there was a lull and the whole story flowed nicely together. The illustrations in the story were gorgeous. The colours used and the character art kind of gave me retro vibes which I really liked. I thought the illustrations fit the story extremely well. I honestly think I loved the illustrations alone just as much as I liked the story altogether.
I would’ve liked to see more development on the relationship between Becca and Marley, but knowing that was not the main focus for the story it was understandable that there wasn’t too much detail. I did also noticed that there was some micro-aggression towards the POC character, especially towards the beginning, that went unmentioned and unchallenged which I didn’t love. I like seeing those type of things talked about instead of being looked over even if it’s not a main part of the story.
Overall I did enjoy the book quite a bit. It was a really neat concept and story with gorgeous illustrations. I loved Marley and Becca as characters and would love to see more of them in the future if that was something that could happen.

The worst thing about transferring to a new high school? Fitting in. But right away, loner Becca is adopted by the most popular girls in the school! At first glance, things are pretty great…until Becca is almost attacked by a boy at a party one night, and discovers her friends have some secrets of their own. Inducted into this unique club, Becca is lured in by the idea of teaching awful boys a lesson—because it’s either eat or be hungry, and Becca cannot be hungry. Then things start to get complicated when the wrong boy is killed…

Okay. So what if Mean Girls was making out with Pretty Little Liars and then Teen Wolf came along and bit the living shit out of them and then it was the full moon and now they all have to eat human flesh once a month? And then Heathers waltzed in and brained everyone with a croquet club?

Then you’d get Squad.

This was fantastic.

I loved the artwork.

I loved the characters.

I loved the bloody amoral juiciness of the squad and the girls and Becca going along with it because she wanted to belong so badly. And I love that in the middle of all the gory flesheating and hunting was a delightful coming-out story.

I don’t want to reveal too much more, because this was just too much fun (and honestly it’s not really that twisty or deep, but while there’s nothing too earthshattering or new, it just a fun, bloody romp) and the perfect kick off to a spoopy October. Which is great, because this releases October 5th.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Squad releases October 5th, 2021, from Greenwillow Books.

This was a killer read! The pace kept a steady, fast clip. The art was gorgeous. The gore wasn't over the top but wasn't shy about blood either. The characters were great, and the comic as a whole was a lot of fun. Highly recommended for fans of werewolves, the movie Mean Girls, and everyone in between!

I LOVED this graphic novel. It was dark, relatable, and incredibly timely. The artwork was fantastic - bright colors, great design, expressive. I knew the artwork would be fantastic though, because Lisa Sterle is the illustrator and she's the artist behind Witchblood and my favorite artist-designed tarot deck - The Modern Witch Tarot Deck. This graphic novel comes out in October, so it's being released at the perfect time - SPOOKY SEASON! Check this graphic novel out ASAP!

I loved everything about the description of this book -- teenage girls who change into werewolves and eat rapey boys?!? HELLO. YES, PLEASE. I love stories about girls having power and wreaking vengeance, and I was hoping for a werewolf teenage girl version of They Never Learn, with unapologetic wrath and zero morality.

Alas, this story followed the unfortunate, predictable arc of new girl comes to town and makes friends with a bunch of mean girls and the mean girls act mean to each other and everyone else until whoops! something really bad happens because Someone Went Too Far and they might get in real trouble so cue the crisis of conscience, and .... The End. AAAAAAGH.

The illustration style was very cool, and I loved the premise, but really, really wish things had gone differently story-wise.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The art was great, and the premise was interesting. However, I don't think it was fleshed out enough. It felt like the story had just gotten started as it ended. The relationship seemed to come out of nowhere and was not, again, fleshed out enough to merit the character's actions. I did not the main character enough to be invested in her story nor was she developed enough to make me care about her struggle or motivations. I could see this book appealing to people who want to read about "mean girls", but they were mean in the wrong way. I am all for toxic boys getting taught a lesson, but it was hard to be in support of it when the girls were also pretty terrible. In summary, I think the idea was solid (the art was great), but it didn't pay off.

I have mixed feelings about this. This is Mean Girls meets Teen Wolf and the story is interesting, but it wasn't as satisfying as I expected. I wish this would've been longer so the story and the romance could have more development. The group of main characters is racially diverse and there's sapphic representation, but the Black character is always angry and sidelined in favor of the other characters. I enjoyed it, but I like the concept more than the execution.

I enjoyed this graphic novel, but I wanted a little more of the werewolves. The squad (very much a Mean Girls - like group) also only attacks/eats pushy guys at parties far from them. (Content warnings for unwanted advances and underage drinking). It's a fun book to read in the Fall.

Squad was a very good read. Fans of Mean Girls and Teen Wolf will love this. The thing that originally drew me to Squad was the artwork and I was not disappointed. Throughout the entire novel it was consistently good. The plot was interesting and I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. All around, I would recommend this.

Squad gave me Heathers vibes hard core- but with a twist. Werewolves. The new girl in town and the popular girls have set their sights on her.

This was ok. It's really about what you'd expect. Girl drama with a supernatural alpha twist. It's entertaining, it's fun. The youths will read it and enjoy it. The not-youths will read it and enjoy it. It's good, but it's nothing new.

I had mixed feelings about this one! It's got a set of main characters where rooting for any of them makes you feel a little guilty. As a story about navigating the misogynist structure and ever-present gendered danger of a lot of spaces in our world, and as a metaphor for certain kinds of adolescent friendships, I found it really compelling, but taking the story at face value I kept being like, am I supposed to like or approve of this main character? ...are these the baddies?! Are these people not all extremely truamatized?! The characters, while "friends", are generally pretty cruel to each other and in some cases racist and homophobic, and they're never really called out on that. It's also hard to square the anti-patriarchy stuff with all the internalized misogyny they demonstrate. There are things I'm guessing we're meant to interpret as overall signs of change and growth, so as an allegory of young women learning and becoming better people with healthier relationships it works, but overthinking it is my downfall.

This was so close to being a five-star read from me!!!

Squad, written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle, is a queer, paranormal graphic novel that follows Becca, a new transfer to Piedmont High, an elite high school in a San Francisco suburb. to her surprise, she finds herself almost immediately accepted by the most popular girls in school, but little did she know that her new group of friends are also werewolves who prey on male predators who take advantage of girls. Becca accepts their invitation to become a werewolf herself, feeling like she finally belongs somewhere.

"We don't let boys hurt us. We hurt boys. Only boys. The WORST ones."

I finished this book in one sitting. While initially drawn by the cover, I wasn't quite expecting to enjoy the book as much as I did. In general, Squad features great writing, great characters, and amazing artwork. My only complaint? It was too short.

Becca's new friend and her interactions with them reminded me strongly of the Plastics in Mean Girls, shopping trip included. Arianna was definitely Regina while Marley and Mandy were Karen and Gretchen, respectively. However, I did enjoy that this was a more diverse group of girls than those in Mean Girls, and they seemed to actually be closer friends despite the innate power dynamics of their pack. Becca's newcomer status also reminded me of Cady Heron. So, think Mean Girls but add werewolves and predator hunting.

I thought the plot was unique and fit the setting very well. The novel was very fast-paced; however, in my opinion, there wasn't enough time to develop the main conflict in the book. I would have liked this to be either a series or to have more pages in order to have the space to see more of the pack's struggles with each other and outsiders as they're about to be found out. I felt everything was resolved a bit too quickly.

One of the main points of the book was Sterle's exquisite artwork. Sterle did a great job with the character's facial and body expressions, helping us get to know the characters better. The art features vibrant coloring, which reminded me a lot of the colors in Paper Girls.

The book includes discussions on class, body image, feminism, and otherness.

CW: body shaming, violence, sexual assault

Maggie Tokuda-Hall gives her readers an epic, supernatural adventure in Squad. Illustrated by Lisa Sterle, the graphic novel follows Becca, a junior just transferring to a new school. Immediately ingratiating herself to Marley—one of the most popular girls in school via tampon, Becca is drawn into her inner circle.

Marley, Ariana and Amanda are the who’s who in Piedmont. Ariana is clearly the alpha of the group and no that isn’t just some weird hyperbole. SURPRISE, Becca’s new besties are werewolves! They go after predatory boys—the ones who lure girls away from parties with the ol’ “wanna see something cool?” No, Chad, we do not want to see your dick so put that shit away.

After becoming a werewolf herself, Becca finds acceptance in a way she’d never felt before. They just went around killing and eating dudes who didn’t take “no” as an answer. The dream, tbh. But Ariana’s rules begin to get a little muddy when they start going for guys who are not objectively the worst. When Becca accidentally murders Ariana’s boyfriend, the FBI gets involved and everything turns to shit.

My god. I read comics and graphic novels quite a bit and Squad held up with some of my favorites. The concept that a group of popular girls happen to be werewolves is great. I loved that you could see each of their internal struggles the farther along the story got. Amanda very clearly is not about the ambiguity Ariana essentially forces on them as their alpha. Going after homeless men was a line that Amanda was not ready to cross.

I had a blast. The art style is great; the plot was great; the lesbians were great; go hunt some predatory assholes and howl at the moon.