I loved this and just burned through it too late one night. This was like Mean Girls and Heathers but diverse and queer. The art was beautiful and the girls in this book made me feel like the kids are going to be alright. It's about belonging and cliques and pressures of teenage years and the pain of self discovery and the push-pull with your parents. Just wonderful.

I've been a fan of the girl pack/werewolf trope ever since I heard about it. I've loved the closeness of the gang since 'friends who slay together, stay together'. And 'Squad' was no different. If you're a fan of werewolf girl-pack, and getting vengeance against boys with 'questionable' morals, check this read out!


How far would you go to be popular? To be liked by those around you? To accept a new version of yourself?
For Becca, a fresh transfer from an all-girls school, finding new friends and not being a loner is goal number one. But when assisting Marley, one of the 'popular girls', leads to being included into their group, Becca learns that she may not be ready to run with this girl gang.

Soon, Becca is spending all her time with her new friends Arianna, Amanda, and Marley and learning new things about herself, and her friends. But everything she knows gets flipped as she goes to a party in a nearby town and is used as 'bait' to find a 'slimey guy' to hook up with. But before anything major happens, her friends step in and-transform into werewolves and begin eating the guy.

I received an arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Heathers but with Lesbians and Werewolves?? God this book has a great premise. Lisa Steele's art sparkles as always (Modern Witch Tarot remains my favorite deck). The only reason this book isn't getting five stars from me, is that it does little with it's premise. It feels like one of those shows the gets green lit after the pilot and then it becomes abundantly clear there was no greater vision for the show. Is it fun? Yes. Did I enjoy reading it? Also yes. But will I ever think about it again? Probably not.
That said I would definitely watch a TV show based on it, the book needed to be longer.

I have to say this book was a little weird but in a good way. It follows Becca as she tries to make friends in a new school and new town after her parents divorce. She makes friends thats for sure and one of them isnt the best peson to be friends with. The rest you will have to see for yourself when this bookis released later on this Fall. I highly recomment this and give it 5 STARS. I friends to lovers kind of book.

This one was amazing! I loved every minute of it!

I was actually kind of surprised at how dark and gory it really was even for a YA/teen book. The cover is what grabbed my attention. The bright colors mixed with the werewolf imagery made me think it was going to have Sabrina the Teenage witch vibes mixed with werewolves and cheerleading maybe (from the title Squad).

Instead its filled with a story of strong BA girls who will - quite literally- eat your heart out.

Becca is new to the school. Her parents have recently split in a somewhat nasty divorce and now Becca and her mom are starting over in a new town. It is at her new school that she bumps into Marley - one of the school's most popular girls - who introduces Becca to her friends Arianna (Riri) and Amanda (Mandy). As Becca becomes the fourth member of their all gril group, an interesting and semi dark secret emerges - the girls are all werewolves.

Turned beast by last years alpha and most popular girl, Arianna, Mandy, and Marley prowl around the surrounding areas searching for their next meal. With great power comes great price - and in order for these girls to stay wolfish and in control of themselves, they must eat a human once every full moon. Otherwise the hunger will drive them wild and dangerous.

But there are rules: only eat the worst ones (boys that is), never leave behind any evidence, never hunt too close to home, never betray each other, and no boyfriends. But Arianna, as the newest alpha - doesn't see the problem with breaking a few rules and creating new rules of her own. But rules are made for a reason - to keep them safe. And when Arianna's boyfriend's body is found floating in a creek, new evidence starts popping up connecting the missing boys in the surrounding areas...the girls might be in more trouble than the previously thought as eyes start turning their way.

10/10 I absolutely loved this book. Highley recommend.

You've seen this story before, but not like this: new girl transfers to a new high school and gets noticed by the popular squad, only to discover that there's something wrong with them. Only this time? The popular girls are vicious, morally grey werewolves who prey on date-rapey dudebros every full moon. Vibrant artwork with a retro lean brings this sharp, fast-paced story to life.

The story was fun enough, and I deeply enjoyed the art style and character design, but the story began to fall a bit flat for me once the romance arc began (though I did love the sapphic rep). It felt forced and resolved strangely quickly, and while I can't speak to the race aspect, the love interest was homophobic in passing and (appeared to me to) fetishize and other Becca. I really didn't expect them to get together and honestly thought Becca disliked that character until they suddenly kissed after three pages of being alone for once. This was the only part where the pacing felt odd and otherwise enjoyed the general plot pacing.

This book's big selling point is the patriarchy smashing, and I will say it delivered on that front. I finished this book with lukewarm feelings, but if this sounds like your cup of tea, I encourage you to give this book a try.

Maggie Takuda-Hall’s newest book, a graphic novel collaboration with artist Lisa Sterle combines Mean Girls, Buffy, and Gossip Girl in all the best ways. But instead of fighting the things that go bump in the night, a la Buffy and her vampire slaying, the girls in Squad ARE the monsters.

This book is perfect. It’s funny and sharp, like the claws of the teenage werewolves that grace it’s pages. The art complements the writing perfectly, with each page bursting with amazing clothes and fantastic facial expressions. I sprinted through it at breakneck speed and my only complaint is that there wasn’t twice as much to devour.

Thank you to Greenwillow Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

This Pretty Little Liars meets Teen Wolf meets Mean Girls graphic novel has fantastic illustrations, interesting if stereotypical, characters, and some interesting, yet at times flawed, social commentary.

First of all, the illustrations: the drawing style was giving me retro vibes (think Archie comics) which was super cute, really pleasing to look at, and made the story super enjoyable. One standout was the character drawing: the main characters are all gorgeous, and the illustrator really captured that from their features to their hair to their outfits.

The plot is a bit predictable and unoriginal, although this is kinda a given for how short of a story it is. I read it all in about an hour, and while it was a dynamic story to read, I knew pretty much everything was going to happen before it did. But kudos for the sapphic rep!! I wasn't expecting it, and really loved it as a sapphic reader.

Now for the social commentary: this is where the story started to get murky. The story has a lot of anger for toxic masculinity, and it semi-based on women avenging the behavior of predatory men via murder. Promising Young Woman, anybody? This aspect was great, and I loved it, however the story's "commentary" (if you could call it that) on racism... very much lacking. First of all, I'm a white reviewer, so keep in mind that I'm coming at this issue through that lens and I would very much be missing something, however the Asian main character and Black side character consistently had micro aggressions thrown at them, especially the Black character, by their own friends, which remain unchallenged throughout the story. It struck me as very weird that they would be included, but not expanded upon. The readers are assumed to know "this behavior is micro-aggressive," so while the racism is somewhat subtext as bad just by human logic, it's never said to be out of the ordinary in the book.

The main characters are also very obsessed with being skinny and dieting, which remains unchallenged. It's very stereotypically "mean popular girl" trope behavior to be obsessed with your weight, but I feel like in 2021 we shouldn't still be exhausting this trope without challenging it.

Overall, the illustrations were great, I loved the sapphic representation, and the story was entertaining, however the unchallenged representation of racism really killed my enthusiasm for this book.

I absolutely adored this graphic novel. I can't wait for the story to continue, it really had me hooked on each of the characters. and wanting to stick around. It's a sapphic werewolf story told inside the world of Mean Girls. Becca gives us an awesome perspective as a new student at a clique-y wealthy new high school where, to her amazement, she's inducted into the popular girl's group. She later comes to find out that they don't just think they're better than everyone because of their social status, they're also stronger, faster and more dangerous because they're werewolves. And they want Becca to join them.

An interesting horror take on the new kid / coming of age story, if a bit predictable in its plot. The illustrations were well done and the story panels flowed nicely.

Becca just transferred to an elite San Francisco suburb, she’s floored when the popular girls want her to join their clique. Becca is weird and has trouble making friends, but with these girls at her side, social doors open to her. It’s perfect, except for one thing.

Becca’s new friends are werewolves, and every full moon they must feed. Their prey? Garbage boys who would take advantage of them. When one kill hits too close to home, however, the girls find themselves in danger of exposure.

I loved this comic. I’m a sucker for horror as metaphor for puberty / teendom / etc, and Squad delivered. They say over and over how you have to have a hunger in order to be in the group, and no one hungers like teenage girls. I also loved their targets, and even though they have the best intentions, nothing is black & white, and the gray areas might just come back to haunt them.

This trade is out in October, the perfect horror addition to your fall reading.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Unfortunately I was unable to download the file. I tried the NGShelf, Pocketbook and Digital Editions. The premise of the book and the youth grabbing themes warrant the rating. Will purchase when it's released.

OMG, could Lisa Sterle please illustrate my life? Or could there be augmented reality glasses that make everything appear like Lisa Sterle drew it? Her art makes my eyes sing, whatever that means.

I loved Squad. It's a gorgeously paneled tale about being the new girl at school, finding your clique, and discovering yourself. All while being a werewolf and ripping hearts from misogynists. Think Ginger Snaps meets Mean Girls.

This was fun! Very pulpy with 80s and 90s vibes throughout. The colorway was fun and amped the story up. I liked the werewolf element of the story. Resolution and conflict to some of the story could've been better and more thorough, but overall a really fun and quick read.

This book attempts to answer the age-old question: what should you do if you’re the new girl in school and the popular girls invite you to join their squad… and then you find out they’re werewolves who kill every full moon and now they expect you to become a werewolf, too? It’s ok, though - they only kill guys who are huge jerks. This is the dilemma Becca faces, and becoming a werewolf certainly changes things for her. The story was kind of bizarre, but in an enjoyable way. There were some confusing parts/things I thought could have been explained better - like, were all of these girls given the same “choice” Becca was, or did they really want to become wolves? Overall, though, a quick read with great artwork that poses some interesting moral dilemmas that are left up to the reader to decide the answers to.

This is a solid title overall but the climax and the ending of the story leaves much to be desire in terms of the plot. I think we could have had more chapters exploring the conflict at the very end rather than what we were given.

Filled with colors reminiscent of the ‘80s and gorgeous illustrations, Squad is what you get when you cross Mean Girls with werewolves. Add in a dash of sapphic romance, and your bases are covered.

The story does a wonderful job of depicting the loneliness and desperation that comes with being a teenage girl while also screaming “girl power!” In a dark world of what-ifs, we get to see what happens when a group of girls is given the power to be unstoppable.

Squad is what happens when you take Mean Girls, throw in a group of #girlboss werewolves getting revenge on gross, toxic men, and make it sapphic. So, like... what more could you want?

Lisa Sterle's illustrations are breathtaking--I spent a lot of time looking over each panel in awe of it all. The color scheme by itself is something to moon over. The actual story is fun, engaging, and has some wonderfully gory moments (if that's your cup of tea). The biggest issue is that it's too short--it's something that should have been spread out over several volumes. As it is, the length doesn't lend the story the time it needs for fleshed out characters, character development, significant emotional impact, etc.

That said, there's still a lot to enjoy from this book overall, from the diverse cast to the vengeance plot worth cheering for to the action scenes and more!

The copy for this said “Pretty Little Liars” meets “Teen Wolf” but I haven’t seen either of those (well, maybe the original Teen Wolf with Michael J, Fox long ago). To me, the closest analogous comparison is definitely Mean Girls. Imagine Mean Girls, but with werewolves. The art was great, and I liked the premise - a super elite clique of girls at a school in Northern California takes on a fourth member (this is the Mean Girls part) and then not long after they reveal to her that they are actually a pack of werewolves who have to feed during a full moon, when they go out and kill and then feed on teenaged guys they find worthy of being murdered. My main issue with this was that I wished it was much longer - I wanted more character development and more exploration of why they all agreed to become werewolves and what their bespoke moral calculus was in terms of deciding who should be killed.

A beautifully illustrated and fun written YA graphic novel that will delight any reluctant readers, with a fun supernatural twist.