What a delight! This short and sweet graphic novel is a beautiful celebration of the friendship, struggles, and joys of black women. Although it's short, it hits on a wide range of issues - relationships (healthy and unhealthy), family, LGBTQ+ identity, depression, discrimination in the workplace, and more. But it's not all heavy - all of these issues are brought up in the context of the life and friendship of four black women, through panels of gorgeously drawn and colored artwork. I loved it!

"Wash Day Diaries" is a phenomenal collection of connected short story comics about the lives of four beautiful friends- Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie. The stories had really good depth to them and the characters were really well done and easy to connect with. I very much enjoyed reading this graphic novel and can't wait to purchase it for the library I work for!

Loved it, the artwork is amazing and the story too. I like how the story focus on each girl, I loved that it shows the progress of how these girls take care of their natural hair (which I felt related because I also have natural hair) and the friendship is so cute. This book is one of my favorite graphic books so far. I can’t wait to see if there’s a continuation with the story in the future.

Wash Day Diaries is a wonderful graphic novel telling interconnected tales about four friends. The stories are personal, funny, touching, and full of depth and nuance. Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie are delightful characters and their stories left me wanting more.

The stories in this collection look at relationships, mental health issues, the power of friendship, and the realities of living in the modern age.

I am such a fan of comics like this. I love stories about the daily lives of compelling characters. I highly recommend this book!

**Post will not be published until May 14, 2022, but an excerpt will be on Goodreads.
Publication Date: June 14, 2022

My Thoughts:
This graphic of shorts gives a glimpse of four friends as they navigate mental health, work, dating and what black girl magic means for these young women. This is a like showing up in the middle of a play that is already going. Don't worry about the beginning or the end. Just keep up.

My one niggling caution, though is how Cookie comes over to Davene's apartment and notices that Davene's apartment is not like her, but when Davene confesses that she is not well and she is in thereapy thinking of taking medication, Cookie says no and gives her a citrine. Cookie's solution is to be more positive. At one point, Cookie says, "Is it really that serious? You seem fine." Mental health needs to be taken seriously and friends need to support each other and not just shrug it off. This is dangerous to feel that Davene's closest friends do not see the red flags and rally around her friend, even to the point of not shaming her if she wants to be on Prozac.

Some nudity, brief sex scene. This is for YA and older teens.

From the Publisher:
Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx.

The book takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair. Each short story uses hair routines as a window into these four characters' everyday lives and how they care for each other.

Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith originally kickstarted their critically acclaimed, award-winning slice of life mini comic, Wash Day, inspired by Rowser's own wash day ritual and their shared desire to see more comics featuring the daily lived experiences of young Black women. Wash Day Diaries includes an updated, full color version of this original comic—which follows Kim, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx—as the book's first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters.

In expanding the story of Kim and her friends, the authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story.

At times touching, quiet, triumphant, and laugh out loud funny, the stories of Wash Day Diaries pay a loving tribute to Black joy and the resilience of Black women.

This was beautiful I love the art I loved everything about it. I love the friendships and the expression of self-love this was a beautiful story and I will definitely be recommending this to all of my friends

Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC!

I loved this book so much! The characters, stories and the art was great!

Wash Day Diaries is inspirational and heart-warming. It touches on many of the subjects faced by black women and ties it in with the black woman’s crown: her hair. We experience life thru the eyes of four ladies who are friends, each one dealing with a different life issue, but also experiencing a day in the life of “What do I do with my hair?”. The panels are colorful and engaging, but because of the way they are drawn, they are less like a comic book and more of a graphic novel. I especially enjoyed peeking into the concept by seeing some of the Process Pages at the end and what goes into the creation of a panel. It was good to “see me” in this graphic novel. I hope that we will continue to see more novels such as this so that they become the norm instead of the exception. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, artist, and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Ok, so how much did I LOVE this??? I was not sure I would after the first story, which didn't go much of anywhere, but the second had me cracking up and the end had me in legit tears missing my own ride or die girls whom I love and miss. Such a beautiful story about strong female friendship!

Oh my gosh I loved this book!! Beautiful stories revolving around a group of friends in their daily lives.
I always tend to enjoy graphic novels, and this one did not disappoint. The art style, the characters, and the representation were all perfect. I have been wanting to see a 'slice of life' story centered around BIPOC characters for a while now and these heartwarming stories were just what I wanted.

I love this!

First of all, I love the cover! Each character has a distinct personality, and you can tell just on their looks.

Now, back to the review. The first "Chapter, we're introduced who I believe is Kimamana , and the name of the chapter is "Wash Day." May I note, each character (4 in total) have their own Chapter, and they have a different story. We start off with her coming home for the night, waking up, getting and the shower and such. I like the inclusion of the bonnet, because people don't include those much, but I fangirled over seeing it in Twins by Varian Johnson, soooo. Anyway, there is LIGHT nudity, including her breasts, but I don't think that's really anything to worry about because it's human anatomy. I could understand if it were showing her full body, especially since I'm, yk, a minor. She peeks into her roommates' bedroom to check in on her before heading to get breakfast at what seems to be a corner store nearby.

She gets to her friends house, continues washing her hair, and they bond over smoking weed, and catch each other up with life.

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The second chapter is called 'Group Chat', where we follow a girl named Nisha. She enters her local hair salon, in need of a DESPERATE hair wash. Sitting at the wash station, she gets her hair washed, and whilst it's being braided, she chats on text with the other girls. She tells a story about her date (Small Spoiler, it went somewhat wrong, with a sneaky link crashing the party at one point!) Again, we have a light point where it's definetly proper to label this graphic novel as 'Adult' and 'Young Adult', with a small sex scene (One clip).

We end her chapter with her braids being tightened and done.
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The third chapter is called 'Bright Side', where we get to the mental health side of things.

We meet a character named Davene, who seems to be on the left side of life when it comes towards her mental health. She seems tired, and according to her friends, she hasn't been herself. Waking up, she realizes she missed her hair day, and messages a stylist letting her know. Davene ends up texting a friend (Cookie) who does her hair in cornrows for her, so she can wear a wig for the day.

Davene's place is a mess, and this is when we meet cookie, where she says that it isn't her for her place to look like this. They talk, allowing for Davene to realize that her friends miss her.
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The Fourth chapter, we meet our last main character, which is Cookie!!

We follow Cookie around and meet some valuable people in her life, including her grandma, who suffers from dementia.
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VERY last chapter is where we see the girls get all together and head out to party for the night. They all look stunning, They have romance problems, unwanted interactions, and romantic encounters, which is what made this book so enjoyable.

Five stars from me, I LOVED this!! Cannot wait for publish date. <3

Black Girl Reads,
Zoe Harris

This gorgeous graphic novel follows four young Black women in both their personal lives and friendship with each other. It’s a truly excellent book. All of the characters are unique and fun and likeable. There’s also really great representation—there’s different colored black women, but my favorite is Cookie, a Black Latina who is also a queer black woman. There’s also good representation of different issues that all women deal with—mental health, feeling alone, struggling in relationships, family issues. Finally, the friendship that the four women have is probably the most beautiful part of the entire book. They stick up for each other, take care of each other, and love each other with all of their hearts. This book really has it all: good characters, fun plot lines, enjoyable dialogue, heartwarming. I highly recommend picking this up ASAP.

Art and color were superb. The friendship between the four women was heartening, especially as adult women. And seeing them all come together despite their various challenges was also very positive. The plot was a bit weak, but aside from that it was great.

AHHHH

THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS I HAVE EVER READ. LITERALLY!

To start off, the artwork was so freaking pretty. I will literally never recover from it. The amount of detailing and thought put into each frame was amazing. The artist really must have had so much patience, as it was not only hair, but color mixing and such that would have probably been a pain to do.

Now to talk about the plot, I really loved it. Graphic novels are obviously drawing and dialogue driven, so I really just sat down and enjoyed the ride! Every aspect of the plot also felt well thought out as well. I especially enjoyed the fact that all the stories were tied into different aspects of a hair washing day. As an Indian woman, I too have to dedicate the majority of one day towards haircare.

The thing that impacted me the most though, was how harassment and racism were used within the plot. It didn't feel like simple plot devices used to spruce up the story, it felt real. Honestly, it hit too close to home for me. When this book is released, I will be first in like for a physical copy. It is too pretty to not get one.

Thank you to Net Galley and Chronicle Books for this advanced copy, but all opinions are my own :)

Wash Day Diaries was an amazing graphic novel with beautiful art and a great story. It takes place around four friends and their everyday struggles with social, mental and other issues. It address many hot topics and issues without making it the main premise of the book or it taking over the story. This story is not meant for me nor could I relate to the characters but the way it is written has something for everyone to take away. I found myself laughing at funny moments or gasping at the drama and the story was truly enjoyable. I can’t wait to be able to sell this and see other people read it.

I love this little slice of life adult graphic novel! I read it in one sitting and enjoyed the journey of friendship between these 4 Black women, the everyday life and mental health struggles that they faced. As a woman of color in her 20s, I could very much see a part of myself in this book.

I really valued the self-care aspect of the book and how the focus was rooted in a Black woman’s personal experiences in how they take care of their hair. We need more books like this that focus on Black joy and if you’re looking for that, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you.

Rating: 5 stars

This book was everything to me, it was a love letter to being a black woman and I loved every second of it. I loved how all of the characters experienced different aspects of blackness though the sections like washday and mental health struggles. I also loved the art and animation style. I felt like the book could’ve maybe used more dialog but overall it felt substantial.
Pros: creative, diverse, beautiful characters that gave us a glimpse into the beautiful intimacy of the black woman experience
Cons: lack of dialogue/ text

This book was incredibly slow at the start due to their not being any wording for what felt like the first 35 pages. Overtime, I noticed the author spent more time with the illustrations than wording because it showed; the illustrations were highly detailed and drawn well! This book reminds me of Sex and the City because it’s 4 best friends living there life, backing up one another and being each other’s ride or die.

WASH DAY DIARIES is a love letter to Black femininity, with beautiful art that adds depth and dimension to a thoughtful story of friendship and caretaking (both self- and other-oriented). The four friends (Kim, Daveen, Cookie, and Tanisha) are in very different places when it comes to careers, mental health, and romance, but there's no sense of shame or competition -- they're cheerleaders and besties, with their intimacy and trust in one another demonstrated through the familiar routines of hair maintenance. You can feel the love these friends share while you're reading this book, and the graphics and layout are so creative and subtle in the ways they emphasize the characters' states of mind. The group chat chapter, told as Nisha gets her hair braided, is a real standout. Can't wait to stock this beauty in store & to see what's next from Rowser & Smith!

Wash Day Diaries is a celebration of friendship. Centered around the wash day experiences of these Black women, it's a story of ritual, self-care, and acceptance. Not only is it about the ways we take care of ourselves, but also how we take care of others. These vignettes were touching glimpses into friendships and personal journeys. It's tender not only in how our hair impacts our sense of self, but how it can be a signal of affection and love.