I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It follows Olive, a young girl who gets an internship editing photos at a fashion magazine. As she nips, tucks, lightens, and retouches photos of beauties models, she realizes the impact a culture of photoshop and airbrushed perfection and social media has on both her personal self-image and the women around her. This book was well drawn, engaging, and has a really great message about body positivity and self image that everyone should strive towards.

In the very cute YA graphic novel, “Unretouchable,” we’re told the story of the summer internship 18 year old Olive participated in between graduating high school and starting college. She starts photo retouching under the wing of Giorgio who works at a popular fashion magazine. We see how changing people’s bodies affects her self esteem and psyche.

Overall I enjoyed reading Unretouchable. I love the art style and always enjoy a graphic novel. I think it was a great length to get good bits in there and funny gags but enough dialogue and scenes to establish the whole story. Solid 3⭐️ read!

Huge CW for eating disorders and dysphoria

This is one of my favorite graphic novels so far. It reminds me of the books I’d read when I was younger but in the best way possible. The art style was unique and detailed in a way I really enjoyed. I like how the author delved into the topic of beauty standards and the continuous hope that the body positivity movement brings. It also sheds light on how addicted and possibly even dependent we can be as a society with our devices and social media. I feel like this really smacked me with “live in the moment” and “love yourself and your body” which I am not mad at. We all have that little voice that makes us doubt ourselves and caused us to overthink. But this reminded me that comparison to others does nothing but bring you down and self love is very important. 100% recommend to anyone and everyone.

Unretouchable is the story of Olive, a recent high school graduate who lands a glamorous internship in the fashion industry, however, she finds that it is not all that it's cracked up to be. Instead of working with beautiful models and seasoned photographers, Olive is assigned to do some massive retouching jobs on photos that are already beautiful in their own right. This makes her see the darker side not only of fashion and modeling, but of marketing and social media. Olive transforms into someone that decides to consciously watch out for marketing tactics, airbrushing effects, and tries to stay body positive going forward.

I did like this graphic novel, and the artwork definitely has a MariNaomi vibe to it, which I love. I get the message I'm supposed to get from it (love yourself and don't let the others fool you), but for some reason Olive's disregard to her enormous privilege in the story just rubs me the wrong way. This is a young 18-year-old who has a mother with all the right connections getting handed a once-in-a-lifetime internship, and she's all "meh" about it, before, during, and after. Just that aspect of the novel seemed to keep taking me away from the point of the story, along with touching on eating disorders in the fashion industry, but not making a concerted effort to follow through on that subplot. Overall, though I would check out more of the author's work.

This was a very quick read for me! I loved the art style and overall message about the pressures of social media, how digitally enhanced a lot of things can be , and how its okay to not be okay or feel insecure. I related to this a lot when I was still in school and take breaks from SM from time to time as well. I feel like everyone has gone through this at some point. A good read, overall.. There is also a TW for Bulimia in this. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley, Lerner Publishing, and Sofia Szamosi for the chance to read this book!

I love graphic novels! It's such a great way to really get a picture in your head!

This book felt like an upgraded energized Devil Wears Prada! It makes you think, how does your job change you? How do you change yourself to fit in? How do you maintain your core identity through the trials of adulting? And how does social media factor into that?

Definitely recommend for teens and new adults. But the message is a good one for all of us. More than just body positivity, it's about self-talk and learning to see ourselves as valuable. Oh, and journaling is good for you!

Olive's Social Media Commandments near the end are worth the look.

"And, I always did my best work while procrastinating." (59)

This book was awesome! The artwork was great and the story was very relatable. I really enjoyed reading this book.

I loved the quirky illustration style! This was funny, real, curious, easy to follow and enjoyable to read. I liked what she was trying to say, and this book gave me a lot to think about. My main concern is if this book came too late.

It’s set in 2015 and it FEELS like it. This feels a lot more like my own high school experience than what I imagine it must be like for teens today with TikTok and the general development of social media in the last 7 years. The whole “be your true self online" message felt a bit preachy to me. I feel like that message has gotten even more complex in 2022, like it’s one thing to post an unfiltered selfie on Instagram and another to… manage a TikTok account? How do we be fully authentic online in the landscape of social media today? Because it seems like more than just refraining from editing your selfies.

I learned a lot about the inner workings of the marketing world, and it made me think about the extent to which companies use photo editing and campaigning to manipulate their audiences.

I greatly enjoyed every moment reading this book. It kept me interested and entertained, and all around had a good message which I love while exploring very serious topics of retouching and the dangers of social media.

I didn't want to put this graphic novel down––I greatly enjoyed reading it and immersing myself in Olive's world.

It's emotional, it's impactful, and a great message for people of all ages.

Rating: 4 stars

Full review to come 9/13/22 via folkloreandfantasy.com

this book deals with how social media and big fashion brands have contributed to unrealistic body standards. throughout the story, Olive learns how photos for magazines are edited to give people the "perfect body" and the effect these unrealistic body standards have on ordinary people.

this is an inspiring story about learning to accept and love the body you've been given, and embracing your true self. this is an issue that I've been struggling with for years, and I definitely learned something valuable from this story.

thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

“Unretouchable” is a coming of age story about Olive, an 18 year old artist about to start college who interns in the photo retouching department of a magazine. I liked how the novel portrayed the negative effects of retouching without demonizing the people who work on retouching. There are several mentions of eating disorders and restricted eating. Olive quickly falls down the rabbit hole of manipulated images, posting edited pictures of herself and eagerly awaiting the likes that roll in. Over the course of the novel Olive finds a balance that works for her - not completely rejecting social media but also developing a healthy distance from the more toxic aspects. I enjoyed the nuance of thus story and how it portrays Olive’s own evolution in thinking.

Thanks to Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love how simple and yet charming the illustration is! And I love the not- so- over complicated storyline and the message of the whole graphic novel.

4/5 stars!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Olive is about to go off to art school, and her mother gets her an internship with a fashion magazine, retouching photos. At first, she finds it odd, then she finds it fascinating, then she finds that she looks everywhere, wondering what has been retouched and changed.

It is interesting seeing this evolution, and how much it influences her. She thinks the way to get over it is to give up social media cold turkey, and then realizes that doesn’t solve anything.

Hard, in parts, sad in others. An interesting look into this world, and how she takes it all in, and tries to deal with it.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

Thank you NetGalley and Lerner Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the message in this graphic novel. It does a great job at showing how social media affects our self esteem and even outlook on life. I wasn't a fan of the art style but as the story progressed it just seemed to work with it. It was a fast read with a hard hitting message. It is definitely a book I will suggest everyone read.

This was an interesting look at the fashion magazine industry and some of the complexities behind photo retouching. It goes back and forth from feeling very free-form exploring an idea or subject to feeling more didactic, though seeing the main character experience the consequences of each epiphany and realizing she needs to open her mind more is satisfying. And interesting way to address a very dire subject for teens navigating the fake perfect world of commercial media and social media.

This is a great exploration of the deception in the fashion industry and how skewed our ideas of what real people look like have become due to extreme photo editing - and sometimes just making up people! Even as an adult who conceptually understands that these things are happening, I was shocked by some of the realities presented in this graphic novel. It's a great reminder of how deep the harm the fashion industry causes and how we're all affected by it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC! This was a great book, well written, thoughtful, and a wonderful plot. The main characters were incredibly relatable and their flaws are presented without villanizing them or glorifying them in a way that takes away from the overall book. The art was also beautiful and I look forward to sharing and reading this book again.

At its heart, Unretouchable is about separating yourself from the unrealistic expectations of the world and learning to be content with who you are without the changes a click away.

I think this little graphic novel has a fantastic message. The art was quirky and fun, and the heart of it was in the right place. I wanted to love this graphic novel for those reasons, but unfortunately it fell flat for me.

Unretouchable felt too much like a book that was sharing an outdated message. This completely touches on all the topics that were current in 2015, but almost a decade later it feels stale and a little silly at times. I also wish it had been updated with current discussions (Y2K fashion returning, skinny trends) and had taken itself more seriously during darker parts of the narrative (the eating disorders, uncertainty about futures). It feels almost wrong to say a graphic novel about body shaming, photo retouching, and eating disorders feels lighthearted, but in its current state it does and it's a detriment to the teens who are the target audience.

I think the narrative tried to put too much of a lighthearted tone over a serious topic to avoid discussing it in depth when the plot had so much more potential. I just wish there had been more depth to go along with the brevity and funny moments.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

I didn't quite vibe with the art style but the story was phenomenal. Social Media has become just a faster way to judge others. The whole time I was reading I kept hearing Jax's new song Victoria's Secret. We are all so different and trying to pretend that we have a mild we're all supposed to fit into is absolutely ridiculous and I'm trying to raise my daughters to understand that they are absolutely beautiful. As long as they are healthy it doesn't matter what they look like

Wow this was SUPER COOL. i was very unsure at first because some of the themes touched in this graphic novel tend to end up being very.....preachy? or cynical? but it was a very fresh approach to this theme! i loved how the main character really felt like a real person, with her own voice and thoughts and how the art style was used to explore the themes and ideas of the graphic novel, this was a very fun read and i can see it becoming a staple of the genre perhaps?