This was a really cute story. I relate alot to it having grown up being gay in the south, i saw a lot of my experiences portrayed in it. I thought the main character was really lovable. My only problem was how some of the dialogue just felt more preachy of some subjects and not natural. I havent read the work that this story is based on, but I'm intrigued to pick it up after this. I liked the suspense in the story and the pay off it had. Plus the art was really cute and i enjoyed the style. 3.75 stars rounded up.

This was much more *real* and tough to read than I expected to, so don't go in thinking it'll be a cutesy queer graphic novel about two teen boys fall in love: there's that, but there's also more.

Cade is a young gay boy who lives in Texas - hence, still pretty much in the closet - and is very lonely. He doesn't go along with his stepsister and stepfather, doesn't have many friends and feels hopeless about his future and the possibility to be happy. He's also a big horror movie fan.
When school is out for the summer, his mother tells him he has to go work with his stepdad at a ranch for a couple of months, to help out with the money because they're struggling.
Extremely reluctant, since that's the last thing he could ever want to do, he goes to the ranch and there he meets the son of the ranch's owner, Henry, and Cade immediately develops a crush for.
And surprise surprise, not only Henry turns out to be a horror movie buff as well but also... he likes him back.
But there are family secrets hanging in the air, Henry's sudden mood swings and anger, and a lake house with a locked east wing Cade and his father must never visit.

So much was well done, representation-wise. We have a mixed race black-latinx family with a gay closeted son who lives in rural Texas, so racial and homophobic slurs are unfortunately to be expected, and we see how hard it can be and how much of toll it is for a teenager to be gay, to feel alone and not accepted, to not be able to hold his boyfriend's hand in public without having holier-than-though white folks tell you "it's disgusting and you should do that in private". It broke my heart so many times... How some parents will not accept you for who you are, and others will but it still may take some time to make your peace with it because it won't be all hugs and open welcoming arms, not for everyone (unfortunately again).

I loved how, despite all that, the graphic novel had quite a light tone - and yet, right from the beginning, there's an air of suspicion gathering, a storm of mystery brewing and as you keep reading the suspense builds up and it gets a bit darker, just like a horror movie would do and it was a very nice parallel considering both the main characters' love for horror movies!

My only "issue" was that at times the commentary surrounding the whole being queer in Texas was too heavy handed and too much in your face. There were instances were Cade or Henry would sit down and think or say "It is so hard to live in Texas as a gay man because of this and that", as if it was a newspaper article articulating facts and people don't really speak like that?
It was a pretty blatant case of "tell not show"; it's already annoying when it happens in novels, but in graphic novels where you could actually show instead of telling was even more so.

But apart from that, I truly enjoyed it and would recommend!

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book to review. My thoughts are my own and in no way biased*

The art in Northranger is charming, detailed, and magnetic. I wanted to look at Cade and Henry under the stars forever. I also appreciated the body diversity in the characters. The story itself fell a little flat for me--it was hard to root for Cade, who never seemed to be able to actually do what Henry was asking from him. Overall, a very cute story with incredible art.

Don't mind that sound you hear in the distance its just me sobbing in gay!!
I obviously adored this! I am a sucker for metaphors and/or retellings and this covers everything. This book gave me one of the best analogies for being gay I have ever read! Besides that this book is just great. It has everything you need, romance, mystery, heart break, horror, family, cute animal, and humor. I honestly just can't recommend this enough!
Okay but seriously all gushing and joking aside as a lesbian who grew up in a religious family this book really hit me hard. It touched on some very serious things but it was done very well. I don't think I can really put into words what this book made me feel. I just others to read this and feel seen and understanding. Please read this!

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this advanced copy.

Northranger had a perfect drawing style for the plot. Also I do enjoy the little romance.

This queer, young adult graphic novel was an entertaining enough read, though it wasn't spooky in the least. A lot of the characters were likeable, but I found issues with Henry's anger. I love a toxic gay character, and I understand he has anger issues from his father, but it made me uncomfortable at times with how intense it was. The climax was also strange, and I almost expected there to be a reveal of mental ill ed's in the main character such as OCD—not that he was just 'too into scary movies'. The art style was lovely though! Thank you NetGalley!

This is a cute queer love story about two trenage boys, Cade and Henry. They find each other in the middle of rural Texas as they are both starting to give up hope on being loved. They share a mutual love for horror movies, and Cade’s knowledge of horror movie tropes creates a creepy vibe as he explores Henry’s family’s mysterious ranch and creaky old house.
I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and their families. I was nervous about this being a “spooky” romance because I don’t like spooky things, but it was actually great. I felt my heart beat a little faster when they were in the Northranger house, and I think the illustrations really helped with that. Big fan of this one! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

This is a fun retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Maybe this is the motivation I need to finally finish that book. But this is a very late 90s/Aughts feeling retelling.

The illustration in this book is phenomenal! The characters have so much personality and the art is just really well done.

The twins Henry and Henri are both struggling with the loss of their mom and with living under their dad. Henry because he is gay and Henri because her father is very sexist. Cade’s family is struggling with money so he and his stepfather Dale go to work on Henri and Henry’s family farm. Cade and Henry become fast friends and bond over horror, there seems to be too many secrets between them. Is Cade watching too much horror, or are there actually secrets to find?

Cade is really relatable, and he has a really sweet relationship with his mom, step dad, and his abuela. His little step sister is hilarious, passionate, and has a fun personality. Cade gets into his head too often but darn if that isn’t the most relatable thing about him.

This was an enjoyable romance with some serious spooky vibes. It's great to see queer Latinx rep. But I felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly and neatly, which is a little ironic given the way characters discuss life being unlike movies in how neatly they wrap up.

In this queer retelling of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, two Texas teens will fall in love while working on a ranch. Cade is a Latino 16-year-old horror fan. He knows he's queer, but others don't. He isn't happy about being at the ranch for the summer with his stepfather, but he knows his family needs the money. Henry, well he's always at the ranch, he's the owner's son. He loves it there, but smalltown living makes it hard to be yourself. Cade and Henry bond over their shared love of horror movies and sparks fly. But Cade's anxieties around the history of the ranch and stories about Henry's family threaten to ruin the budding relationship.

Bre Indigo's illustrations and use of color beautifully capture the dustiness and grit of rural Texas. Rey Terciero's story of hope and horror for Cade and Henry capture the anxiety of being queer and the fearfulness of what - or who - might be out to get you. The story is inspired by Terciero's own horrors and hopes as a queer, rural Texan. As a teen, he saw the news coverage of brutal hate crimes against the queer community is towns just like his own. But he hoped that despite the terror, queer kids could grow up to be queer adults who live long enough to love and build a place in this world.

Recommended for all high school and public libraries. A must read graphic novel.

Ugh, loved this! This graphic novel follows Cade after he joins his stepfather for the summer to work on a horse farm. The owners of said horse farm are his stepfather’s gruff military buddy and his twins- Henri (the enthusiastic female twin) and Henry (the broody yet very compassionate male twin). As Cade starts to get a hang of ranch life, he also slowly starts to come to terms with his own sexuality and find a potential connection with Henry. But long kept secrets, an obsession with horror movies, rural Texas, and the gothic atmosphere of the ranch and the nearby lake house could threaten the potential happiness for the two of them. I sound like SUCH a broken record when I say that I am obsessed with the art in this this graphic novel. I love the characterization and style of the illustrations. I also loved all of the main teen characters, and the dynamics between them. I love a gay romance. But even the supporting characters were so fleshed out and three dimensional, there was so much here to love. The author does include trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, so check that out first, but overall I really loved this one.

Posting review on instagram- @boozehoundbookclub , closer to the pub date.

Northranger by Rey Terciero was an absolutely adorable graphic novel. I definitely think this was an original retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abby. I will be recommending this to all graphic novel lovers.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, Cade and Henry were both adorable and I appreciated how much time the author spent on showing the difficulty they experience as closeted queer teens, I also really enjoyed the art style and I felt like the coloring really added to the atmosphere of the story, thanks to publisher and netgalley for the ARC

Where do I start... Well. let's start by saying that I really, really liked this book.

I was not sure what to expect. I am not familiar with the book that served as an inspiration for this story (Austen's "Northanger Abbey"), and as such, I was expecting more... traditional... Austen vibes. Now. I don't dislike Austen. But she's not my typical fare. Little did I know that "Northanger Abbey" wasn't her typical fare either...

The trigger warning that starts off the book is a welcome sight, but also an excellent list of all the things this book touches on: homophobia, misogyny, racism, domestic violence, animal cruelty, and death. While all theses topics are heavy, I think Terciero does an excellent job of addressing these topics in a realistic (especially for teens) manner. My heart broke for these characters.

I also feel like the explanation of the appeal of horror films was A++. I know that not all people love horror, and not all people love horror for the same reason. But wow. This explanation was lovely, if not heart breaking.

This was a cute graphic novel about being queer in small town Texas. However, I found the plot to be kind of simple.

Cade is spending the summer helping as a ranch hand on the ranch of an old army contact of his step father. There he meets Henry, the son of the ranch owner. The two are quickly drawn together but both are scared about what it means for people to know they’re queer in small town Texas. And the secrets they’re hiding don’t help.

Horror movies play a major role in the story and at the end Cade claims this is because he sees horror movies as the closest thing to gay experience he can find. I found this to be a bit of a stretch and thought the theme was overplayed. For one, it’s not clear that Cade has really experienced a lot of homophobia before or if he is just scared of the prospect of it.

I did appreciate the broad range of reactions there were to the two coming out. Obviously, some characters were angry, but others were welcoming. One of the most surprising ones was Bella who spent the earlier parts of the story throwing herself at Henry but immediately accepted it.

Overall, this is a cute read if you’re a fan of queer graphic novels but is not the first one I’d pick up.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved the Little Women retelling by this author and illustrator, so I was excited to see they had a new graphic novel coming out. I've never read Northanger Abbey, so I can't judge if the retelling was done well, but I did really enjoy this.

I absolutely ADORED the art style. The graphic novel was illustrated so beautifully, and combined with the colour scheme, it invoked a lot of emotion. I'm not a huge horror reader, but I love gothic stuff, and I loved the atmosphere of this.

My one gripe is I felt like this would have been better had it been set in the 80s/90s. Throughout the book, I often felt confused about the time period, and the references to current technology felt jarring at times. In the author's note, I read that this was based on his own growing up in the 80s and 90s and that explained a lot for me, because that was the vibe the book had in large part. I think it would have made more sense to have committed to that.

3.5/5 stars

This is a cute, contemporary retelling of Northanger Abbey (which I have not read) with a lot of heart and great artwork. I enjoyed the characters and setting and the overall vibe of the graphic novel. The story was a bit over the top and the dialogue could be didactic in the way some YA stories tend to be, but I still thought it was a fun ride. I've read Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo before and they work well as a team.

Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute, but not what I was expecting, and the climax gave me secondhand embarrassment so badly I almost had to stop reading it. But the part that tied horror movies to queerness, combined with the author's note gave me a lot of things to think about, and so I appreciated it for that.

i am pretty disappointed with this. i don't know the plot of northanger abbey, so i don't know if this is a good adaptation/retelling/inspired-by-story. i will say that this had a lot of "reveals" that i didn't like. it was underwhelming. i won't say any more than that because my complaints are just personal preferences, i think.

thank you to rey terciero and harper collins for the arc

I’m not sure why it was listed under horror because it’s not other than the every day horror of homophobic and racism which there are a lot of in this comic. I didn’t find any of the characters likable except the twins. I would have loved to see more of Henri. I did appreciate the rep that was portrayed in the story. The artwork was cute.