"For fans of Bridgerton comes a Regency-era romance graphic novel about the unexpected passion that blooms from a marriage of convenience.

The whole town is whispering about how Catherine Benson lost her virtue, though they can never agree on the details. Was it in the public garden? Or a moving carriage?

Only a truly desperate man would want her now - and that's exactly what Andrew Davener is. His family's estate is in disrepair, but Catherine's sizeable dowry could set it to rights.

After the two wed, Catherine finds herself inexplicably drawn to Andrew. But could falling in love with her husband tear her marriage apart? In this richly detailed Regency romance, duty and passion collide in a slow-burn tale of intertwined fates."

I don't think many people remember that romance comics used to be commonplace. Let's make that happen again, starting with the swoony Regency read!

Ahh I loved this. Firstly, the graphics where beautiful. Secondly, the overall plot was thoroughly enjoyable. I felt that it was very well structured, and detailed. The writing style was beautiful, and I found myself laughing and crying at many points throughout this. Also, the characters where very well developed. Such an enjoyable read.

Catherine and Andrew's story transports us back to the 1800s. It is a harsh world, but maybe you can have your happily-ever-after if you haven't ruined your chances. I wholeheartedly rooted for our main characters, they look so young and vulnerable and a tad bit too proud. They have a marriage of convenience but grow to like each other as they strive to save the Davener estate together. The marriage is eventually consumated. There are some explicit sex scenes that shows Catherine and Andrew are equals in bed as much as in life. But is it love?
The story touches upon some other important issues like social anxiety or the chances of happiness for homosexuals. Apart from our main heroes, other characters' fulfillment also depends on their brave decisions. I especially appreciated the fashion subplot, it is the Regency period after all.
I found the drawing style gripping. The setting is as amazing as the emotional expressions on the characters' faces.
My favourite minor character is Andrew's male friend who sees into his soul. His help is invaluable. They live in a harsh society. It's the 1800s. Love is less complicated today, or is it?


Thank you NetGalley and First Second Books for sending this graphic novel for review consideration. I read a DRC. All opinions are my own.

I didn't really like this. The story wasn't for me and the drawings felt very generic. I'm sure there is an audience for this book, so I won't post a negative review, but I also don't have much productive feedback.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Imprint for this Advanced Readers Copy of Ruined by Sarah Vaughn!

his graphic novel ended up being really sweet and lovely!! I thought the drawing style was soft and calm, and definitely fit the regency era. I thought that some of the dialogue was confusing because of the layout of the text, but overall I enjoyed it. I would have loved to see a few pages at the end because they finally got back together on the literal last page, so it would have been lovely to see them together and happy for a few extra moments!! And also there was a super cute lesbian side relationship, with diverse characters that I absolutely would read a spin off of!

🌈 Queer rep: lesbian side characters/relationship

Thank you to netgalley for a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick regency era read. This is perfect for fans of Bridgerton and Pride and Prejudice. I wish the story could have been developed a little more and I did not feel super attached to the characters. There are some spicy scenes that I should have known were there but was surprised at for a graphic novel. I really wanted to like it more than I did but it just fell a little flat to me. The illustration was okay but did not impress me. Overall, I would still recommend this title.

Gorgeous art and a beautiful, sweet story. I would love more in this world and wish these characters. A lovely and romantic regency graphic novel.

This was a nice read. Nothing that will stand out to me past this month, but I didn't hate it.

To be clear (because I definitely didn't know going in), this is an adult graphic novel. Emphasis on the GRAPHIC part. Maybe I should have known since Bridgerton is a comp, but anyway. Now you know.

I love that this was a slow-burn romance. Those are my faves and it fit the context of this book really well.

There were a few side plots, but they didn't really grab me. Honestly, I found myself skimming them so I could get back to the main couple, Andrew and Catherine. I loved the diversity they featured and the extra happily ever afters we got along the way, but I didn't care all that much about them.

It was a bit too short to really get into the nitty-gritty of the relationship. I feel like a few more pages, a few more chapters and we could have seen them develop better as individuals and as a couple. Their love wasn't completely abrupt, but I still wanted more from Catherine and Andrew in order to completely believe their love story.

Overall, 3.5 stars for this graphic novel. A little longer and more fleshed out and I think I could have loved it.

A marriage of convenience with some stunning and spicy art? Yes please! This steamy graphic novel is perfect for lovers of Bridgerton. The transitions from scene to scene was disjointed at times but overall I loved the chemistry between the characters.

DNF this one. I didn’t enjoy the dialogue between the characters and the plot felt very disjointed. There were moments where I felt like I’d missed a page or two because of how quickly (and randomly) it switched.

I loved the Bridgerton-eque love story between Andrew and Catherine, but I was also incredibly touched by the emotional growth/healing of everyone in Davener House after all the tragedy they’ve faced. The unexpected queer representation was also such an exciting bonus!!! I honestly had so much fun reading this.

As an avid reader of historical romance, I was super excited to see a graphic novel in this genre, as I had never read one before. I though this was a really cute and sweet (yet slightly steamy!) read. I liked the romance between the two main characters, although I do wish the backstory was a bit more fleshed out. I would have also liked to know more about some of the main side characters. Still, the art style was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a really fun read!

Ruined is a graphic novel of a Regency-era romance between a woman who has fallen from society's grace and a man whose reputation and social standing have fallen. Catherine and Andrew marry so they can save themselves, but as the story goes, there might be more to them than meets the eye. Might there even be love between them?

What follows is a little formulaic, and if you like Regency-era stories, you can probably see where the book is going. This is a cozy read though and something you can easily get through in one sitting. I will say this book is not for young readers; there is nudity and sex depicted. While the sex isn't super graphic, it is drawn just as a heads-up.

Thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This graphic novel was awesome.

The love story was great.
The characters were well written.
The artwork was absolutely beautiful.

Will be looking up the author and illustrator for their other works!!!!

Ruined opens at the wedding of Catherine, a 'ruined' 27-year-old who has sworn off love, and Andrew, just desperate enough for Catherine's sizable dowry to overlook the rumors of her social demise. As such, it explores how two people fall in love after they're already married. I enjoyed the various side plots with Catherine's sister and maid as well as the slow reveal of both Catherine's and Andrew's backstories, but I really loved how the colors and backgrounds contributed to a longing atmosphere. I keep trying to imagine the story in prose and it just doesn't work as well. Each panel held both exactly as little and as much information as it needed to get the point across, how we could see the conflicting emotions play out as the story progressed. While the Brigerton parallels are apt for season one's marriage of convenience, I think the comparison holds true for season two as well—there is just something so delicious about a longing, lustful gaze across a richly tapestried drawing room...

The pacing of this novel is a little weird. The story starts in the middle. The sprinkle of random characters stories didn’t really need to be mentioned. It was confusing trying to grasp what was going on. The ending felt abrupt. Other than that. It’s a decent quick read if you like a bridgerton & pride and pred style with some spice.

I really loved the Pride and Prejudice feel of this book! Andrew is broody like Mr. Darcy and Catherine shares similarities to to Liz. She even wears a similar dress to what Liz wore during the scene Liz and Mr. Darcy danced for the first time.

The slow burn of Andrew and Catherine is beautifully delicious and I did not expect the spice level this book was going to have, but I loved it. The way they learn to trust one another felt so organic and I wanted to read more of them.

Which leads to the only real problem I had with the book. While I liked reading about Mary and her story, I felt it was a bit distracting to Andrew and Catherine’s story. It would have been nice if we got hints of her story and then got her full story in a sequel.

As for Lee and her story, it could’ve been taken out all together. There was not enough time in the book for me to feel anything toward her. I didn’t know who she was as a character and I’ve already forgotten the name of the guy she likes.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and would love to get Mary’s sequel.

Heat Factor: They get nekkid! There is on-page seggs!

Character Chemistry: All the beats were there for a marriage of convenience, but I think there were too many secondary character stories to really make it sing.

Plot: Catherine marries Andrew because no one else will have her; Andrew marries Catherine because he needs her money; they’re definitely not going to have sex until he falls in love with her. Nopity nope nope!

Overall: I am not yet convinced that the graphic novel is the right format to really get that belly-fluttering romance swoon, but I was definitely charmed by this one.

“A graphic novel featuring a historical romance marriage of convenience?” I said to myself as I was scrolling through Netgalley. “I must have it.”

I’m not totally sure how best to organize my thoughts, so I’m going to go with bullet points. Let’s see what happens.

- The art style is clean lines and visually accessible; there wasn’t anything to muddy the reading of the panels. That said, the characters are rounded, and the art style isn’t gritty at all, so it also feels kind of young and innocent. The protagonists are seemingly relatively young people getting married (early to mid twenties, I’d say), so that tracks, but it creates that young and naive vibe in the background of the story.

- This is a very regency marriage of convenience romance. Catherine is “ruined” due to whispers about an affair she had with a complete asshole who was promised to another woman. (Who doesn’t care that he got his rocks off while she was traveling? That was a weird moment.) Andrew, the second son, unexpectedly inherited his family estate that was already ruined by his brother, so he needs Catherine’s money to put things to rights. They both know they’re marrying for business reasons, and that forms a pretty solid basis for their marriage, actually.

- Speaking of their marriage, they are really nice to each other. It was pretty cool. The first sex scene is their wedding night, and Catherine can’t go through with it after all. They have a shockingly even conversation about their pasts, and when Catherine tells Andrew she won’t have sex with a man she doesn’t love, he’s like, “Okay, we’ll just be good spouses to each other, then, and when the house work is done we can pursue our own interests.” That said, Catherine does pull the, “I can’t have sex with a man I don’t even know!” regency heroine card, and Andrew does pull the “I’m just not built for love” regency hero card, so we are well within the genre.

- Though, after all of that sex talk: Catherine, that toolbox of a man? Really? You loved him? He’s the worst. Andrew is such a good friend and partner to her as their marriage goes on that of course she can’t help but fall for him, and of course they fall into bed before any declarations of love have occurred, and of course this causes problems later on.

- Catherine’s sister and her maid also have romantic thread storylines in the book that are sweet but not totally fleshed out, and given the length of the story, I might argue they pull away from Catherine and Andrew’s romance unnecessarily. Graphic novels might be 350 pages, but that’ll read in less than an hour, so even though it’s the same number of pages as a novel, it isn’t actually as long, narratively. Andrew’s sister also has a running storyline that tangentially impacts Catherine and Andrew—her anxiety prevents her from leaving the house—but it does form a part of a sibling conflict. Still, it redirects reader attention, and for what purpose?

- Apparently we’ve gone full Bridgerton with the diverse cast. It was nice to see a lot of racial diversity in the book, because that’s always a good thing to see. That said, it does seem to simply paper over the whole systemic racial inequality thing that we’re still dealing with, so I haven’t totally landed on an opinion about this choice. (And if you think that racial diversity was not a thing in 19th century Britain, maybe just take a minute to do a little research.)

In short, this was a charming regency romance, but most of its novelty exists in its format rather than its storyline, and the focus on some of the side characters didn’t really support the central romance as well as maybe they should have. That said, I’m super excited about an adult romance from First Second—I’ve enjoyed a lot from that publisher—and if you wanted to dip your toe into romance novel graphics, and you like histrom, this is a fun, short read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report. (November)

A Bridgertonesque graphic novel is an apt description for this one! I really quite enjoyed the artwork and the plot. I do wish that the characters faces had been more expressive at times, but overall the art complimented the story.