Based on the real-life undercover reporter, stunt girl Nell Nelson and queer icon and photographer Alice Austen, this swoonworthy graphic novel reimagines a world where the two met, fell in love, and fought the injustices of child-labor and unsafe factory environment. I enjoyed the heck out of this story. It is a fun mix of period romance and undercover investigation. I’ll definitely be recommending it to lovers of queer romance and future rabble-rousers.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free ARC!

This was an inspiring and entertaining graphic novel about a stunt girl named Nell and a street photographer named Alice who are loosely based on real characters. As stunt women they go undercover to investigate and report upon conditions that women faced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in such places as factories. While their families are forcing them into society to find husbands, the two girls fall in love in with each other. While it was a fun read, I felt like it was lacking in more substantial historical details that would have made the story even richer.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really liked it, stuck with me & would recommend
I loved all the ingredients in this graphic novel that come together in a historical fiction account of two women during the 1880's, uncovering the deplorable conditions in the garment manufacturing industry. They also happen to be queer and feminists. This was an engaging story, that was well researched and represented. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I liked the artwork and thought it was pretty cute. I liked the line work and color.

Thank you to Little Brown Books for Young Readers, NetGalley, and author Nora Neus, for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. Renegade Girls is out April 1, 2025.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, it had an interesting story and the illustrations were fun and emotional. This takes place in the 1880s, the first "stunt" girl and an amateur undercover reporter named Helena (Nell) who is looking into a story in a garment factory for an article. Nell meets and starts up a romance with photographer Alice and a lot of sneaking around and investigating starts to uncover what is going on, while dealing with the societal pressures pushed on women in the 1880s.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to take up a graphic novel with queer characters, the story keeps you engaged and the author's note at the end should not be skipped! I love that these characters were based on real life people and events.

Thank you to Little Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

My favorite graphic novels are queer graphic novels and this was another great one to add to my never-ending list of favorites! I really enjoyed this a lot! It's a feminist story based on real people and it does a lot of work in its relatively short amount of pages. Though my e-ARC's artwork was grainy and low quality (not sure if that's an ARC issue for everyone or just on my e-reader, but I didn't factor that in my rating, of course), I really appreciated the art panels and will love to go back and reread this and fully appreciate them once I have the physical copy and can see the art in all its glory! I mostly liked the pacing of this, though sometimes it went really quick and felt a bit slow at like two parts, but those are pretty minor gripes because, overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel so much! And, of course, the sapphic romance was swoony and just what I wanted. Highly recommend!

The art work was really cute. I loved the characters. Im not sure if there will be more books or not but I would love to be able to learn more about the friends.

I really liked the art and queer representation. The fight to be heard while also exposing poor conditions is important. However, I wish this was a story about fictional queer women at the time or real queer women, not real women who did not know each other and who are not necessarily known to be queer. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a fantastic five-star read for both the story and the artwork until I got to the author's note and learned that these two very real human beings for the not-so-distant past whose romance was the emotional heart of the book never actually met in real life let alone had a relationship. And the incredible New York labor advancements that were equally important to the story actually took place in Chicago--one of the characters didn't even do this work in New York. I really hope that this note is put before the story, not after it, for the finished book. This is a story for young readers, not adults, who will see that it is based on real people and think those people who fell in love in the book at least met in real life. I'm giving it 5 stars with that hope in mind, but I honestly wouldn't give it to my own child to read without that context up front.

This was SUCH a fun and fascinating read! Although the author admits she took artistic liberties with some of the details, it still made for an adorable queer love story set against the empowering tale of a stunt girl journalist coming into her own. The illustrations were so vibrant and sweet, too!

I hadn't heard of Nell Cusack or photographer Alice Austen, but I immediately went down the rabbit hole and can't wait to learn more about these brilliant women.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Renegade Girls is a graphic novel that fictionalizes the lives of Nell Cusack and Alice Austen, whom I enjoyed learning about in the afterword. Nell is a society reporter who finally gets a break as a stunt girl, going undercover at a factory with her friend to reveal the horrible working conditions. She meets Alice and the two quickly hit it off and Alice assists with Nell's reporting as a photographer. I enjoyed reading this and learning more about the real women it's based on, but I do question the choice to erase Alice's real life partner, Gertrude Tate.
Thanks to Little, Brown and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I like all of the historical graphic novels that are coming out so far. It's interesting to understand history through another lens that didn't show up in texts as often. The character design was great as well as the use of color. I felt like I was sucked into New York City, or could at least imagine what it was like back then. I also loved the focus on journalism and stunt girl reporters in the era! I had never heard of stunt girl reporters before reading this book, but now it makes me interested in hearing more of their stories.

"Renegade Girls" by Nora Neus was a pleasant read. The art style was adorable and I loved the relationship between Nell and Alice. However, I found myself being more interested in the aspect of Nell's reporting than the relationships. I'm not an expert on history so I'm unable to say what was or wasn't historically accurate in this book. Overall, this was a fun book and I would definitely read something from Neus again.

(3.75/5 stars) Renegade Girls is a historical fiction graphic novel set in 1880s New York, and based on real life women. It follows Nell as a stunt girl - a reporter going undercover - as well as her friend Lucia who becomes her research and reporting partner, and her love interest Alice, who does photography for Nell's articles. I was so excited to read this book to learn about the real life women these characters were inspired by, especially considering I'd not heard of stunt girls before!

I feel like the story is developed well and at a good pace. Nell and Lucia's friendship develops alongside Nell and Alice's romantic relationship, and neither is left behind by the other. I loved getting to see Nell exploring her rebellious side by meeting Alice's friends, who break numerous societal expectations and even partake in crossdressing. Without spoiling too much, I'll say that I love how the author included some plot regarding class and how higher classes often profit off of the labour of lower classes to continue getting richer.

The one part that felt lacking to this story is the inclusion of people of colour. There are characters in Renegade Girls who wealthy and Black, and there is some discussion of immigrant workers in factories, however I find it odd that this was not really a big part of the plot or of Nell's reporting. Instead, there was just a focus on the exploitation of child labor, without exploring the intersection of race, class, and other factors.

Overall, this is a great book to add to school libraries for the historical element, and a good read in general if you enjoy women's history, queer romance, and graphic novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the eARC!

"Renegade Girls" is a young adult historical fiction graphic novel written by Nora Neus and illustrated by Julie Robine. The story is based off of the lives of reporting stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen. Nell is spending the summer in NYC with her upper class uncle and aunt who would like her to marry a man so that she can stay in the city. Nell also wants to stay in NY, but does not want to marry a man. Nell bump into Alice at a society get-together and they hit it off.
Nell has a job at the newspaper for the society section, but wants to be a stunt girl, reporting on serious and dangerous topics. When she learns that her friend, who works for a garment factory is injured, Nell goes undercover to expose the dangerous working conditions.
A fun and informational queer romance, this is a suggested purchase for young adult graphic novel collections. Historical notes are included in the back as well as information from the author.

Renegade Girls is a fantastic historical fiction graphic novel! Following Nell Nelson a reporter who shines a light on a sweatshop in her city. The illustrations are absolutely adorable, and the bubbly queer romance made this a delight to read! Definitely check this one out to learn a little history (although this is heavy on the fiction side of historical fiction) and enjoy the cute vibes!

Thanks to NetGalley, Nora Neus, and Little, Brown Books for the chance to read and review. My opinions are my own!

This was a queer fictionalization of the lives of Nell Cusack (a stunt girl) and Alice Austen (a street photographer). Before reading this, I had never heard of stunt girls. They’re basically women who went undercover as investigative reporters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They reported on topics such as abortion clinics, factory working conditions, and the abuse of patients with mental illness at asylums. Obviously given the time periods, stunt girls were not respected by their peers.

The story itself is really interesting. The main character, Nell, was being forced into society by her mother under the watchful eyes of her rich aunt and uncle but when she uncovers her uncle’s secrets she
displays bravery and morality that would be rare even today among the elite.

I loved the rag tag girl gang Nell fell into. They were so fun and rebellious.

I really liked the art in this book. At first, the particular twists on proportions for the body felt a little bit jarring but I soon got used to it. The colors are what drew my attention most because they're really beautiful, I loved the close-ups on faces, especially on the panels with dramatic lighting as they were so vivid.

As for the story itself, I found it a bit lacking and it didn't exactly match my expectations.

The part about the workers felt a little bit too underdeveloped. I didn't feel like there was sufficient outrages about the situation of those workers and especially for the children. At many points, I felt like the children were too much treated like "normal" workers even by the main characters and even though it does become one of the main points to which change is brought, I just feel like it was an approach a bit too lighthearted for something important and objectively heavy. It also didn't explore the intersection of race in this exploitation at all.

I did appreciate the romance, Alice and Nell are just really cute together and I feel like that bit was really well developed. Their relationship is really well written and I love that it put emphasis on ways that queer women have built space for community, safety and joy for the exploration of their queerness. The panels about crossdressing were so touching.

In the end, I feel like this book maybe just wasn't quite intended for me but it would be a good fit for an audience just beginning to learn about women's struggles in the past.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown for the e-ARC of Renegade Girls!
4 / 5 ⭐


Renegade Girls is a queer romance loosely based on historical figures set in the 1880s. Nell, our protagonist, goes undercover in garment factories to spread light on the harsh conditions and child labor prevalent at the time. During this process, she is confronted with startling truths about herself - and those she holds dear. When her convictions are tested, she has to weigh justice and love.

“Renegade Girls” is a wonderful and informative fictionalized account of the stunt girl reporting phenomenon of the mid-19th century. Readers will gain insight into the conditions of factory work during this time, as well as the challenges faced by women in journalism—many of which persist to this day. Contrary to the cover, the book’s romantic aspects are not the sole focus of the story. The book excels in giving a voice to the factory workers who were so unfairly treated during this period. The graphic novel’s vibrant artwork and multi-layered, engaging story make it a wonderful addition to any teen library and hold immense potential to be used as a read-along in history curricula.