A lovely graphic novel about two young women who find each other in Paris and discover love.

Sarah Huxley has moved from London to Paris, where she works for a company. She meets Ping Loh, from Hong Kong who is working as an au pair and the two form a friendship. They struggle together as they develop their relationship with a mix of French, English and Cantonese, finding ways to overcome the barriers of language and falling in love.

It is an interesting and hopeful love story with graphics that overflow with colour.

Book 162 of 350 ~ 2025

🌟🌟🌟

How I love linguistic themed books, especially graphic novels.

I was torn with this one. I tried to like it more but some parts just felt... a tad.. dare I say it.. dull and too try hard-ish?

three star read seems fair.

I received a complimentary copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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After moving from London to Paris, Sarah finds herself alone and a little disappointed in her new life. She soon comes across Ping Yoh, a nanny for a family from Hong Kong, and the two share their struggles with French while slowly blending together their languages of English, French, and Cantonese. The art style for this was vibrant, and I loved seeing how these two communicated together so happily and organically.

I have so many feelings about this book. I speed through this one in less than an hour. I just loved the way their relationship progressed, they fight so had to overcome their language barrier for their friendship just to realize that maybe there's more. It's definitely a bit of a slow burn and felt agonizing at points. Overall, a good read and well worth your time.

I thought this graphic novel was delightful. I loved how the overlap of languages - and what was understood versus what wasn't - was depicted. Also, loved that the reminder that people can connect even without sharing the same language.

Thank You to NetGalley for a copy of an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was in a slump when I picked this up and im so glad that I did. First off the coloring of the pages is beautiful in watercolor style. It made the comic even more better to read.
Sarah and Ping was just in awe. I loved them.
The bits of multi-lingual aspects was the cherry on top.
One thing is I wanted it to be longer.

I had a hard time getting through Love Languages. It felt very slow, and the multiple languages, though well done, felt confusing and made the book harder to get through. I did really enjoy the art.

This was an incredibly nice story, maybe a touch too dramatic at times, but I loved it anyway.

I especially liked how it's a story about languages - learning and expressing yourself in other languages and most importantly connecting with others. In the beginning it's harder to grasp the story and our protagonist's thoughts but as she learns, not only French, but Cantonese too, it gets easier and things click into place. I love-love-love-love-loved that!

It's a book about friendship and love and finding yourself too in a way. It's about all the worries one has in a new country, but also about silly expectations we silly humans put on ourselves, about how disconnected one could feel in a foreign place.

The art style was great and really unique - I love when I find a new style in graphic novels, and it flows with the story, always transforming itself.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was an absolutely perfect little graphic novel. It captures the nuances of intercultural/interlingual connection so well. I absolutely adored how it showed that love and connection can transcend so many barriers, including language. The art style was simple yet beautiful, and showed the pastiche of languages Ping and Sarah spoke together in such a genius way.

I have already sent this little book as a gift to two friends because it captured my heart so deeply and I hope it will capture others' hearts as well!

rating 3.5 stars

let's start off with the things i did like -
- the art
- the use of language to bring two foreigners together despite that barrier (one of the coolest parts was how the book handled the multilingual aspect. The author included translations in a different color right next to the dialogue, which made everything so easy to follow!)
- sarah is stronger than me because i cannot learn a language easily (girl is actually making an effort to learn French (since she’s living in Paris) and Mandarin (because her love interest is from Hong Kong), i would've relied on google translate so much haha)

things i didn't like as much -
- pacing (it was lowkey all over the place, but then again i did read all this in one sitting haha)
- third act conflict felt forced? miscommunication can sometimes be hit or miss, and sadly i felt like this missed me :')

but i will say it was still a good read - i love seeing unique art styles and stories about love that is beyond mainstream <3

Something about the watercolor illustration style paired with the decadent but frank storytelling had me sobbing by the end of this book. I was so all in on this pair’s love story, that by the end I was cheering out loud for them. I think this book not only perfectly captured what it feels like to like to feel lost in translation, but also delved deep into feeling uncomfortable and the struggle of finding joy in discomfort. 11/10 great read going into pride month.

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I have a bad habit of reading a book, thinking I wrote a review, and then going about my day only to realize months later that I only put it in my journal.

I loved how this book handled miscommunication and the bridge towards Sarah and Ping beginning to understand each other. And the way the art style reflected that as Sarah was overhearing other people talking and the speech bubbles having clear indicators of what Sarah can/can't understand. The romance development starting out as friends was also a lovely part but I do wish the third act semi-breakup didn't happen. other than that, I enjoyed this.

Firstly, the art in this graphic novel is stunningly unique. The way the multilingual aspect of the book is represented visually is striking, and I like how integral that is to the story. Though I love a sapphic romance, I did not feel particularly invested in this one. I feel like it might have been the pacing; however, I did like it in the end. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thus far one of my top two favorite books from 2025. It's honestly hard to believe that this was written by a man because the emotions of the female main characters are so realistic. Loved this. Gorgeous art and a beautiful, evocative story.

I think this was a really nice book. The art style was really nice and the depiction of language and the barriers and connection between languages was really nicely done. I will say for me, there wasn't a lot of chemistry in the love story for this book and the development of the love story didn't stand out as much as the other aspects of this graphic novel. I saw a lot of heart and story about being in a different country and trying to find community and connection and not necessarily a love story that transcends some of the barriers that language can create. Overall though I quiet liked this book. It was wholesome and very visually pretty. Thanks for sharing!

This book was so, so lovely. The art took my breath away — so full of color and emotion, it almost didn’t need words. You could just feel everything pouring off the page. I saw a lot of myself in Sarah — the sadness, the confusion, the quiet anger of being boxed in by someone else’s idea of who you are, before you’ve even figured it out yourself. That hit deep. The shifts in language threw me off a bit (maybe that was the point) but it still tugged me out of the story now and then. Even with that, this was such a tender, powerful read.

I liked the premise of this book and the multiple languages and work around for communication made it interesting.

A SWEET STORY!!!

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a sweet moment to change the pace in between different novels! The Perfect palate cleanser!

“Love Languages” is a graphic novel by James Albon.

The novel effectively portrays the experience of a non-native speaker navigating multiple languages, shown through the artwork with translations placed either over the original language or next to the original as speech balloons.
Living abroad often brings an isolated feeling, even when surrounded by people, as vividly depicted with Sarah.

Highlights:
It is set in Paris.
The artwork complements the story.
The concept of the story is unique for me, with the multiple languages used in the speech balloons.
I have been working and living abroad, and I could relate to Sarah.


Overall:
The story is charming and courageous, as it inspires you to take the leap and do things that make you feel happy, such as going to the museum alone, learning new languages, and trying to communicate even when it's hard. Of course, follow your heart because you never know where it will lead.
This book will resonate with expat readers, fans of queer romance, or anyone seeking a feel-good story.
Thank you to Netgalley and IDW Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel

“Love languages” is a graphic novel by James Albon, a sweet story of friendship and love in multi language.
Sarah is a British woman living in Paris, who works in an office overflowing with male colleagues and toxic masculinity; despite wishing for friendship and adventure in the french capital, she’s a bit of a loner, not engaging much with people outside of work.
One day, however, she meets Ping, a girl from Hong Kong who works as an au pair and they bond over their being foreigners in Paris: Sarah speaks a little bit of Cantonese and Ping wants to improve her English, so their conversations end up being a mix of French, English and Cantonese. Together they explore Paris, going to museums and markets, but more than that, they find someone they can count on in a foreign land.
But as their friendship develops and deepens, they found themselves out of their comfort bubble and faced with a world who doesn’t listen, no matter which language you speak.
The struggle shown here, of being an expat abroad, away from your language, family and friends, is real, especially the part where you feel like your learning the language is nothing until something finally clicks and you don’t have to think about words anymore, they flow simply and effortlessly.
I really liked the beautiful LGBTQ+ story, as well as the illustrations, so lively and complementing to the words. This is truly one of the sweetest graphic novels I’ve read in a long time, so cozy and wholesome in the relationship it portrays.
Highly recommend ❤️❤️❤️