I really wanted to love this book. The cover is absolutely stunning; gives me fall vibes that I absolutely adore! However, the formatting of this e-book was messing with my capabilities to read, hence the three stars.

🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars

Ambitious queer‑horror graphic novel with powerful themes but some pacing and visual overwhelm.

Hello Sunshine ventures confidently into teenage grief, mental health, faith, and queerness wrapped in supernatural mystery. The core plot—Noah returning from Bible camp to discover his boyfriend Alex missing, prompting a paranormal journey with Alex’s friends Jamie, Izzy, and Skylar—is compelling, and Keezy Young handles it with emotional sensitivity and narrative ambition

The graphic storytelling is lush and atmospheric—warm tones at the start shifting to darker hues as Alex’s psychological unraveling deepens, with panels breaking apart visually to reflect disorientation. It’s a bold, immersive artistic choice

Strengths:

* A nuanced treatment of mental illness and supernatural elements. Keezy Young wisely avoids using magic as a metaphor for psychosis, and doesn’t sensationalize mental health struggles
* Emotionally rich themes: friends grappling with guilt, belief, identity, and family legacy.
* Queer characters who feel authentic and complex.

Weaknesses:

* The layout occasionally feels too busy; overloaded pages can obscure readability and dilute emotional clarity
* Time jumps—even when color‑coded—disrupt the flow, making the narrative feel fragmented. Readers may need to pause frequently to reorient themselves
* Some character arcs, particularly around romance or grief resolution, felt under‑developed given the book’s length.

Bottom line: Hello Sunshine is an ambitious YA graphic novel that boldly weaves together horror, queer romance, and mental health in a richly colored visual style. Its emotional weight and intention are clear and heartfelt—but the busy art and pacing choices may make it a challenging read for some. Great for readers looking for something atmospheric and thoughtful, but maybe too dense in places for those seeking a smoother narrative journey.

Would recommend to readers who:

* Prefer character-driven supernatural stories exploring grief and identity
* Want a queer YA graphic novel with emotional depth and creative visual symbolism

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Ink for the ARC.

Wow! This was quite the read! I don't really have anything to complain about. I thought Young did a great job weaving the supernatural/horror with mental illness. I now have a much deeper understanding of schizophrenia. I also really enjoyed the characters and how the story was told from their perspective. It really allowed the reader to get to know each character in a unique way. This was a very powerful book that will definitely make it on the shelf at my library.

I wish I could have enjoyed this more but ultimately the font style and formatting of this arc made it hard for me to read. I think the story itself was good. There’s horror elements, magic, mental health rep. All great things packed into this!

Hopefully the final copy of this will be a little bit better and easier to read though.

This lush and romantic queer horror graphic novel* is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of grief, love, and the supernatural. When Alex disappears after a breakdown, his loved ones, each grappling with guilt, heartbreak, or rage, embark on a deeply personal and paranormal search for the truth.

The author masterfully intertwines supernatural themes with the very real weight of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. Through Jamie’s chilling encounters with the ghost of his mother and Alex’s unraveling reality, the story blurs the line between haunting and hallucination. It raises powerful questions: What if the demons are real? And what if love is the only thing that can bring someone back?

Atmospheric, emotional, and deeply empathetic, this graphic novel doesn’t just tell a ghost story, it tells a story about the ghosts we carry within ourselves.

Hello Sunshine is a graphic novel about Alex, a quiet, anxious boy who smokes weed to help himself keep a handle on things. He lives in a small town, so it's no surprise that this gives him a reputation. It doesn't help that his twin brother Jamie has had anger issues since their mother died. Their whole family is seen in a less-than-positive light.

But now, Alex is missing. His brother and all of his friends feel a little like they're to blame. Either because they didn't notice something was wrong, or because they did notice and didn't know what to do about it. They wonder if Alex was seeing things just like his mother did before she died. But then, they start seeing things too. Ghostly and horrifying things. Now, they're on a mission to find Alex and figure out what's real and what's not.

I was drawn in by the mystery of Alex's disappearance and kept hooked by the bonds he had with the people who loved him. They're an interesting group, and I loved getting to know everyone. This story really takes you on a journey. You see the guilt and hope in each of Alex's loved ones through their own lens as they search for the reason for his disappearance. Then, you get to see it all through Alex's eyes, and things get a lot more complicated.

It's a tense read sometimes, and the things Alex sees and hears might make you uncomfortable, but that's a necessary part of a story that deals with mental illness. While there is an element of fantasy to the story, for the most part, what Alex is going through is a very real thing that people need to see to understand. And it's an important subject that needs to be discussed.

I was moved by how the bonds between this group helped and healed not only Alex, but also each other – healed, not cured, that's an important distinction. Hello Sunshine is a story both dark and beautiful, and it'll stay with me for a long time.

5⭐s out of 5.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Consistent with a few other reviews but, formatting issues on the digital copy more than anything else made this a slog to get through. Other than that the story was a solid , appropriately spooky mystery revolving around a group of friends who are trying to find their missing friend. Possible supernatural activities ensue. The story mixes religious guilt/ trauma with mental health topics and has some seriously creepy visuals that I don’t think I’ll be able to unsee. If you’ve read the authors other works then you’ll know that the topic of mental health is dear to her heart. Such candor is refreshing and necessary. Unrelated to anything else for this review I love love love Izzy’s mod,60s style and want everything in her wardrobe immediately lol
Thank you to Little Brown and co for the advance copy but,maybe work out the tech and formatting issues next time?

"Hello Sunshine" is a YA graphic novel by Keezy Young. Noah is a high schooler who returns from Bible camp to find out that his boyfriend, Alex, has gone missing (and that most people think he had a breakdown and then just ran away). Noah joins Alex's twin brother and friends to try to find him. A beautiful and interesting book about mental illness, demons, and friendship, the story is occasionally a bit unclear, but the message is needed. A recommended purchase for YA GN collections.
Includes an author's note about mental illness at the end.

This was such a unique graphic novel and I really enjoyed it!

Cass was obviously a highlight but all the characters were interesting and I rooted for all of them, especially Alex and Noah.

This was a pretty solid read.

The mystery aspect was intriguing and while I did like the horror aspect of the story, I found it a bit confusing sometimes.
I liked that mental illness was an important part of the book.

However, the book did feel a bit too long and dragged occasionally.

I’d give the book about 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This was a beautiful book about love and mental illness. I really enjoyed the art here. This is an excellent blend of horror mixed in there as well. This reflects on religion, disability representation, mom phobia, and so much more! I really enjoyed this and look forward to more from this creator!

This was a gorgeous YA graphic novel about the intersection of horror and mental illness. A group of teens look for answers when their friend, who was having hallucinations at the end of the school year, goes missing. Was it murder? Ghosts? Demons? Or something even more insidious? I'm not sure "enjoyment" would be quite the right word for how I felt when reading this graphic novel, but I do think it was incredibly well done. I loved how each character had a chapter devoted to their POV. It added depth and perspective to everything that was happening. And the depiction of Alex's intrusive thoughts and auditory hallucinators was so effective. It gave the sense of overwhelming chaos and disorientation that Alex is clearly feeling. I occasionally had trouble telling dream sequences and flashbacks apart from the present timeline, but since the story has an overall air of mystery and confusion, it didn't bother me too much.

I do wish aspects of the author's not at the end had been included at the beginning. I think Young does a phenomenal job of handling the serious and difficult topic of mental illness, but not knowing that the story was intentionally exploring how horror has used mental illness and harmed those living with it did initially make me worry that this story was playing into those tropes. It clearly isn't, and I don't think it would have taken away from any of the reveals that it's handling these topics with care.

Hello Sunshine is a totally immersive experience, starting out as a mystery and gradually sinking into fantasy horror.  Some of the monsters are real, and some are a product of Alex’s first schizoaffective episode.  Young treats the mental health elements with gravity and dignity, based in part on their own experiences, creating a horror story that doesn’t villainies the mentally ill or relegate mental illness to metaphor.

A gorgeous and romantic queer horror graphic novel about a teen who disappears from his small town and his loved ones who go on a paranormal journey to find him. Secrets, mental health, queer romance, friendship, and monsters all come together in this absolutely fantastic read. The art in this was amazing but the storyline was even better. I love how emotional and in depth this got about feelings of mental health and facing our literal demons. I love the support and friendship that these characters had for each other. It truly was such a fantastic read and one I will absolutely be recommending!

Release Date: September 23, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | Little, Brown Ink for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

If I had to rate based on the quality of the document, I should definitely abstain because it is abysmal. I had to zoom in to be barely able to read anything.

That said, this graphic-novel was amazing. Really. Keezy Young crafted such a wonderful story with incredibly important and delicate themes. I read their work before, but they absolutely outdid themselves with this one. I was enthralled from start to finish and I cried more than once.

Definitely give this one a read.

i just received the arc for this and i’m not even going to attempt to try reading this. the format is just not good and i don’t want to pinch the screen to get a better view with each page. i wish this graphic novel was done a lot better for arc readers to view it.

Thank you Little Brown Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I enjoyed the mix of horror, queerness, and mental health in this one! Noah’s come back from church camp to find that his crush slash sort of boyfriend, but maybe ex isn’t talking to him anymore. All his friends say it’s a good thing after what Alex did to him, but Noah has no clue what they are talking about. And when he confronts Alex’s twin brother Jamie he learns that Alex is missing. The police assume he ran away but his friends Sky and Izzy don’t think so. Jamie doesn’t know what to think. The four decide to find Alex and the stumble into a world of demons and ghosts. Was Alex in more trouble than any of them knew? Alex and Jamie’s mother also talked of demons before she died but she had some mental health issues. Or at least that’s what everyone thought. Did she also see demons? And was it her ghost that Alex was talking about? Can they save Alex or are they just getting themselves into danger too? Keezy Young’s graphic novel is a supernatural horror story that has so much more going on! There’s mystery, murder, homophobia, religion, ableism, magic, and mental health! It’s a quick read with a ton of emotional depth and some really beautiful artwork! Plus I love how all the characters approach mental health! Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Like other readers, my copy was not easy to read. I did manage to read it on the NetGalley app, but the words were blurry and I had to keep my glasses on the whole time to help me focus. I expanded every individual page but there's a specific amount that it has to be so it's still remotely legible. It maybe took me twice as long to read this one compared to other graphic novel ARCs I have read. I did greatly enjoy the ARC, I think it was worth the effort because I appreciated the message Keezy Young is conveying, but it did take a minute to find a ratio and adjust

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young is a Queer YA supernatural horror graphic novel following a Scooby gang-ish group as they try to find their missing friend. Alex has gone missing after a series of psychosis episodes and nobody is quite sure what happened. His boyfriend Noah, twin brother Jamie, friends Izzy and Sky, and dog Cass will do what they can to bring him home, even if it means digging into the last and dealing with monsters.

In terms of the cast, this really felt like someone took the idea of the Scooby gang and made it into a YA for the modern day. Cass doesn't talk but she does serve an important role and she spends most of her time with either Jamie or Alex in the text. Izzy is a big fan of retro fashion and wears a lot of it, adding a 60s-70s aesthetic that plays very well with the rest of the art style. I wouldn't say any one character directly translates to the Scooby gang, but Sky is somewhat like a Velma because she is so investigation-minded while Izzy feels like a quieter Daphne.

There is a lot of subtle discussion on the complex relationship Queer people have with Christianity, especially if it's a big part of their home lives. There's no back and forth on how religion is bad and oppresses Queerness; instead we see it subtly in how Noah’s family reacts to Alex and how a friend of Noah's, Greyson, is implicitly homophobic at times. I think most people at that age who are figuring out their sexuality have this sort of experience, where they take in what people say and it impacts their actions, but there aren't a lot of big blow ups and passionate speeches like there are on TV. For many people, when you learn whether the people around you will love or disown you, it's pretty quiet.

The horror elements build over time and are built off the back of the mystery plot threads. I thought this was so well done and allowed for topics about how domestic abuse used to be considered a family matter and police wouldn't get involved and how we talk about the mentally ill and teens society views as troubled. There is so much happening on a thematic level but it all connects back to how we talk about mental health as a society and the importance of a loving support system. Alex is schizoaffective and the author doesn't obscure this fact in any way, giving the diagnosis a name and discussing how horror as a genre has long treated the mentally ill and their symptoms. This is a very heavy graphic novel, but it is an important one.

Content warning for depictions of homophobia and ableism

I would recommend this to fans of YA supernatural horror and readers of Queer graphic novels looking for a horror with a nostalgic twist

This was a great horror YA graphic novel with tones of romance. I will 100% buy this for my daughter in September when it's published. She loves to read graphic novels. The details were awesome, the aspects, the thrill. I have to put this up there with The Princess and the Grilled Cheese. (My all-time favorite Graphic Novel.) Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for this eARC.

I certainly believe that if I had been reading this in its physical form, I would have liked it. The art was stunning and the vague layout of the pages was visually pleasing. But that was all I had to go off of, because the quality of the images of the pages were so dog-shit that I could not even read the words. If I got my face close enough to the screen I was able to pick up every other word, but I was not about to read an entire graphic novel like that. I will probably try and find this in stores after its release to try it again, because this rating is the fault of whatever technology was used to upload it to the Netgalley reading sites (both app and website) and not the authors, who I've read and enjoyed before. It's an unfortunate situation that should have been caught and fixed.