Memories of Giselle is a haunted view of a young woman as she grows up dealing with mental health and family trauma. With so much of the story framed from a young girl’s perspective, the reader gets a tense undercurrent of something wrong while on the surface it’s just showing innocent scenes of childhood antics and hanging out with friends. Really the only constant unease comes from how the brother and grandmother are depicted throughout.

The art often seemed to use photo reference and almost seemed traced at moments, which only stood out as the faces seemed at odds with the anime influences. However that almost seemed to play up the dichotomy of the story.

My one critique would be the transitions between time periods. It often felt sudden with no clear indication that time had passed or it if was just a new scene, until you could see a hair cut different or growth spurt.

Overall really well done with a painful but healing look at mental health.

Memories of Giselle was such an emotionally heartbreaking read, it completely wrecked me in the best way. It explores how painful childhood memories can be buried so deep that your mind reshapes them into something good just to survive. What really got me was how even the people who love you most can’t always tell you the truth, no matter how much they want to protect you. I loved the detail of the brother’s face being hidde, it perfectly symbolized the guilt he carried and how he distanced himself from the family because of what he believed he allowed to happen to Giselle. The story captures how trauma never really leaves you, even when you can’t remember it, and how your body and mind will always try to tell you what’s wrong if you listen closely enough. The art style was hauntingly beautiful too, soft, emotional, and full of meaning. Overall, *Memories of Giselle* was a stunning and painful look at memory, guilt, and healing. Easy 4 star book for me.

A very sad and dark take of a teenage girl and the secrets locked inside of her. Beautiful artistry and a very important topic that isn’t discussed nearly enough. Quite impactful.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out July. This is a very intense comic about csa but beautifully done and has many intrinsic visual ways like in the ways it uses colour and not. Very heartwrenching.

This was a good read. It really showed a trauma victims complicated relationship with their abuser as well as how trauma can still affect you.

I received a digital ARC of this book, and I adore the pages that have been colored so far, the artwork is gorgeous in them. I think the memories interspersed, intruding even, was done in a way that really made sense for what we later understand about our characters and their history. This read was very fast, I read the entire book in about half an hour. My main critique is that portions of the dialogue felt very stilted which took me out of the story since it is so dialogue focused when it comes to included text. I look forward to seeing this title in print and full color when it's released.

Beautiful art and a sad story. A deep reminder that trauma can only stay buried for so long. I feel deeply for Giselle brother and the guilt he feels for not saying or doing something. He was however, just a kid at that time and she knows it wasn’t his fault. I like how the story became more and more vibrant in color as it went on.

This is one of the most beautifully drawn graphic novels I have ever read. The drawings were exquisite, the coloring was so incredibly well done, simply stunning. The emotions and undertones could be felt on each page, in each image.

This coming-of-age story deals with a lot of heavy topics and issues. Giselle is a young woman who is dealing with a lot of feelings and memories from her childhood she doesn’t always understand, but which keep getting in the way of her living life to the full.
The story had a slow start, yet steadily you are taken deeper and deeper into Giselle’s memories and find out more about her trauma.
I thought the story was very brave and authentic, and that it gave a realistic view on trauma and the trauma responses that can occur from it, both for the victim as for her loved ones. Even though the story felt very heavy at times, it was also hopeful as Giselle goes into therapy to heal and not be controlled by the past and her trauma.

Make sure to read trigger warnings for this graphic novel, especially because this deals with childhood trauma and seeing some of the story through the eyes of an innocent child can be very triggering and emotional.
But these are definitely important topics that should be discussed more.

Expected Publication Date: July 14th 2026

Thank you, Image Comics, for giving me this ARC! My opinions are my own.

Memories of Giselle is a heartbreaking yet hopeful graphic novel about childhood trauma, and the longstanding impacts it has on those who experience or witness it. It unpacks the various ways people respond to trauma, and handles what it is a very sensitive subject with grace and gravitas. Be warned, this graphic navel features a non-graphic but on-screen instance of child sexual abuse, which may be hard for some readers to handle. That scene is a critical part of the story, though, and it’s very clear why it is necessary when you get to it.

Vecchio’s art style is atmospheric and beautiful. Their lines are soft and inviting, and the world feels natural and life-like. I love lush imagery in my graphic novels and Vecchio delivers that in spades, with vivid coloring that complements the story’s emotional beats perfectly. Likewise, their pacing balances dialogue and art beautifully, and I never felt bogged down by either.

Overall, I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was a quick read that hit me hard, and I look forward to seeing what Vecchio comes up with next. If you like Ghibli-style drawing with brilliant colors and soft features, this graphic novel is for you! While the content is heavy, it’s ultimately a story about hope that needs to be told.

Wow, this was an incredibly powerful book; be prepared to be blown away by in the intense emotions this graphic novel will bring out, whether or not you can relate to the story that it tells. Do, however, mind the trigger warnings.

Memories of Giselle is the story of Giselle, told through snapshots of her past and present as she remembers the trauma in her childhood, and the effects it had on her growing up. The fractured relationships with different members of her family, and the constant flashes of an image of a boat bring pieces of the story together to keep you wondering.

This was beautifully drawn and colored, and I cannot wait to see the final product. I will be purchasing a copy when it officially releases.

I actually read this twice in a row. The second time around, I was able to see the foreshadowing in a way I didn't the first time, and I was reading with alarm and understanding. It's not a terribly long novel, but it hits all the points and does an incredible job.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and author for an eARC of this graphic novel in exchange for my review.

Memories of Giselle by Katia Vecchio is a challenging but thoughtful coming of age story of the titular character Giselle, told through flashbacks of the past along with the present, as she grows up, remembers and deals with trauma from her childhood.

Most interesting is the way the author shows the effects PTSD has on a person, as well as loved ones around them. The story is told delicately by demonstrating fractured relationships, pain, withdrawal, illness, distancing, anger, depression and eventually thoughts of self harm.

The graphic novel is beautifully drawn, colored and does an incredible job handling the topics with realism and care.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc.

Always be mindful of TW before reading.

But nonetheless, this graphic novel was so beautiful and so sad at the same time. Although there were not much dialogue and plot-holes, I feel the note she gave Mirko leave a strong impact to their relationship and dynamic.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The art style of this graphic novel was beautiful and I’m sure it will be even better once it’s published in full colour. I enjoyed the weaving between Giselle’s present and past and showing how triggers from CSA and CPTSD can affect day to day situations and interactions. My only criticism is that I wish it was a tad longer.

#IndigoEmployee

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse

A young woman in her teens struggles to understand and overcome the things that occurred to her as a child. She finds the memory holes difficult to deal with and feels she cannot talk to her parents about the issue. However, she finds some comfort and solace in attending therapy to talk through these problems. It is difficult for anyone to talk about the things that happen to them. I think that she was very strong to find the courage to take that next step.

#ThxNetGalley #KatiaVecchio #MemoriesofGiselle

This was a sad and important book. It shows a world where the abuser is not always a man. It was a hard read but I think it was beautifully done.

An unexpected read. It begins almost quietly, showing Giselle's childhood memories alternating with her present, in a continuous chronological rebound that helps to piece together the fragments of her life. The presence of a strong trauma involving both Giselle and her brother emerges slowly and subtly between Giselle's memories and the present, and, paradoxically, leads just as delicately to a devastating ending that left me speechless. I also really appreciated the artwork, which fits well with the tone and pace of the narrative. A very powerful graphic novel, I recommend it.

Don’t let the graphic novel with such a beautiful art style fool you; ‘Memories of Giselle’ is deeply devastating in the worst way possible. 

The buildup caught me off guard, which perfectly depicted how childhood trauma doesn’t surface until you’re ready to address the horrifying act done to you when you’re old enough to understand. It’s unsettling in the way the novel progresses with us in the dark, just like Giselle was, having to understand the depth of the pain as she grows older. I have no more words to say because I am utterly speechless with the darkness of it all, but then again, there is always hope. This was such an intense read, but it sheds light on the struggle and pain of SA victims, which gives them the awareness that they are not alone in this. 

Some moments confused me a bit, with the way there were time skips, as some pages immediately cut into the next life stage, though this could be because they were not yet colored.

Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This was such a impactful and moving story. You could feel the secrets and trauma lurking as a shadow throughout the entire story and you can see how it impacts all their lives even if they are unaware of it. I loved how the art changed from colour to black and white throughout to reflect the emptiness and feeling in Giselle.

Wow. This was truly beautiful and made me cry...such an extrodinary way of displaying repressed trauma and the beauty that comes from overcoming it. 100000% recommend!

First I want to say that the drawings were just amazing and beautiful. I loved the alternance between pages in colors and pages in black and white, it added something special to the artistic direction of the graphic novel.

The grandma looked nice at first but the more we get into the history, the more creepy she appears. I knew there was something strange with her. And the end..it's terrible.

We're in the head of Giselle, a young girl who struggles with life and vagisnism problem, and we slowly visit her child memories to get the pieces together. It was really emotional and kind of a calm ambience, really apaising even if we talked about about hard subjects and traumas.

We never see the face of her brother. When he's a kid, he's always wearing a mask and when he is an adult, we only see his back, until the very last page. I don't know the ral reason but i guess it's because he looks like the grandma ?

We follow Giselle on her healing journey. One regret : i wish it was a bit longer and deep and not just superficial as it was, because it's very important to talk about these subjects in litterature.

Really "loved" it...

Memories of Giselle is a thoughtful coming-of-age story about a young girl reflecting on the surfacing of childhood trauma. I enjoyed the art style and found the flashback images and depiction of familial relationships beneficial to the overall tone of the story. The themes are well conveyed and I think the artwork enhances the traumatic feelings and sense of repression as memories are slowly unraveled.

My only criticisms are surrounding the passage of time/pacing and length. I think the story could have used some additional scenes or dialogue with characters to better flesh out the relationships and internal struggle of the main character. Although the passage of time and pacing was not super clear, the differences in hair or physical features was helpful in distinguishing time jumps.

Overall, I think this is a well-crafted, meaningful story about abuse and grappling with childhood trauma.

A tough but hopeful graphic novel. Shows in a very sensitive way how rough it could be to deal with childhood SA trauma. I liked how the protagonist's everyday life was shown, and how she directly confronts her trauma. Likewise, the long road to healing. I assume the final version will be fully colored; that will undoubtedly elevate the story even further. I should just mention that I would have liked it to be longer, so that the other characters and the protagonist herself could be developed more.

A touching, sad, and ultimately heartbreaking story about a young girl that grows up with the burden of a secret, family trauma. The illustrations, though simple, were nice, and felt a little bit like watching an anime with the focus on the character's eyes. I liked the depiction of the brother, which shows the ripple effects of trauma. The book was quite short, I read it in 15 minutes or so — I'd expected something a little longer.

Giselle is a teenager dealing with trauma caused by a close family member, which leads to deep emotional pain and serious mental health struggles. Only her brother knows what happened to her. At the beginning, I found the transitions a little rough, but once Giselle started opening up to the psychiatrist about her childhood trauma, everything became much more understandable.

The story is disturbing, sad and shocking . It left me wanting more, and I genuinely hope the second book comes out soon. I love how real and raw the story feels, with no inhibitions. The artwork adds another emotional layer, with gorgeous, vibrant colors that contrast beautifully with the darkness of the story, making the experience feel painfully real and unforgettable.

Memories of Giselle is a beautifully illustrated comic that hits way harder than you might expect. Right from the start, the author gives a content warning, and honestly… they’re not exaggerating. Some of the themes can be really heavy and triggering, so it’s good they prepare the reader.

At first, we’re taken through Giselle’s memories, her childhood, teenage years, and everyday life with her family and friends. It feels very real and very human. You quickly notice that everyone around her is dealing with their own issues, even if they don’t always talk about them openly.

As the story goes on, things slowly but surely get more intense. The problems pile up, the emotions get heavier, and I’ll be honest, I was not ready for what happens at the end. It completely broke me. I ended up in tears.

That said, this is absolutely a story worth reading. It’s the kind of comic that stays with you long after you’ve finished it. It also does an important job of showing how crucial professional help and therapy can be, especially when someone is struggling more than they can handle alone.

Please make sure to read the warnings page before reading this graphic novel. I would not advise younger people read this without parental guidance. Memories of Giselle is a chilling yet healing recount of childhood SA. It follows Gisselle and her journey of remembering what happened to her and her healing journey throughout her teens. I believe anyone who has dealt with childhood abuse can connect with this story. Even if you haven't it can give you a better understanding of the feelings and challenges people face while dealing with the memories and emotions of what happened to them.