Review: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

Title: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Author: Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel
Publisher: First Second Books
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley’s dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There’s just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.
Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy’s best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it’s really Laura Dean that’s the problem. Maybe it’s Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.
Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need.

Review:

This book was a break up story, rather than a love story. Laura Dean kept breaking up with Frederica, but Fred still loved her. Every time Laura decided she wanted to be with Fred, Fred would accept her. However, when Fred spent all her time thinking about Laura, she was neglecting her friends when they needed her most.

There were some tough issues that were in this book. Fred was in an unhealthy relationship, but it was difficult for her to get out of it. It was obvious from the beginning that Laura wasn’t a great person, but Fred loved her. I kept rooting for Fred to figure it out and move on. There was also another character who had an abortion. This could be a trigger warning for some readers.

I loved the art in this book. The images were in black, white, and some light pink. It was a simple design to go with this heavy story.

This was a great story!

Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book. View all posts by jilljemmett

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