Blog Tour ~ Freshman Year by Sarah Mai ~ Review
Afternoon all!
A big welcome to the Blog Tour for Freshman Year by Sarah Mai! I am excited to be part of the tour~ I do love graphic novels.
For today’s post I got a 3.5 starred review + book/author information.
Let’s get started!
Review
I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher/TBR and Beyond Tours for an honest review.
So I was so excited to read this. I love graphic novels. I love reading about the American College/University experience. It is just so different from here and I love it.
So first let’s get the not so good out of the way before going into the good. It was a bit more mental health/anxious/angsty for me at times. My mental health isn’t the best lately (and writing this after getting some news on the 14th of January my mental health took a dive further) and so it was at times a bit too dark for me and I struggled. Struggled with the things she went through (and I really wish she had gone for help instead of just struggling like this). Normally it wouldn’t hit this hard, but again, this was just not the right time to read this book and if I had known it was going to be this much I would have probably not read it until I felt better.
Also, as others have said in reviews the transitions between scenes felt a bit off, the pacing a bit fast. At times I had to flip back to the previous page to see if I had missed something, if my ecopy had eaten something.
But now on to the good parts! I really enjoyed the art it was so fun and pretty.
I loved seeing the before she went to college as well. See her graduate, see her have the best summer and really feel like an 18-year old for a bit, see her slowly get ready for college, see her friends and family.
I loved reading about the college/university our MC goes to, and I just adore their dorm rooms. Those bunkbeds? Sign me up! I just love that + that you still have room for other things, like a couch. It looks so homey and fun and I love how some people really make it their home and a place to feel happy.
The various classes/colleges and groups were fun to read about. I would have loved to be part of some of those classes. Not French though, thanks to high school and the evil teacher we had there, haha. I love that you can choose several courses/classes along with those required.
And I loved seeing the campus and see all the things that happened there.
Plus, it was fun seeing the MC being able to go back home during weekends or vacations. I know that this isn’t always the case, so I was happy that she had the chance.
Oh, and I loved seeing her make friends, discover new things, and try to feel a bit better about college life.
All in all, you see, I quite enjoyed this one and I am happy I read it despite that it was a bit too much for my mental health at points. I would recommend it if you like graphic novels + college/university life and all that comes with it.
A stylish graphic novel about the unique angst, humor, and self-doubt universal to the experience of going away to college—from a promising debut talent—for fans of Heartstopper .
Everyone gets a fresh start. Who do you want to be?
Sarah is leaving suburban Wisconsin for her freshman year in Minnesota. She has high hopes for the impress her professors, meet interesting new people, stay close to her best friends and boyfriend back home, flourish as an artist, and shed her lingering high school anxieties. What seems manageable at first quickly unravels into a Sarah’s high-achieving roommate puts her to shame, her summer love dissolves, and she is quickly overwhelmed by the freedom, the isolation, and all the possibilities that await in this new environment.
Based on the author’s personal college journal and comics, Freshman Year navigates the inner workings of an 18-year-old girl in witty, honest, and heartfelt detail. This graduation gift pairs perfectly with OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!. Dr. Seuss’s sentimental graduation picture book is beloved, but the one teens really need is Freshman Year. This graphic novel debut shows the places students actually do go—the home goods aisle at Target; lavish libraries; grungy parties off campus; cereal-for-dinner at the dining hall.
Whether you’re anxiously looking forward or nostalgically looking back, this is the perfect read for anyone who loves realistic graphic novels about the laughable growing pains of almost-adulthood, like Check, Please! and Bloom .
Buy here:Amazon
Sarah Mai is an illustrator and writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she developed a passion for graphic novels, and is the illustrator of The Cool Code and The Cool Code 2.0: The Switch Glitch written by Deirdre Langeland. Freshman Year marks her author-illustrator debut.
