Review: I Shall Never Fall in Love

Review: I Shall Never Fall in Love

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner, Two characters leaning into the other and blushingA wonderful graphic novel about finding love, finding a place to belong, about being LGBT in that time period, and more!

In this book we have three characters, two of which we see most: George, or Georgina who wants to be a guy, is owner of a big mansion and the land that goes with it, and is also desperately in love with Eleanor. Who is the other major character and she is trying to take care of her dad + trying to figure out life/who to marry and how to get everyone to have a happy ending. Then there is a third character named Charlotte. She is Eleanor’s cousin and friends with George! I really loved this cast, but I also loved meeting many others as the characters grow and discover the world around them! Plus, seeing more people around George accepting him as he is.

By far my favourite character was George. I will just call them he as George would have loved that. George was such a headstrong character and is working hard to run everything rightly and also get accepted for the fact he wants to be a guy. I loved seeing him work hard and try to figure out his feelings on Eleanor, but also on being LGBT. Plus, love seeing him work so hard on the mansion + the surrounding lands. Selling stuff from his home to make sure that the people around him are fed, the school is open. He really was so strong and I loved how he never gave up even when things got a bit harder. I loved seeing him grow more confident in dressing as a guy and acting more as a guy.

Charlotte was also a wonderful character and I was just shipping her with her love interest. I was hoping that they would be able to be together. It is a big plot part in the book because Charlotte is more a lady whereas the love interest is a farmer. A rich one. But still a farmer. So I was rooting and shipping, hoping for a good ending.

Eleanor however was a very hard to like character. I loved her at times and loved how she tried her best in many ways. But in other ways she was so frustrating. Not understanding the world around her. Being oblivious/blind to things around her. Being way too headstrong about people marrying in their status. Not thinking about Charlotte or later on Sophie and the fact they are darker skinned and what that means in a world full of slavery. She did get better as the story continued, but good grief I wanted to yeet the girl at times for how she acted. I did like how she was patient with her dad and how she tried to make him happy.

The best part, but also at times frustrating because it takes endlessly for them to finally get somewhere, is George x Eleanor. You can immediately see from the first moment that these two have chemistry. But they are both girls (sorry George, I know you are a man at heart/soul, but for the outside world you are a girl) and in this time period… well it is not the easiest. But I was hoping that they would work something out. Because seriously, these two. I kept going KISSSSS already each time they met, haha. They are so adorable together and make such a wonderful match.

I loved reading about the time period, about the parties, about the expectations and how the characters handle those, about reputation, about going to London/the big city, and so much more. There is never a dull moment in this book and I just kept reading and reading and reading.

Oh, bonus points to the staff at George’s mansion. They were so supportive and sweet!

I loved the extras at the end with some more information about LGBT, the time period, and more.

The art was SO GOOD! I really loved it!

All in all, this is one graphic novel I would recommend. Yes, Eleanor is frustrating, but there is a big cast of other characters that make it all right!

Star rating, 4.5 stars

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