I received this book from the publisher on Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

I was super hyped for this one, I really liked the OG series (well, up to a point at least, haha), and I was excited to see how the GN would be. Sadly.. it wasn’t meant to be.

🤔 This one is marketed as 8+ (since MG is 8-12) and while for most that works.. these girls also talk about virginity, kissing, Michael is clearly just walking around half-naked to flirt with Mia. I think it would be more age appropriate to say 12/14+.
🤔 Mia is vegetarian but apparently her favourite food is blackened sea bass from Nobu? That really confused me. She was so adamant against meat, but this is good? Um?
🤔 The story felt very choppy and at times more like random bits rather than one story. At times I would have to go back to earlier pages to check if I hadn’t missed anything. The OG book felt more connected/more one flow. Oh, and there was one point that had me scratching my head. After the whole Lana Weinberger incident Michael and Mia talk about it, cue to the next day and Michael once again compliments her about it to which Mia replied if Lily was talking about her, um, he said things the day before Mia? Also her listing what is wrong in her life, he knows all of those things. I don’t know if it was said in jest, but it didn’t translate if that was the case.
🤔 Didn’t get why Mia would fall for Josh this badly when even a blind pony can see that he was only giving her attention because she is famous. It really got on my nerves how she would just forget everything and everyone (even Michael who was so sweet) as soon as Josh just blinked his eye lashes. Girl, please.
🤔 Mia’s transformation just felt way too fast given how she was so against things. At first we saw she was against it, being unhappy about having to put on make-up. Getting angry over the haircut. But due to the choppiness of the story the next moment she is seemingly OK with it. She never once rebels. Instead she keeps her hair as it is. She wears make-up. She wears high heels. Maybe it is the money her dad is bribing her with, but then at least I would have liked a bit more struggle, or her just foregoing things when at school, at least a little bit. Plus, I remember from the OG that she was quite awkward and I really missed that from this one.
🤔 Didn’t enjoy how the dad was semi-jealous of his ex dating a new guy. It was just a bit weird.
🤔 Sorry, but Boris what. If someone doesn’t want to sign your petition you don’t have to go all on about how you come from Russia, talk about the secret police, and privilege. She said no. That is it. She is free to express her opinion, you cannot force her to sign something.

😡 Grandmere can just fall of a cliff, what a horrendous character. She not only forces her granddaughter in impossible situations or outs her, but also forces her to eat meat. She has no care who Mia is, she just wants the princess. Sure, at times I could see a better grandmere, but for most? Nah.
😡 Lily was just horrendous and I don’t want her in the story. She constantly had something to say which isn’t bad if she actually would listen to the person on the other side. She doesn’t give a poop about someone’s opinions, hers is the number one and that is the one that counts 100%. She is toxic. And at times it also feels like she is just reciting things from the internet to feel good and more superior. Look at me knowing all these things. These fancy words (that seriously no 8-11 year will know). And let’s not begin to talk about how fucking horrible she is towards her boyfriend who I hope gains a backbone and just says NO for once, instead of whimpering in the fucking closet. Or how hard she ditched Mia and didn’t even care to listen to her.

What I think for me enhanced the dislike for these characters is because we can now actually see them, sure I am a visual reader but a graphic novel brings a whole new layer. We see Grandmere, we see Josh, we see Lily. We see their expressions. We see them move.

Now for some likes!

😍 I really liked the art! It was such a fun style, lots of colours, expressions, and it brought people and the story to life.
😍 Michael x Mia forever.
😍 Tina was such a sweetheart, I love how she was there for Mia and how quickly they became friends.
😍 I did love that Mia had such a strong personality. And that she wasn’t going to let a girl like Lana walk over her. I was actually rooting for her to just get her back.
😍 Fat Louie is such a cutie!
😍 I love the addition of the diary pages!

But all in all, this was a disappointment for me.