Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Ratings139
Average rating3.8
This is another messy, lovely story. I loved Fred and her queer friends group so much, and the ups and downs of her relationship with Laura felt so real. This will really resonate with contemporary teens, especially queer ones.
the wlw experience of many, i felt like i should hand this book to my sister and she'd understand how toxic and manipulative relationships like this can be. this just reminds me that if your friends don't like your partner, THERE IS A PROBLEM. as well as if you constantly feel like you never know where you stand with them- there's a problem. never let anyone make you a back-up, you are a priority or nothing.
Most unrealistic part is EVERY friend not being brave enough to be like “break up with her!!!!” There is always one (reasonable) hater
Rating is low cuz there are several things that dont make sense to me:
1. What does freddy even like about laura? The make out sessions and thats it?
2. Whats the reason behind laura breaking up besides being cruel? Like, for real. She already fools around with everyone so why the need for break ups?
3. The teen pregnancy thing ruined the book for me. Especially the way it happened. Doodle might be a victim but i do not feel bad for her at all. She even said sth like “seeing u w a person as toxic as laura made it seem ok for me to have sex w this married man” Just no. That's immature and disgusting.
4. I understand doodle's dad being pro-choice but he's kind of too relaxed about this whole situation?? Dude, theres a creep out there who got involved w ur daughter
TW: underage drinking, abusive relationships, emotional abuse, cheating, manipulation, gaslighting, microaggressions, racism, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and a relationship with a minor
3.4
I thought it would be a light read; spoiler: it wasn't. It is very grounded in reality and the problems we can run into. I didn't exactly relate to the MC but I did relate a lot to her friends. I have had friends who, while in relationships, became bad friends. Although the cycle was broken in this case, there was a happy ending.
I really liked the art and how the artist implemented it to convey or enhance certain emotions. Still, I did feel like there was a lot that this graphic novel was trying to cover. It did feel messy and undeveloped in certain parts of the book. I don't necessarily believe it should be longer. Instead, I would have liked to see more about why the MC is so in love with Laura Dean.
Apart from those critiques, I did like this book a lot. I would recommend other people read this. Although, I would tell them to check the trigger warning first.
This is one of those instances where I felt like I was left with not enough story. I didn't care for any of the characters and honestly found myself not really caring about the story overall. I did enjoy the graphics and I enjoyed how we got the toxic side of relationships. Life isn't always rainbows and sunshine. That being said I just didn't care for this story as a whole.
I swear I thought this was a To All The Boys parody... because Lara Jean was always breaking up with PK. It's not.
It really is a great read that is an original work of art. It's very much YA.
Art? Nice. Plot? Meh. But maybe the toxic relationship thing hit too close to home. Either way, felt very jumbled and confusing but I appreciated what it was trying to do.
Oh my goodness, you could not pay me enough to go back to high school. Freddy was a frustrating character in an extremely realistic way for a high schooler. The ending was a little ambiguous to me, but since Laura and Freddy got together because of dancing, I interpreted this as a parallel to that and an HFN for Freddy and Doodle, which I loved. The art here is gorgeous, sort of dreamy and candy-colored while being realistic as well. This was a very fast read and one I liked a lot.
(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: graphic novel; would also work for friends to lovers or non-Christmas holiday)
this book was so good and actually had the happy ending I wanted, except i'm glad that freddy ended up realizing she doesn't need to be dating anyone and that she can focus on loving herself & being a good friend. I'm glad that the book didn't brush over te fact that freddy was being a bad friend either cause that's important to acknowledge. I was so mad that laura was such a sick though but thank god freddy got to break up with her and be a girl boss !! <3 i actually have no complaints if i'm being honest actually 10/10 ALSO THE ART STYLE WAS AMAZINGGGG so so beautiful
I think this book was really good. It was super relatable in terms of toxic relationships. I think it was a super fun enjoyable read and it would definitely be a 5/5 but there's just something missing for me and I don't know what it is. Besides that, the queer representation was amazing to see and I would definitely recommend this book to others!
Lovely story of queer high schoolers comic of age. This One Summer was perfect and so was this.
Initial Thoughts:
A beautiful story and so well told with lessons we can all learn from no matter our age!
I'm a graphic novel virgin, so I am glad this was my first one.
The story follows Freddie and her (toxic) relationship with Laura Dean. LD keeps cheating and breaking up with her, then magically comes back to her like nothing happened. Throughout the story Freddie learns how to let LD finally go and grow as a person and a friend.
I will actually rate this novel 4.7 stars rather than 5 full stars because I wanted to see more of Freddie's and LD's breakup, the scene was rather short for me. Overall, it was a really enjoyable and light read + the drawings are amazing!! Also LESBIANS!!!! We love to see it.
This review can also be found on my blog.This was an amazing graphic novel that absolutely blew me away. Similar to but lighter than In the Dream House, this does an incredible job at demonstrating that queer relationships can also be toxic and abusive, which is imperative for lgbtq youth to be aware of. I really loved Freddy's character and her friend group, which felt so real and relatable. I just wish we had seen some more of her friends! Laura Dean clearly has no idea what she's doing wrong, which I think is unfortunately often the way of some abusers. The art itself is absolutely stunning and I was blown away by it from the start. This is a really incredible book that I'll absolutely be trying to get others to read.Blog Twitter Instagram Facebook Ko-fi
So very honest and real. An important message that some people need help understanding. You aren't alone and know your worth.
There is so much more to it than this, but so many other reviews say it much better than I, so I'll leave it to them.
See why it's winning awards and will definitely be book talking it. Very much liked how casually queer it was (no centering a coming out story, the characters are just normalized queer) and that the parent characters were all written as supportive, especially around such tough teen-life-choice topics. Also liked that the color palette was limited to back, grey, white, and light pink as the art really added nuance to the story. A thoughtful and compelling graphic that gives insight into self-worth and moving beyond toxic relationships. Strong recommend.
5 stars I just love this graphic novel so much (2023)5 stars my queer heart is so happy
My partner got ahold of this before I could read it and we both just squeed at each other a whole bunch while reading it. Beautifully dreamy and achingly real. So GOOD.
Loved the art! I love how the main topic of this graphic novel-toxic relationships- is explored and handled. Great for discussion!