From the Publisher:
Available Today
Ghost Roast delivers a paranormal adventure full of first crushes, lost histories, and the impossible task of fitting in when your dad is a professional ghosthunter. A stand-alone YA graphic novel from authors Shawneé and Shawnelle Gibbs and artist Emily Cannon!
For as long as she can remember, Chelsea Grant has tried everything she can think of to distance herself from the disastrous damage her father does to her social life. It's not easy to shake her reputation as Ghost Girl when Dad keeps advertising his business as a "paranormal removal expert" in big, bold, loud letters all over New Orleans!
This year, Chelsea's all grown up, attending one of the most prestigious high schools in the city, and she's finally made friends with the popular crowd. Things are looking up—until a night on the town backfires spectacularly, landing her in hot water at home. Her punishment? Working for her dad at Paranormal Removal Services. All. Summer.
Worst of all, her new job reveals an unexpected secret she has to keep: While Dad hunts ghosts with his own DIY tech, Chelsea can actually see them. And when she meets Oliver, a friendly spirit, at the fancy mansion her dad is getting a handsome fee to exorcize, she realizes she has to save his after-life, even if it risks everything her father's worked for.
Advance Praise
“Mysterious, magical, and marvelous, Ghost Roast is an unputdownable adventure about the things that haunt us in high school—first love, family secrets, and making friends….with dead people. Most original graphic novel I’ve read in…forever.” — Kwame Alexander, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Crossover
“Not only a visual delight, it's a wonderfully executed remix of the Classic Southern Gothic ghost story… A fresh take on a tried and true genre… Beautiful, romantic, exciting, and essential.” — John Jennings, #1 New York Times bestselling, Eisner Award-winning illustrator of Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
'Bursting with humor and charm… An observant, page-turning tale of teenage identity, historical intrigue, and paranormal romance. It is sharp, funny, and nuanced… Equal measures fun and thoughtful, a book I could recommend to just about everyone.' — Jen Wang, New York Times bestselling, Eisner Award-winning creator of The Prince and the Dressmaker
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My Review:
5 plus plus.
This graphic novel has a dream team of authors and artists. Together they created an amazing story since the first panel. The first page tells us immediately the quality of this story. Some pages are a bit heavy on text, but they never confuse or take up too much space. The artwork is amazing and well-designed, and I have to congratulate the artist for not shying away from drawing so many people in one shot. Instead of giving us a character in a colored empty background, each panel is a painting in itself with depth, dynamic poses and action, a detailed background, and lots of characters even when they are just in the background. The amount of work makes the novel and story even more powerful.
A sweet YA story of a girl who doesn't want to keep helping her father clean houses... of ghosts, now that she is a high schooler, but because of her bad choices ends up spending her summer working with her dad as a ghost hunter. She has a lot to juggle. Not only her relationship with her divorced parents but also to fit in with her high school friends.
I love that the artist changed her hairstyle a lot. Chelsea is an amazing character. She also inherited her family's powers and she can see and talk to ghosts. She is kind to let her dad have his moments when she is the one who can see them. A big job takes them to a large property that in the past used to be a sugarcane plantation with slaves back in 1862. There are ghosts there that belong to that time and mysteries to be solved. Chelsea will fall for one of the ghosts and their story is great.
I loved reading this story and I hope it becomes a series of Chelsea and her father dealing with more ghosts and their different stories.
Thank you, Netgalley and Harper Collins and Storygram tours for the copy
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