Review: My Boyfriend Is a Bear by Pamela Ribon

Title: My Boyfriend Is a Bear
Author: Pamela Ribon
Illustrator: Cat Farris

Publisher: Oni Press
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Paperback, 176 Pages
Published April 2018

Summary: Nora has bad luck with men. When she meets an (actual) bear on a hike in the Los Angeles hills, he turns out to be the best romantic partner she’s ever had! He’s considerate, he’s sweet, he takes care of her. But he’s a bear, and winning over her friends and family is difficult. Not to mention he has to hibernate all winter. Can true love conquer all?

I received a copy from this book by Margot Wood, who used to work at EpicReads and now works for Oni Press, a publishing company that releases graphic novels. Margot sent me a copy of My Boyfriend Is a Bear after we met up with her at BookExpo, and I'm so glad she did! It's a little embarrassing to admit, but this is the first graphic novel that I've ever read -- but now, thanks to this, I'll definitely be reading a lot more!

As the summary explains, Nora hasn't had a lot of luck with men in the past, so when she meets a bear while she's hiking in California, she decides to give him a chance, because why not, right? It turns out that he's the best boyfriend that she's ever had -- he's smart, caring, and super attentive. Not to mention really funny and handy! It may be hard to get a lot of her friends and family on board with her plan, and there are some logistics that definitely need to be worked out (such as, you know, yearly hibernation), but for the most part, Nora and the Bear had a near-perfect life, and it was super adorable.

This book was so enjoyable to read. Nora's voice was really funny and conversational, and definitely really easy to follow. When I first saw the cover of this book, I thought that maybe her boyfriend was a human that got cursed and turned into a bear, or some Freaky Friday stuff ended up happening. But nope, she actually fell in love with a bear. Which felt a bit weird and awkward to understand at first, but then it came super hilarious really quickly, and I found myself unable to be torn away from this story. I kept flipping the pages and wanting to know what would happen next! (Also, speaking of illustrations, I really enjoyed them in this book as well! I loved all of the bright colors and the fine details in all of the images, which I felt really helped to bring the story to life.)

Another thing that I really enjoyed reading about this book was how quickly I was able to do it. I'm usually a pretty fast reader, but with my summer job starting to pick up again, as well as Camp NaNoWriMo, I've been really busy and I don't have much time to block out just to sit down and read. But since graphic novels are perfect for speed readers like me, I managed to read this entire book (100+ pages!) in a little under an hour. As I explained on Twitter, I started reading this book during my break at work, and my coworkers were so intrigued with the title and the cover that they started reading over my shoulder. We had our own little reading party where we were all laughing and enjoying the story!

What surprised me most about reading a graphic novel for the first time was that I never really expected to find romantic comedies as graphic novels, which definitely sounds a little silly now that I say it because duh, of course romantic comedy graphic novels exist, since I just read one! But yeah, I'm glad that I found a genre of graphic novels that I enjoy, because it will make finding them much easier (and much more exciting) now!

Overall, I really loved My Boyfriend Is a Bear and I will now be pushing it on Emily and Amber to read ASAP. This book made me feel all of the emotions -- from laughter to crying, and everything in between! I'm so glad that Margot introduced me to my first graphic novel and that I loved it so much, because now I will definitely be on the hunt for more romantic graphic novels that I can read and enjoy. If you haven't read any yet and you're not sure where to start, I'd definitely recommend this one!

Have any graphic novel recommendations for me? Leave them in the comments down below!