People often think that graphic novels (and comics), only deal with superheroes or humor. While this story does have many funny moments, it also shows how grief and loss can put a survivor's life into a holding pattern. Thomasina loses both her parents in an accident when she is very young. She lives with her grandmother for a while, then they both move in with her aunt and uncle. At the beginning of the story, Thomasina is now in high school and still feels as if she is waiting for her life to start. She knows that in books and movies, when a child is orphaned, they later find out they have magical powers or some other awesome event takes place. That hasn't happened to her.
Then one morning she wakes up and her family has been turned into pets and her pet snake has been turned into a really cute teenage boy. Thomasina and her abuela are the only ones in the house still in their original form. With her former snake, Sebastian, Thomasina has to find out what happened and how to get her family back.
There are plenty of pop culture references that will make readers laugh and knowingly shake their heads. (I'm still not sure how Sebastian absorbed so much of this while he was in snake form.) There are also plenty of realistic details about how families wind up keeping secrets from each other and not bothering to communicate with one another. And for those who enjoy seeing how authors imagine the wizarding world in ways other than Harry Potter and Hogwarts, this has a new twist on the coexistence of magic and muggles.
An entertaining read for urban fantasy and graphic novel fans.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
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