Northranger by Rey Terciero Published by HarperCollins on June 6, 2023
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Coming of Age, Young Adult Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Horror, Young Adult Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / LGBTQ
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780063007406In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret.
Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary—but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas—real life can be way scarier.
When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there—in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.
But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get…complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary.
I had never heard of this book until someone put it in the suggestion box at the library I work at. I was interested in the story but wasn’t planning on reading it or anything. But then it arrived and on the first page of the book I saw that it was set in Abilene and right outside the town. I was shocked cause who writes about Abilene? But then doing some digging and found out the author grew up in this town, so now I had to read it.
I’ve never read graphic novels before so it took a minute to get used to the format but then I was all there for the story.
I felt so similar to Cade in his view of using horror movies to escape. The idea of who is the true monster is always quite fascinating to me from a literary perspective. Cade’s such an adorable little bean, and I loved him immediately. The Henries were also amazing! I love there sibling back and forth but also the support they show each other, Henry being there for his sister who fears she has breast cancer and Henri being there for her brother who is struggling with his sexuality. The story itself was pretty faithful to Northanger Abbey with horror movies instead of books. I do love the happy ending!
The conversation that Cade finally has at the end with his parents was so wonderful. Not just with him coming out to them but with them realizing that they have said or done things that were homophobic and promising to do better. It was so heartwarming to see! I would’ve liked to have seen some reconciliation between Henry and his dad or at least an acknowledgement of him at the end. But you can’t have everything. An adorable book, and I’ll definitely have to check out Rey Terciero’s books.
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