Review: Will & Whit

Will & Whit
by Laura Lee Gulledge
★★★★★

Synopsis:


Wilhelmina “Will” Huckstep is a creative soul struggling to come to terms with a family tragedy. She crafts whimsical lamps, in part to deal with her fear of the dark. As she wraps up another summer in her mountain town, she longs for unplugged adventures with her fellow creative friends, Autumn, Noel, and Reese. Little does she know that she will get her wish in the form of an arts carnival and a blackout, courtesy of a hurricane named Whitney, which forces Will to face her fear of darkness.

Laura Lee Gulledge’s signature visual metaphors will be on full display in this all-new graphic novel, a moving look at shedding light on the dark corners of life (from Goodreads).



My Review:

After reading Page by Paige, I was looking for something with a similar art style…and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Gulledge had written another book. Actually, when I first discovered it, I didn’t even realize it was by the same author. So yay me!

I think, even though I gave both books such high ratings, I liked Will & Whit a bit more. The format of the story was simpler, but in a nice way, and I liked the artwork more this time around as well.

I actually didn’t read the blurb, just barreled right into the story, so I didn’t have a clue about what was supposed to happen. And heads up, it’s not actually a romance, even though that was the vibe I was getting from the cover. Ya feel me?

The main character’s name is Will, and she lives with her aunt who runs an antique shop in this small town. She mentions her grandparents being gone, but hardly thinks about her parents at the beginning, which we find out more about later. She starts off telling us three things about herself and about the people she knows, all the while there are lurking figures in the shadows. 

One: She makes lamps.
Two: She likes old things.
Three: She’s scared of the dark…

We follow along as Will and her friends Autumn, Noel, and Reese go rafting on air mattresses, get involved with the local carnival with a puppet show & shadow art, gobble up Noel’s delicious cooking, play a round of flashlight tag, and prepare for an oncoming storm: Whit.

And then there’s a blackout.

They make new friends along the way, discover romance, and learn to face their fears.

I really think it was a cute story, a nice little graphic novel for the summer that I would definitely recommend in a heartbeat.