Book Review - 'We Are Okay' by Nina LaCour

I'm crying.

I believe in novel reading again.



'We Are Okay'.

Such a simple yet raw, sad, tearful, endearing, crushing, unputdownable, and quietly, achingly beautiful, profound and hopeful contemporary novel.

The fact that I had no expectations beforehand - except to be disappointed, as I'm used to with novels nowadays, and right after trying to read another novel by Nina LaCour, 'Everything Leads to You', which I found it to be lacklustre, boring and shallow, and saturated with rich, overprivileged, literal Hollywood characters, and just really not for me - and it turned out to be one of my favourite reads of the year 2026, proves that hope and miracles must exist. When I need them the most.

I'm only sorry I didn't read it sooner. Like in 2017, the year it was published, nearly ten years ago now.

'We Are Okay'.

Yes. Yes we are.

We will be.

I will be.

I will be okay.

Okay.

Basically, this gorgeous, heartwrenching, loving piece of true-to-life YA fiction is the coming-of-age story of eighteen-year-old Marin Delaney. At the cusp of adulthood, she experiences a life-shattering trauma. And grief. In her shock, just as suddenly she leaves her home of the California Coast and flies to New York City earlier than planned for college, all alone, leaving everything and everyone she knows from her "old life".

We follow Marin as she stays in her college dorm for the Christmas holiday, alone in the big, cold and dark building, surrounded by snow. Alone in her grief, and discovering that that isn't so. She never was alone, and she doesn't have to be alone, ever. Her processing her trauma and bereavement over discovering the secrets and sudden death of the only family member she's ever known, her grandfather - her past with whom is gradually revealed chapter by chapter - and her talking about it - starts miraculously happening at the arrival of Mabel, her school friend and secret girlfriend from California.

Mabel has also moved on in ways of her own, and she is one of the few human beings for Marin to interact with during the Christmas break in NY, whether Marin wants her to be there or not, as a reminder of the past she is desperately trying to run away from.

That's all I'll disclose.

Read the melancholic yet life-affirming gem for yourself, and let it change you in ways you will not expect.

It might even be life changing for a lot of people who are going through the universal experience that Marin is, as she is growing up, looking around, looking ahead, and coming around...

'We Are Okay' - it's like a modern 'The Catcher in the Rye'. An instant classic that should be read and taught in schools.

It should be a play, and an indie film.

It is a sad novel, but it is so quiet, gentle, and decidedly undramatic about it. At least, it isn't aggressive and in your face with its themes. Themes of family and love, and the hardships that may come with them. There is no violence or abuse present - neglect? To an extent, yes. But the more information the reader is given by Marin on the circumstances of herself and her beloved grandfather in the past, the more we simply understand, sympathise, and/or empathise, as fellow humans. For most if not all of us have to deal with trauma, loss, grief, and/or any kind of struggle and/or illness at some point in our existence - worse still if we are without a proper support system. Then there's the very probable lack of communication between loved ones, especially when talking about difficult and painful subjects.

This isn't 'The Shining' or any modern horror movie. Not every story - not every life - concerning (generational) trauma and the consequential burdens has to be over the top and gratuitously horrific. It's an insidious, slow-building disease. Sometimes it's what you don't see - what you don't find out until it's too late - that packs the most shocking, existential gut-punch.

Sometimes it's the silence left behind that leaves the biggest impact on you.

What is it like to live with someone you have always known and loved, but who you don't really know? Who you are too afraid to get any closer to, to open up to them so they will perhaps open up to you?

I think some of us will catch on to, in a deep revelation, where 'We Are Okay' is coming from, when it explores what loneliness means, without actually being alone.

What Marin goes through is devastating and heartbreaking, but after reading everything through - and the book is only a touch obvious and heavy-handed in its foreshadowing and symbolism, such as with plants, pottery, paintings, the art of Frida Kahlo, water, the ocean and swimming - it becomes understandable; part of the human experience, and easier to sympathise with every character involved.

Marin will come to realise that she is more like her tragic grandfather than she'd thought. But she is not him. To go back to 'The Shining' (a strange comparison, I know), and to quote Stephen King in regards to writing it, "The truth is that monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win. That our better angels sometimes - often! - win instead, in spite of all odds, is another truth [...]." ('The Shining', 'Introduction - Stephen King', 2001)

'We Are Okay' similarly uses ghosts as a metaphor, recontextualised outside of the horror genre, and into the everyday living of depression, isolation, and avoidance and running away.

Don't let the ghosts of your past win, for you are not a ghost yourself.

Don't disappear.

Don't let anything break you. Nothing can. To quote 'Undertale': 'Despite everything, [you are] still you.'

You are in control of you own destiny.

And you are never, truly alone. Remember that there are people who care for you and love you. Who will not leave you behind, nor leave you to suffer in solitude, no matter how much you may push them away in your trauma, grief, and depression. These people are your family, if not by blood.

Found, living, loving families forever.

'We Are Okay' is a book about life, alienation, seclusion, mourning, silent suffering, inevitability, and people.

I like that the LBGTQIA+ element is understated, and its romance (Marin and Mabel - I won't dare spoil where that ends up going) is not the main focus and theme of the story; nor are sexual awakening, development, and "coming out" made into a big deal. Like loss and grief, it is just another part of humanity - another quiet fact of life said aloud. Thank you for this, Nina LaCour.

It isn't exactly perfect, however; as, a few nitpicks in the writing aside, I found Mabel and her parents to be a little too pushy, invasive, and insensitive to Marin, and her situation and emotional state. They should have been more patient with her, I think. Mabel's "kooky, hippy artist" parents seem particularly pushy, forceful and controlling, in fact, in their love and concern.

This found family of Marin's make up the only explicit POC representation in the book (they're Hispanic), as well.

But apart from that, I love 'We Are Okay'.

For we are okay.

We will be okay.

As for me: As a full-grown adult living through the 2020s who has recently learned that life is pretty much getting through each day without going insane (this is true of any era of human history), I can believe in the message of 'We Are Okay'. It helped me to.

Yeah. I am okay.

We are okay because no matter what, we are never alone.

Plus, Marin loves books, and a favourite examples of hers is 'Jane Eyre', another reason to love and relate to her. 'Jane Eyre', along with 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and 'The Turn of the Screw', is used as a literary device to draw parallels to Marin's own story.

(It also kind of reminds me of 'Silent Hill'. Another surprising video game reference...Okay...?)

(Oh, and while I am a firm believer in love, kindness, compassion, empathy, peace, hope, and "hatred, bigotry, division, violence, and conflict are a prison keeping us from freedom" and all that, I have no love for the person who ruined the copy of 'We Are Okay' I bought online with highlighting and scribbles. I will have to buy a new copy, and I will happily, proudly read that, over and over again, and cry each time.)

Final Score: 4.5/5

Non-Fiction Book - 'The Extraordinary History of Witches' by Hazel Atkinson (Writer), Camelia Pham (Illustrator), Professor Diane Purkiss (Consultant), Sophie Parkes (Project Editor), Sarah Bailey (Editor), Various

'The Extraordinary History of Witches' - exactly what it says on the grimoire, with beautiful, outstanding illustrations to go with its pages on witchcraft history.

It includes worldwide facts, origins, histories, cultures, folklore, and legendary and historical figures concerning witchcraft, not just European.

It is a tremendous, stupendous, multifaceted, eclectic, if simplified, handbook on witches. It goes into detail, and draws on research, that dates back as long as humans have told stories - stories about women and magic.

And how people's attitudes towards them - towards "witches" - have changed overtime, over the centuries.

Go witches! Go women!

'The Extraordinary History of Witches' - colourful, gorgeous, big, informative, and highly educational, though not always told in the best, most consistent and orderly fashion, patch and craft. But it is fairly easy to follow, if you go with the river flow.

Enchanting.

Also, I can't help but notice that when it talks about witches in modern media, the book doesn't mention by name that Franchise-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named by She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named; it only vaguely alludes to it. I'd prefer it contain no allusions to it, and give it no attention whatsoever - as attention equals further political power and influence - but I guess a half-omission is as good as could be expected from a DK and Penguin Random House book, when discussing the subject of modern fictional witch media for children (*pukes*).

'The Extraordinary History of Witches' kind of makes light of love potions and spells, as well. It was published in 2025, I'd thought we'd all collectively come to know better by now how bad, violating and morally wrong love spells are, as are any spells that take away a person's autonomy without their consent.

Similar nonfiction witch history books:


'The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft'

'The Book of Forgotten Witches: Dark & Twisted Folklore & Stories from Around the World'

The Field Guide to Witches: An artist’s grimoire of 20 witches and their worlds'

'Witchcraft: A Graphic History: Stories of wise women, healers and magic'

'Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive'


Final Score (for 'The Extraordinary History of Witches'): 4/5

Manga Review - 'Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Vol. 1' by Hiromi Sato, Kamome Shirahama (Creator), Stephen Kohler (Translator), Lys Blakeslee (Letterer)

'Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Vol. 1' is a companion piece to 'Witch Hat Atelier'.

It's basically a recipe book, with the adult male, witch master characters, Qifrey and Olruggio (goddess that name), cooking various meals in their atelier, in their fantasy world (helpful real world alternatives are listed at the end). Usually they cook and eat at night, after the apprentices Coco, Agott, Tetia and Richeh have gone to bed, and they have free time, doing the mundane yet enjoyable tasks, for mundane reasons. Sometimes the girls will join in, and taste the end result.

There is no plot to speak of in 'Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen', nor anything whatsoever to connect it to the original series. For someone like me who is generally disinterested in cooking, I found the manga to be quite boring at times, especially when considering the world it is set in, and that these are indeed magical witches.

However, it is harmless, and the food looks amazing and gorgeous, as is to be expected with this artwork. I'm sure a lot of people will find these recipes mouthwatering, and will want to give them a go. Even I'm tempted.

At least the tastes and eating habits of the girls are explored and developed upon.

More than once, illness or tiredness, as well as hunger, are what motivate either Qifrey or Olruggio to start cooking.

Alaira, a Great Hall witch and Qifrey's friend, is in this, too. Which is refreshing, as I felt she was very underutilised in the series.

And Qifrey and Olruggio should definitely be yaoi partners. They have great, close, hot, blushing chemistry when cooking and eating together, and cooking and eating for each other. They are like a married couple, and get heated over the most minor, low-pot-and-pan-boiled anythings.

They could be the yaoi equivalent of 'She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat'. But if there is no way they will actually become an explicitly canon couple, oh well.

Additionally, kindly, read my review of 'Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1'

Final Score (for 'Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Vol. 1'): 3.5/5

Manga Review - 'Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1' by Kamome Shirahama, Stephen Kohler (Translator), Lys Blakeslee (Letterer)

'Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1'.

What a striking bundle of magic this series is - it really is like lightning in a bottle - in a manga tome.

So inspired, intriguing, creative and clever; it's an ingenious work of art. Of course the artwork itself is absolutely stunning and spectacular, rich and lush; it raises the bar far beyond that of typical manga. The colour illustrations are too gorgeous and extraordinary. They are breathtaking.

'Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1' contains the first three manga volumes. It is like a giant, glorious spellbook, revealing a beautiful, fully realised and believable Tolkienesque fantasy world*. It is a world filled with amazing characters, magical creatures, action scenarios, mysteries, arcana, sigils, and spellcasting - that meticulously follows the rules of its own complex yet fun and enchanting magic system.

The reader will be as spellbound and awed as the protagonist, Coco, a young, "normal", magic-loving witch-in-training. We learn about the world of witches with her. Naïve, deeply flawed, persistent, charming and delightful, Coco is a true dreamer and heroine, and a hard worker and thinker, who you'll root for. She will keep going, keep trying, no matter how many mistakes she makes, and how guilt-ridden and depressed she becomes, underneath her smiles.

I love the friendship theme, too, and the message along the lines of the younger generation getting things done - what needs to be done - when the adults around them are, sadly, often useless, anxious, out-of-touch, and set in their ways, and in following outdated, traditional rules and laws.

For all my praises, however, I did lose interest a little towards the end of the 'Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1', but

only a little. I don't know, I just felt kind of underwhelmed by the omnibus's conclusion, and I thought a lot of characters ended up sidelined and not mattering much. In fact, a few characters seem to be forgotten about. But maybe it's an issue of needing to read the subsequent volumes, for a reinvigoration of plot and character progression (and page time).

The smooth, bold, ink-marked, sigil-marked, magically-drawn grimoire pages...

Coco and her fellow witch apprentice friends at the atelier - Agott, Tetia, and Richeh - are awesome. Female kid witches learning useful spells and collaborating together and saving lives is awesome. They're so sweet and adorable, and flawed but ultimately heroic. More of them together in the future, please!

And Coco's Brushbuddy is cute! More of him, the creature pet mascot, too!

'Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition, Vol. 1' - a big, warm, charm-casting, magical-hearted recommendation.

Fans of 'The Owl House', 'Little Witch Academia', and really any shōnen manga and anime - as 'Witch Hat Atelier' does share some conventions and character archetypes in common with those - should check it out.

What a wonderful, fairly-new fairy tale, fantasy and witchy manga series 'Witch Hat Atelier' by Kamome Shirahama is.

Now I just need to watch the anime adaptation, which came out this year.

For a brush-more detail, read my review of 'Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1', that I wrote seven years ago.

Final Score: 4/5

*Hex, even the shape and design of a witch's hat is important to their character and their allegiance in this world!

Manga Review - 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' by Norihiro Yagi

I attempted to watch the 'Claymore' anime a very long time ago. I gave up on it. Maybe the reason why is I thought that it suddenly got fanservice-y, sexual and ridiculous with its female lead. Which I now find to be a shame, because I enjoyed 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' by Norihiro Yagi.

It's a manga I decided to buy and read on a whim, and it is action-packed and intriguing, with a tragic (sword) edge, memorable characters, and artwork that is stylised, sharp, eerie and unsettling, like a horror manga, which it technically is.

Fantasy action heroines and antiheroines are my bread and butter and jam, and I am glad to have looked into the manga origins of the female-led, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, action adventure horror series (Shōnen or Seinen or not), 'Claymore'.

How refreshing it is to see a morally grey, badass, kickass, competent, and complex female warrior protagonist in Clare, the silver-eyed, half-monster-and-monster-slaying Claymore!

In manga and anime, anyway. I haven't forgotten Red Sonja and Xena. Though Clare is more fully and appropriately clothed than they are...most of the time.

I need to watch the anime again. I hope there is no pervasive, gratuitous fanservice there.

Plus, it was only until after I got my hands on 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' (great title) that I realised that the Claymore heroine on the cover, the "stoic" badass warrior Clare, looking dead-on at the reader, does have silver eyes that really reflect light! How clever!

Clare is also known as "the Silver-eyed Witch".

So, good manga. Recommended.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Space Trash, Volume 1' by Jenn Woodall

After reading, liking, and reviewing 'Girls' and 'Magical Beatdown', here is me reading, liking, and reviewing another comic by Jenn Woodall, 'Space Trash'.

It is set in a dystopic future, on the Earth's moon, and in a high school, or "Education Center", for "misfit" girls. Meaning, punk girls who are of different races, ethnicities, and body types, and are all queer AF. Girls who are freely, expressly themselves, no matter what.

They are "rebel girls".

In other words, girls who are "difficult".

I suspect the Education Center is actually an internment centre, and a dumping ground for the poor and underprivileged ("Out of sight, out of mind", right?); one that is extremely underfunded.

It is a dump; a messy, stain-covered shithole in outer space for the not-good girls, basically.

'Space Trash' is similar to Kelly Sue DeConnick's 'Bitch Planet', for YA audiences, and with punk sensibilities and an outrageous, irreverent sense of humour.

The whole premise is about space trash, both literal and metaphorical. Though no human being should ever be derogated as "trash", to be thrown away and made to disappear for being an inconvenience in society...

In the shithole prison school for teenage girls who have done nothing wrong, there are ineffectual robot AI teachers (that goes without saying), spacesuits, lost (punk rock) music, loads and loads of graffiti and pop culture paraphernalia and swag, and lots and lots of girls. Girl gangs everywhere. Girl prisoners students who are trying to survive and enjoy themselves - and remember Earth, and its nature and bands and concerts - as their surroundings quite literally crumble around them, threatening to blow them into the vacuum of space. Not that the powerful, authoritarian higher-ups in the privileged, capitalist food chain care.

There isn't a single male character present in 'Space Trash, Volume 1', and it is glorious.

I won't reveal much else about the comic, except that it is more of an introduction to a greater plot than anything else.

A plot that began with humanity collectively giving up on their one home planet, Earth, and leaving in 2091, because it was deemed uninhabitable and unsupportable. Spoilers: This is pure propaganda, a lie made up by the "caring and brave leaders of Earth" (spouted by AI slop) who gave up without even trying and wanted to leave to save their own arses after causing the world's problems to begin with. This shouldn't surprise anyone in the slightest.


"But revisionist history is such a proud human tradition."


'Space Trash, Volume 1' is like 'WALL-E' meets 'Bitch Planet' meets 'Orange Is the New Black' meets space sapphics.

The colourful, shiny, shady, shadowy, manga-esque artwork is freaking brilliant and sublime, and you will grow to like and enjoy spending time with these funny yet tragic, punk girl characters.

The main trio are Stab (Agatha), Yuki, and Una, each different and distinct girls, with different tastes and histories.

Is there any actual continuation of 'Space Trash'? Not as far as I'm aware, and the first volume was published in 2022.

Just like with 'Magical Beatdown', is appears as if Jenn Woodall won't be continuing a comic series she started.

And again I have to ask, WHY?!

But regardless, 'Space Trash, Volume 1' is great, girl power fun, full of meaningful and relevant themes. I adore seeing the various 90s and early-2000s pop culture references sprinkled throughout. I've spotted 'Sailor Moon'! And 'Wedding Peach'! (Woodall sure loves magical girls!) And Elvira, and the manga series 'Nana' and 'Ranma ½'.

Hell, the robot AI school principal (as far as we know, there are no human adults at the school/center) has what looks like a feminised (i.e. "more friendly and harmless") version of the eye of Big Brother from '1984'. An A-Eye fascist dictator!

After consuming some of Jenn Woodall's work now, the only thing I object to is: her (pretty exclusively female) characters smoking. Anything to do with nicotine, and as far as I'm concerned, vaping isn't much better. I hate to see anyone smoking, in real life and in fiction. I am vehemently against it. Sorrynotsorry.

Otherwise, I admire her punk, feminist, no-fucks-given, girl-empowering, girl-loving, and 'Sailor Moon'-loving art and stories.


'The future is ours!'


For my further thoughts on Jenn Woodall's creations, here are my review links to:


'Girls'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 3'


Final Score (for 'Space Trash, Volume 1'): 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 3' by Jenn Woodall

The final instalment of 'Magical Beatdown', which is a shame, because it definitely leaves you wanting more, and it ends on a mystery and cliffhanger.

Does Jenn Woodall seriously have no plans to go further with this series? Why not?!

Basically: Fujiko, with a new boyish haircut, and the pretty and feminine Kyoko go out on a date. Kyoko's arsehole ex-boyfriend and his male mates interrupt them, and start harassing them, making highly inappropriate, sexist and homophobic remarks. Kyoko appropriately lashes out at her ex, and, depressed, bails on the date. Enraged, Fujiko tracks down the boy gang - who of course are also street harassers of girls - and as a magical girl she slices them up one by one. Breaks their privileged skulls apart. Then there's the final boss boy to contend with, who it turns out has magic too, stolen from another magical girl...

I won't spoil anymore, but wow is 'Vol. 3' ridiculously fun and violent, like the previous two volumes. It continues to grow and develop in length, dynamism, characterisation and plot.

Why is there no more?!

Once again, there's the pink (and darker shading) for the second half of the comic - the hyperviolent magical girl fight sequence - and different shades of blue (and black?) for the first half - the ordinary, civilian half. This part keeps on looking different in each volume, what is up with that?


"On behalf of love, justice, and just being done with this shit...MAGICAL HEARTACHE COSMIC LOVE BEAM!"


My 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1' review link.

My 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2' review link.

Well, as it stands, thanks for the good, fun, cathartic, feminist revenge fantasy comic, Jenn Woodall.

From one 'Sailor Moon' fan to another.

Final Score: 4/5