Publishing date: 18.06.2024

Thank you to Netgalley and Humanoids Inc for the ARC. My opinions are my own. 

The book as a meal: Coffee with a friend dishing out some drama

The book left me: Uncomfortable 

Negatives:

Plot was a little messy and hard to follow

Very sudden time skip halfway through 

No proper ending (but based on real life so not that big of a deal) 

Felt a little rushed or like it was missing something

Issues were brought up and not dealt with properly

Positives:

Cool art

A bit of a different insight into wrestling dynamics and politics

Interesting premise

Features: 

Unhealthy work dynamics, character with eating disorder and how that affects what they see, toxic relationships, abusive relationship, what goes into creating a wrestling persona, wrestling politics, child neglect and abuse

Why did I choose this one?

I thought this was a romance comic based on wrestling, and I did get that. However, it was more of an autobiography, or a hybrid between fiction and an autobiography. 

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?

In-between. It is a very quick read and can be consumed in a single sitting, but I had a hard time getting invested. Issues were brought up, and either not resolved or not handled properly. The characters' relationships were as uncomfortable as the characters themselves. No one was really likeable. I think I would have devoured it if stuff was fleshed out a bit more. Everything felt a little too shallow. 

What was the vibe and mood?

Uncomfortable. I could almost smell the locker room. The nasty men in the story gave me a flight or fight response all throughout. It was very much early 20's learning how to adult and relationship esque. 

Final ranking and star rating?

D tier, 2 stars. This book had a lot of problems that I can't overlook. I get that it is based on real life, but then I feel like it needs to be more clearly marketed as such. Finding out on the last page that all of this was based on real events was a bit of a suckerpunch. I also feel like it would benefit from a longer storyline with more attention given to the issues raised in the book, even if that means adding some flair and extras that were not part of the real experiences. 

I think I had some unrealistic expectations that isn't really the books fault. This was sadly a disappointment.