Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.
“A coming of age tale, this is the first installment of the Thin Thinline Trilogy, the fiercely independent Nina Overstreet has an axe to grind. A talented singer-songwriter slogging her way through the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1963, the Queen of Kenosha, Wisconsin, realizes that standing on the cusp of stardom gets her little respect and barely a cup of coffee in New York City…”
Queen of Kenosha is about Nina Overstreet and Nick Ladd, and Nazis. This graphic novel is set in 1963 in Post-War America. The cover is beautiful, and the artwork is stunning. I’ve enjoyed other works by Howard Shapiro, but this one is by far my favourite and I’m really looking forward to the next ones in the trilogy.
The story progressed at a good pace. Decent length for a graphic novel, and I’d even read a full novel about Nina and Nick. I loved their dynamic and their slow-burn relationship, from friendship to budding romance.
I know what time this is set in, but the sexism and racism were a bit hard to swallow; a bit infuriating to be honest. I loved how Nina stood up for herself though and how she didn’t take any shit from anyone.
“…ex-FBI operatives in a clandestine agency to stop the establishment of the Fourth Reich by undercover Nazis…” How cool does that sound? The coolest. And Howard Shapiro delivers with butt-kicking agents and witty dialogue.
THAT CLIFFHANGER THOUGHHHH. Oh mah god. I’d had suspicions but that blew me out of the water. It definitely left me psyched for the next volume.
Queen of Kenosha releases October 9th, and I’d recommend pre-ordering it because it’s sure to be a big hit.
