Anyone can leave at any time, but the friends you choose and the ones who choose to be with you are there because they love you. Isn’t that love just as valuable?

Look on the Bright Side, p. 53

Synopsis

Junior year is starting for Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha at Hazelton High, and their friendship is stronger than ever.

Abby is fighting burnout after her success of getting the girls’ bathrooms stocked with free period products. On top of that, she’s struggling with confusing feelings for her best friend, Christine.

Brit is back at school after an endometriosis excision over the summer. Without the constant distraction of intense period pain, she’s able to look for romance in the halls of Hazelton High. Brit is immediately drawn to a charming boy in her class, all while trying to ignore the grumpy kid who sits behind her (and continuously re-watching 2005’s Pride and Prejudice).

Christine has liked Abby for ages, but can’t find a way to tell her. She’s afraid of ruining their friendship, which is the most important thing in the world to the two girls.

Sasha seems like she’s on top of the world: she has a new boyfriend and is in advanced classes this year. But under the surface, she’s struggling with her grades and feels overwhelmed.

No matter what their junior year throws at them, these best friends will always help each other look on the bright side.

Review

Go With the Flow is probably my favorite graphic novel of all time, and Look on the Bright Side definitely lived up to the first book. These books hit that sweet spot between middle grade and YA. They have older protagonists, and more teen-focused themes, but are written and illustrated in a middle grade-friendly way.

My main beef with romance in fiction is that it positions romantic relationships as the most important relationships a person can have, and friends are often shunted aside when the protagonist wins their crush. Not only does this contribute to aromantic erasure, it just isn’t realistic. We need our friendships just as much, if not more, than romantic relationships; they keep us afloat. Though Look on the Bright Side has plenty of romance, the heart of the book is in Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha’s friendship. Fictional friendships have rarely resonated for me on the same level as these girls’. Their love is almost tangible and provides a model for how I want to approach friendship in my own life. I can’t recommend this duology enough.