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Flip: A Graphic Novel
SENIOR YEAR BUCKET LIST? SWITCH BODIES WITH YOUR CRUSH.
Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi’s private video proposal to go to senior prom.
But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi―shy nerd and scholarship student―switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6’1” and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi’s life―that is, k-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school.
With graduation looming and their body swaps lasting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip must form the most unlikely friendship their school has ever seen. But will they survive senior year? And, most importantly, can they find a way back to themselves?
From bestselling author of Check, Please! comes Flip, a thrilling and fantastical tale about self-acceptance, black girlhood, and how walking a mile in someone else’s shoes can teach you how to finally see yourself.
Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi’s private video proposal to go to senior prom.
But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi―shy nerd and scholarship student―switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6’1” and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi’s life―that is, k-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school.
With graduation looming and their body swaps lasting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip must form the most unlikely friendship their school has ever seen. But will they survive senior year? And, most importantly, can they find a way back to themselves?
From bestselling author of Check, Please! comes Flip, a thrilling and fantastical tale about self-acceptance, black girlhood, and how walking a mile in someone else’s shoes can teach you how to finally see yourself.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2025
About the author
Ngozi Ukazu
23 books1,384 followersNgozi Ukazu is an American cartoonist and graphic novelist. She is the author of the online graphic novel series Check, Please!. She studied at Yale University and the Savannah College of Art and Design.
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July 28, 2025
Bodyswap stories have been done in film and they are certainly done in fanfiction but I had not read one in comics before this! Chi-Chi is a high school scholarship student at a fancy Texas boarding school who loves kpop, video editing, her best friends, and gets aching crushes on boys (usually white) who never acknowledge her existence. That changes when a wish or curse causes Chi-Chi and her latest crush, swim team athlete Flip Henderson, to switch bodies. Then the two are forced to get to know each other well enough to imitate each other in front of the other's families and attend class in each other's shoes. With a small set of friends who they bring in on the secret, they work to understand what has happened to them and how they could reverse it. I found the first chapter introducing the concept of the switches a little clunky, but as soon as the story really got underway I settled in and enjoyed the hell out of the ride. I loved watching these two face their inner demons and build trust and connection across a stark divide. The cartooning is smart and the humor is as snappy and pop culture savvy as I've come to expect from Ngozi Ukazu!
October 19, 2025
Updated 10/7/26. I'll steadily update some of my reviews on ratings, but this is one I had in mind that I'll update here as well as on Storygraph. I updated this to a .25 star rating. Same reasons as below in the OG review, but this was not a good book and I'm still upset over several things it chose to do that were infuriating; I've talked at length about it here and in a video review. No updates for formal TWs/CWs on the book as of this date either, but if that changes, I'll let you know.
Initial reaction: 1 star (0 stars, if you want me to be blunt). I cannot even begin to say how bad of an experience this was. Please take Toni Morrison's name out of your mouth with any association with this book. Absolute mockery of serious issues like mental health, depression, racism, and teen relationships.
I went to see if the physical copy of this had any trigger warnings. Nope.
I wouldn't give this to a kid/teen at all. And I think many might be very confused/put off by some of the directions and so called "humor" in here.
It was extremely weird (in a bad way) on the things it focused on and did.
Full review:
I'll be blunt in starting off my reflections for a review of this book: I don't think Toni Morrison's name and work deserves to be associated with the horrendous, disgusting experience that is this book. I really don't. I don't have any praise to offer for "Flip by Ngozi Ukazu. I would actively tell folks, especially Black people, to stay away from it. Or, if you do read it, know what you're getting into since this book has no trigger or content warnings. (I have a physical copy of it, and nothing was offered at the beginning or the end of the graphic novel.) I'm going to try to unpack all the layers of harm in this book and explain why I would not give this to a kid/teen to read. I sincerely fear it would send them into a spiral of depression and horror much akin to my own when I finished this book. And it's not for the reasons that you might think.
There's no question on the fact that Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", which the author notes was a major inspiration for this, is one of the most frequently challenged books. It is a heavy, but profoundly moving story. I had mixed feelings on its execution in the way that it was done, but I ultimately have said before - and will repeat - I respect what Morrison was doing with that book and understand why its a modern classic of literature. And I think at the heart of "The Bluest Eye", which many people tend to forget, is a little Black girl's longing for love and acceptance. And part of the reason why it hurts so much is seeing the mechanizations of racism, disassociation of identity, and trauma that factors into that work, and is explored and unpacked through that story.
"Flip" by Ngozi Ukazu does no such invested work. The amount of glossed over resolutions to serious issues of mental health, suicidal ideation (and attempts!), and racism was utterly disgusting. "Flip" is not subtle about leaning very heavily into anti-Blackness and misogynoir in a toxic way that goes unaddressed, played up for laughs even, and the colonization of a Black girl's body that is never fully resolved. I'm honestly shocked that more people haven't called this out, and I'll admit, I had problems with it when I first saw the panel previews of the book before it even released. But I told myself "Nope, I would rather give it a chance and see if it doesn't do what I think it does." (Reader, it was worse than I thought for where it went. Way worse.)
"Flip", by intention in narrative, likens itself to a "wholesome", "funny" Black girl lead version of "Freaky Friday" that has Chi-Chi, the MC, swapping bodies with her white boy crush, aptly named Flip. But after a confession that goes wrong and after an accidental fall, Chi-Chi ends up in the body of Flip, while Flip ends up in hers. It's a narrative that also intends to let the characters see each in each other's shoes, but feels pretty one-sided for most of the narrative. Chi-Chi is glad to be in a "handsome" body, escaping the life she didn't want to be in and clearly had no sense of self-love. (It's noted very early on, her self-esteem isn't good.)
What follows is a narrative that leans into stereotypes that feel disrespectful on the surface level at best, and outright aggressions on identity at worst. Like I had problems with Chi-Chi casually dismissing someone - white boy - who made reference to her not having a "normal" name like her brother Josh. I also had problems with Chi-Chi fantasizing about death in a romanticized way (which, I pointed out in social media for those who don't know outside of the Black community, the ideation of a "better off" dead Black girl/woman is heavy misogynoir). Hold on to what I say about fantasies on death, because that will become very relevant later in how much worse this book gets.
Chi-Chi jokes about being around "too many white people" and idolizing the white boys at her school (there is the one Black boy who gets mentioned, but it's implied she likes him because he's rich. Which, the heck?). Flip is the biggest one. She comments that she has more photos and videos of Flip than she does of herself before the switch (Girl...) and comments in a lot of subtle/not subtle ways of hating who she is and the body she's in. When she ends up landing in Flip's body, she fantasizes about being "handsome" and laments not being "excited enough" about folding his underwear. (I...nope, don't like that.) There's also a lot of uncomfortable body/hygiene jokes that I think many kids/teens would be turned off by while reading this. Even I was not expecting it to go that far at the prompting of the body swap, including menstrual cycle jokes that are often at the expense of Chi-Chi.
I don't know how anyone would think that's comedic over being a tasteless violation of boundaries and utterly gross. Even the well-portrayed manga (and movie) "Your Name" doesn't go that far with its leads (a boy and a girl in different spaces) switching bodies. You get the sense in "Your Name" that it respects the agency and space of its characters despite their predicament. "Flip" does not do this and often crosses boundaries in a violating way for both characters, violations that lend into their identities that have no purpose than to be shocking or attempts at humor.
There are far and few between attempts to develop the cast of characters in "Flip." I would argue that there should have been more of the focus on the development and day to day lives of the characters, since that was the best part of the book. (Albeit, it was not enough to save the experience of the book for me.) It was also the closest piece where I saw that - for the author - it was autobiographical. We get to see Chi-Chi's family, who is Nigerian, and her home life, likes (she loves a K-pop band notably with her two friends). We get to see a little bit of Flip's family, though he has some pretty notable trauma with the conviction of his father for money related crimes, his mother's neglect and alcoholism, and generally falling out with some of his peers in social standing. But on another point, which worked to the detriment of presentation, I was under the impression that a lot of this book relied heavily on stereotypes and education of culture that was for an audience unfamiliar with it. It doesn't feel like it respects its characters with Black identities and feels heavily in service to an audience that would be more likely to pick up on its stigmatizations (including the vilification of the word "woke" or whether Flip could use the "N-word" in Chi-Chi's body, or the idea that the made up K-pop band members look "the same") than the authentic pieces of cultural attachment and enrichment/investment.
Chi-Chi and Flip have to navigate their unpredictably flipping situations as best they can, though the worldbuilding on why this happens is mediocre at best. And I was surprised at one point that the person they go to for help has a traumatic backstory that felt more at place in a horror novel than it did with a graphic novel intended to be more comedic.
When it feels like Chi-Chi and Flip likely won't be able to get out of this "flip" situation, they actually do several gross violations of each other's agency and boundaries. I remember seeing a lot of people on social media praise scenes of Chi-Chi somehow turning down Flip's LI, Madison, in his body, out of spite and making sure that the girl "doesn't get everything she wants." It was not a cheerful moment, it was an incredibly hateful and hurtful thing to do, even if Madison herself is a petty and terrible character. (She violates Chi-Chi's boundaries on a number of occasions as a white girl who "like ethnic hair" and pulls on Chi-Chi's braids without regard at one point.)
Flip is not better as an overarching character. His treatment of Chi-Chi is terrible, to the point where you wonder why Chi-Chi even had a crush on him. They have no chemistry, and this is NOT a romance. (Thus I did not tag it as such, despite how this is being marketed.) I think the narrative does create spaces of being able to feel for Flip for his home situation, but there are things here that I was not okay with in terms of how he violates Chi-Chi's body while inside her. For example, as revenge for turning his intended Festival date down (Madison), Flip gorge eats on a bunch of food in Chi-Chi's body in front of her knowing full well that Chi-Chi is lactose intolerant.
But it gets worse. And this is a massive spoiler towards the end of the book:
Tell me how this isn't a violation of a Black girl's body by a white person? This is supposed to be wholesome? Really? I was so freaking horrified, y'all have no idea. Instantly made this end up on my worst reads list for 2025. But if you think that was the worst part of this, oh no. It gets worse from there before it marches to its happy ending. (A contrived one at that.)
When I mentioned this book was irresponsible with its dealings of mental health and suicidal ideation/attempts, that's a major component of how these characters are trying to break the curse of their flipping. Chi-Chi ends up being the one to supposedly "break it", but even then, they're not free of flipping between each other on occasion, it's just miniscule/less frequent. Even the moment where Chi-Chi and Flip kiss is contrived, a means to an end of trying to return themselves to their bodies. It's not out of genuine love, concern or working through their respective issues. We get hints of getting there, but there's never a full coming to terms. And it feels unsatisfying to see neither one of these characters get an ending where they actually work through the things that are hurting them.
I'm not sure who "Flip" is really supposed to be for, in terms of audience. I would not expect kids/teens to enjoy this because there's little joy or abilities/chances to connect with the characters beyond a surface level. (Not to mention it's neither romantic or funny, which on the surface is what it sells itself as. So, false advertising.) It's attempts at humor feel more mature than a YA audience at times, albeit the language/themes attempt to connect, and largely fail. It tries to be humorous, but the humor fails to land most times. It tries to be serious, and comes up short, or even blatantly overlooks/ignores its most pressing issues. There aren't any real chances for a coming to terms, it's simply not discussed. And for the characters, it never knows whether it wants to be a romance or a space to love oneself because it never deals with the issues impeding that self-love. And to further the point made, despite the author's source of inspiration, Toni Morrison's work never has the level of irresponsibility or disrespect towards its Black characters that Ukazu manages here in "Flip". Even when reading "The Bluest Eye" you understand there's a level of respect and reverence it gives to its Black characters while detailing some horrific and brutal, revelatory scenes. "Flip" on the contrary, conditions its "love" - part of what makes Morrison's work so potent, and what "Flip" misses the point on - as being dependent on the attention to identity/wealth of its cast rather than any kind of true love, gain of acceptance, or belonging. "Flip" never digs into how that conditional framing is wrong, or knocks against the assumptions that the characters make about each other. And it never - and I think this was the worst part of things - deals with the mental health and well being of its characters in a serious, invested way, where you feel the characters have a coming to terms and are in a better space for themselves, especially not Chi-Chi.
It's neither a fun, nor transformative work, so it's best that "Flip" stays on the shelf. "Flip" isn't it. Far from it.
If you want "Freaky Friday", better to watch those movies. If you want a book that respects the agency of Black characters while being informative about the impact of how damaging racism is to self-identity and image, it's better to read Morrison's work directly in "The Bluest Eye", if you're so inclined and ready to take it on. If you want a book like what "Flip" tries to sell about a girl and boy switching bodies and having it be a transformative, meaningful experience, appropriate for teens? Read/Watch "Your Name" instead.
Overall score: 0/5 stars.
Initial reaction: 1 star (0 stars, if you want me to be blunt). I cannot even begin to say how bad of an experience this was. Please take Toni Morrison's name out of your mouth with any association with this book. Absolute mockery of serious issues like mental health, depression, racism, and teen relationships.
I went to see if the physical copy of this had any trigger warnings. Nope.
I wouldn't give this to a kid/teen at all. And I think many might be very confused/put off by some of the directions and so called "humor" in here.
It was extremely weird (in a bad way) on the things it focused on and did.
Full review:
I'll be blunt in starting off my reflections for a review of this book: I don't think Toni Morrison's name and work deserves to be associated with the horrendous, disgusting experience that is this book. I really don't. I don't have any praise to offer for "Flip by Ngozi Ukazu. I would actively tell folks, especially Black people, to stay away from it. Or, if you do read it, know what you're getting into since this book has no trigger or content warnings. (I have a physical copy of it, and nothing was offered at the beginning or the end of the graphic novel.) I'm going to try to unpack all the layers of harm in this book and explain why I would not give this to a kid/teen to read. I sincerely fear it would send them into a spiral of depression and horror much akin to my own when I finished this book. And it's not for the reasons that you might think.
There's no question on the fact that Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", which the author notes was a major inspiration for this, is one of the most frequently challenged books. It is a heavy, but profoundly moving story. I had mixed feelings on its execution in the way that it was done, but I ultimately have said before - and will repeat - I respect what Morrison was doing with that book and understand why its a modern classic of literature. And I think at the heart of "The Bluest Eye", which many people tend to forget, is a little Black girl's longing for love and acceptance. And part of the reason why it hurts so much is seeing the mechanizations of racism, disassociation of identity, and trauma that factors into that work, and is explored and unpacked through that story.
"Flip" by Ngozi Ukazu does no such invested work. The amount of glossed over resolutions to serious issues of mental health, suicidal ideation (and attempts!), and racism was utterly disgusting. "Flip" is not subtle about leaning very heavily into anti-Blackness and misogynoir in a toxic way that goes unaddressed, played up for laughs even, and the colonization of a Black girl's body that is never fully resolved. I'm honestly shocked that more people haven't called this out, and I'll admit, I had problems with it when I first saw the panel previews of the book before it even released. But I told myself "Nope, I would rather give it a chance and see if it doesn't do what I think it does." (Reader, it was worse than I thought for where it went. Way worse.)
"Flip", by intention in narrative, likens itself to a "wholesome", "funny" Black girl lead version of "Freaky Friday" that has Chi-Chi, the MC, swapping bodies with her white boy crush, aptly named Flip. But after a confession that goes wrong and after an accidental fall, Chi-Chi ends up in the body of Flip, while Flip ends up in hers. It's a narrative that also intends to let the characters see each in each other's shoes, but feels pretty one-sided for most of the narrative. Chi-Chi is glad to be in a "handsome" body, escaping the life she didn't want to be in and clearly had no sense of self-love. (It's noted very early on, her self-esteem isn't good.)
What follows is a narrative that leans into stereotypes that feel disrespectful on the surface level at best, and outright aggressions on identity at worst. Like I had problems with Chi-Chi casually dismissing someone - white boy - who made reference to her not having a "normal" name like her brother Josh. I also had problems with Chi-Chi fantasizing about death in a romanticized way (which, I pointed out in social media for those who don't know outside of the Black community, the ideation of a "better off" dead Black girl/woman is heavy misogynoir). Hold on to what I say about fantasies on death, because that will become very relevant later in how much worse this book gets.
Chi-Chi jokes about being around "too many white people" and idolizing the white boys at her school (there is the one Black boy who gets mentioned, but it's implied she likes him because he's rich. Which, the heck?). Flip is the biggest one. She comments that she has more photos and videos of Flip than she does of herself before the switch (Girl...) and comments in a lot of subtle/not subtle ways of hating who she is and the body she's in. When she ends up landing in Flip's body, she fantasizes about being "handsome" and laments not being "excited enough" about folding his underwear. (I...nope, don't like that.) There's also a lot of uncomfortable body/hygiene jokes that I think many kids/teens would be turned off by while reading this. Even I was not expecting it to go that far at the prompting of the body swap, including menstrual cycle jokes that are often at the expense of Chi-Chi.
I don't know how anyone would think that's comedic over being a tasteless violation of boundaries and utterly gross. Even the well-portrayed manga (and movie) "Your Name" doesn't go that far with its leads (a boy and a girl in different spaces) switching bodies. You get the sense in "Your Name" that it respects the agency and space of its characters despite their predicament. "Flip" does not do this and often crosses boundaries in a violating way for both characters, violations that lend into their identities that have no purpose than to be shocking or attempts at humor.
There are far and few between attempts to develop the cast of characters in "Flip." I would argue that there should have been more of the focus on the development and day to day lives of the characters, since that was the best part of the book. (Albeit, it was not enough to save the experience of the book for me.) It was also the closest piece where I saw that - for the author - it was autobiographical. We get to see Chi-Chi's family, who is Nigerian, and her home life, likes (she loves a K-pop band notably with her two friends). We get to see a little bit of Flip's family, though he has some pretty notable trauma with the conviction of his father for money related crimes, his mother's neglect and alcoholism, and generally falling out with some of his peers in social standing. But on another point, which worked to the detriment of presentation, I was under the impression that a lot of this book relied heavily on stereotypes and education of culture that was for an audience unfamiliar with it. It doesn't feel like it respects its characters with Black identities and feels heavily in service to an audience that would be more likely to pick up on its stigmatizations (including the vilification of the word "woke" or whether Flip could use the "N-word" in Chi-Chi's body, or the idea that the made up K-pop band members look "the same") than the authentic pieces of cultural attachment and enrichment/investment.
Chi-Chi and Flip have to navigate their unpredictably flipping situations as best they can, though the worldbuilding on why this happens is mediocre at best. And I was surprised at one point that the person they go to for help has a traumatic backstory that felt more at place in a horror novel than it did with a graphic novel intended to be more comedic.
When it feels like Chi-Chi and Flip likely won't be able to get out of this "flip" situation, they actually do several gross violations of each other's agency and boundaries. I remember seeing a lot of people on social media praise scenes of Chi-Chi somehow turning down Flip's LI, Madison, in his body, out of spite and making sure that the girl "doesn't get everything she wants." It was not a cheerful moment, it was an incredibly hateful and hurtful thing to do, even if Madison herself is a petty and terrible character. (She violates Chi-Chi's boundaries on a number of occasions as a white girl who "like ethnic hair" and pulls on Chi-Chi's braids without regard at one point.)
Flip is not better as an overarching character. His treatment of Chi-Chi is terrible, to the point where you wonder why Chi-Chi even had a crush on him. They have no chemistry, and this is NOT a romance. (Thus I did not tag it as such, despite how this is being marketed.) I think the narrative does create spaces of being able to feel for Flip for his home situation, but there are things here that I was not okay with in terms of how he violates Chi-Chi's body while inside her. For example, as revenge for turning his intended Festival date down (Madison), Flip gorge eats on a bunch of food in Chi-Chi's body in front of her knowing full well that Chi-Chi is lactose intolerant.
But it gets worse. And this is a massive spoiler towards the end of the book:
Tell me how this isn't a violation of a Black girl's body by a white person? This is supposed to be wholesome? Really? I was so freaking horrified, y'all have no idea. Instantly made this end up on my worst reads list for 2025. But if you think that was the worst part of this, oh no. It gets worse from there before it marches to its happy ending. (A contrived one at that.)
When I mentioned this book was irresponsible with its dealings of mental health and suicidal ideation/attempts, that's a major component of how these characters are trying to break the curse of their flipping. Chi-Chi ends up being the one to supposedly "break it", but even then, they're not free of flipping between each other on occasion, it's just miniscule/less frequent. Even the moment where Chi-Chi and Flip kiss is contrived, a means to an end of trying to return themselves to their bodies. It's not out of genuine love, concern or working through their respective issues. We get hints of getting there, but there's never a full coming to terms. And it feels unsatisfying to see neither one of these characters get an ending where they actually work through the things that are hurting them.
I'm not sure who "Flip" is really supposed to be for, in terms of audience. I would not expect kids/teens to enjoy this because there's little joy or abilities/chances to connect with the characters beyond a surface level. (Not to mention it's neither romantic or funny, which on the surface is what it sells itself as. So, false advertising.) It's attempts at humor feel more mature than a YA audience at times, albeit the language/themes attempt to connect, and largely fail. It tries to be humorous, but the humor fails to land most times. It tries to be serious, and comes up short, or even blatantly overlooks/ignores its most pressing issues. There aren't any real chances for a coming to terms, it's simply not discussed. And for the characters, it never knows whether it wants to be a romance or a space to love oneself because it never deals with the issues impeding that self-love. And to further the point made, despite the author's source of inspiration, Toni Morrison's work never has the level of irresponsibility or disrespect towards its Black characters that Ukazu manages here in "Flip". Even when reading "The Bluest Eye" you understand there's a level of respect and reverence it gives to its Black characters while detailing some horrific and brutal, revelatory scenes. "Flip" on the contrary, conditions its "love" - part of what makes Morrison's work so potent, and what "Flip" misses the point on - as being dependent on the attention to identity/wealth of its cast rather than any kind of true love, gain of acceptance, or belonging. "Flip" never digs into how that conditional framing is wrong, or knocks against the assumptions that the characters make about each other. And it never - and I think this was the worst part of things - deals with the mental health and well being of its characters in a serious, invested way, where you feel the characters have a coming to terms and are in a better space for themselves, especially not Chi-Chi.
It's neither a fun, nor transformative work, so it's best that "Flip" stays on the shelf. "Flip" isn't it. Far from it.
If you want "Freaky Friday", better to watch those movies. If you want a book that respects the agency of Black characters while being informative about the impact of how damaging racism is to self-identity and image, it's better to read Morrison's work directly in "The Bluest Eye", if you're so inclined and ready to take it on. If you want a book like what "Flip" tries to sell about a girl and boy switching bodies and having it be a transformative, meaningful experience, appropriate for teens? Read/Watch "Your Name" instead.
Overall score: 0/5 stars.
October 3, 2025
Which adds to my point of how much I hated the racial dynamics of this story.
...I got such bad second hand embarrassment from this book
December 5, 2025
Read through some reviews after finishing this to see if how I felt about it was reflected. To be fair, the glowing reviews I'd seen prior to reading were the ones shared by the author, so that's naturally going to be pretty biased. But this story, while setting up a lot of interesting, complex topics, simply didn't resolve any of them?
Chi-Chi is a Black girl on a scholarship to a school largely populated by rich, privileged white people. She has pretty intense self-hatred, based on her race, her family, her social and economic status, and her overall appearance and awkwardness. She uses fandom and crushes as a way to escape from herself - which, honestly, I did understand a bit. During my formative years, I'd say most of the guys I had crushes on weren't people I actually wanted to date - they were a nice fantasy and escape and talking point to connect with friends.
Chi-Chi's latest crush, in a line of popular, rich, mostly white boys, is blue-eyed athlete "Flip," nickname not explained but which works nicely with the Freaky Friday bodyswap title. She asks him out through a video promposal, which he accidentally opens during a presentation in one of their classes, and promptly rejects her.
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why he got all the flack he did from both Chi-Chi's friends and their teacher; he wasn't rude about it, and why was it his responsibility to take the rejection to a private venue when she sent him a very public video? I get that she hadn't really meant it to be, but he didn't know that. A lot of promposals are intentionally very public, especially the elaborate ones like hers.
Flip generally seems like a pretty decent guy, although like he points out himself, not all that crushworthy. He's just a generic dude. Chi-Chi never really has anything specific that she actually likes about him, and they don't know each other very well, which is what he says when he apologizes and turns her down.
He's also still in love with his ex-girlfriend, who's set up to be A Terrible Person because she's rich, white, popular, touches Chi-Chi's hair without asking, and breaks up with Flip. Although it turns out that she did so because he hadn't communicated with her for a full summer - one of the many storylines that wasn't explained or resolved. And which we only find out about during one of Chi-Chi's worst moments, rejecting Madison and lying to Flip about it later on.
It was petty and cruel of her, and honestly Madison never seemed like an outright bad person; she wasn't engaging in bullying or anything like that. So Chi-Chi trying to reassure herself that it was fair play, making sure Madison finally didn't get everything she wanted...all it did was make Chi-Chi come off worse.
Flip was actually kind of interesting, because after the initial hubbub, he was a pretty chill dude who looped his also very chill best friend into Chi-Chi's friend group. There was zero actual romantic chemistry between him and Chi-Chi - this isn't a romance at all - but they built a nice friendship, getting to know each other as actual people, along with plenty of difficult fights along the way.
Another unexplored storyline: Flip's intense depression, accompanied by serious suicidal ideation, which he never got any treatment for. He "talked" about his feelings in his mandated therapy session, one time, when it was actually Chi-Chi in his body, talking through her own feelings of self-hatred. Flip never got any actual therapy himself. And is that why he hadn't talked to Madison for a full summer? Severe depression he didn't know he was experiencing and didn't know how to deal with?
Flip's ending is honestly...nothing. When they do finally succeed at their mostly-full-curse-break (they still blip into each other's bodies for brief moments for the rest of their lives, for some reason), all that happens to him is that he falls into the school fountain for unexplained reasons, nearly drowns, then spends weeks lying in bed with exhaustion that's implied to all be tied to that intense depression he still isn't getting treatment for. And then we don't even see what happened with his life after...he's friends with Chi-Chi and texting her while she's at parties with her friends, who are married and with babies and everything, and Flip is...who knows? Doesn't matter to the narrative.
It just felt a bit unfair. Why make this a bodyswap story with two people impacted by the curse, and then just kinda ditch the journey for one of them?
Chi-Chi's wish was for Flip to love her. (She just wanted someone to love her, because she thought external validation would make her care about herself.) Flip's wish, on the same night - on his birthday - was to just stop existing at all. Again...extreme suicidal ideation that was never resolved.
The twist for the curse, which was pretty clearly telegraphed, was that the only way to break the curse was for Chi-Chi to learn to love herself. That's something the pair from decades earlier had never learned, which was this weird horror story sidebar where we find out that this exact curse happened to a couple of girls in the past, who never switched back, and one of them literally died from cancer in the wrong body. Meaning the one who's left is terrified of what will happen to her the next time she's due to switch back...which would put her in a corpse.
Wildly dark for kinda uh. No reason.
Anyway, Chi-Chi does solve this by realizing she's a little bit in love with herself. Which is a great message. Except.
The person she was falling in love with was actually Flip in her body. So it didn't really work as self-love for me? It was a very confusing message. The things she loved about "herself" were finally seeing how vibrant and pretty and fashionable she could be, which yes was absolutely a part of herself she hadn't been able to see before, but a lot of that charisma and popularity and winning the prom king vote was kinda...due to Flip...?
I did like the scene at the kpop concert where Chi-Chi in Flip's body was sobbing in her seat because her boyband bias was talking on stage about self-worth and self-love. There were good themes in here. It just didn't feel like they were drawn out properly.
The author's note at the end explained a lot of her reasoning behind the story, and how it was semi-auto-biographical, with things added that she'd wished she'd had when she was Chi-Chi's age: like an inspirational and supportive Black teacher, and a couple of brilliant Black friends who showed there are many ways to be amazing.
I do get the value of the story, and what it was trying to convey. It just felt like it was still a muddled story that didn't quite reach the message it was intending to.
Chi-Chi is a Black girl on a scholarship to a school largely populated by rich, privileged white people. She has pretty intense self-hatred, based on her race, her family, her social and economic status, and her overall appearance and awkwardness. She uses fandom and crushes as a way to escape from herself - which, honestly, I did understand a bit. During my formative years, I'd say most of the guys I had crushes on weren't people I actually wanted to date - they were a nice fantasy and escape and talking point to connect with friends.
Chi-Chi's latest crush, in a line of popular, rich, mostly white boys, is blue-eyed athlete "Flip," nickname not explained but which works nicely with the Freaky Friday bodyswap title. She asks him out through a video promposal, which he accidentally opens during a presentation in one of their classes, and promptly rejects her.
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why he got all the flack he did from both Chi-Chi's friends and their teacher; he wasn't rude about it, and why was it his responsibility to take the rejection to a private venue when she sent him a very public video? I get that she hadn't really meant it to be, but he didn't know that. A lot of promposals are intentionally very public, especially the elaborate ones like hers.
Flip generally seems like a pretty decent guy, although like he points out himself, not all that crushworthy. He's just a generic dude. Chi-Chi never really has anything specific that she actually likes about him, and they don't know each other very well, which is what he says when he apologizes and turns her down.
He's also still in love with his ex-girlfriend, who's set up to be A Terrible Person because she's rich, white, popular, touches Chi-Chi's hair without asking, and breaks up with Flip. Although it turns out that she did so because he hadn't communicated with her for a full summer - one of the many storylines that wasn't explained or resolved. And which we only find out about during one of Chi-Chi's worst moments, rejecting Madison and lying to Flip about it later on.
It was petty and cruel of her, and honestly Madison never seemed like an outright bad person; she wasn't engaging in bullying or anything like that. So Chi-Chi trying to reassure herself that it was fair play, making sure Madison finally didn't get everything she wanted...all it did was make Chi-Chi come off worse.
Flip was actually kind of interesting, because after the initial hubbub, he was a pretty chill dude who looped his also very chill best friend into Chi-Chi's friend group. There was zero actual romantic chemistry between him and Chi-Chi - this isn't a romance at all - but they built a nice friendship, getting to know each other as actual people, along with plenty of difficult fights along the way.
Another unexplored storyline: Flip's intense depression, accompanied by serious suicidal ideation, which he never got any treatment for. He "talked" about his feelings in his mandated therapy session, one time, when it was actually Chi-Chi in his body, talking through her own feelings of self-hatred. Flip never got any actual therapy himself. And is that why he hadn't talked to Madison for a full summer? Severe depression he didn't know he was experiencing and didn't know how to deal with?
Flip's ending is honestly...nothing. When they do finally succeed at their mostly-full-curse-break (they still blip into each other's bodies for brief moments for the rest of their lives, for some reason), all that happens to him is that he falls into the school fountain for unexplained reasons, nearly drowns, then spends weeks lying in bed with exhaustion that's implied to all be tied to that intense depression he still isn't getting treatment for. And then we don't even see what happened with his life after...he's friends with Chi-Chi and texting her while she's at parties with her friends, who are married and with babies and everything, and Flip is...who knows? Doesn't matter to the narrative.
It just felt a bit unfair. Why make this a bodyswap story with two people impacted by the curse, and then just kinda ditch the journey for one of them?
Chi-Chi's wish was for Flip to love her. (She just wanted someone to love her, because she thought external validation would make her care about herself.) Flip's wish, on the same night - on his birthday - was to just stop existing at all. Again...extreme suicidal ideation that was never resolved.
The twist for the curse, which was pretty clearly telegraphed, was that the only way to break the curse was for Chi-Chi to learn to love herself. That's something the pair from decades earlier had never learned, which was this weird horror story sidebar where we find out that this exact curse happened to a couple of girls in the past, who never switched back, and one of them literally died from cancer in the wrong body. Meaning the one who's left is terrified of what will happen to her the next time she's due to switch back...which would put her in a corpse.
Wildly dark for kinda uh. No reason.
Anyway, Chi-Chi does solve this by realizing she's a little bit in love with herself. Which is a great message. Except.
The person she was falling in love with was actually Flip in her body. So it didn't really work as self-love for me? It was a very confusing message. The things she loved about "herself" were finally seeing how vibrant and pretty and fashionable she could be, which yes was absolutely a part of herself she hadn't been able to see before, but a lot of that charisma and popularity and winning the prom king vote was kinda...due to Flip...?
I did like the scene at the kpop concert where Chi-Chi in Flip's body was sobbing in her seat because her boyband bias was talking on stage about self-worth and self-love. There were good themes in here. It just didn't feel like they were drawn out properly.
The author's note at the end explained a lot of her reasoning behind the story, and how it was semi-auto-biographical, with things added that she'd wished she'd had when she was Chi-Chi's age: like an inspirational and supportive Black teacher, and a couple of brilliant Black friends who showed there are many ways to be amazing.
I do get the value of the story, and what it was trying to convey. It just felt like it was still a muddled story that didn't quite reach the message it was intending to.
June 24, 2025
E-ARC generously provided by First Second in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!
4.5 stars. Combining Ngozi Ukazu's signature heart, humor, and adorable art style with a story in the vein of Freaky Friday meets Toni Morrison, Flip hit me in a place that I wasn't entirely expecting but I'm glad that it did.
4.5 stars. Combining Ngozi Ukazu's signature heart, humor, and adorable art style with a story in the vein of Freaky Friday meets Toni Morrison, Flip hit me in a place that I wasn't entirely expecting but I'm glad that it did.
April 27, 2025
"The Bluest Eye" meets "Freaky Friday" in graphic novel format! This was a blast to read, despite the disheartening feelings both Flip and Chi Chi experience throughout the book. I appreciated the author's choice to illustrate not just the struggle that Chi-Chi goes through as a young black woman, but also the struggle that Flip goes through even as others see him as living the perfect privileged life. I found the rich development of the main characters, and most of the side characters as well the often hilarious quest to fix the unexplained "curse" that forces them into each others' bodies, to be engaging enough to speed through this one. But by the end, after many laughs, the reader arrives at a powerful message: as Ukazu writes in the author's note at the end, "Some do not have access to their own self-worth". The power of friendship gives us perspective about ourselves. We just need to borrow the eyes of another to see ourselves for who we truly are.
November 29, 2025
A body swap book with an interesting angle.
High school senior Chinasa "Chi-Chi" Ekeh is an insecure Black girl with a huge crush on her boarding school's perfect white boy, Raymond "Flip" Henderson. Things get complicated of course when the two end up switching bodies and start really learning about themselves, each other, and big topics like race, privilege, hair, and self-acceptance.
A balanced mix of fun and thoughtful that doesn't get as campy and schmaltzy as those Freaky Friday movies.
High school senior Chinasa "Chi-Chi" Ekeh is an insecure Black girl with a huge crush on her boarding school's perfect white boy, Raymond "Flip" Henderson. Things get complicated of course when the two end up switching bodies and start really learning about themselves, each other, and big topics like race, privilege, hair, and self-acceptance.
A balanced mix of fun and thoughtful that doesn't get as campy and schmaltzy as those Freaky Friday movies.
June 5, 2025
I seem to be an outlier here based on the reviews so far, but as soon as Chi-Chi started messaging an AI bot, it was over for me. While the concept is cool, I could not connect with Chi-Chi or Flip and was not rooting for them (together or separately). This bummed me out because I love to see a swimmer in books! The art in this graphic novel was well done but the story was a miss for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
June 29, 2025
RTC 🩷
November 5, 2025
This is not a love story, but a self love story, and I like that Ukazu used the body-swap trope to get a character to better understand herself moreso than another person. The main crux of the plot is Chi-Chi, who is from a low income family, swaps bodies with her crush Flip, a white boy from a wealthy family, and chaos ensues as she tries to get Flip to understand periods and hair care while also trying to figure out a way to still attend her favorite K-Pop concert. It blows my mind that Ukazu found a way to visually depict body swaps, especially when the two main characters are constantly shifting back and forth between one another. Eye color and cute little masks are used to help the reader remember who is who, but even with this cleverness I got a little confused at times. Still, this book was hilarious and a good time capsule of the anxieties contained within a last year of high school before college.
September 30, 2025
Wow!!! I devoured this in one sitting. This author's comics are just so readable, and this one's probably the most conceptually ambitious, and my new favourite. The acknowledgements talk about the ways the story is semi-autobiographical, and to me that comes through strongly not just in the more obvious ways, but in that it really HITS emotionally.
I particularly liked how much the bodyswap does NOT fix the characters’ personal problems in any immediate intrinsic way, and how messy and difficult things get interpersonally. It has scenes with layers of nuance that leave it to the reader to unpack fully, and I loved that it goes to dark places you might not expect - even with the overall tone being funny and upbeat, the emotional grounding feels so deep.
Doing a bodyswap story and drawing on The Bluest Eye are both big challenging things to tackle in the comics form, let alone together. It’s a book that requires the reader to pay a little attention - once I was, the bodyswap masks and eye colours techniques really worked for me. But the thing that stood out to me most was seeing the weight of Chi-Chi’s self-doubt and self-scrutiny. It feels so tangible and heartbreaking. Watching her wrestle with seeing her body from the outside - and working to love what she sees - is such a powerful way of exploring the depths of the concept to the full.
I particularly liked how much the bodyswap does NOT fix the characters’ personal problems in any immediate intrinsic way, and how messy and difficult things get interpersonally. It has scenes with layers of nuance that leave it to the reader to unpack fully, and I loved that it goes to dark places you might not expect - even with the overall tone being funny and upbeat, the emotional grounding feels so deep.
Doing a bodyswap story and drawing on The Bluest Eye are both big challenging things to tackle in the comics form, let alone together. It’s a book that requires the reader to pay a little attention - once I was, the bodyswap masks and eye colours techniques really worked for me. But the thing that stood out to me most was seeing the weight of Chi-Chi’s self-doubt and self-scrutiny. It feels so tangible and heartbreaking. Watching her wrestle with seeing her body from the outside - and working to love what she sees - is such a powerful way of exploring the depths of the concept to the full.
January 11, 2026
Sort of an autobiography tackling themes of identity and self-love, told through the guise of an embellished graphic novel with magical realism elements. Sounds great in theory, but...
I had a hard time getting through this and couldn't wait to finish it. Which is saying quite a lot since I usually binge graphic novels in one sitting.
I loved the premise but the constant flipping was not well-executed, so the story was confusing and hard to follow (or rather, needed too much brain power to follow). Both main characters – especially Chi Chi – came across as one-dimensional, self-absorbed and selfish with no clear growth, despite their struggles and insight into their POVs, so the resolution and ending felt rushed.
The vibrant art, colours and aesthetics of the book made it a more palatable read but sadly, my enjoyment was just not there.
Thank you to First Second Books for the Netgalley ARC.
I had a hard time getting through this and couldn't wait to finish it. Which is saying quite a lot since I usually binge graphic novels in one sitting.
I loved the premise but the constant flipping was not well-executed, so the story was confusing and hard to follow (or rather, needed too much brain power to follow). Both main characters – especially Chi Chi – came across as one-dimensional, self-absorbed and selfish with no clear growth, despite their struggles and insight into their POVs, so the resolution and ending felt rushed.
The vibrant art, colours and aesthetics of the book made it a more palatable read but sadly, my enjoyment was just not there.
Thank you to First Second Books for the Netgalley ARC.
February 12, 2026
Freaky Friday meets The Bluest Eye (which makes the timing of my library hold coming in feel cosmic, since I just read that). I only knew Ukazu from Check, Please! but this is about a thousand times more interesting: a complex, riveting exploration of identity and self acceptance. Plus all of the characters and friendships are just so winning, and there are so many small and lovely and profound moments. I may have to buy myself my own copy of this at some point.
January 29, 2026
SO GOOD. Who knew a teen graphic novel would address the racial divide through a body swap plot line? The characters were fully developed, the illustrations were hilarious, and it had a beautiful self-love message. I need a movie of this stat.
March 31, 2025
The Bluest Eye meets Freaky Friday in this YA graphic novel.
👧🏾
Chi-Chi attends a wealthy private school outside of Houston as a scholarship kid and she keeps getting crushes on rich, white boys. When her promposal video is seen by her crush and the class, her wish has her and crush, Flip Henderson, switching bodies. Their switch doesn’t last long, but then it happens again. As the switches keep getting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip realize that soon they will become the other person. They spend time trying to figure out a way to flip out of each other once and for all, while also learning a lot about the other person and themselves.
🧒🏼
I adore Ukazu’s work and had the honor of moderating a panel she was on at NTTBF. This book includes Ukazu’s signature artwork style and a unique story that I was immediately invested in. Loving who you are can be difficult growing up so I’m thrilled that a title like this will exist for our students struggling with their own identity and self-worth. Flip releases September 23 from @01second
CW: microaggressions, racism, depression, alcohol, alcoholism, prison, classism, suicide ideation
👧🏾
Chi-Chi attends a wealthy private school outside of Houston as a scholarship kid and she keeps getting crushes on rich, white boys. When her promposal video is seen by her crush and the class, her wish has her and crush, Flip Henderson, switching bodies. Their switch doesn’t last long, but then it happens again. As the switches keep getting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip realize that soon they will become the other person. They spend time trying to figure out a way to flip out of each other once and for all, while also learning a lot about the other person and themselves.
🧒🏼
I adore Ukazu’s work and had the honor of moderating a panel she was on at NTTBF. This book includes Ukazu’s signature artwork style and a unique story that I was immediately invested in. Loving who you are can be difficult growing up so I’m thrilled that a title like this will exist for our students struggling with their own identity and self-worth. Flip releases September 23 from @01second
CW: microaggressions, racism, depression, alcohol, alcoholism, prison, classism, suicide ideation
November 1, 2025
ukazu is a brilliant graphic novelist and she did it again with this one. this is maybe the most heartbreaking of her work but it’s also filled with so much joy and love. literally so found family. i love both characters (all?) development, but chi chi’s is especially great. really cool concept executed very smart and well. just brilliant and i laughed SO loudly at points. just wow!
also i rlly enjoyed the kpop stuff haha that was great. it’s a little queer (there’s a side lesbian character but also chi chi is kinda having a trans narrative going on, ngl!!!) but it’s fs the most about race that ukazu has written so far. really interesting stuff about race tho and i liked the navigation of “what does it mean to be a Black girl in a white boy’s body?”
also i rlly enjoyed the kpop stuff haha that was great. it’s a little queer (there’s a side lesbian character but also chi chi is kinda having a trans narrative going on, ngl!!!) but it’s fs the most about race that ukazu has written so far. really interesting stuff about race tho and i liked the navigation of “what does it mean to be a Black girl in a white boy’s body?”
November 12, 2025
i thought they were going to crack each others eggs ngl
September 22, 2025
layered, humorous and heartfelt story about self-love, identity, friendship and also bodyswapping! ngozi is such a special author/illustrator - her books stand out for all the right reasons. i laughed, i cried, etc etc
thank you to first second for the earc!!
thank you to first second for the earc!!
August 20, 2026
This book was SOOOO cute. I felt all the emotions. I love how much the author focused on self-worth and mental health, while also having really sweet moments and many moments that made me laugh out loud. The only reason I didn’t rate it 5 stars was that there were definitely a few plot holes with how their body switch worked. Overall, I highly recommend
July 7, 2025
I’ll read anything by Ngozi Ukazu, I loved Check, Please! back in the day and I just finished Flip and I loved it too! There’s something about the way she tells stories that makes them so fun to read, while still pulling you in with real emotional depth.
I loved all the characters, genuinely. Chi Chi and Flip were both so fully fleshed out, with rich backstories and real motivations that made their journeys feel grounded and meaningful. The story touches on gender, race, and inequality in ways that feel natural and current, not preachy, just real. It’s exactly the kind of stuff teens are talking about nowadays.
And the side characters? So good. Chi Chi’s relationships with her friends and family felt so warm and real. I appreciated how this story showed that even when you’re surrounded by love, it can still be hard to love yourself.
Visually, the art style is pretty simple, but super clean and consistent. I especially appreciated how easy it was to tell who was who during the bodyswap scenes.
Strong storytelling paired with a very powerful message.
I loved all the characters, genuinely. Chi Chi and Flip were both so fully fleshed out, with rich backstories and real motivations that made their journeys feel grounded and meaningful. The story touches on gender, race, and inequality in ways that feel natural and current, not preachy, just real. It’s exactly the kind of stuff teens are talking about nowadays.
And the side characters? So good. Chi Chi’s relationships with her friends and family felt so warm and real. I appreciated how this story showed that even when you’re surrounded by love, it can still be hard to love yourself.
Visually, the art style is pretty simple, but super clean and consistent. I especially appreciated how easy it was to tell who was who during the bodyswap scenes.
Strong storytelling paired with a very powerful message.
July 5, 2025
I was looking forward to reading new original graphic novel from Ngozi Ukazu - and Flip is an interesting read! The author's note at the end confirms my feeling that a lot of the story and themes in it must have been autobiographical - and transformed into a funny, easy read by application of Ngozi Ukazu's trademark humor and ability to inject levity even in darker themes. She adds that she gave Chi-Chi things she didn't have herself at the time, and it moves my heart because those additions really shone in the story, both giving the protagonist a real fleshed out feeling, a great support system and the story a bright cast and dynamism. Imagining Chi-Chi's life without her gang.. Yeah that's a much tougher life. And regarding the "white boy crush" character, I was wondering what angle this would take, and I'm pleased with the road the author chose, friendship and a mutually supportive connection rather than a straightforward romance, it suits the themes much better.
The reason I didn't give this higher score is because the magical elements were quite a lot over the place: it seemed to try and swerve the story in other directions and then it backtracked again. Seems a bit unusual to say this may have suffered from attempts to explain it or ground in precedents, but that's what it felt like. May have been easier to handwave it entirely.
Thank you to Netgalley and First Second Books for an advance review copy.
The reason I didn't give this higher score is because the magical elements were quite a lot over the place: it seemed to try and swerve the story in other directions and then it backtracked again. Seems a bit unusual to say this may have suffered from attempts to explain it or ground in precedents, but that's what it felt like. May have been easier to handwave it entirely.
Thank you to Netgalley and First Second Books for an advance review copy.
July 2, 2025
Chi Chi has a crush on a rich white boy, who doesn’t even see her. She decides to do a promposal to him, but he accidentally opens it during a presentation he is making in class, and before she can stop him, he has not only seen it, but the rest of the class has too. And then he turns her down.
She runs off, and wishes that Flip liked her.
And then she wakes up the next day, and they’ve switched bodies. And they keep switching back and forth, for longer and longer periods, as the two have to adjust to living in each other’s bodies.
When I first heard about this book, I thought it would be funnier, having read other books by the author, but this, while funny, is also serious, because the wish was to have Flip like her, and what she learns, as she goes along, that it isn’t so much that he likes her, but that he sees her, and she sees him. Because, to live in each other’s lives allows you to see how the other half lives, so to speak.
And perhaps because it takes the long route to teaching the lesson, it allows you to see it, without being hit over the head with it.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 23rd of September 2025.
She runs off, and wishes that Flip liked her.
And then she wakes up the next day, and they’ve switched bodies. And they keep switching back and forth, for longer and longer periods, as the two have to adjust to living in each other’s bodies.
When I first heard about this book, I thought it would be funnier, having read other books by the author, but this, while funny, is also serious, because the wish was to have Flip like her, and what she learns, as she goes along, that it isn’t so much that he likes her, but that he sees her, and she sees him. Because, to live in each other’s lives allows you to see how the other half lives, so to speak.
And perhaps because it takes the long route to teaching the lesson, it allows you to see it, without being hit over the head with it.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 23rd of September 2025.
August 14, 2025
This body swap story gives Freaky Friday vibes, but with a twist: swapping across both gender and race. It’s a true “walk in my shoes” tale, with each character gaining a deeper understanding of the other’s life and challenges. Beneath the fun premise, it tackles real and relatable themes like depression and self-hate. My heart ached whenever Chi Chi spoke negatively about herself, especially about her hair.
The art is bright and charming, like something that could easily be turned into a Disney cartoon. All in all, it’s about recognizing your worth, loving yourself as you are, and resisting the pressure to fit into a mold. My only criticism is the ending. I just wish the it offered a little more closure.
The art is bright and charming, like something that could easily be turned into a Disney cartoon. All in all, it’s about recognizing your worth, loving yourself as you are, and resisting the pressure to fit into a mold. My only criticism is the ending. I just wish the it offered a little more closure.
January 12, 2026
I think that for the rest of my life I will be doomed to read works of fiction made by Ngozi Ukazu and have mixed feelings on them.
As one complete positive: her art style has really been polished in this one. The entire GN is a visual delight.
And I think what it was trying to do with it's plot was interesting. But I don't think it went the distance with any of it? We've brought up a lot of heavy plot points and didn't fully resolve most of them.
Also: BAFFLING choice to have "talking to an AI chatbot" be a chekovs gun??????? Especially when the entire plot purpose could have easily been accomplished by just having Chi-Chi keep a journal in her notesapp????????????????????
As one complete positive: her art style has really been polished in this one. The entire GN is a visual delight.
And I think what it was trying to do with it's plot was interesting. But I don't think it went the distance with any of it? We've brought up a lot of heavy plot points and didn't fully resolve most of them.
Also: BAFFLING choice to have "talking to an AI chatbot" be a chekovs gun??????? Especially when the entire plot purpose could have easily been accomplished by just having Chi-Chi keep a journal in her notesapp????????????????????
October 20, 2025
I loved Check Please and expected to enjoy Flip, but it just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t fun, funny, or romantic. It tried to tackle topics like self-esteem/self-love, racism, family trauma, and mental health, including depression and suicidal ideation/attempts, but it didn’t explore any of these deeply enough to have anything like a satisfying conclusion.
October 20, 2025
I can find it hard to keep my head straight during freaky-friday body swapping plots (heightened horribly in this case since they keep swapping back and forth), so I had to go back over the panels a few times, but this book actually made me laugh out loud at certain points and was generally just a very enjoyable time. :)))
April 3, 2025
A thoughtful and funny graphic novel with a body-swapping twist. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!
March 21, 2026
(3.6) Two high schoolers from opposite ends of the social pyramid, Chi Chi and Flip, mysteriously switch bodies after making the same wish. Through the experience, they begin to see themselves—and each other—more clearly. Rather than simply returning to who they were, they grow to accept and even fall in love with the new people they’ve become.
November 6, 2025
Emotionally and logistically complex and high-stakes. I feel like the Kpop angle showed up and disappeared kind of randomly throughout, in a way that felt sort of off-kilter. But it's a really good read overall.
January 3, 2026
My Friday has officially been freaked. Really engaging story and characters, and the infusions of K-pop fandom and friendship made it all the sweeter. There were some parts that felt a bit underdeveloped/left unanswered, but overall a solid read!
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