A Smile Like Yours

by Emily Thomas

For fans of Heartstopper and Bloom, a sweet YA graphic novel about first love - and navigating life when you see things differently.


Rhys Moore is worried as he starts his first year of university. And not just about the usual things. Rhys has face blindness, which means he struggles to recognize and remember people’s faces. He has ways of coping, but they don’t always work, so he isn’t sure how to manage being around so many new people. There is one bright note, though. Malcolm. He’s caring and kind, and he’s empathetic when Rhys finally reveals his disability to him. Could Malcolm be just what Rhys needs to get through the year?

Emily Thomas’s debut graphic novel offers a delightfully fresh take on falling in love and learning how to truly see another person. It’s both a compelling queer romance and a pitch-perfect coming-of-age story that keenly captures the ups and downs of university life. Readers are sure to be swept up in the romance as Rhys navigates his new feelings and experiences. The book deftly explores themes of disability, friendship, love, mental health and queer identity. A note about prosopagnosia, known as face blindness, and an author’s note are included at the end.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, LGBT, Queer, Comics, Contemporary, Graphic Novels Comics

312 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 2, 2026

Reviews

[Alice Oseman]

An adorable and heartfelt story about finding your people in the big, scary world of university! A Smile Like Yours has artwork that bursts with feeling and characters you want to wrap up in a warm blanket.

Emily Thomas created a gorgeous guest mini-comic for Heartstopper several years ago, and I was incredibly excited to get to read their debut graphic novel! Congrats Emily!!

[Emily]

From the rights report: "This queer YA graphic novel follows Rhys Moore, a university freshman with developmental prosopagnosia, as he navigates his new collegiate life, friendship and even a romance with a cute roommate."

[Lucsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Heartstopper captures the high school experience, "A Smile Like Yours" captures the first year of university so perfectly that I had flashbacks. I knew Alice Oseman would be mentioned before I even saw her blurb, because this is perfect for the people who grew up on Heartstopper, and are now about to start uni.

This was another book that I almost didn't read, even though I was super interested in the themes and story, because of the way the DRC was formatted that demanded a bigger screen than my phone, and I'm so happy I grabbed my laptop because this was such a unique book.

This story sets itself apart not only through the themes it portrays with so much care that we don’t often see being talked about, such as one character coming to terms with his asexuality and another dealing with his prosopagnosia, aka face blindness, anxiety and mental health, but how the author used the art to not only illustrate, but give us a real window into these character's worldview.

I loved that the entire book was coloured in the Asexual Flag colours and the way other colours were used very sparingly to illustrate Rhy's recognising others.

Rhy's, our Welsh king, definitely joins the ranks of the cinnamon roll protagonists, because this young man was the sweetest, and I'm so glad he found someone who not only appreciated that, but was just as sweet. Seeing a young man crying and struggling and being brave enough to not only open up to his friends but also get help was such an important storyline.

And even if I loved rooting for him and all the other characters, I loved this book even more for making them messy, flawed and conflicted in realistic ways for people their age, who were going through such transformative and important experiences as they were still figuring themselves out, and didn't always make the best decisions.

This is a story that is definitely worth your time, not only because of the character's arcs and themes it touches on, but because it was clear how much care was put into it. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this author will gift us with next.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Kids Can Press for this DRC.

[YSBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Smile Like Yours was a lovely read. The story follows Rhys, a 19-year-old Welsh student starting his first year at university. Rhys struggles with anxiety, perfectionism, and prosopagnosia (face blindness). We watch him adapt to being away from home, manage his difficult coursework, navigate new friendships with his flatmates, push himself to expand his social circle, and gradually become comfortable sharing his neurological disorder with others. Along the way, he explores his romantic interest in his straight-presenting flatmate Malcolm, who, naturally, reciprocates his feelings.

The representation in this book is fantastic. Rhys is white, gay, and has anxiety, agoraphobia, and a disability. Malcolm is Black and biromantic asexual. Rhys’s flatmates include characters who are Muslim, Asian, and lesbian, and his new best friend Oli is nonbinary. These identities are presented sensitively and affirmingly, while also showing the very real biases and challenges these characters face in society.

The art style enhances the story beautifully. Most of the book is illustrated in shades of purple, but Rhys’s identity markers, used to help him recognize others, are highlighted in full-color pop-out boxes. While the reader doesn’t initially know Rhys has face blindness, the visual style gives subtle clues before he explicitly mentions it. The illustrations have a soft, endearing quality, with cutesy elements like sparkles around characters and scenes that emphasize feel-good emotions.

Overall, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a heartwarming, thoughtful, and visually engaging story. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Gwyneth Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ooooh, this exploded my little queer Welsh heart! This sweet YA graphic novel explores crushes, community, and anxiety during the first year of college, a time when every single thing feels like the end of the world. Our protagonist Rhys is a cutie patootie who has facial blindness, a disability which is very rarely portrayed in media, let alone with this much thought and care! Emily Thomas uses her art to show how Rhys uses certain features/accessories to recognize people, also playing with portraying things in full color or black and white to signal his thought process. What a joy to read something that thrives in the medium it’s in!!! The love aspect is very sweet and you root for them at every step of the way while acknowledging how confusing sexuality is at that age.

Plus, WALES!!! They speak Cymraeg!!!! Aberystwyth mentioned!!!! It made me so happy to see Wales shown in such a beautiful light.

A Smile Like Yours is a sweet YA graphic novel that’s perfect for fans of Heartstopper or those who just want to giggle and kick their feet. 4.5/5 from me, this will definitely be a staff rec when it comes out in June 🌸

[Katy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Smile Like Yours is a YA graphic novel about a group of teens in their first year at university who struggle to find their way in this new phase of their lives. One of my favorite aspects of this book was the inclusion of an invisible disability of prosopagnosia or face blindness. Rhys can only recognize people by identifiers like their clothes or hair but can't recognize them by their faces, even his family members. The graphic novel style was paired with this aspect beautifully by highlighting the identifiers Rhys uses to recognize people and highlighting them in a different color from the rest of the artwork. My second favorite aspect was the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ identities in the book and the discussions the characters have around sexuality. Since these were the two main themes (invisible disabilities and sexual orientation), a lot of the book was also about trust and developing relationships with other people, which I think is so important for young people to read about. This book is definitely the next Hearstopper and I can't wait to see kids reading it. This is a must add to any library serving young adults and up. This was a five-star, cream of the crop read for me.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so cute! I've never read a book with a character that has face blindness so that aspect was really interesting.
If you like Bloom or Heartstopper: Volume One then you will love this book too!

[B.C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautful art style and colours!! Travelling along with these characters on their journeys to self-discovery while navigating the chaos of balancing uni, family, social life, and self-care with heartfelt and high friction moments that keep you flipping the pages!

There is never a dull moment and always something new to spot when going through it again!

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received an ARC courtesy of the publisher via Edelweiss+

I liked the protagonist and his friends. Reminded me a little of Heartstopper