Moonstruck Vol. 3: Troubled Waters

Moonstruck #3

by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle (Artist), Claudia Aguirre (Artist)

Spring comes to the supernatural town of Blitheton, which can only mean one thing: It's time for the annual mermaid festival! Werewolf barista Julie meets one of her girlfriend Selena's friends, but as per usual, things take a turn for the worst. Why does everything seem to go wrong for Julie and Selena? Is the universe conspiring against them, or is it something more sinister? More importantly, will their relationship survive once it starts taking on water?

The third chapter of the popular, all-ages magical adventure from Lumberjanes creator GRACE ELLIS and talented newcomer SHAE BEAGLE.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, LGBT, Young Adult, Queer, Fiction

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2020

About the author

Grace Ellis is a writer best known for co-creating and co-writing Lumberjanes, a New York Times bestselling, Eisner and GLAAD Award-winning comic, though you won't hear her brag about it unless you ask her directly. She has written several episodes of the animated series Bravest Warriors. Grace lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she co-parents a preternaturally smart cat, even though she's more of a dog person.

Reviews

[M.L.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. I keep wanting to love these books. Please, let me love them! First, the stuff I adore: The art is pitch-perfect, and I adore the looks and inclusivity: enby, gay, lesbian, fat, thin, varying skin tones, disabilities--it's all great. The worldbuilding is really intriguing, especially since there so much yet to be revealed.

But. Julie and Selena's relationship continues to be extremely problematic. Toxic. Unhealthy. I would hope that eventually it'll resolve in a healthy fashion (which honestly, involves them staying apart), but the current arc isn't encouraging. While Julie has severe self-esteem issues (and am I supposed to believe that wolfing out during a school program is the root cause of her low self esteem?? It seems...insufficient, in light of Julie's acceptance of Selena's emotional, verbal, and physical abuse), Selena's abuse is just...gross. And disheartening to see in a book that is always marketed as "all ages". I've removed these from my kid's reading list, because as presented, this is horrible relationship modeling for "all ages". All this to say, I cheered when they broke up and I hope they stay that way.

Anyway, can't rate this higher, but I'll give it 2 stars for cute art, cute world, and Chet, who is the awesomest.

[Malli (Chapter Malliumpkin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

✨ Moonstruck Vol. 1 ★★★
✨ Moonstruck Vol. 2 ★★


Content/Trigger Warnings: Toxic relationships, anger issues (from a side character), manipulation anxiety depictions, depression, trauma

I truly wish I would have loved this graphic novel. I truly do, but it wasn’t in my cards when I first started this series and it’s still not looking good now. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why many readers love this series. The world is fascinating, the characters are interesting, and there’s still so much we don’t know. However, there’s a lot of details that I just couldn’t over look. Maybe I’m too much of a critical reader, but one thing is for sure, this didn’t improve my feelings about a lot of things in this series.

Spring break is on the horizon for the town of Blitheton and with spring break comes the highly anticipated mermaid festival. Julie, our werewolf barista, and her girlfriend, Selena are ready to have a wonderful day together! There’s just one catch, actually, make that several. With the new introduction of an uninvited friend, a mysterious force that keeps randomly appearing, and Julie’s friend appearing to pass along an omen, what could possibly go wrong? Everything.

Let’s start with some of the good things I loved about this graphic novel. As usual, I love a lot of the side characters. Cass is probably my ride or die for this entire series. Not to mention, I love that we get new characters introduced into this series. Of course the artwork is absolutely stunning. The cover and the art has been one of the biggest things for me about this series. Also, we have a lot of diversity within this series. From f/f relationship between our two main characters, a side m/m romance, on page plus-size characters and BIPOC characters, to the recently added disability representation, this graphic novel does a fantastic job at delivering diversity.

“Sometimes it’s better in the long run for things to turn out differently than you expected.”

Despite the good things I have to say about this graphic novel, there are still some lasting issues that haven’t been resolved since the first volume. When this series first started, I love the concept of Julie and Selena being the couple of focus for this graphic novel. I loved that they weren’t perfect and I loved how the relationship wasn’t perfect. However, now that we’re on volume three, I feel like there should have been some form of growth, some learning, or something. Instead, we’re still given a toxic relationship that is fueled by lack of communication, anger, and jealousy. The fact that in the first two volumes we’re given scenes of physical fights between the two main characters and now in volume three they’re still fighting, and refusing to work through their problems isn’t something I want to be reading about. This is the third volume in the series and this is the kind of relationship that can make an impressions on young readers. It’s not my cup of tea and the author should have done something to improve the relationship instead continuing to portray an unhealthy relationship between two young adults.

My second issue with this graphic novel is the fact one of the side characters hasn’t seen any personal growth either. They suffer from really bad aggression/anger issues and they’re constantly starting/picking fights with everyone. On top of that, my biggest issue with this character is how it impacts another side character. This kind of toxic relationship is so powerful that another side character literally tells our main character they want to become that horrible themselves. Now this wouldn’t be a problem except the author is continuing to promote toxic relationships and trying to normalize this as a positive thing. This is a continuous theme since the first volume of this series and I don’t see anyone talking about this.

To further solidify these statements and how the author wants to normalize toxic, and abusive relationships, I present one of the new characters introduced into the series. We get introduced to a new side character who’s a kitsune. This character’s entire purpose of being introduced into this graphic novel is to stir up chaos, drama, and negatively charged areas for other characters for no reason. We don’t know why she’s there, we don’t know her back story, all we know is she’s there to cause trouble. This character causes so many issues for those around her especially the main character. So much so that the outcome caused by this new character leads the main character to make a very rash decision that's going to change a lot about this series.

It really wasn’t a fun time reading this book. And I’m not going to lie, I almost regret preordering this book. But I truly thought there would be improvements, we would get the answers we deserved. We really didn’t though.

Overall, this just wasn’t the book I expected it to be. I don’t know if my hopes were too high. Maybe my critical reading got in the way. Honestly, I’m not sure anymore. I went into this book thinking we would get some resolution or personal growth from our main character especially after the first two volumes because of all the fighting and arguing, but this wasn’t it. I was cringing so much throughout this book and I had a lot of second hand embarrassment from reading this. And that’s one of the things I can’t stand when I read a book, the second hand embarrassment. And the fact that no one is talking about how the author constantly promotes toxic and abusive relationships without ever trying to have a positive resolution, any form of communication, or even anyone stepping in to say, “knock it off right now” or “this is not okay, stop” absolutely blows my mind. This just wasn’t it folks and I can’t recommend this book or series especially knowing that there will be some youths who see the relationships in this book, and think that’s the kind of treatment they deserve in their relationship.


All thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions are honest and my own.


Instagram|Ko-fi|Throne

[Iz · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a BIPOC LGBTQ person I was so looking forward to this series but after the first volume, I’ve been very sorely disappointed. Vol 2 already decreased my interest and like for this series ... this volume told me to give up on the series entirely.

In every volume the main plot is focused around miscommunication between characters & unhealthy platonic and romantic relationships — not for me. IDC if it’s “queer drama” or “quirky sci-fi romcom feels” — I’m not here for toxic relationships and a plot that changes every 5 pages dependent on a character (or the author’s?) mood.

Also why does Julie get referred to as “Julie Lopez” repeatedly throughout this volume? Are they really trying to push the “LOOK WE HAVE DIVERSITY!!” agenda? It was already a YIKES in the previous volumes where random Spanish phrases were inserted out of no where... & don’t even get me started on how they created a “Kitsune” character as an Asian girl — can the authors LOOK UP “dragon lady stereotype” and/or the fetishization of “Asian fox / kitty girls”?? The depiction of race throughout the series gets messier and messier and I’m not gunna stick around to see what happens.

[rachel, x]

#1) Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew ★★★★☆
#2) Moonstruck, Vol. 2: Some Enchanted Evening ★★☆☆☆

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram

[Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, and a little all over the place. I enjoyed it though. The characters are amazing and have grown a lot, and I love the art style.
It did seem like this book was only a filler book, which I didn’t like, and as always there were some toxic things. Overall, I still found it fun to read.

[Bridgette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was all over the place in terms of plot and story. The art is amazing and beautiful, as always, but it was confusing. I also really didn't appreciate Cass telling Julie that she just needed to grow up when Julie was clearing experiencing some pretty anxiety. What julie needs is probably therapy and anti-anxiety meds, not chastisement.

Hopefully the next volume is better.

[Kayleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I saw the third volume was out I was so excited to read it but to say this was disappointing is putting it mildly. After rereading the first two and finding a lot of issues I was very apprehensive about going into this one and honestly regret reading it.
After volume two I really didn't think Selena's behavior could get worse but boy was I so wrong. None of the toxic behaviors is ever discussed and really just laughed off or brushed under the rug until the end when things just explode.
In the little side comics, which I don't like to begin with, there was a joke about obsessively reading and it just gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
I will not be picking up anymore in this series.

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

26/06/2021
3.5 ⭐
Having an emotion doesn't make you a baby. You shouldn't have to apologise for having a feeling.

Very cute and as always I loved the artwork and the colouring! I also love how inclusive this series is with all different sexualities, identities disabilitues, skin shades and body shapes!

01/01/2020
This cover!! 100% my aesthetic! 😍😍😍

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my least favorite tropes—toxic relationships based on a lack of communication. Just...literally take ten minutes and talk! I really want to love this series but the plot feels forced at times, and it jumps around. Some plot aspects are just hard to accept (such as the bff roommate that Julie just never heard a single thing about. Or the emotional manipulation from Cass and Selena. And what happened at Newpals? The internship was three days long only and there was the vision of the creatures being real and burning Chet but...what really happened?) The plot has felt insignificant since the intensity of the first volume where Chet literally loses his magic. Now it's just... people not talking to each other clearly without being verbally abusive (e.g. "just grow up").

Also, why did the advice column stop? Why was it there in the first place if it was cut with no explanation and no impact on the plot? Who were those characters? I liked them but...??

To the benefit of this volume, I did enjoy the tie in to the first volume. And as always, the art is gorgeous.

[Jessica Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want so badly to like this series. I love the art, but boy oh boy is there some toxic relationship mess going on. I feel like this may have been better served coming out in more of an omnibus format? I’m a bad graphic novel/comic person (especially since I’m a librarian) but having these short, all over the place books are really not doing much to make me fall for the characters or really understand them. The main stars are for Chet and Manuel, the diversity in character body types and gender expression, and the artwork. They are carrying this series for sure.
Selena? The absolute worst.

[Erica ♋️✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO CUTE!!!
i love this graphic novel series so much!! 💕✨🙌🏻💜

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many plot twists in this one but well worth it. I wish there was a volume 4!

[Alice4170 🌙 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ⭐️

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(So the actual funny story is that I just borrowed two volumes from the library; I picked up 1 because I couldn't remember anything that had happened in it, and what I thought was vol 2. It was not. It was this book! I had to go back and read book 2 to see if I had missed important context.)

Things I liked:
-The worldbuilding goes new places in volume 3!! With the introduction of (I keep wanting to call her Scylla but it's not), Selena's absent mermaid roommate, we get to dip our toes into an UNDERWATER BIOME!!!
It's really the details that continue to shine here. All the new underwater background characters, the fact that it's a festival so they want to get festival themed flash tattoos (which are a) made with FLASHING LIGHTS b) MAGICAL!!! THEY MOVE!!! - the worldbuilding is just uncomplicated wonder and delightful surprises, and I love it for that.
-Stretching the limits of the comic form; we get some art choices that literally have you flip the book to change perspective on what's happening! There's a part where 5? 6? interconnected stories are being told simultaneously over several pages, held together with panel placement and color. This is COOL.
-Related is the use of the bonus material to tell an entire B-plot! Manuel and Chet are off having a Newpals internship (slash job interview?) experience; you only hear a little bit from Chet himself at the end, but their journey is being narrated through things like a wordsearch (a real one), a crossword puzzle, a maze! Children's games! I Just Think That's Really Neat.

Things I feel complicated about:
-This volume dives into Julie's character arc; she's being twisted about by a kitsune, her friend Cass who can see the future (and is trying to help), and she's still on rocky shores with Selena, her girlfriend. Everyone keeps asking Julie to self-actualize - difficult!! Honestly I find Julie possibly too relatable; she's an anxious people-pleaser, she feels compelled to protect anyone in her wider circle who asks (and plenty of people who don't), and she does this to avoid facing her own wants and desires which she has sublimated so far down that she finds it almost impossible to name them) And she keeps fighting with her girlfriend about it! Or being fought with, as Julie would Rather Not Fight - unlike Selena, whose communication style is more, 'lets just fight about it and move on!,' which she attributes to werewolf-y nature.
Anyway I don't feel complicated about these characters individually; I don't think they're "toxic", I think they're like real people, who are messy and afraid and deal with it in different ways. But I do think that we (the audience) have not had enough of Selena and Julie having a Good Relationship on the page to be able to react to A Dire Threat Forcing You To Break Up as anything other than "well that probably makes sense. A good friend should be intervening to tell you to break up, because you don't enjoy each other's company."

So that was my initial reaction to the volume. "Am I supposed to be worried about their relationship? It would probably be good if they took some time apart to figure things out." And also, "OH MY GOD I WANT A FLASH TATTOO OF A LIGHTHOUSE THAT MOVES."

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Saddened that her best friend won’t be around for the annual mermaid festival, Julie is content with attending with her girlfriend, Selena. All is going well until they meet up with Selena’s friend and roommate, Skyla. Things start to go south, especially when it becomes clear that something is lurking around the corners watching Julie’s every move.

I absolutely loved the first volume. While the second volume was a big rocky, I still liked it and was looking forward to seeing where the story went. Sadly, this volume is a huge miss for me. While the artwork was absolutely stunning as always, we find Julie and Selena in a bit of a pickle of their own making. I assumed they’d grow together after the last volume, but it’s revealed that they’ve been rather awkward with each other rather than communicating in the time between the two volumes. It’s very clear that their relationship is thriving on their lack of communication, anger management issues, and topped with a good amount of jealousy.

Unfortunately, it turns out I don’t enjoy following Julie and Selena after the first volume. There isn’t much character growth and they both seem to keep taking steps backwards. It also quickly becomes apparent that rather than looking at herself and noticing what her toxic traits are and working on them to better herself, Julie blames those flaws on being a wolf. The whole story ends with her making a very hasty decision that isn’t going to solve anything for her because she’s focusing on the wrong things.

While I didn’t like the main plot, I did love the side characters, who don’t make much of an appearance this time around. Maybe I would’ve felt a little better about this volume if some old favorites were around with the new characters to break up just how awful this relationship truly is. You’re not going to see me happy for Julie and Selena if they get back together, which appears to be the endgame. I’m not sure where this series is going anymore or if I’m interested in the next volume after this because this book was a hard miss for me. All I know is that Julie and Selena should go to therapy and work on themselves before getting back together or entering new relationships.

[Dany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Troubled waters finally takes on the character driven action it was hinting at in the earlier books.

TW : Toxic relationship

They removed the lighter Chet and the lighter storytelling and turned it fully dark and focussed on Julie's Arc.

I seriously can't get enough of the art and especially the storytelling. How they described the root of Julie's issues and how she tackles them and the decisions she's taking.

Spoilers for first&second volume:

-Julie has had issues with her self esteem , her behavioral issues and how she related to other people - especially Chet in the first volume which was skipped over with a joke and eyeroll .
-Julie also ended the first volume saying she and her girlfriend will be going to therapy which.. didn't take i guess because they struggled with the same issues with open communication in the second book.

I'm just really glad the toxic relationship is being described as such - toxic and something you need to get away from in order to be happy.

I'm super looking forward to reading this book but there are tw for toxic relationship and abuse in relationship so please take care of yourself

[Cindy Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Sigh...) I wanted to like this book - I was enjoying the art and the fact that diverse characters are part of the narrative. But, again, this story was all over the place! Julie's and Selena's relationship continues to be the focus, but they have a lot of issues - miscommunication, jealousy, anger issues, and general lack of self control.

The thing that annoys me the most though is the organization of these books - there are the pages with Julie/Selena, there are pages from Julie's comic, there are random word puzzles and word searches which take up entire pages (I truly did not get why they were in the book), and the worst part of all - chapter 5 has 4 different story lines happening over 15 pages (there are illustrations for each of the storylines on each page, and you have to piece them together). And yes, that is as confusing as it sounds. Then in the final pages, Julie goes to see some character in a fox mask (we have no idea who he is or why she is even there to see him, and it is never explained).

I was also frustrated by the setting of these stories. I thought these books would mainly be taking place in the coffee shop where Julie works as a barista, but in vol.2 and 3, the story takes place in all sorts of places - frat houses, amusement parks, underwater, in a psychic haze, on the beach. These seem like they would be fun locations, but the way the story unfolds, they are not fun at all.

I am so happy that I checked these out from the library first to see how I would like them before purchasing them; I will not be continuing with this series.

[Anna Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I really enjoy this series. This one was more weaker for me than the second one. But I liked it better than the first one.

So I guess that I’d put this at a 4 star since it’s right in the middle of the other two for me. I hope more volumes come out of this for sure too!

I like the diversity and the characters and the story is fun and interesting. This one just fell a sorta flat to the second one.

[Deidra (ShadeTreeReads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story has lost some of its magic for me. In this 3rd volume, things got super choppy and the pacing was even more weird than the first 2 volumes. I'll only continue with the series if I have access through hoopla. This art style is one of my all-time favorites though. I'd love a poster with all the characters on it. Julia and Selena just seem like unhealthy people who need time to work on themselves before getting into a relationship. *shrugs*

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this volume of Moodstruck! I like that they replaced the advice columns with quick little games and the mermaid lake was such a cool concept. I really loved the scenes with the oracle too. I hope to see even more of her. I devoured it in one sitting. More of this!!

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can I blossom as a garbage person if I never have the chance to spread my wings and fly on my own? Follow my own bad ideas?

I didn't really like volume 2, but this flowed more easily and felt a lot more interesting to me. Still adore the art style.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just adore the art and all the different characters in this series.

[Rachael Hobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It references the last one a couple of times and I completely forgot what happened in volume 2 😅 This volume was definitely a filler book and I look forward to volume 4.

[Madi · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute plots still a bit all over the place tho

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh no, a cliffhanger ending and there is no sign of a volume 4, but also... the same issues from the previous volume are here.

[Izza · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars | this series gets better and better 💖

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5) "Why does everything seem to go wrong for Julie and Selena?" Oh, I don't know, book blurb, could it be because they don't actually COMMUNICATE?? I hate this kind of drama. But I can't get over how much I like the world building and the diversity and the lovely adorable art style. Will Vol. 4 actually provide some answers? Here's hoping!!

[♡ Hanna Bee ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

There will be spoilers!

*I'm still not enjoying this as much as I would've hoped. I did find it a bit more enjoyable than the last volume, but I still didn't get into it.

*I want to say before I get into the negative part of my review, the art was beautiful. The quality of the art has been consistent throughout each book.

*One thing I can say the Volume 2 did better was inserting other pages. In this book, the extra pages were in the middle of chapters, which broke up the book in a strange way. At least in the last one, it was between chapters.

*I still struggled with the plot. In my opinion, there were still things that happened that weren't given clear reasoning.

*Something that's been bothering me the most and still hasn't been fixed are the toxic relationships.
- Somethings that have happened can't be brushed away as "it's a new relationship they're just figuring it out" when there are consistent issues that they've made no effort to fix.
- No one ever talks about their problems despite some being easy to fix. If they actually communicated in a healthy way, then their problems wouldn't be happening. They just let it build up until they explode.
- I can't stand the jealousy over the best friend when there's no reason for it. The jealousy started before they even greeted each other.
- There's a new character whose purpose was to cause drama. Honestly, her character was confusing since there was no information to explain who she is. She was just thrown into the story to cause drama, and then she was gone.
- The ending could imply that Julie is going to change who she is because Selena broke up with her.

*I'll still read the next book even if I'm not really enjoying them. I have theories about what's happening, and I want to see if they come true.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. I didn't like this as much as the first two, but still entertaining.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the wake of Lumberjanes, we've seen no small number of comics introduced that try to jar that same lightning with magic, whimsy, friendship, LGBTQ+, gender intersectionality and an environment of acceptance all driving the storytelling. Not all of them work nearly as well as Lumberjanes does, but Moonstruck comes close. Created by Grace Ellis - one of the aces behind Lumberjanes itself - Monstruck is the story of young adults in a world that feels like if Friends took place in Narnia, but if Narnia was Toronto. It follows the adventures of a young werewolf who work sat a coffee shop but aspires to ghost-write for a popular pulp series. But along the way all kinds of mishaps occur, including her rocky relationship with her werewolf girlfriend, meddling magicians, treacherous faeries, and more. The series never gets all that deep, and in many ways it kind of feels like it's retreading some of the best parts from other series. But the art is terrific (the colors, especially), and the writing is really solid throughout. If you can get on this book's wavelength, then you're going to have a lot of fun with it.