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Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me Book Review

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me perfectly renders the imperfect nature of growing up. Freddy Riley is navigating a breakup (kinda? it's complicated!), and while her world is rendered in beautiful, bright detail, Freddy is muddled by what her life should be. Framed by a series of email correspondences Freddy shares with an advice columnist, she learns how to be the main character in her own life. And, as Rainbow Rowell says, you will definitely want to break up with Laura Dean by the end. 

Mariko Tamaki is a Canadian writer of comics and prose. She is the co-creator with Jillian Tamaki of Skim and of Caldecott and Printz Honor book This One Summer. Mariko also writes about superheros for Marvel and DC Comics. Rosemary Valero-O'Connell has done work for DC Comics, BOOM! Studios, CAPY Games, and Mondo Tees, among others. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators NY and shown in galleries both locally and internationally. You can find her online at hirosemary.com. Find more of my reviews of books on TIME's Top 100 YA Books of All Time list here. 

All Freddy Riley wants is for Laura Dean to stop breaking up with her. The day they got together was the best one of Freddy's life, but nothing's made sense since. Laura Dean is popular, funny, and SO CUTE . . . but she can be really thoughtless, even mean. Their on-again, off-again relationship. has Freddy's head spinning—and Freddy's friends can't understand why she keeps going back. When Freddy consults the services of a local mystic, the mysterious Seek-Her, she isn't thrilled with the advice she receives. But something's got to give: Freddy's heart is breaking in slow motion, and she may be about to lose her very best friend as well as her last shred of self-respect. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnist Anna Vice, to help her through being a teenager in love. Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave and embrace the healthy ones we need. 

Tamaki and Valero-O'Connell won the Printz for a reason! Well, for a lot of reasons. The first that I'll talk about is the overarching themes of the book. This is Freddy's coming-of-age story, where she learns that there's more than one type of love, and that she is the one who can make her own choices. In that regard, I love how the title feels very passive (someone else is doing the breaking-up), versus the very active choice(s) Freddy makes by the end of the novel. I appreciate that the ending was ambiguous, but the one very big question was entirely answered: Freddy learned her lesson with Laura Dean, and she knows how to make choices for herself now and her own happiness. The coming-of-age element of the story really shone through, and this story perfectly captures what that feels like when you're on the cusp of adulthood. 

I loved how this story was framed. Freddy introduces us to the intricacies of her life while narrating an email she's writing to an advice columnist. It's during the opening that we learn about Freddy's complicated relationship with Laura Dean, her friendships, and where her mind sits as a seventeen-year-old girl in California. The graphic novel is framed by three other emails—two more from Freddy to columnist Anna Vice, and the final one being Anna Vice's response. I loved how the framing established what questions Freddy felt she couldn't voice to anyone else, but that are always swirling around in her head and affecting everything she does, even if she doesn't know it. Anna Vice's response back wasn't something I was expecting (and, it seems like Freddy wasn't expecting it either), so getting that included as Freddy realizes what she had to do was wonderful. 

This review wouldn't be complete without talking about the beauty of the illustrations! Rosemary Valero-O'Connell nails it, making a reader feel completely invested in Freddy's world from the smallest details to the biggest strokes. Freddy's world is rendered in such a loving detail, and I love how the one color was pink. It was used incredibly well to highlight specific details, indicate how time moved, and more. I read this book very quickly, and what I loved was feeling that Freddy's world still existed after my reading of this part of it ended. I believe that's possible because of the detail and beauty of Valero-O'Connell's illustrations. 

This book makes me even more excited to dive back into my TIME Top 100 YA Books of All Time TBR list! Stay tuned for more YA—and in the meantime, find more of my reviews of books on TIME's Top 100 YA Books of All Time list here. 

*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*

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