I Love Him to Pieces ( My Boyfriend Is a Monster, #01 ) by Evonne Tsang

Oct 17, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Any girl who brings along a baseball bat on a first date has an automatic place in my heart! :D

I Love Him to Pieces blends cute and creepy moments with fun and touching illustrations to create a fast paced introduction to this graphic novel series. A “jock” falling for the “geek” tale filled with zombies? HELLO! I’m in!

Dicey Bell and Jack Chen are simply adorable! Dicey’s cute, smart, and fierce charm comes through and sparkles in her eyes! And she has set her sights on the geeky and loveable J...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Aimeekay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So my daughter brought this one home for me from school. (Told me she saw zombies and figured I’d like it, what a good girl!) My Boyfriend is a Monster is a cute little graphic novel. It seemed a bit thin at first, but those 124 pages had a whole lotta story packed in them.
I thought the interaction between Dicey and Jack was really cute. The first half of the book you get to see how they first start working together and a little bit about their own personal histories. The zombie action doesn’t s...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Cornerofmadness rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a small graphic novel, part of a series, that makes me smile. It’s good and after a few stinkers I’ve read recently I’m glad to get hold of a good graphic novel since I love them. This is set in St Petersburg FL and the cover is enough to tell you that it’s going to have a zombie apocalypse. (Well, FL could probably use one). I’m over zombies, heck I was never into zombies, and yet I loved this.

It’s not so much about the monsters as it is about two young teens. Dicey Bell is a typical to...more This is a small graphic novel, part of a series, that makes me smile. It’s good and after a few stinkers I’ve read recently I’m glad to get hold of a good graphic novel since I love them. This is set in St Petersburg FL and the cover is enough to tell you that it’s going to have a zombie apocalypse. (Well, FL could probably use one). I’m over zombies, heck I was never into zombies, and yet I loved this.

It’s not so much about the monsters as it is about two young teens. Dicey Bell is a typical tom boy, spunky and plays baseball. Her dad is a baseball coach and he taught her to pay and she plays on the high school boy’s team, even though it causes some problems. Her teammates, however, love her. Dicey reminded me of someone and it took me a while but I realized she looks like a younger version of Katchoo from Strangers in Paradise. Jack Chen is the consummate science nerd. His parents are both scientists. He gets to skip classes because he’s already involved in a research project. He’s the kid who the teacher calls on in desperation to get an answer. He plays Dungeons and Dragons with his nerd friends and tends to eat alone in the cafeteria (oh, where were you when I was in H.S., Jack?).

The story opens with Dicey bursting into the lab proclaiming Jack is her baby’s daddy, setting the humorous undertones for the whole novel. The baby in question is the health education class’s ‘baby egg’ thing schools love to put kids through. A little more than half the book is the budding relationship between jock and nerd and it is cute, very sweet and nicely innocent. As it weaves along we get to see their family life, their friends and who they are until finally they break the rules of the universe: Jock and Nerd go out on a date.

Lucky them, it coincides of the escaping of a mutated form of a Cordyceps fungus which is known to zombiefy insects (this is actually real) which is now able to make humans its host and destroys their brains. Jack’s parents were working on stopping this in South America but it spread faster than anyone knew and suddenly St. Pete’s is ground zero in the States. As a favor to his highly placed parents, the government sends help for Jack and Dicey but things go awry and Jack is bitten. He has access to only a handful of pills known to slow the spread of the fungus. Can Jack figure out a way to slow the spread before he’s a zombie? Can Dicey protect him and lead them both to safety in the meantime?

This was just a lot of fun. The art is fantastic. Dicey is adorable and Jack is hot. Gorrissen uses the black and white medium expertly, with plenty of good use of shadow. The art is clean and with the occasional odd looking side views, it’s some of the best proportional art I’ve seen in ages. I sure hope the library gets the next one soon. I want to keep peeking in on Dicey and Jack.
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Jan 05, 2012 Shweta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels

Zombies - Yes ! Graphic Novels - Yes ! Combination of both - Hell Yes !!

Dicey is the school baseball star and Jack is the most studious chap . What would they have in common ? For starters, they both are parents to the egg they have been made responsible for , through the school egg project :) She is gutsy sporty girl while he is a bookish nerd but in spite of these differences they get along really well. Then comes the fact that they seem to be falling in love.With the zombie apocalypse looming...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Wandering Librarians rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, graphic-novel, great-graphic-novels-for-girls, humor, romance, series, ya, science-fiction

Dicey, the only girl on the high school baseball team and Jack Chen a D&D playing science genius, end up partners for the classic health class egg baby project. Just as Dicey and Jack Chen are seeing the blossoming of their relationship despite their different interests, a virus sweeps through the town turning people into mindless zombies! Dicey and Jack Chen are on the run for safety, and when Jack Chen is bitten, they are rapidly running out of time.

Adorable. Totally. Loved it. Dicey is pr...more Dicey, the only girl on the high school baseball team and Jack Chen a D&D playing science genius, end up partners for the classic health class egg baby project. Just as Dicey and Jack Chen are seeing the blossoming of their relationship despite their different interests, a virus sweeps through the town turning people into mindless zombies! Dicey and Jack Chen are on the run for safety, and when Jack Chen is bitten, they are rapidly running out of time.

Adorable. Totally. Loved it. Dicey is pretty fabulous. She's an amazing baseball player and takes it very seriously. She likes Jack Chen from the start, but she isn't about to fall all over herself to get his attention. It doesn't occur to Jack Chen (who is always referred to by his first and last name) that someone like Dicey could ever be interested in him, and it takes him a while to figure out that she likes him that he also likes her.

Their relationship is really cute. Despite their different interests, they get along really well and have a lot of fun working on the project together. By the way, did your school make you pair up for the egg baby project? And did you do it in high school? Eggs babies were definitely a middle school project for me (got to teach the children when they're young) and we weren't paired up with anyone. We were all single parents. Anyway, Dicey and Jack Chen take an interest in what they other one likes to do, but of course, isn't it always the way, right when things get going disaster strikes!

Now, luckily for Jack Chen, both his parents are scientists who were working on finding a cure for this disease, which was not suppose to jump to the town so quickly. So when Jack Chen is bitten, Dicey knows she has to get him to his parents before he succumbs to it. At one point, Jack Chen tries to take off without her so she won't be in danger, but Dicey is having none of that and tracks him down and sets him straight.

It seemed like the whole town got zombified pretty fast, but everyone seemed pretty up beat at the end, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it looks. I will definitely read the following volumes.

The story is told through black and white drawings and is done with a fairly traditional comic book format of panels. (less)

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Oct 27, 2011 Karin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel, chick-lit, romance, romantic, violence, baseball, jocks, gutsy-girls, awkward-boys, nerds, zombies, high-school, teenagers, survival, dating, relationship-problems, relationships, funny, clever, favorites, series, young-adult-fiction, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Dicey and Jack are paired to parent an egg together for their health class. Jack is smart and nerdy, and Dicey is a cute jock who plays on the boys’ baseball team. Seemingly incompatible, the two nevertheless hit it off. On their first date, they skip school to have a picnic, and in the middle of it there’s a zombie virus outbreak (a fungus that turns people into zombies) and they have to evacuate. Jack is bitten by a zombie as they try to escape, and the only thing keeping the virus from spread...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Sesana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: actually-pretty-funny, contemporary, fantasy, science-fiction, paranormal-romance, comics, horror, undead, young-adult, zombies

Here we have the first in the My Boyfriend is Dead series of graphic novels. From the two additional subtitles (My Date is Dead Weight or He Only Loves Me For My Brains) it's obvious that it's a zombie story. The zombie part actually takes awhile to build. The first half of the book is concentrated on the very natural and very cute growing relationship between Dicey (star of her high school baseball team) and Jack (D&D nerd). Dicey is no dumb jock, and Jack is no socially inept dork, and the...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-apocalyptic, teen-graphic-novel, teen-scifi-futuristic, teen-paranormal-romance, teen-tough-chic, teen-sports, teen-zombie

It's a typical day at St. Petersburg High when lab nerd Jack Chen is interrupted in his work by pretty tomboy Dicey Bell who announces that he's her baby daddy...of their health class baby egg project. As their seemingly disparate worlds begin to merge they suddenly find themselves amidst a zombie apocalypse, and they'll need Jack's brains (though she's no dummy either), Dicey's killer bat swing and a few miracles to survive. Despite the rather surreal storyline, the romance and characters ring...more

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May 11, 2011 Sinai rated it 3 of 5 stars

I actually really loved the drawings...therefore, that earns a star. The drawings were so cute and at times, the expressions on a character's face would just make me burst out giggling. The other star goes to the overall relationship between the two main characters-- it's so ADORABLE! I thought there would be more drama about it or that one of the guys on the team would actually have a crush on her or something, but it kept it pretty clean and they seem so sweet together. The last star goes ther...more

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May 04, 2011 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Received from Netgalley.

Summary: Can love survive the zombie apocalypse? Maybe Dicey's first chance at a real relationship was dead from the start. She's the star of her high school baseball team, and Jack's the star of the science program. Her idea of a study session includes sleeping in the sun, and his idea of a good game involves dungeons and dice. But opposites start attracting when they're assigned to be partners in a class project. Now an outbreak of a weird infection--it eats your brains...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Julia Bowersox rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-literature, graphic-novels

"I Love Him to Pieces: or My Date is Dead Weight or He Only Loves Me for My Brains" is the first graphic novel in a new paranormal romance monster series, "My Boyfriend is a Monster," published by Graphic Universe. Dicey Bell and Jack Chen get paired up for a high school Health Education parenting assignment. Dicey is a smart cute jock and total tomboy who plays baseball for the boy’s team, while Jack Chen is a geeky science loving, role-playing dice gamer. Just when new love is blooming between...more

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Mar 03, 2011 Cyna rated it 4 of 5 stars

My Boyfriend is a Monster #1: I Love Him to Pieces is short, sweet, and adorable. Not words that usually describe a zombie story in any media, but this is more of a light-hearted zombie romantic comedy than any sort of hardcore horror or action movie, and despite my expectations, I was perfectly okay with that. This book is charming from start to finish, with a great balance of likable characters and snappy, amusing dialog.

The premise isn't anything too complex - Dicey Bell and Jack Chen are pol...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Sue Morris rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teens, young adults

Shelves: graphic-novel, my-library, young-adult

Dicey is the star of her high school baseball team in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is paired with Jack Chen, a science prodigy, son of science prodigies, for a project where they are parents to an egg. These two are total opposites, which, by tradition, are not supposed to get along. One is a jock, the other a nerd. Dicey and Jack Chen do get along and decide to go on a first date. An infection making its rounds in the city has other plans for these two. The infection is eating the brains of hum...more Dicey is the star of her high school baseball team in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is paired with Jack Chen, a science prodigy, son of science prodigies, for a project where they are parents to an egg. These two are total opposites, which, by tradition, are not supposed to get along. One is a jock, the other a nerd. Dicey and Jack Chen do get along and decide to go on a first date. An infection making its rounds in the city has other plans for these two. The infection is eating the brains of humans turning them into zombies. Jack Chen calls it the “zombie apocalypse.” Without a cure, it will soon be the end of the world. To make matters worse for these two, they are on their own, stranded in a city of zombies. Soon a zombie bites Jack Chen. Now that he is a zombie nerd, can Dicey still date Jack Chen? It is one thing for a jock to date a nerd, but a zombie nerd.
I Love Him to Pieces by Evonne Tsang is a fun, fast-paced graphic novel for teens. The illustrations, by Janina Görrisse, are spot on, with expressions that enhance the story of Dicey and Jack Chen. The story of a jock and nerd, with the jock being the female, is an interesting role reversal. Dicey is the outgoing personality; Jack Chen the reserved, introverted, nerdy scientist. He thinks Dicey swapped names so she could be his partner in the egg baby project and is not what sure what to make of this. The official first date is definitely a make-or-break it date. The writing is well paced and authentic. The illustrations bring the story to life. Dicey and Jack Chen look close to what I imagined they would. I have read comics before but never have they come to life the way I Love Him To Pieces does.
I Love Him to Pieces is the first in a series of My Boyfriend is a Monster graphic novels for teens. Number 2, due out this Spring, is called Made for Each Other, written by Paul D. Storrie. This one involves a conservation minded funeral parlor, whose director does not want his son’s new girlfriend hanging around. I wonder why?
I suggest you read I Love Him to Pieces now and then move on to Made for Each Other. These are two sure hits for teens. Wonderful relationship stories combined with awesome illustrations give the novels the excitement teens will love. If you have never read a graphic novel, like me, I Love Him to Pieces is the one to sink your teeth into.

Note: received from NetGalley(less)

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Feb 25, 2011 Sue Morris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: teens, young sdults

Shelves: young-adult, graphic-novel

Dicey is the star of her high school baseball team in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is paired with Jack Chen, a science prodigy, son of science prodigies, for a project where they are parents to an egg. These two are total opposites, which, by tradition, are not supposed to get along. One is a jock, the other a nerd. Dicey and Jack Chen do get along and decide to go on a first date. An infection making its rounds in the city has other plans for these two. The infection is eating the brains of hum...more Dicey is the star of her high school baseball team in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is paired with Jack Chen, a science prodigy, son of science prodigies, for a project where they are parents to an egg. These two are total opposites, which, by tradition, are not supposed to get along. One is a jock, the other a nerd. Dicey and Jack Chen do get along and decide to go on a first date. An infection making its rounds in the city has other plans for these two. The infection is eating the brains of humans turning them into zombies. Jack Chen calls it the “zombie apocalypse.” Without a cure, it will soon be the end of the world. To make matters worse for these two, they are on their own, stranded in a city of zombies. Soon a zombie bites Jack Chen. Now that he is a zombie nerd, can Dicey still date Jack Chen? It is one thing for a jock to date a nerd, but a zombie nerd.
I Love Him to Pieces by Evonne Tsang is a fun, fast-paced graphic novel for teens. The illustrations, by Janina Görrisse, are spot on, with expressions that enhance the story of Dicey and Jack Chen. The story of a jock and nerd, with the jock being the female, is an interesting role reversal. Dicey is the outgoing personality; Jack Chen the reserved, introverted, nerdy scientist. He thinks Dicey swapped names so she could be his partner in the egg baby project and is not what sure what to make of this. The official first date is definitely a make-or-break it date. The writing is well paced and authentic. The illustrations bring the story to life. Dicey and Jack Chen look close to what I imagined they would. I have read comics before but never have they come to life the way I Love Him To Pieces does.
I Love Him to Pieces is the first in a series of My Boyfriend is a Monster graphic novels for teens. Number 2, due out this Spring, is called Made for Each Other, written by Paul D. Storrie. This one involves a conservation minded funeral parlor, whose director does not want his son’s new girlfriend hanging around. I wonder why?
I suggest you read I Love Him to Pieces now and then move on to Made for Each Other. These are two sure hits for teens. Wonderful relationship stories combined with awesome illustrations give the novels the excitement teens will love. If you have never read a graphic novel, like me, I Love Him to Pieces is the one to sink your teeth into.

Note: received from NetGalley(less)

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Feb 22, 2011 Chrissy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, netgalley

When I requested I LOVE HIM TO PIECES from NetGalley, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. I mean, I've never read any graphic novels -- at all -- in my entire life, so how does one review a graphic novel? Do I still focus on the dialogue? The characters? The drawings?

But, hey, I love ZOMBIES, so I'll give a graphic novel a chance if it means delving into a world of zombies again.

So, I LOVE HIM TO PIECES is the tale of a jock girl (named Dicey) and a nerd boy (named Jack Chen.. and he i...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Fence rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sff, graphic

In St. Petersberg High School, Florida Dicey Bell is looking for Jack Chen. He doesn’t know it but he is her Babby Daddy! For that egg project some schools do to promote proper care and attention to eggs…
They don’t usually talk. She’s the jock. Into sports, on the baseball team. He’s the nerd, always with his nose in a book. But you know what they say about opposites attracting. But on their very first date something unusual happens, zombies attack!

This is a quick fun read. The first in a series...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Melissa Mcavoy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-books, fiction, graphic-novel, tweens

Series review. This humorous and affectionately irreverent graphic-novel series follows the adventures and tribulations of teen heroines who sure can pick ‘em. In volume one, I Love Him to Pieces, baseball jock, Dicey Bell, pairs up with class nerd, Jack Chen, to parent an egg and winds up fighting a zombie apocalypse. Volume two, Made for each Other, chronicles the drama that results from dating a Frankenstein monster. Subsequent titles cover the relationship tribulations of girls involved with...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Rosalia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, graphic-novels, scifi, young-adult

Dicey, the schools baseball star, and jack the schools science genius work together for the egg as a child project in school. They become friends and it continues to develop into something more. Then they go on their first date and while on said date the zombie apocalypse starts.

The beginning of the story was great. I loved the background on Dicey and Jack and watching their relationship slowly develop and meeting their friends and family. The beginning of the zombie apocalypse was also pretty...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: braaaaains, good-writing, fun-ride, shiny, worth-a-read, good-artwork, unnecessary-plot-dichotomy, horror, graphic-novel

This is one of the better graphic novels I've read lately. Well drawn, good dialogue, decent plot - it feels much denser than it actually is, which is a good thing. It looks like a short story and I suppose technically it is, but there's so much happening, so much character and plot development that it feels satisfyingly longer than it really is. In fact, it's so good that I found only one flaw, but it's such a major, glaring flaw that it stripped off the fifth star I really wanted to give the b...more This is one of the better graphic novels I've read lately. Well drawn, good dialogue, decent plot - it feels much denser than it actually is, which is a good thing. It looks like a short story and I suppose technically it is, but there's so much happening, so much character and plot development that it feels satisfyingly longer than it really is. In fact, it's so good that I found only one flaw, but it's such a major, glaring flaw that it stripped off the fifth star I really wanted to give the book.

The first part of the story focuses on the two main characters, their different worlds/cliques they inhabit in their high-school, and their unlikely, but believable developing relationship. It's a burgeoning teen romance, innocent and sweet and so fluffy feel-good that I wanted moremoremore of it.

Then came the zombies. Don't get me wrong, the second half of the book was just as good. The main characters learning to adapt quickly to the disaster that quickly overtakes everything, working together, overcoming even possible infection to keep going and keep staying together. Their loyalty and affection is tested and proves steadfast, and again, so very believable. And the zombie virus itself is refreshingly original. Any hard-core fan of nature programs will recognize what's being used, but the way it's used is very novel in a zombie genre comprised mostly of viruses and/or the supernatural.

The problem, however, is just what I said, the book is two halves. A very distinct two halves that has nothing in the way of a smooth transition. It's jarring, abrupt, and comes out of literally nowhere. Of course we know the zombies will shamble on through eventually, that's obvious enough from the cover, but it's done very, very poorly. One panel we're in the high-school romance, the next it's blood n' guts time! It really doesn't work, and that was so disappointing.

Despite that, this was a fun read and I'd still recommend it. It says it's book one and I have high hopes for book two. Now that the zombies are here hopefully there won't be anymore rough transitions and the next book will flow swiftly to a five star rating. (less)

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Mar 10, 2011 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, horror, sci-fi, young-adult

I really didn't think I'd like this at all. The book opens with the two main characters, nerdy guy Jack and girl jock Dicey, get put together to do one of those treat-an-egg-like-a-baby assignments for their HS health class. And then we get some back-and-forth about their individual lives. These two parts were very slow to me and often handled a bit awkwardly. But the book really takes off when they start inserting each other into their lives-----Jack attends a baseball game just to see Dicey pl...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Rhianna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Romantic, Funny, Cool

In a twist on the usual teen-tale plots our heroine is the popular, athletic one while the hero is the smart, RPG-playing geek. Paired up for the traditional egg-baby project Dicey and Jack end up forming a friendship and one heck of a crush. If only their first real date wasn't interupted by the walking dead...

Such is the storyline behind the first installment of the My Boyfriend Is a Monster graphic novel series. Since it's a graphic novel I won't stab (no pun intended) at...more

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Mar 18, 2011 An Abundance of Books rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels-manga

Featured at An Abundance of Books

"I Love Him To Pieces" is like the cotton candy of zombie books. I was expecting something more along the lines of "The Walking Dead" or at the least "High School of the Dead", but I got a far more kinder and gentler version of the zombie genre.

Evonne Tsang has written a delightfully witty treat of a zombie story. While Janina Gorrissen is a great artist, there are places where I can't figure out what was going on in the picture, and this affected the storytelli...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dicey is a baseball player on the boys team. Jack Chen is a second generation nerd. They are matched up for the egg baby assignment in health class. They start to fall for each other so, of course, there must be zombies.

This graphic novel is quick and cute - more a romance with zombies than a gory zombie novel. The full title of this is "My Boyfriend is a Monster #1: I Love Him to Pieces or My Date is Dead Weight or He Only Loves Me For My Brains". This tells you what you need to know about the...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Amaranth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: personal-favorites, graphic-novels

I usually steer clear of zombie themed books and comics, but this one was pretty good. The Jack and Dicey were really likable and funny and the artwork was great. The story goes smoothly from beginning to end and provided the happy ending I always like in books.

However, the story was a bit short, the romance between Jack and Dicey quickly made(though since they are teenagers, I think this one wasn;t too bad) and the ending a bit abrupt. I would like to see more of what happens, how would they de...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Arthur Pengerbil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading Level: Grades 6+

Athletic baseball star Dicey Bell and quiet, nerdy Jack Chen are assigned to a school project together - care for an egg as if it were a real baby. Over the course of the project, the two bond over the egg, finding that they have much more in common than they initially thought. At the conclusion of the project, Jack musters up the nerve to ask Dicey out on a date.

A typical, perky-yet-enjoyable realistic high school romance, right?

Wrong. While on their date, Jack and Dicey...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love him to pieces review

Art: Very clean and straight forward and surprisingly in black and white which is odd because this being a comic and not a manga you would expect it in color but no it is black and white with little to no shading it's all line and black. That actually works for the comic then against it the art work is realistic cartoony with a hint of anime flare with out it being manga style it's nice and even manga fans will fall for it as it is almost well... theres nothing to com...more I love him to pieces review

Art: Very clean and straight forward and surprisingly in black and white which is odd because this being a comic and not a manga you would expect it in color but no it is black and white with little to no shading it's all line and black. That actually works for the comic then against it the art work is realistic cartoony with a hint of anime flare with out it being manga style it's nice and even manga fans will fall for it as it is almost well... theres nothing to compare it to really it just is it's its own thing and is good at it the art work flows very well. If there is to be a nitpick with the artwork it may not be a nitpick with the artwork at all but it might see in one scene the MC is wherein a dress ok cool fine she even has cute little flats with it so cute fast forward 12 pages and she is still in the dress.... but she has jeans and sneakers on um...what? Weather this is an error on the writers part or the artists part is unknown it feels more like an art flaw then story flaw though. Besides that mishap that leaves you scratching your head and flipping pages to see when she put the jeans on (and failing to find it) the art work is in fact lovely and light like a romantic comedy B-

Characters: Jack, Dicy Jack is a RPG emo nerd with eyebrow piercing and Dicy is a baseball player girl. The characters are fun and funny its nice to see a girl take charge for once she is tough and isn't going to abandon jack for the world at the same time jack wouldn't abandon dicey their relationship while rushed is sweet. They are sweet real people but at the same time they seem controlled by their stereotypes and even poke fun at it from time to time. These are fun character but sadly you can't get behind them something holds you back from really caring abut them like you could C

Story: Short, fast, fun. This story is short at only 124 pages it's also fun and funny but the shortness could have what been its down fall. The story starts out funny and strong with jack and dicey meeting with her proclaiming he is the father of their baby cute, funny, and a great way to start. From there they talk and mingle and get to know each other a bit in between that however we meet dicy's family not bad and it worked. What doesn't work is the blink and you miss it development of the relationship- no joke- one page of titer toter strips and then ending with that the two weeks are over and the project is done and they are meeting at his house to finish the project. That can be jarring and makes you flip back to make sure you didn't miss anything we then get three pages of “the day in the life of jack chen” or so it seems which then leads into padding. Meeting dicey's family was cool but this was painful and unnecessary just to introduce some side characters that would late be important in the story in six pages we read about jack playing an RPG with his friends just to give the “you should go to her game” excuse in the end. Jokes, some male fan service aside the zombie Apocalypse just came out of no where and thats how this whole story feels jarring and like your missing a piece of the story some how the bare bones who, what, when, where, yes it does get explained but its hard to take in. The ending while cute makes you question how and why wanting more then just the 124 pages. This story was good but it could have been better the pacing and transitions are hard to keep up with at times and while the relationship between the two is cute and most likely realistic (like we are promised about this series) it really doesn't feel realistic since we don't see them together not really for the two weeks or whatever. Compared to nevermore where you can see isabella and varen's relationship grow and bloom over the course of the book this story feels rushed in comparison B-

Cover: Hard cover -fancy- the coloring is fantastic and really gives off the feel that youve seen this some where before. Dicy looks cute and determend holding the baseball bat with a zombie coming at her which jack has her back and the zombie infection is spreading over his arm and part of his face gross while he looks at Darcy all “yeah I'm going to protect her” while not the most eye catching out of the four covers it does it's job to bring you in saying “whats this?” the coloring and characters look amazing however not the best but not the worst cover out there B

Rating: T for teen

Company: Graphic universe

My rating : 3 of 5. I liked this but the sloppy transitions and lack of actually seeing the relationship grow (besides getting like 11 pages of them interacting and you can kind of tell they like each other but...) still if only 11 pages show them liking each other then wheres the like like realization? Not only that but the sudden dress to dress and jeans transformation was out of no where and really ruined it however a shirtless jack chen scene? Yeah swoon still not enough to let it pass with 4 stars however (less)

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Mar 20, 2011 Ana Mardoll rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Boyfriend is a Monster 1: I Love Him to Pieces / 978-0-761-37079-6

I love zombie novels and I'm a big fan of graphic novels, so I was excited to see the news on NetGalley that a new graphic novel series - "My Boyfriend is a Monster" - has been launched with the first title having a zombie apocalypse theme.

At 130+ pages, this graphic novel is a fairly quick read, but it's incredibly fun, wonderfully well-written, and beautifully drawn. The story follows the tale of high school students Dicey a...more My Boyfriend is a Monster 1: I Love Him to Pieces / 978-0-761-37079-6

I love zombie novels and I'm a big fan of graphic novels, so I was excited to see the news on NetGalley that a new graphic novel series - "My Boyfriend is a Monster" - has been launched with the first title having a zombie apocalypse theme.

At 130+ pages, this graphic novel is a fairly quick read, but it's incredibly fun, wonderfully well-written, and beautifully drawn. The story follows the tale of high school students Dicey and Jack Chen - a lovely baseball star and an utterly adorable science nerd - as they are paired in the school's "egg project" for health class. The two students are incredibly well-characterized and fleshed-out, and they grow realistically closer as they come to realize that there's so much more to their personalities than the stereotypes each one had been expecting.

When the two leave school early to go on their first date, things get a little dicey when a zombie plague breaks out - and I would like to add as a long-time zombie fan that the mandatory "explanation text" is well-done, realistic, and kept to a satisfying level: not too little, not too much. When everything goes horribly wrong and Jack Chen is bitten, it's up to Dicey to save them both.

There are so many things to love about this novel. I enjoy the characterization immensely: Dicey is a perfect example of how to write a three-dimensional girl who is equal parts capable and vulnerable and feminine and determined. Jack Chen is equally well fleshed-out - sweet, quiet, and shy, he starts with preconceptions about "jocks" and comes to learn that Dicey and her baseball teammates are more complex than their stereotypes. I love the pacing and the drawing - each panel flows easily into the other, and seems like a natural extension of the story. The graphic novel format works incredibly well with the zombie apocalypse setting, and adds a surprising level of tension to the action.

This really is the perfect example of a graphic novel done well. Poorly done graphic novels leave the reader feeling disoriented and confused, but this novel feels like you've read a complete and entire book, but in an exquisitely-drawn picture format. I highly recommend this to zombie enthusiasts as a fun read, and I hope the next in the series is as well-written and beautifully done.

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through NetGalley.

~ Ana Mardoll(less)

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Dec 27, 2011 Newport Librarians rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ms-becky, ya-fiction

My first foray into graphic novels....

So I read that in about 40 minutes. I got the storyline, but I'm sure I missed some of the deeper meanings of things. Great first novel for those of you looking to explore graphics: short and easy to follow. You don't have to fill in a lot of the blanks.

Oh, a summary well, girl meets boy through class project, girl and boy go on a date, boy gets infected with zombie mind eating fungus while they fight their way through a city of zombies, boys parents - famou...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Miss Pippi the Librarian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel, young-adult

A graphic novel featuring zombies! Two students are thrown together during a science assignment and begin hanging out beyond the classroom. During their date, they hear the news of a fungus that turns people into zombies. Will they survive the invasion? Will they be reunited with their families?

Black and white illustrations share the story of Dicey and Jack. They are complete opposites. Dicey is a jock and Jack is an academic. Their relationship is humorous and interesting. It's enjoyable to wat...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Laela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel, fairies-and-other-paranormal

When nerd extraordinaire Jack Chen gets partnered up with jock Dicey Bell on their egg parenting project they become fast friends. Things slowly heat up over their project, and by the end they decide to go out on a date. It however, may be the most disastrous date in history. Just as they are finishing up their picnic lunch the Zombie Apocalypse starts.

If I could I would give this three and half stars. I like the take on the nerd boy with the baseball playing girl. The drawings really move thin...more

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