The New Girl: First Crush

Lia has settled into her new life. Her friends are great, her French is getting better, and her periods are still awful. Her crush, Julien, has started to notice her, though she can't tell whether he likes her back.

While she obsesses over Julien, another person's crush on Lia grows unseen. She misses the signs entirely, and the misunderstandings pile up as the feelings around her get bigger and more tangled. Everything she is dealing with arrives at the same moment, and none of it comes with instructions.

This is a middle-grade graphic novel with a comic, warm tone, centred on crushing and being crushed on. It follows The New Girl, Cassandra Calin's earlier long-form graphic novel about Lia, and picks up once Lia has found her footing with her friends and at school. Readers get an easy, funny read built around embarrassing everyday moments.

Lia's friendships, her bond with her mom and her sense of who she is all come under pressure at once. The open question is whether she can read Julien, and the person watching her, before the awkwardness gets worse.