Review: The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

I actually didn’t plan on reading The Girl from the Sea, but a graphic novel book club I’m in picked it for this month and it was available at my library so I figured… why not? Reader, I flew through the story in one day. I was actually surprised when I found out the page count was over 200 pages because it had gone by so quickly. It turned out, this cute and uplifting graphic novel was exactly what I needed. I’m so excited to share my thoughts on The Girl from the Sea with you for my first official graphic novel review!!!

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Blurb

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can’t wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She’s desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends…who don’t understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan’s biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.

Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn’t seem so stifling anymore.

But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they’re each trying to hide will find its way to the surface…whether Morgan is ready or not.

Review of The Girl from the Sea

• Pacing: fast
• A mix of plot and character driven
• Single POV
• Lesbain MC
• Coming out story

The Girl from the Sea is a contemporary graphic novel about a teenage girl coming to terms with her identity. Its cute art style and gentle approach to the topic of coming out make it a great book to give to young readers.

Plot

This is the first coming-out story I’ve read so it was interesting to see how it went. At first, I didn’t like that being a closeted lesbian was framed as typical teenage insecurity. I thought it was a very naive perspective, especially considering all the anti-LGBTQ+ book bans and policies happening right now. However, as the story went on the portrayal of coming out became more realistic, without losing the story’s innocence.

Beyond the coming-out plot, I enjoyed the theme of how our relationships with family are impacted by change. Changes in Morgan’s life put distance between her and her family and friends. She’s determined to keep different parts of her life separate, but that mindset stunts her ability to maintain connections with others. I loved seeing Morgan’s friends and family prove her wrong by accepting all the different parts of her. Even some of my assumptions were subverted, which was a pleasant surprise.

It’s funny how quickly something new can become normal. Even when it’s messy. And confusing. Eventually it just feels like normal life.

Molly Knox Ostertag, “The Girl from the Sea”

I think we’ve all seen the “teenage girl begins to discover herself and loses sight of meaningful relationships” plotline before. The Girl from the Sea breaks away from this typical plotline by centering a gay character and subverting common tropes (which I won’t get into because *spoilers!*. This gave the story a unique spin within a familiar plotline. There were times when I wanted to scream “NOOO, I’VE SEEN THIS BEFORE AND IT DOESN’T GO WELL. DON’T DO IT!!!”

Overall, The Girl from the Sea was very uplifting and cute. It’s categorized as YA, but I think the plot would also be fitting for a middle-grade audience.

Characters

The characters were all very loveable. I especially loved Morgan’s younger brother who reminded me of my younger siblings, especially with how they fought and made up. For my own selfish reasons, I wish he had a bigger role in the story. Since The Girl from the Sea, focuses on Morgan coming to terms with her identity, it makes sense that her younger brother was a minor character. I just thought he was a very cute and well-developed character.

As likable as Morgan was as the main character, she definitely wasn’t without flaws. I liked that her character was allowed to make mistakes. She was also a good combination of original characteristics and teenage cliches. I mentioned before that this story is both something we’ve all seen before and something completely different, which is a great way to describe The Girl from the Sea: both familiar and new.

You might also like: my review of Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Art Style

The art style was really cute. I especially loved the colors. A lot of the storytelling relied on the images, which I’ve had trouble following in the past, but it was much easier for this novel. Some panels had no dialogue at all, which definitely got me used to looking at the images to follow the story.

At the end of the graphic novels was a little “Extras” section that included how the characters were created. I loved going through this section, especially because it talked about details I completely missed during my first read of The Girl from the Sea. I’m getting better at picking up details from graphic novels, but clearly, I still have some learning to do.

I’m not sure if every version of The Girl from the Sea has an extras section, but I definitely recommend getting a copy with one if you have the chance.

You’ll Like This Book if You Enjoy…

• Coming out stories/coming of age
• Cute and colorful art
• F/F romance
• Siblings relationships
• Uplifting stories

Where to find The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Have you read The Girl from the Sea? Let’s discuss in the coments!