Pro: Loved the beautiful illustrations, fantastic flow of storyline, fabulous topic, lovely characters.
Con: Ending felt like I fell off the edge of the cliff and I'm still falling. What just happened? The end scene with Sebastian's dad showed acceptance for his son's choices, but the last few pages made me feel like, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.... (dramatic pause) wait, I'm still falling.. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh... (another dramatic pause) twiddling my thumbs here... aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh...(yet another dramatic pause) is something going to wrap up this story?... aaaaahhhhhh!!!"
I would still definitely recommend to my teen readers. ( )

This. is. adorable. ( )

Beautiful. If you're actually into fashion gowns, it won't be a quick read. If you aren't, it's rather simple... but does, obviously, get huge points for 'diversity.' It's a simple comfort read, not a lot of drama, and a fantastic (in every sense of the word) ending. Easy to read even if you're new to graphic novels. ( )

Very sweet and charming, touches on some big ideas but never gets too deep which you may or may not like. The art is very simple and expressive, and serves the story well. There's really not a lot to it, but what it lacks in weight and depth it makes up for with style and warmth. ( )

Frances, a young dressmaker, gets noticed due to a dress she designed - it fit the young lady's requirements ("Make me look like the devil's wench.") but horrifies nearly everyone else...except a mysterious aristocrat who wants to hire her to be their private dressmaker. Then Frances learns that her new patron is Prince Sebastian. After listening to him, Frances decides to continue with their agreement - Sebastian gets to be the beautiful and mysterious Lady Crystallia, and Frances' work gets seen by larger and larger audiences.

However, as Lady Crystallia gets more attention, Prince Sebastian worries about his parents finding out about his cross-dressing, particularly if people see Frances with him and connect Lady Crystallia and Prince Sebastian. At the same time, if Frances wants to achieve her own dreams, she can't just stay in the shadows for Sebastian's sake.

I've been a fan of Jen Wang's work since her Strings of Fate webcomic days (which I think was back when she was in high school, so who knows how she'd feel about that?). The artwork in this volume was just as good as I expected - lovely and very expressive.

Story-wise, maybe this turned out too well to be fully believable, but whatever - I enjoyed that the potential disaster turned into joyful fluff. (And for folks looking for something similar, I recommend giving the K-drama Under the Queen's Umbrella a try - there's a subplot involving one of the princes that gets pretty tough for a while but does resolve in a positive - but more believable? - way by the end.)

There's a hint of romance here, but the friendship aspects and themes of acceptance and being true to one's self are stronger.

Extras:

A few bonus sketches and behind-the-scenes pages about Wang's process and the creation of this graphic novel.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )