In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become ?PBShop.? This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. Or a second volume is due out next month, which may be more of what I was expecting, as that’s where the two actually get together.We first started out as ?The Paperback Exchange,? a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. If you want to continue reading beyond this, pick up with part 71. Perhaps that’s unrealistic, and the authors seem to be going for realism. I just wished that things moved along a little more quickly.

The expressions are terrific, though, and the dialogue authentic.

It’s all sepia monochrome, which looks good on screen, but requires a bit more focus (and a good light source) when trying to read in print. It took a little for me to get used to the art, as well. Most of the plot in this book revolves around someone getting beaten up, and then the question of whether he’s going to tell the authorities. This is a slow burn, as the boys posture and threaten and circle each other. (They’re the two on the cover.) Spencer is the local tough guy, who hassles Courtland because he won’t kowtow to him. Courtland is newer at school he lives with his brother Harvey, and there are rumors of some serious trouble in his past. He’s a wisecracker, always with the smart remark, and dating Amilah. I was glad to meet these characters, but I found the book not quite as satisfying as I had hoped, for two reasons: The romantic promise of the series is barely established by the end of the book, and many of the incidents will be familiar to readers of teen stories. The first storyline has been collected by Soaring Penguin Press, which is how I was introduced to the series. Emma Vieceli writes (with co-writer Malin Ryden) and draws the webcomic Breaks, which can be described as “what if Archie and Jughead starred in a boys’ love manga?” It’s been running for four and a half years and is still going, updating weekly.

Breaks by Emma Vieceli