Having read and enjoyed Sheets I was excited when I saw it was getting a sequel and I have to say I enjoyed this one even more than I enjoyed Sheets. I think in this one we saw a lot of growth in Marjorie, as well as her learning who are really friends and who are not. Definite trigger warnings for bullying, suicidal thoughts and some of the behavior that is way too common in young teens. This one really tackled those difficulties head on and Marjorie gets kindof stuck in the middle having to decide if she will take sides or stay silent. There are a bunch of important lessons in here and I thought they were handled really well!

It’s difficult to have a sequel measure up to a graphic novel as accomplished and thoughtful as Sheets, but Delicates exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. It’s not often that I say this (and I LOVED Sheets) bit Delicates might be even better than its predecessor.

Taking place nearly a year after Sheets ends, Delicates begins with Marjorie and Wendell at the end of a summer where Marjorie has clearly been reaching out and finding new friends. Wendell laments over having less time with his flesh and blood human friend, and it quickly become apparent that Marjorie's new crew is the same one that gave her such a hard time in the previous volume. In the group, she’s soft spoken and prone to making herself fit in to their narrow middle school perspective of what’s acceptable. Enter Eliza, the daughter of the P.E. teacher. Elizas main goal in life is to photograph a ghost, and her insistence on the likelihood of ghosts (along with some other personality quirks) makes her a punching bag for the other kids. Throughout the story we witness again and again Marjorie’s friends being cruel to Eliza, until eventually Marjorie can’t handle or accept it anymore. At the same time, Marjorie is spending less and less time with Wendell, who has *been* a ghost since the beginning of the story, but now *feels* like one too as his best friend drifts away from him.

Much like Sheets, Delicates handles mental health in a way that feels very conscientious and aware. It doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects like bullying, and suicidal thoughts, and the complicity of staying quiet when you need to speak up. It highlights the cruelty of middle school, but still holds a certain earnestness and hope that tomorrow will be better. Marjorie’s growth between the two volumes is astounding as she moves from a child hiding in the shadows into a force of nature who shields the people around her who need it most. Delicates is sweet, and elegant, and I absolutely loved it.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, I really liked Sheets when I read it earlier this year, so when I realized that 1. it would get a sequel and 2. that it was on netgalley I was SOOOO HYPED!!! This touched on a lot of really heavy themes of mental health, and I love how it manages to connect the ghosts to the mental health themes in such a great way! And the fact that delicates is both a laundry term AND used to describe people? Sign me the fuck up! Honestly, if you enjoyed Sheets even a little bit you'll probably love this. I definitely think I liked this EVEN MORE than Sheets.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While Sheets was a bit jumbled and confusing, the message of Delicates was crystal clear. Thummler handles difficult topics like bullying and suicidal ideations with sophistication. This is a truly important read for any young person who is struggling or feeling like a ghost. The graphics were marvelous once again! I'm so happy I went on to read book two.

I was surprised and delighted when I saw this book on Netgalley. I didn't realise that the book 'Sheets' would have a sequel. Well here it is!

And it is just as brilliant and as moving as the first book.

The story continues with Marjorie. Marjorie is still friends with the ghosts who live in her family laundromat business, but she also has friends at school and a young man who she may or may not be dating. In this book Marjorie discovers the meaning of friendship and realises that it is simply not enough to be popular. She learns that a person also needs to be kind and caring beyond their own cares and personal concerns.

I like the way we got to see a bit more about Marjorie and that we see how she continues to cope with her grief, but we also get to see Marjorie at school and how she navigates the world of the popular kids, the unpopular kids, friendship and her community of ghosts.

The artwork is the same style and coloring as the first book and this lends the story some continuity but in this book we also get to experience the story from another young person's perspective. As well as Marjorie we get to meet Eliza and others and we get to see how life as a school community can function or be dysfunctional for some.

Of course we get to see Wendell and the community of ghosts, and even Wendell learns new things, getting to make new friends and cross some boundaries that he hasn't been able to before.

This book is a superb sequel and it was long enough and fully engaging. I found myself totally lost in the story. This is such a brilliant graphic novel and thoroughly enjoyable. This is definitely going on my list of exquisite reads of 2020. I really hope this series continues.

Copy provided by Oni Pres via netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and One Press for giving me access.

This touches sensitive topics like bullying and attempted suicided. If this is a trigger for you, please seek help or a friend to be with you when you read this. Don't be afraid to reach out.

Oh my heart. This hit me right in the feels. I could relate so much to Eliza. Why do people have to be so cruel to others?

Meanwhile Marjorie has found some live "friends" and starts to ignore Wendell and the other ghosts, leaving Wendell searching for friendship elsewhere.

While being a cute graphic novel, Delicates can really pack a punch straight to the gut. I mean this in the best of sense.

Stepped into Delicates not having read Sheets (it's on hold from my local library!) and was immediately hooked. Maybe it was the ethereal color scheme, a lovely opening with purple and pink hues, or maybe it was how casually Majorie released a ghost (Wendell) from her backpack and discussed her is-he-or-isn't-he-a-boyfriend woes with Wendell. Follow it up with a photographer capturing Majorie in the lens of her camera and watching as Majorie talks to herself, and I knew I was in for a good story.

In pandemic 2020, there were a lot of notes that struck home: Wendell mentioning the need to protect against evil humans, the notion of never knowing what’s going on inside someone else’s head and how they’re hurting. Thummler is subtle and works carefully through layers, her pages with Eliza in the darkroom and the metaphors of life and photography are so spot on, and she works in grief, death, thoughts of suicide, forgiveness on top of being who you are and going to the 8th grade dance. The book is wonderful

This graphic novel was so stinkin’ cute! I loved it. It was a little confusing at times since I haven’t read Sheets (which I’ll now be purchasing!) but I still loved it. The artwork was insanely well done — I love the contrast between the bright, beautiful colours and the white ghosts. I also love the dynamic characters — different sizes, colours, and not overly feminine and “cutesy”. It broached some serious topics such as mourning, grief, bullying, and trying to fit in. This is super cute and fun for adults but would be very impactful for teens.

This one brought me to tears, the message was powerful. The ghosts were lovable, the art was beautiful, what more could you want? Definitely a must read!

Delicates by Brenna Thummler is the second in the series and follows Marjorie as she navigates the social and emotional difficulties of eight grade. After the events of Sheets, Marjorie had made friends with her sometime nemesis Tessi and is now considered one of the cool kids. But she is finding that the price of being cool means having to hide her new ghost friends and take part in activities that make her question the friendships. As the book says, "Humans are delicate, too. The teeniest mistake can ruin them, even if you do everything right. Just because mistakes seem small and insignificant, doesn't mean they are."

That is theme of the story and one that impacts Marjorie, Wendell, their ghost friends and a new girl, Eliza, who is an avid photographer and fascinated with taking ghost photography. But when Marjorie's new popular friends begin making fun of Marjorie and Eliza, things become progressively worse for both until an event could trigger even more sadness for Marjorie.

This story felt like a natural progression from Sheets and an accurate description of fraught middle school life. The struggles are harder and even having a ghost for a best friend, doesn't make them go away. Marjorie is still having to help her family out of the grief of losing their wife and mother, but is working towards being a stronger person and friend. This is a beautifully told story of friendship, grief, and isolation. But there is hope too and that is what makes it powerful.

Content Warning: There are episodes of bullying, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

Note: I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley and the publishers.

Delicates is a beautiful, heartfelt sequel to Sheets. We follow Marjorie as she enters 8th grade, and struggles with fitting in at school. Wendell, her ghost bestie, feels excluded as Marjorie does more and more things without him. Eliza, a new character, also struggles to fit in and is bullied by Marjorie's new friends. Middle school can be such a rough time for so many kids, and this graphic novel delves into so many ways we can feel excluded or be bullied. The coloring is just top notch, and might be my favorite part of these graphic novels.

I was surprised by how much I preferred this book when comparing it to Sheets. The illustrations were even more lovely, though continuing the same style, with contemplative pauses in the drawings that allowed for more breathing room. The characters were more dynamic and impactful, and I connected to them much more in this book. While the villain in Sheets felt incredibly cartoonish, the issues explored in Delicates felt real and important. I loved this so much!!

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! I think this comic was so good to read. I first didn't know there was a volume 1 however I quickly learned that it can be read on its own. However I'm very curious to read more so I might look into the first part and read that.

I think the story was very good and the style was so pretty! Like the colours were so well done and they all worked in harmony with each other so it was so pleasant to read.

Definitely recommend.

Possible triggers: bullying, depression, suicidal thoughts

"Humans are delicate, too. The teeniest mistake can ruin them, even if you do everything right. Just because mistakes seem small and insignificant, doesn't mean they are."

This sequel to Sheets continues the story of Marjorie Glatt and her ghost friend Wendell. Things are changing and Marjorie and Wendell seem to be drifting apart. Marjorie is hanging out with the cool kids and knows that they won't be as accepting as her ghost friends. Eliza Duncan, is all about photography and capturing a ghost on film. This, of course, isn't socially acceptable and causes her to be an outcast among the other students at her school. When Marjorie and Eliza get to know each other, they learn that maybe the things we can't see are just as important as the things we can see, and being yourself is better than following the crowd.

"How is it that we're people, we all feel the same basic emotions, but somehow we still can't understand each other?"

I highly recommend this book for middle school-aged (5th grade and up) children.

Brenna Thummler is back with another heartfelt, eerie tale of the ghosts who live in a laundromat and the girl who looks after them. Following the events in Sheets, we see follow Marjie as she's navigating friendships and what it means to fit in in middle school. I enjoyed seeing Marjorie and Wendell again in this, but I really connected with our new character Eliza Duncan. Eliza's an avid photographer who doesn't really have friends that aren't the dark room at school. The loneliness that she (and also Wendell) through much of this is visceral and it had me invested in her story from the first page she was on.

This graphic novel confronts what it means to fit in, and the crippling loneliness one can feel when they don't. It asks Marjorie and other characters to confront the choices they've made and decide how they'll move forward, even when those choices hurt others. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series and from Brenna Thummler.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Like Sheets this story has a very sad feel.

It captures the pain and anxiety of being a teenager that doesn't fit in. It explores grief and sadness and not feeling like there's a place for you. It's a simple but such a well done story!

This book dives into much more serious and painful themes than the previous but still has the beautiful art and memorable characters.

Eliza is a ghost photographer, and this fact makes her a target for bullying, especially from the group of popular kids. Marjorie has finally joined the popular kids and if they find out about her ghost friends at her family's laundromat, she'll be called a freak, just like Eliza. And Wendell, Marjorie's ghost friend, feels more and more invisible because Marjorie won't tell her friends about his existence.
Wendell forms a friendship with Eliza, but doesn't let her know he's a ghost. Through Wendell, Marjorie learns that the bullying from the popular kids, and by association, Marjorie, might be pushing Eliza to do something unthinkable.
Brenna Thummler does a wonderful job illustrating the emotions of the characters, as well as showing the subtle behaviors that friends and parents can watch for that might indicate suicidal thoughts, bullying, or depression. I really loved how Marjorie stood up for Eliza, even though it meant risking her place in the popular crowd, she did it anyways. A fabulous follow up to Sheets, and I hope she writes more!

The sequel to Sheets is a much less anxious read, but still profoundly melancholy. Marjorie is now trying to balance the demands of the sheet ghosts who live in the family launderette with her former bullies turned sort-of-schoolfriends, as well as ostracisedghost-obsessed, neurodiverse-coded Eliza. Oh, and neither her dad nor her brother is dealing at all well with her mother's death, so while they're slightly less useless than in the previous book, she's also having to do the emotional lifting for them. It would have been easy to make it another sappy piece of bullshit about rejecting the cool kids to hang out with family and real friends, but while Tessi and co remain cruel in that casual way kids (and indeed humans) are, neither Eliza nor undead Wendell has much respect for boundaries, and the story is very good at showing how all the usual well-meaning advice about 'being yourself' and 'they're probably just jealous' is, in the absence of a lot of further nuance and a fair bit of luck, useless bullshit. So in summary, people are mostly either rude or clueless, and death doesn't improve them - or at least, that's how it goes until the final act, when the sap tide suddenly rises and things take a turn into hugging and learning which really didn't convince me. At least in part this is probably a function of the times; I suppose a YA book is pretty much obliged to trot out the 'it gets better' line, but looking from lockdown, towards climate catastrophe and the rest, one can hardly help sympathising with the kid who just wants to opt out and become a sheet ghost. Still, as with Sheets, the art carries it through, really catching that ideal of small-town America looking gorgeously soft and autumnal circa Hallowe'en.

(Netgalley ARC)

This graphic novel was so good!

This was an excellent follow-up to Sheets, which this is a sequel to. It's been a while since I read Sheets, so I can't compare it that closely but I definitely liked it as much as if not more than the first graphic novel!

I loved the new character Eliza that was introduced in this installment. She was a fully fleshed out character, and I loved the developing friendship between her and Marjorie. Wendell was adorable as usual, and I enjoyed seeing his friendship with Marjorie as well as the realistic difficulties their friendship went through.

I really liked that balance of sweetness and joy with the more serious topics touched on in this. I loved it as an adult reader, and I also thing younger readers will get a lot out of it.

The art style reflects the story well, and I enjoyed every minute I was reading it.

Mind-blowingly good. A deep portrait of what it really is to be an outsider, to be alone—the deepest I’ve seen in a long time. Bullying, peer pressure, casual relentless cruelty, growth, pain—Thummler does all so very well, so delicately. That the bullied girl is Black and genuinely nerdy—geeked out about something no one else seems to care about, no one knows how to react to other than to disavow it—is important. Not only does she not fit in with the whole, she doesn’t fit in with a reductionist idea of “what Black girls are like”. Delicates is one of the best kids’ realistic graphic novels I’ve read to date—second only to Cece Bell’s graphic memoir, El Deafo.