4 stars
| This series is so up and down for me. In general, I like the stories. Some are crazy confusing, but they are always weird and entertaining in a good way. This one was no exception. I started out Chapter 17 and was so excited to see the familiar loveliness of Brooke Allen’s illustrations. This is the Lumberjanes I fell in love with. I almost stopped reading the series after volume 3 because of the huge change in art style. Then I got to chapter 18 and was horrified to see that Carolyn Nowak illustrated the rest of the book. My heart sunk right there. The story was still good, but I just wasn’t as into the illustrations. I don’t really like Nowak’s style for the Lumberjanes. From what I remember, I don’t think I hated these as much as the ones in volume 3, but there were scenes where her illustrations really bugged me. I did like the plot of the book. The whole mermaid thing was really interesting and April learned a valuable lesson. It was also cool to see how our favorite Lumberjanes met and the origin of Ripley’s adorably adorable hair. Good book on the whole, but I don’t think I will every whole-heartedly accept Nowak’s Lumberjane illustrations. Goodreads |