Love and Gravity

Healthy relationships and healthy conversations unfold in a sweet slice-of-life story, the second in a series that launched on Webtoon.Possessing much of the same charm of the first book, this sequel, set in a futuristic world where people can modify their appearances using technology called mods, introduces readers to new challenges in the lives of Sunati and Austen. A good portion of the book is focused on friendship, specifically Rae and Sunati’s. It starts with a flashback to 10 years earlier, when Sunati first came to Kaku City and felt scared by how overwhelming everything was-until she found Rae, suddenly had a friend, and wasn’t alone anymore. The story returns to the present, when the two young women work together. Sunati has an exciting new job opportunity, but she isn’t the only one: Rae gets her dream job, but it means she’ll be moving far away. Conflicted-wanting what’s best for her friend but also not wanting her to go-Sunati finds solace in girlfriend Austen. Ultimately, the two best friends work it out. The book includes a positive mention of therapy and a frank conversation about sex, consent, and waiting until you feel ready. These elements reflect a theme throughout this charming work: cultivating satisfying relationships through open, honest communication. The art is mainly in tones of blue and pink, executed in a fluid, dreamy, watercolor-painting style. Heartwarming. * Kirkus Reviews *A young woman debates taking her dream job, though it would mean separating from her girlfriend, in the graphicnovel Love and Gravity.Sunati and Austen are students in a future, spacefaring, Earth-based society. They’re also falling in love with eachother. Facing school difficulties caused in part by a condition that prevents body modifications, Austen considerschanging her course of study, but she doesn’t want to feel like she’s giving up. Meanwhile, Sunati is confronted with adifferent choice: whether or not to accept an exciting job offer that would require a year-long stay on Saturn’s moonEnceladus. Though these seem like insurmountable problems, there just may be solutions.Though it takes place in striking settings featuring advanced technology (there are space elevators and deep-spacecolonization) the story is intimate-grounded in emotions, relationships, and life decisions. Sunati and Austennavigate universal questions about love, career, family, and happiness with wisdom.The book’s cast is diverse; Austen’s parents have a boyfriend, and a variety of skin and hair colors are on display.Rendered in beautiful pastels, the art shows manga and anime influences, but with its own stylish storytelling tweaks.A “soft focus” appearance to the backgrounds gives the book a pleasing, dreamy quality, while the captions and wordballoons, which are color-coded for each character, allow for easy narrative flow.Love and Gravity is a sweet, futuristic graphic novel in which young women make hard, adult choices in their lives. * Foreward Reviews *

Ari North is a queer cartoonist who believes an entertaining story should also be full of diversity and inclusion. As a writer, an artist, and a musician, she wrote, drew, and composed the music for Always Human, a complete romance/sci-fi webcomic about two queer girls navigating maturity and finding happiness. She’s currently working on a second webcomic, Aerial Magic, which is about the everyday lives of the witches who work at a broomstick repair shop. She lives in Australia with her husband.