Crema Review

Esme, a barista, feels invisible, like a ghost.... Also, when Esme drinks too much coffee she actually sees ghosts.

Yara, the elegant heir to a coffee plantation, is always seen, but only has eyes for Esme.

Their world is turned upside down when the strange ghost of an old-world nobleman begs Esme to take his letter from NYC to a haunted coffee farm in Brazil, to reunite him with his lost love of a century ago. Bringing sinister tidings of unrequited love.

#1 New York Times Best-Selling cartoonist Johnnie Christmas (writer) and Prism Award Nominee Dante L. (artist) bring you a haunted tale of love, ghosts and coffee beans.

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General Impressions

"Crema" is such a lovely graphic novel, perfect for those that are looking for a quick read and those that are looking for a wlw, interracial love story featuring ghosts and coffee to be addicted to.

I requested this book because of that cover alone and that level of quality was never lowered throughout. The art is so beautiful and faithful to the places and people it was inspired by and I loved that there were a few pages at the end explaining the choices that had been made.

I particularly liked the way that afro hair was drawn, the diversity of body types and all the homages to Brazilian culture from some lines in Portuguese to the details in the cities and clothes.

The story itself is a lovely new take on ghost stories featuring the descendent of the original long-departed couple and a barista who is able to see ghosts when she has too much coffee (which is not a thing according to her).

The supernatural aspect is quirky and original and I was glad that in the middle of all the themes this book featured like misogyny and lesbophobia, there was never an instance of racist name-calling, even when featuring an interracial couple in 19th century Brazil.

The main romance itself though was the best part of this book for me because it was written and drawn with so much respect and love without ever fetishizing it.

Thank you to Dark Horse books and Edelweiss+ for this DRC.

Rating:4/5