Miki Falls: Summer

I won't go into the storyline (except to say that Mark Crilley is every bit as good of a storyteller as he is an excellent Manga artist!) Once you've read Miki Falls - SPRING, you'll be hooked and want the other 3 immediately so you might as well get all 4 now. :-) OKAY ~~ Now a Review from the VIEWPOINT of a PARENT: I bought the "Miki Falls" series for my daughter after watching several of Mark Crilley's "How to draw Manga" videos that he is kind enough to create for his many fans on YouTube. Let me just say that the "Miki Falls" series is both CLEAN and Very Entertaining. ...The storyline is deep, thoughtful and touching ...The artwork is great quality & often breathtaking ...The series is packed with adventure, mystery, suspense, action, and True Love For those who don't know, Mark Crilley has a huge (teen / young adult) following on YouTube by kids who are simply interested in improving their art skills (and those who want to learn the necessary skills to be a "published" artist someday). In today's "anything goes" culture, it's really refreshing to find an author (and artist) like Mark who goes that extra mile to assure that teens and young adults are viewing / reading principled and respectable artwork and stories. In short, I admire Mark for many things, but mostly because I can TRUST his artwork and "how to draw" videos with my own child. Keep up the Great work Mark Crilley!! ~~ I truly hope that more Miki books are somewhere on the horizon!!

Miki and her friendship with the Deliverer gets deeper and more curious in this 2nd book of the 4 book series. (I'm so glad I bought them already so I don't have to wait to continue reading) Good girl friends--the misunderstandings that happen -- this is so real life. Trying to be helpful gets Miki in some unexpected trouble. But mainly this book is about Hiro and the feelings between them -- the expressions on their faces really show these feelings even before they're admitting them. I am hooked -- on to the 3rd one!

Award-winning author and illustrator Mark Crilley presents Miki Falls: Summer, the second in a series of original English-language, manga-style graphic novels for readers of all ages. Miki Falls: Summer is friendly to new readers; one doesn't have to have read the previous volume to jump right in. Young Miki is a rather ordinary schoolgirl with an extraordinary secret - she has formed a fast friendship with the Deliverer Hiro Sakurai, a spiritual being whose solemn duty is to observe the dying love between couples who are breaking up, and collect the last fragments of the fading love before it is destroyed forever. But when one of Miki's closest girlfriends becomes the subject of Hiro's observation, Miki is tempted to get involved despite Hiro's express warnings not to. And when another Deliverer appears - a female Deliverer, whom Hiro has never spoken of before - Miki learns more about the taboos surrounding Deliverers and that humans are not supposed to get involved with them! The soft black-and-white illustrations perfectly complement this gentle, at times hopeful, and at times heartbreaking story about young love. Highly recommended, as is the first graphic novel "Miki Falls: Spring".

FYI: If you didn't read the first story in the series yet (Miki Falls: Spring (Miki Falls)), and you don't want the story of MIKI FALLS: SUMMER ruined, then STOP! Hiro has not only let Miki become his friend and let her into his world a little, he's even letting her see his work. Sometimes he even takes her with him. But Miki wants more. Whenever she tries to push, even just a little, Hiro shies away. Miki can't tell if it's just her, or if it's Hiro. He claims that he can't have a relationship, but Miki thinks he's just scared. For now she'll have to be content with the knowledge that she's closer to him than anyone else. When Hiro's latest case of love-gone-bad turns out to be Miki's best friend, Yumi, and her boyfriend, Miki is trapped. Torn between helping her friend and her promise to Hiro to not get involved, Miki has a tough decision to make. Trying to make things better often makes things worse. Add in the gorgeous girl that Miki finds over at Hiro's house, a girl who is definitely more than just Hiro's friend, and Miki's world seems to be crashing down around her. How could things have gone from so good to so bad so quickly? And how can it get better? Both Yumi and Hiro become more multi-dimensional in this book, and Miki gains some hard-won knowledge. MIKI FALLS: SUMMER is still a great, fun, quick read, but this time there's a little more seriousness thrown in. Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman