Book Review: Mismatched by Anne Camlin and Isadora Zeferino

‘Mismatched’ is a graphic novel written by Anne Camlin and illustrated by Isadora Zeferino. It was published in 2024, and is a retelling of the Jane Austin classic ‘Emma’, which I will admit in a heartbeat that I have never read.

The art style in this book is absolutely adorable! I loved how distinctive each of the characters were, and how Zeferino’s art style sang with the subtle pastel aesthetic that seemed to come from the book! It was great! Gorgeous artwork!

This book follows Evan, a gay teenager with a huge social media presence. He wears makeup on a daily basis, takes part in social media collaborations and promotional work, and is immensely popular at school, not only with the popular influencer girls with machismo-fuelled boyfriends that aren’t at all jealous or intimidated by Evan, but also by younger kids in the school’s GSA.

Evan, despite being a junior, is the president of the GSA, and has been for several years. He is a well established big personality, and is a bit superficial at the start of the book, judging the newest girl in school, a short, plus sized girl with a bob, unfortunate clothes and a bit of a cringe-y backpack design, and decides that not only will he befriend her but he will make her his next project.

While Evan is a bit pushy at the start, wanting to encourage Natalia to get into makeup, accidentally evoking an allergic reaction, she is quick to push him out of his comfort zone too with rollerskating and other sports.

I really liked Natalia’s character. She has a vast scope of interests and isn’t exactly secure in her identity, and Evan is honest with her about his experiences, and how he knew who he was and came out at a young age, and how he would be hurt if he asked a boy out and he said yes while questioning his sexuality, and it blew up in their faces, it would hurt him.

I also thought Evan’s dawning understanding that his crush on Luca was superficial and fleeting, and that that was okay, was a really sweet part of the story, because the more Luca and Evan hung out, the more Evan found parts of Luca’s personality annoying or frustrating.

One of my least favourite parts of the story was how Evan was clearly oblivious of his next-door neighbour was crushing on him. It would have been a really cute moment, except I was thrown for six over the fact that Evan and his best-friend-slash-repressed-love-interest share a niece? They’re already related by marriage and while they’re just teenagers, it was a bit strange, but the development of the relationship and the love confessions was cute, so I suppose it was something that readers could choose to ignore.

Another potential gripe that I had with ‘Mismatched’ was that I thought the part of the story that looked at Ayran and their secret admirer was a bit rushed. I would have loved a greater period of time dedicated to each of the relationships that Evan tries to decipher or set up, since there was meant to be a semblance of heartbreak in some of these moments.

I felt like this book could have, and most definitely should have been longer, to really dwell on fleeting teenage feelings and the relationships that do stick, like Evan’s and Davi’s, because ultimately, if readers are supposed to overlook the fact Evan’s oldest sister and Davi’s oldest brother are married with a kid, perhaps it would be easier to do that with more existential ‘am I crushing on Davi’ dwelling time? Though, given the length of the book, I think it was done well, it just could have been done so much better if it were longer!

If someone was looking for a queer graphic novel, this would definitely be one of the first ones I’d grab from a shelf! I think it was a really cute book and while I would have loved it to be longer, I did like it! Who knows, maybe this is exactly what you’re looking for?