Review & Blog Tour: Forgive Me Not by Mari Costa
We are thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa, a graphic novel out April 14th from First Second Books. If you have been following BookCrushin for any length of time you know we love a good sapphic story, and this one delivered in ways I was not entirely expecting, especially coming from someone who usually bounces off fae books. Read on for my full review!
Forgive-Me-Not
by Mari CostaPublished by: First Second
on April 14, 2026
Genres: Graphic Novel, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads
A queer "enemies to lovers" journey of a lost princess and a changeling who was made to take the heir's place as part of a fey scheme.
Aisling is many things to many people: princess, heir to the throne, teenage daughter of two loving parents… She’s also about to learn a lot more about herself: changeling. Fey creature. Hunted. Feared. Loved?
Forgive-Me-Not is the name given to the true princess — the lost teenage biological daughter to the king and queen, who’s grown up in the chaotic and untrustworthy realm of Faerie. When Forgive-Me-Not breaks into Aisling’s room the night before their 18th birthday looking for revenge, the two embark on a long and arduous journey. And what starts as a confrontational and adversarial pairing grows into a bond of mutual understanding, friendship, and maybe something more…
Review
I do not usually like fae books. Fae stories tend to lose me in the world-building, in the rules and the courts and the politics of a place I do not have any emotional investment in yet. Forgive-Me-Not did not do that to me. It kept one foot in the human world and one in Faerie and never let either one swallow the story whole.
Here is the setup: Aisling is a princess on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, beloved by her parents, happy with her life, not expecting anything to go wrong. Then Forgive-Me-Not (what a name) breaks into her room looking for revenge, and Aisling learns that she is a changeling, swapped at birth as part of a fey scheme, not human, not the real heir, not the person she has always believed herself to be. Forgive-Me-Not is the actual princess, the biological daughter of the king and queen, who was raised in Faerie being toyed with and mistreated while Aisling lived the life that was supposed to be hers.
What stayed with me about this story is that both of them are victims of the same crime. Neither one chose this. Neither one did anything wrong. Their entire lives were shaped by a decision made before they were born by someone with power over both of them, and they spend most of the book furious at each other for it before they start to understand that the fury belongs somewhere else entirely. It reminded me of Sleeping Beauty in that way, characters at the center of a story that was never really about them until they make it about them.
The enemies to lovers dynamic works here because it has actual weight behind it. This is not two people who got off on the wrong foot. This is two people with genuine grievances against each other’s existence, who have to figure out whether the person who inadvertently ruined your life can also be the person who saves it. The sapphic romance that develops between them is tender and a little messy and completely earned by the time it lands.
The art is gorgeous. Mari’s color work is rich and immersive and the fae realm feels genuinely alive without being overwhelming. The panel work is inventive, the expressions are doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting, and the whole thing reads fast in the best way possible.
If you are someone who has bounced off fae books before, this might be the one that works for you. It is fundamentally a story about two girls, what was taken from each of them, and what they choose to build out of what is left.
About Mari Costa
Mari Costa is a Luso-Brazilian cartoonist with a bachelor’s degree in Character Animation. She’s in love with creating stories and populating them with people who have very messy interpersonal drama. Some of her work includes Life of Melody, The Demon of Beausoleil, and Belle of the Ball.
Follow the Tour
April 13th
dinipandareads – Book Look
Mx. Phoebe’s Viewpoint – Favorite Quote
The Brave Bookshelf with Kim Bartosch – Top 5 Reasons to Read Forgive Me Not, Tik Tok
April 14th
Never Hollowed By The Stare – Promotional Post
Betwixt The Sheets – Promotional Post
The Violet West – Top 5 Reasons to Read Forgive Me Not
April 15th
Bookcrushin – Review <– You Are Here
Nonbinary Knight Reads – 15 Reactions While Reading Forgive Me Not
The Clever Reader – Promotional Post
April 16th
Forever In A Story – Mood Board
unconventionalquirkybibliophile – Mood Board
The Book Dutchesses – Promotional Post
April 17th
Ilovebooksandstuffblog – Promotional Post
Paiges of Novels – Top 5 Reasons to Read Forgive Me Not
April 18th
Rampant Reading Reviews – Review
Twirling Book Princess – Top 5 Reasons to Read Forgive Me Not
April 19th
Ruby Rae Reads – Review
the nutty bookworm reads alot – Review
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