Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 03, 2023

This seems inappropriate.

I understand Nancy has every right to read those types of books.. but buying them to share with your daughter’s BFF?? Seems wrong. It’s makes you wonder if Frank hasn’t been giving her the attention and love she needs.

So where does this arc go? I’m afraid of what Nancy may buy next. lol

Can’t get enough Coverly, can you, Nancy? (Like my father with Grisham.)

Okay, this is getting kind of . . . weird.

Yes! This is tuning up to be something worthwhile. Will Nancy and Bernice bring this to the next book club meeting?

And where does the last two days leave Luann??

Best wishes to Damar Hamlin, his family, and the whole Buffalo Bills organization tonight. Truly a scary scene to see unfold on Monday Night Football.

it will tax you alright…I am certain you will compound your interest!

I know Bernice is technically an adult. But still Nancy, grooming is frowned upon.

It seems those tax guides are HOT!!

So this is going to be a week of ill-defined pron (banned word replacement)

OK who gets to read it first?

Grooming or corrupting?

Invite Steffi over to explain the actions Nancy and Bernice aren’t familiar with.

Those kinds of books always promise but rarely deliver…

Someone’s horny in that household!!!

This seems like a weird and skeevy male fantasy about how women interact. Or projection of an even more troubling male-male interaction (???) Kids and young adults: if one of your friends’ parents (or anyone with a significant maturity and power differential, in a mentor role) tries to share erotica with you—as a regular thing, no less—this should register as a red flag for sexual grooming. It is NOT normal interaction. Now unfollowing this comic, and suggesting that Greg get help unpacking why this seems in any way OK.

D. Coverly writes novels that go (speed) bump in the night.

I hope someone handles these dirty birdies like Andy Bernard did when Phyllis kept listening to the 50 Shades audiobook during work hours.

Fortunately, that plot point was only a cold open for one episode of “The Office,” not some creepiness that could go on for weeks.

Luann probably stopped reading those kinds of books when she was fourteen and looks like she finds the bookfriend club her mother and her best friend formed rather comical. I think is a good thing, I was afraid she would be weided by the growing friendship between Bernice and her mother. Seriously, it seems by now that Bernice is more Nancy’s BFF than Luann’s.

cringe

Bernice “Beatrice” Halper, meet Nancy Degroot!!!!!!!!!

My Grandmother passed away at 95, she was born in the late 1800’s. While cleaning out her possessions, we uncovered a huge stash of Harlequin Romances. My goodness, Grandma!

Yeah – It’s kinda weird for Nancy to get down with her own daughter – more fun with Bernice.In the meantime, LUANN needs to go out somewhere and have fun.

This is the second time I’ve seen the Coverly name mentioned. Don’t remember the first.

Interesting how Nancy wants to share her tawdry little secrets with Bernice, but NOT with daughter Luann.

Goes back to what I was inferring yesterday. That Nancy spends more time bonding with Bernice than she does with own daughter.

Disturbing and, now bordering on “Ewwwww-worthy.”

PS: And it is indeed “Poor Frank,” time. :-(

Bernice is all aghast as she realizes that the book is about Nancy.

It’s pretty clear to me and most so far that this arc is about Nancy’s happy sharing with Bern, her love of steamy romance novels, while both are lying to Luann about what they are really sharing—not binders for business records, but steamy (not pornographic) novels. Nancy is drawn as the second hottest female in the strip, Toni being number 1, and Bernice was raised in a manner which made her very repressed with a blazing libido. Bern is 19, not a minor in most US jurisdictions, but it might be an innocent sharing of a literature form between an older friend of hers who just happens to be the mother of Bern’s best friend period, Ying and Yang. But it would be weird to share with her own daughter. I think, and while my powers of prediction here are always subject to the patented GnK misdirection play, that Lu’s discovery of the fib and the aftereffects are where this arc is heading.

Those are not Adult Book store, graphic, X-rated books. They are just lusty, suggestive books. My mother loved the Romance novels and if nothing else, will show Bern that her feelings are normal. But for those of you who have not read them, they are not ‘how-to’ manuals.

Nancy buying smutty books for young women who are barely legal adults… those sly looks… This seems like grooming.

Pfffftttt… you should see Ann Eiffel’s YouTube channel. Or should have seen it before it was taken down.

I hope Bernie has learned to give herself what Nil wouldn’t.

Ok, this arc is starting to get creepy.

Wow they get to share something neither can share with Luann! Bernice needs to get l***d.

So the writers won’t let the characters say “Oh my God” but showing women getting horny on smutty novels is OK?

Bernice has confided in Nancy more so than to her own mother. If Bern would like to use her free will to read “The Rock of Gibralter” and about Gustav + Fatima, Nancy is simply letting her know it is available…after she reads it first. To those who see this as grooming, I’m truly and earnestly sorry that you may have experienced that trauma in your life.

She’s going to read it and start thinking of Nil again.

Bernice on her way to being the daughter they never had.

Greg – this is creepy. It feels really wrong and makes me uncomfortable. Why would you introduce this type of relationship between a teen and the mother figure in her life? And to that point – why have you let Bernice’s mother be vilified without no back story or proof of any bad behavior?

Luann might be getting replaced as her mother’s daughter.

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who finds this pretty creepy. I assume Bernice is 18, but she’s no older than that.

Doesn’t Nancy have any adult friends? Why is she sharing all of this with a teen? Is she getting some kind of ego boost out of supplanting another woman with their own child? Nancy would have been a more productive and responsible woman if she had helped Bernice resolve the conflict with her mom, instead of this….peculiar behavior. Not a good look for Nancy, and that’s too bad, because she was always such a great character in the past.

Ooo, more wet pants and blouses/t-shirts. Maybe this book will inspire Bernice to inspire Nil to some art of a different kind.

The CD on the inside has some sexy dialogue

Wasn’t it established that Luann ISN’T in to “Bodice Rippers?” So, unless it was to keep Luann from teasing Bernice, and, Nancy about reading them, why lie about it? (Do “Bodice Rippers” even come out in hardcover?)

Bernice is weirdly proud of the fact that she has the libido of a middle-aged housewife.

Well, Luann walked in, but no frustration or angst …yet. Odd that Bernice and Nancy share almost as equal adults, but Luann had more interest in the opposite sex in grade and high schools. So… if she found this book, would she be shocked, or read it? Hmmm. =:-o

This is a big trigger of mine…people encouraging kids to be sexually active. I have three daughters (grown now) but throughout their lives I was fielding comments from people tryong to encourage them to “Go out and find a boy to have fun with!” or “Stop pursuing your artistic talent and goals and get some dick!” Thsnk God their grown now, because one more Aggravated Assault charge and I’m going away for a long time!

Nancy and Bernice, sharing a bodice-buster novel? IMO, that qualifies as weird.

Wow, we briefly got to see Luann in her own strip.

Luann, later that night: Why is dad shaving in the middle of the night?

In the first panel it looks like Bernice thinks it is actually tax guides.

This whole story is creepy. It is just not something a middle aged woman would do with her daughter’s 19 year old friend.

D. Coverly?! What the sheet is this all about? :D

They must have made some substantial changes to the tax code for 2023.

Sick.

I’m disappointed. I’ll be looking for another comic to take this one’s place if things don’t shape up VERY soon.

Would you all be upset if Nancy and Bern were watching “The Godfather”? Often considered one of the greatest American movies ever made. Or “Easy Rider” which was rated X when it first came out ?How about reading “Lady Chatterly’s Lover”? or “The Tropic of Cancer”? If you are a lit major or a cinema major you will watch or read all these, probably when you are a Sophomore or Junior in college. When I was in library school back in the day, we watched and read these movies and books while disscussing intellectual freedom. Who gets to decide what is read by whom. Should the Orthodox Vegans be allowed to decide what books on on the shelves in a community? Even if they are the most active users of the local public library?

Come on Frank, get on it!

KISS HER! . . . KISS HER!

If they found out they have the same guilty pleasure romance fiction tastes in common on accident then, glad to have discovered a common interest, discussed the books; I think it would be a LOT less weird. Without context and just springing this on the reader it’s kinda jarring.

Interestingly, I could buy this more if the book was male/male romance fiction. It’s actually a growing trend for adult women to enjoy m/m fiction like “Heartstopper” and “Love, Simon” being authored by women for women. I’m friends with a lady in my writing group who writes m/m romance novels and explained why that genre’s so popular. I could definitely see it being believable for Bernice who probably watched BBC’s Merlin, MTV’s Teen Wolf, or Supernatural where the fandom was very big on the shipping/fanfic culture.

So she thinks it’s not appropriate for her daughter, but sshares it with Bernice who is the same age…

Nice deflection Bernice. Luann expects nothing.

Sure Nancy a tax guide.

Borders was once a big bookstore chain (like Barnes & Noble), now ‘Borderline’

I read these books from an early age—around 12 or so. My mother had a large collection of them so I read them, too. No one “groomed” me for anything and I discovered that, while they were interesting at first, in time they became old hat. However lots of women friends of mine enjoy these type books. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nancy feels uncomfortable sharing such things with Luann because that’s her daughter and also Luann has shown absolutely no interest in such books. But Berniece DOES like them. There’s nothing wrong with that!

Me thinks the truly offended protest a bit to much, for my opinion.

Who buys physical books these days? The last time I did was for something out of print and I was quickly reminded how much I hate trying to find a good light source and carrying around an extra object.

Yeah, I just don’t get this arc at all.

Shouldn’t that be “Peak”- as in summit, highest point? Or is it a deliberate play on words?

Ready to heat up your loins, Bernice.

WOW so many of you are reading way too much into this.

First, Nancy didn’t lie to Luann. She said the book was for her and Bernice, Bernice mistook it for tax guides, and Nancy didn’t correct her.

Second, there’s a possibility that Luann doesn’t care for that genre of books (I certainly didn’t AT ALL at that age, and even now, it isn’t something I typically read!)

Third, Luann doesn’t have to be privy to everything Nancy and Bernice talk about. Bernice is practically a second daughter and knows the DeGroots very well. She and Nancy share an obvious like of several different things, including romance novels.

I have individual conversations with each of my kids based on their personalities, their likes and dislikes, etc. I don’t have to share books or discussions with one child whom I know doesn’t care about the topic just because I shared it with their sibling(s).

Nancy isn’t sharing pl*yboys or h*stlers for goodness sake. (Didn’t know if those titles get moderated or not.)

PEAK not Peek!

This is their version of phornography that has romance in it.

I agree that there was no lying: Bern thought it was a tax guide, and Nancy didn’t correct her. Didn’t women talk about “50 Shades of Grey” with their friends and family? Did only couples go together to see “The Piano”? Bern is a young woman, not a child: This common interest may be awkward, but it isn’t grooming.

Nancy, you old horndog (which begs the question, can a Mom be a horndog?)! Are you going to share that book with Bernie? Can Bernie handle reading that book?

Definitely “Borderline Books”….

Just wait for Nancy and Bernice to discover that D. Coverly is just a pen name for Margo Phelps-Fogarity.

So this book comes from Borderline Books in a plain brown wrapper. I’m going to guess this is a book you can’t just go check out at the library or buy at the mall and it’s probably is pretty graphic. P0rn0graphy is an addiction, it’s not just films and pictures, it can be in the written word, and Nancy has it bad. She’s going to make sure Bernice gets hooked too. Next week Frank organizes an intervention.

Wow! This was unexpected! It left me speechless with a grin. I think Jim Morrison said it best, ‘the men don’t know, but the little girls understand’.

Now kiss!

I’m rather surprised about the controversy & uproar over a romance novel storyline…. ⊂ •͡˘∠•͡˘ ⊃

I can’t help but wonder if D. Coverly is a nod to Dave Coverly, , the cartoonist who writes Speed Bump? Or is the name merely a coincidence?