I don’t know anyone who hasn’t found themselves in a situation where they were doing one thing and thinking something entirely different. It’s human to try to hide our true feelings if they’ll hurt someone else or embarrass us. So when someone comes along and points it out, it’s a little awkward. It’s irreverent. And it’s so incredibly, unbelievably funny!

Artist Tommy Siegel got inspired by the traditional conversational candy hearts that we have all loved since childhood and created a series of cartoons that show what’s going on in our heads that we hide from others. Candy Hearts go hard after dating, from what happens with online dating and dating apps to the dates themselves. He exposes what we’re really thinking in relationships, in families, in restaurants, and while live-tweeting disaster dates.

It’s not just relationships he goes after. Nothing in pop culture is safe. Siegel also has comics about Titanic, the pandemic, Batman and Robin, Beauty and the Beast, catfishing, Starbucks, the Beatles, politics, and Casablanca. He skewers it all, showing us all at our worst, our funniest, and our most human.

Candy Hearts is a short and succinct, but it makes for a great gift for anyone needing a laugh for Valentine’s Day, or for any other moment. It’s not appropriate for kids, but adults (especially those of us who might be labeled “somewhat immature,”) will find these laugh-out-loud funny. Perfect for sharing with friends and family with similarly twisted senses of humor and well developed senses of irony.

Egalleys for Candy Hearts were provided by Andrew McMeel Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.