This is a comic collection about (you guessed it) a bad break up. Told in separate parts, it's the author meeting, dating, falling in love, and getting her heart broken by, Birdshirt. Yes, that's his name, why, is that weird?

I really enjoyed this, even if it has been a really long time since I had my heart broken by a boy. Though I have an ex I could send this to. I'm sure he'd enjoy filling out the red flag portion.

The artwork is simple but truly lovely, and there's sadness and humor mixed well together. Like I said above, there's even audience participation pages, for those moments where you read a page, think, "YES!", and start thinking of your own examples.

A quick, quirky, easy read.

This is the PERFECT book for that bestie of yours who is going through a breakup or who just can't get over a broken heart. It has the cutest illustrations but also details every single aspect (I mean EVERY!) of a breakup. What is unique and special about this book is that it provides some space for you to write your own feelings and ideas with prompts. I can't say I've seen that before in a graphic novel like this!

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book! This is everything a coming of age break-up graphic novel should be. The drawings are wonderful, the captions are thoughtful. I will read everything I can get a hold of that Emma Lee writes, and I instantly chose to follow her on Insta! I can't wait until I can purchase a hard copy!

"The hero was the villain all along. The hardest part is moving on."

I had never experienced the kind of heartbreak this graphic novel portrayed but I was familiar with its manifestations in my friends' lives. It was oddly unnerving yet it's also an unapologetic depiction of how ugly and YES, cringy it is to be in love and have your heart splintered into ragged cracks. The illustrations were simple yet creatively composed through the analogies and metaphors it used. It was cutesy but it never diminished its message After reading this, I realize that it just boils down with how each of us has our own love languages and the path to finding that partner who could complement our love language might be long and arduous. In the meantime, self-love is the only love we need.

I can see how people would relate to this depiction of the different stages of a breakup and the heartbreak that follows. I'm having trouble reviewing this book. Firstly because it seems very personal and intimate that it is hard to critique something like this. Secondly because I had trouble connecting with it, it seemed long and to drag. Things that I can say I liked, the artwork was cute, the way the book was done I do like that it feels like a journal more than a graphic novel.

Absolutely adorable little book. For all of those who had loved and had their heart broken. Love how the images and text are telling the story even if it's just like another Instagram cartoon, the way they intertwine with each other page to page make this a very relatable quick food for thought kind of a ki yoi Netgally for the arc.

I was able to read this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This graphic novel is an honest and personal illustration of one person's breakup. It was both extremely specific but also universal in ways. The details don't match up with all relationships, but everyone has had their heart broken at times. I thought the comics were expertly drawn and evoked more feeling I think than just words alone could do. This book is the sort to gift a friend maybe in order to help heal and commiserate.-Published on goodreads

All I knew before getting into Hidden Heartbreak was that there’d be a break up or broken-hearted. It was okay but I definitely could have been better. I didn’t care much for it, I was expecting for to it then there was.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this earc.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book, but I just couldn't like it. It was a combination of the art (not really my favourite and why so many copy-paste), and the fact the e-copy is just blurry and grainy making it hard to read.

I didn't enjoy the art or the writing in this one as much as I expected to. It's a fine collection, but nothing stood out to me as exceptionally inspiring or relatable.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Hidden Heartbreak started as a series of cartoons Emma Lee drew to get over her own breakup. Instagram loved them, and soon, the collection grew to be this book. Readers are likely to see pieces of themselves and their past relationships in the cartoons. Lee has also left some drawings blank for the reader to fill in their own details of past relationships (e.g. a T chart of “What did you pay attention to?” and “What did you overlook?”), so that the book can be used for people to help get over a breakup they still struggle with.

Emma Lee definitely puts her feelings on full display in this book. I can't say that I laughed as the blurb said, but I can see this being very useful for those trying to get over a past relationship and wanting to know that they are not alone.

This graphic novel is fun and quirky, fast paced and filled with super cute illustrations.

I think everyone can relate to the realness of this book, it is honest and raw, and you can feel the heartbreak coming as you read.

Missed the mark for me most of the time but there were moments of brilliance. The artist should work more on editing.

All I knew, going into this, was that Hidden Heartbreak was originally a woman's comics about the end of a bad relationship, and that it had been turned into this collection. I'm no stranger to crappy breakups or relationships with toxic people, so I figured I'd give it a whirl, but I can't say I enjoyed it enough to recommend it much.

The toxic relationship featured is actually incredibly similar to one I was in some time back—like, jarringly similar—so it isn't that I didn't relate or "get" the point, it's just that I couldn't bring myself to care. Fussing about how someone told you they were emotionally unavailable, proceeded to give you mixed signs for a while, and then ditched you in the end because you got attached anyways? Of course that's an awful, painful, brutal place to be in, but... how does one get 200+ pages of comics out of it?

I truly don't mean to sound so callous. I'm sorry the author was hurt so badly, and I genuinely do feel for her. Like, I'm a broken record here, but the relationship I was in was literally almost identical to what she details in this collection! But honestly... had I written an entire book about it, it would have done exactly what I think it did to this author: gave her an opportunity to mire in misery for a long, long time instead of moving on and recognizing that, at the end of the day, when someone tells you they don't want what you're offering in a relationship, at some point, you have to protect yourself and accept that they're probably telling the truth.

On a less preachy note, I also just really, really did not care for the art style. It isn't lacking in creativity or talent, it's just one that I'm very much not a fan of.

Thank you so much to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As someone who was struggle with heart break before, and now found love, I must say that these all happened to me. It's very very relatable, and the stages of falling in love all the way to found your self again is explained simply yet hit the point just right. I know for sure that this book will help a lot of people that gone through heartbreak, and those who already found love and pass this stage is also can enjoy it. I wish there were books like this when I gone through heart break, really. It would make things way more easier :)

This book began as an Instagram project and made it to book form, the author publishing under a pen name. From the book description, I expected more humor, but what I found in this collection of mostly single panel comics was more sad than anything else. I suppose I might have identified a bit with the author when I was younger (maybe teen to early 20s), but now, not much at all. So I would say, for a certain audience, this could hit a chord, but it's mostly a miss for me.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'll be honest. I didn't really like the book. It wasn't really hilarious or original. I appreciate the author's effort but as a person who experienced an awful break-up, the book didn't really amaze me. Sometimes her consolidations, which in the first place had been for herself, were good. I just like the idea she came up when she experienced a heartbreak.

Worth reading? No, not really. Just a good time spender, that's all.

I was given this book early from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, can i even say about this book? i'm not even going through a break up anymore, but it already helped with my past heartbreak and also possibly my next. her drawings make me realized how hard i really do fall upon meeting a love interest. going through a good majority of my break ups, i would go through them alone, i never wanted to bother anyone with my personal problems, but reading this, i finally realized i'm not alone in that. you really do need a support system, and my new support will be my friends and also this book. this is one hat will be read over and over again. and i love how the author tries to bring you into the book too sometimes, that will defiantly make things a bit easier for me to heal if its not ALL in the authors words. i have loved reading every page of this book.

A relationship from the POV of a young woman who, looking back, seems obsessive over the man involved. Decent cartooning – although I did get the sense a lot of it had been said before. Also, however pithy the titles of each image may be, having them underneath in very belated fashion didn't add anything except distraction. Two and a half stars.

Hidden Heatbreak was originally an Instagram project, believe it or not. It made it to print, which is something the creator, Emma Lee, should be extremely proud of. The project was designed to help the artist cope with a rough break up. It’s something we’re all likely familiar with, so it’s impossible not to sympathize with her there.
I was a bit surprised to see that the story itself actually covers the whole of the relationship, from the early stages (and early warnings signs) to the (in this case inevitable) downfall of the relationship. I don’t know why, but I was expecting the project to have started with everything being in the past; that seems like the healthy way to look at it?
However it’s clear that for Emma Lee she had to take the relationship apart in order to see what went wrong. I can understand that. Sometimes you can’t see how toxic a relationship is until it’s over. I hope that the insight proved useful, both for her and all of her followers and readers.
Some of the writing felt bitter and not helpful in terms of recovery or moving on, though we’re not all emotionless robots, so I understand where it’s all coming from.