Not a bad book. A lot of it is common sense. Quite a cheery writing style, very positive and humorous.

Penny’s humour and wit kept me laughing and giggling from beginning to end. As Penny relentlessly pursues that slippery sucker called happiness, she is constantly berated by her inner-critic.

Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and Penny Castle for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Books Go Social for this ARC.
I really enjoyed this funny, easy to read book. This would be a great book to read in winter to enthuse you on a miserable day.

A fun and funny book on one woman's journey to happiness. I think we can all relate to Penny on some level - who doesn't want to be happier? It's the whole point of life after all. I started out a little confused when Sally and Chris and Shannon were introduced rather quickly, but once I figured out their roles in her life it made the reading a bit easier.

A good read, despite it taking me rather a long time to get through it. I struggle a bit with non-fiction these days. That's my only excuse!

Just finished reading #CultivatingHappiness via #NetGalley. Funny, poignant, and got me wanting to go out in the garden and grow veg again! Good commuting book.

The book is going to be a hit or miss for anyone. You will either like the writing style or you won't. Unfortunately, the writing style wasn't for me.

The author documents her experiments trying to find happiness. She fails until she doesn't and finds the one thing that gives her happiness. I think the moral of the story is that we need to find our own happiness, not go by what others say.

I received a free copy from Netgalley. It doesn't impact my review in any way.

Cultivating Happiness: How I Tried (and Failed) to Implement Self-Help Strategies and Accidentally Got Happier
by Penny Castle
Paperback, 266 pages
Published January 22nd 2019 by Peneleope Castle

Goodreads synopsis:
Penny Castle is on a madcap chase in pursuit of that most elusive of conditions: happiness. The only female in a household of more or less sceptical males Penny's journey begins when a hopeful mid-career switch crumbles into disappointment. In a funk, she turns to an inspiring happiness expert she finds on TedTalks, and decides to try the strategies he suggests. All of them. It can't harm ... or can it?

Her forays into meditating, journaling, running (no-one could accuse her of being athletic) and horse-riding, are all sabotaged by her very own internal critic, a tweezer-lipped character called Sally, who never fails to point out her shortcomings. In Sally's jaundiced view, no ambition, however noble, doesn't deserve a stab in the back.

Penny's final attempt to corner her target leads her into the realms of "acts of service." In her case, this takes the form of a morning spent picking up dog turds in a local park. No discernible happiness results.

Even her work as a "happiness coach," while it delivers joy to her clients, doesn't seem to do the trick for her.

Her quest seems doomed to eternal, if hilarious, failure...

But all along, Penny's been toiling away at something never mentioned by the happiness experts. Something she began, not for happiness sake, but to do her maternal duty. It's during the hours she spends in this pursuit that she begins to feel most at ease with herself and her world. Could it be the answer she's been seeking? This time, it's not Sally who steps in to explode the possibility. Drought and a Biblical flood do that job very well, thank you very much.

But that's not the end of Penny's story... or her quest.

***

4 Stars

First off, I thought this book was good. I loved walking through Penny’s life with her and how she accidentally tripped over how to find her happiness. This is more of a memoir of her journey than a literal self-help book.

But if you are looking for a book about the “10 Steps to Be A Happier Person,” this is not that book. I would indeed love to pick Penny’s brain for all the coaching advice she learned over the years that she used to help others attain their own happiness or at least discover what make the happy clock inside them tick.

We follow the journey of her years of coaching and how sometimes it isn’t what you know but how you feel that brings you the most happiness. She does not seem happy in most of this book and I think it is that way for a lot of us. We go through the mundane parts of our life never realizing the true joy we have found packed in the tiny slots of our life that we have over looked.

I am not sure there is an actual state where you deem… I am totally happy right now. Happiness is a journey of discovery. And I think that is what Penny has shown us here. Her road was a lot bumpy and filled with a bit of misery but like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the happiness she had been seeking had been there all along.

Definitely recommend this title! Check it out.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

I enjoyed this fun memoir of one woman's attempt to find happiness. Fun and relatable.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This story reminds me of the Hawthrone quote:
"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ... And find your shoulder to light on..."
The author tries many strategies to find happiness. The stories are humorous. Ultimately the author does find something that brings surprising happiness and fulfillment.
The second half of the book was more engaging than the first, perhaps a reflection of this reader than of the author though.

Thank you to both NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review. Not a bad read, I did enjoy the story.
Good read