Member Reviews
It is a book about a girl. Girl who is fighting hercown brain. Book shows life of a depressed girl. A very good artwork and crispy captions decorate the book. It is a very good read that keeps the flow going.
I am really sorry because I do appreciate that it takes a lot to be honest about your struggles but this book, for me, is more for her benefit than ours as a reader.
I thought the illustrations were a little too childish. It just did not sit well with me at all.
I acknowledge that it is a person's choice whether to medicate but felt the tone in which this was communicated was not balanced and "her choice" more what we all should do and her distain of medication was clear. This is really not helpful in a book like this as there will always be people who need mediation, regardless of preference.
Too judgemental and opinionated to be helpful for all but maybe if you share the exact views of the author you would like it more
I'd like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.
I liked this.
'My Path to Happy: Struggles with my mental health and all the wonderful things that happened after' with words and illustrations by Charlotte Reed is a personal story about a real struggle.
Starting in 2008, Charlotte Reed battle with crippling depression. She saw doctors but didn't want to rely on chemicals, so she toughed it out. Things were hard, but her siblings were there to help. This is her story of those days and what happened later.
I liked this handwritten true story. The illustrations add a personal touch. I've never dealt with anything like this, but it must take immense courage to go through what this author has.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
It is always lovely to read through someone's journey in embracing their mental health. I, for one, suffers with anxiety and it really helps with coping to read other people''s story. Not only because you'll learn something from it but also because it is a tangible way to let you know that you can go through it with courage and self belief.
This book is truly fascinating. The way it was written with all the adorable illustrations just makes it more entertaining and quite fun to dive into.
3 ⭐️
I found this book very insightful and helpful
However I rarely find self help books to leave an impact on me. This one did. Very well written and has an important message
Charlotte's story is inspiring. I love that she wrote about something so personal and relatable. There are so many times in life when it seems like things are amazing and then something completely wild happens and knocks you down. Thank you to Charlotte for being real and for showing others that it is possible to rise again.
I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
I loved how honest Charlotte was about her struggles with depression, anxiety, and depersonalization disorder. If more people shared their stories it would help de-stigmatize mental health issues and help people feel like they were not alone. I loved that Charlotte points out that just because some treatments work for her they might not work for others; we are not all the same. I love that Charlotte wrote the whole book by hand and that she draws the amazing stick figures you see throughout the book. I cannot wait to read ‘’May The Thoughts Be With You’ and purchase the journal!
#MyPathtoHappy #NetGalley
This book should not be printed because it can be dangerous to those who are seriously ill. The author refuses medications then whines about how terrible it was getting which could of been solved with the medications she turned down. Then she promotes acupuncture as a better alternative even though it is one of those alternative medicine garbage. Then she pushes the idea of diet and exercise which is helpful to an extent but would help you more if you were also taking medications to help. And, finally there it was the whole positive thoughts that go along with the rest of the garbage that so many claim can magically cure you of your ills. A person isn't mentally ill just because they have negative thoughts so it's stupid to keep telling them that your illness is your fault because your just not thinking positively. If you are I'll then researc, rreach out to doctors and other professionals and if they recommend medications then take them. Do that before rushing off to try alternative medicine since they will be the ones that can help you the most.
I'm incredibly impressed with the chance Reed took in creating this book. To share one's battle through mental health and in such a vulnerable way needs to be commended. And there are many out there who will connect with the raw and simplistic form she used in both her illustrations (?) and in the writing itself.
I really liked the art style of this book - clean, uncluttered cartoons and very simple, legible text.
I found sections of the book inspirational and it is always reassuring to hear about the struggles of others and know that they can be overcome. I, like others, did react to the content where she dismisses medical advice. While there is a caveat written in the book saying that this is the author’s own journey, and shouldn’t be substituted for medical advice, I felt that this content was a bit more flippant than I’d have liked. You could argue that it is in keeping with the overall tone but there are some other more serious moments and I feel she could have explored that decision making more.
I loved the style and subject matter so much though that I now follow the artist/author on Instagram and Facebook.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for this ARC and for exposing me to some new inspirational content.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I like to read about other people's journey through mental illness and I think it's an important subject that more people need to be open about to reduce the stigma. The drawings were pretty cute and it being handwritten makes this book unique. It feels like reading a journal.
While I am happy the author was able to work through her struggles with depression and anxiety pretty much on her own, with family and friends support, I don't want others to get the idea that they too can avoid medication or talk therapy. Mental illnesses definitely do not have a one size fits all solution to them. But I applaud this author for figuring out what worked for her.
While I'm happy to hear the author is successfully battling her mental health conditions, this didn't really feel like enough content for a book, even a quick read such as this. Too much of this short book dealt with the author's writing of, self publishing and selling her first book. It almost felt more like a selling tool for the first book at times. I'm not familiar with the first book, but the reader does get a sampling of the juvenile style doodles and affirmations there. Fans of the author's first book might enjoy this one for her back story.
Charlotte discusses her experience with her mental health battles depression, anxiety, depersonalization disorder and we hear how necessary it is to have someone to turn to for support and how her family and her art helped her immensely.
This is a gem of a book and will provide many people with comfort and reassurance that a struggle isn't the end and you can get better. A beautiful, hope filled read.
Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!
I enjoyed my time with this little book that brings to life the author's journey with her depression. The drawings were cute and slightly juvenile. If you read this as the story of one person and her journey through this really dark time in her life, I think there's a lot of authenticity and hope in her own journey even though not a lot of depth. However, I would not recommend giving this to anyone currently suffering from depression. The author makes a lot of choices for herself where she experiments with different ideas and ignores doctor recommendations. That might be completely ok for her but not necessarily great as advice to others since it's important to see a professional and make your own choices around your mental health.
thank you to netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing fr an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
This is an interesting book about a woman with depression and other mental problems, and how she overcame them with good old fashioned faith and humor and acupuncture.
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And I am reading this and saying to myself "how did she pay her rent". She keeps talking about taking time off of work, in London, and I'm thinking, even in London it would be hard to live on no income, even disability income, unless in the UK they are much more generous than they are in the states.
And this woman, with acupuncture, and drawing simple drawings, and having her good thought of the days go on to being able to quit her job and sell her book at a stall.
This is not the path that most people would be able to take. It is amazing that it worked for her, but this should not be taken as a "how to" over come mental illness. This is just what worked for her.
So, it is ok, but we never learned what sort of acupuncture worked, nor what changes to her diet worked, and how the heck could she afford to do this, again while not working is beyond me.
I guess I am just too cynical.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
I love this kind of heart-to-heart honest kind of writing when it comes to memoirs of any kind (illustrations or written) especially when it's talking about the journey of someone's mental health. I really appreciate the genuine presentation of the author's journey through her journal kind of expression and easy to relate illustrations. The artstyle is simple and relatable. Anxiety, depression, ways and means to deal with it with the undying support of near and dear ones have been discussed well.
We need more of such books no matter what!
The only thing I would want to suggest is that the presentation might have been a little more polished and I would suggest the readers not to expect a 'traditional'ly 'wholesome' book when picking up this one. This book is just a simple short representation of the author's journey while battling depression and anxiety.
Thank you #NetGalley for the book #MyPathtoHappy
Bravo to Charlotte for telling her story of living with mental illness. I appreciate the courage that that takes and I applaud her efforts to help remove the stigma of mental illness. That said, I have some concerns; namely that in the story, she ignores the advice of doctors twice, seemingly because she didn't feel like taking medication. There is a note at the end of the book that everyone's path to good mental heath is different and that different things work for different people, but the blithe way medications are dealt with in the main text is, quite honestly, alarming.
Part of this may be due to the tone and style of the book, which is done in what I have to assume is a deliberately juvenile way, à la the Wimpy Kid books. It's quite disconcerting.
Overall, a fairly good message, and it demonstrates the power of a great support system and universal health care, but I feel the way medication is dealt with is problematic.
Thank you to the author for sharing her personal story of struggling with mental illness. It is such a common problem that is unfortunately often seen as something that should not be talked about. I appreciate the afterward where the author said that what worked for her may not be best for everyone. Even so, I'm still concerned about a book the talks about twice dismissing the advice of mental health professionals when they said antidepressants would be helpful.
Since this is a graphic style story telling, I will first comment on the aesthetics of the book. The images are all doodle quality, which often works in these types of quick reads, however I found them a bit too juvenile. I liked the handwritten text for the most part, but some pages have very large blocks of narrative which are a bit rough on the eyes in this sloppy style.
As for the story telling- I really appreciate the bravery it takes to produce something so personal in nature. I wish that the author would make some mention that pharmaceuticals, while not something she wanted to take, can be helpful to some people and that there is no shame in taking that route to healing. She was very dismissive of medication, and while I relate to her desire not to take antidepressants (I made the same choice recently), I think it would be worth a note in support of those who do use medication of this sort. I do appreciate that she details the alternative paths she chose to follow to help herself, while being honest in admitting that nothing is a once and for all fix.
The delivery of the story did feel a little 'after school special' to me. It didn't come across as conversational or natural, but a bit too much like an inspirational speaker at a convention... but that is totally a matter of personal preference as I am one to avoid anything in the realm of self help, which I feel this toed the line of.
Overall, it is a quick read and worth taking the time for in a comfy bed, or with a nice warm drink. especially if the feelings are something you are familiar with (I had some pretty bad anxiety lately), It is comforting to find a line or two that you can relate to. I loved the way she details her sister's support, and it reminded me of how I turned to my mother in much the same way. I also found her self-publishing and self promoting of her book to be very inspirational. It definitely leaves me thinking, hey maybe I should give this a try.