Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to rising cases of depression and more public discussions about mental health, and while many people responded with toxic positivity or outright denial, many others felt some relief in being able to go public with feeling bad. Garner, a therapist, offers this book as a reminder that we need to be able to feel these emotions, even if they feel bad or make us feel like we're having a pity party, in order to address them and heal from them.

Garner points out that to pity party well, we have to get in touch with our emotions -- feel them, name them -- and also reach out to others for help and empathy so that we can find new ways to move through the depression, despair, anxiety, and fear. She doesn't claim to have easy answers, but she definitely provides lots of good, thoughtful suggestions for having a productive pity party, with excellent questions for journaling and activities for practicing true self-care.

What I really appreciated about this book:
--Garner notes that the limits of therapy come when our society makes it difficult for people to meet their basic needs: adequate food and shelter, adequate income and security, a lack of oppression and discrimination.
--She also points out that working through emotions may also involve working through issues of privilege, appropriation, and the impact of capitalism. "Doing the work" often goes deep!
--The importance of boundaries when dealing with some of these issues.
--The necessity of being present and connecting with others.

As Garner points out in retelling one of the lessons she learned in childhood, "the feelings I thought were too big to feel were just too big to feel alone." That's a good reminder for us all. 4 stars.

Thank you, HarperCollins and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

A Pity party is Still a Party is an enlightening look at how we shut down our emotions to live in toxic positivity and how we can move through the essential first steps of healing by acknowledging that not only do we have something to feel sorry for ourselves about, but it is very important to do just that before we can move on. Feeling sorry for ourselves is not a precursor to healing, but rather the foundation for healing if we don't get stuck in it

A little bit of a different take on the self-help genre. Some of the suggestions were ones I had never heard of; but I think there's something for everyone. 3.5 stars

This book was a fun idea, especially for introverted people like me!

The premise is really clever; fill a book full of unconventional party ideas, either to do by yourself or with a group of friends. It gave me a lot of ideas on how to cope with different issues in my life and how to let others in. It teaches you how to be vulnerable with those you love and also how to create boundaries that you need in order to live your best life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.