This was a very helpful book, and I have sold it because people came in and specifically asked for it. Good information.

I am such a gigantic huge fan of Mercury Stardust and this is just oozing with her personality. I love it and bought my own copy- love to support her!

Mercury Stardust has made homecare easy and not scary.
To watch Mercury go from my phone screen and showing me how to properly patch a hole to seeing this gorgeous book.

There is no shame in this book, but support, guidance, and love.

I don’t have an apartment but I love how versatile and helpful this book is, no matter your living situation. I love Mercury’s videos and I think this book is a perfect complement. If your internet is spotty or you can’t find that one video you saved, having this book on hand could be a lifesaver. It should be an automatic gift for anyone moving into their own place for the first time. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone I know.

Mercury Stardust, also known as the Trans Handy Ma’am, is a wholesome content creator on TikTok who helps hundreds of people learn how to repair things at home on their own. She brings that same zeal to this book, featuring cute illustrations of her, and dozens of other graphics showing how to get something done from the plumbing, electrical, cabinets and more. Perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to do something on their own, like a new college kid, college grad, or someone purchasing their first home.

What an amazing resource for renters and homeowners alike! Mercury’s ideas and guidance are relatable, actionable, and entirely reasonable. (Did we expect anything less from this gem of a woman, though?)

This is a great beginner's guide to repair for both owners and renters. It's written in both a compassionate and empowering way, with advice, illustrations and reminders to help you stay calm. It also has info and resources on dealing with leases, landlords, maintenance requests and unsafe rentals. I would suggest this to anyone and would buy it as a gift for new renters or home-owning friends. I give it 5 stars.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved the Trans Handy Ma'am since I found her on TicTok over a year ago. Her book is a blend of her signature humor and amazing home improvement advice. I wish something like this had existed when I moved into my first apartment!

An awesome and helpful guide for anyone, homeowner or renter. My new dog has been trashing the place and this book helped me so much!

I loved this! Easy to read, practical and definitely useful! The art style is beautiful. Definitely a great resource for those of us who know next to nothing about home maintenance and repair.

I really enjoy following Mercury Stardust on Instagram and learn new things from her all the time. This book brings her trademark kindness with a gentle and reassuring approach to make home repairs (and more) feel accessible.

This is a really thoughtful and great reference for renters (and anyone really) to make basic home care and repair feel much less intimidating. I would totally buy a copy of this for a young person who was moving out on their own for the first time.

I love this! I follow Mercury Stardust on social media and have been so excited to see what kinds of tips and tricks she had to recommend. As a renter myself, this is an excellent resource!

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust is a nonfiction resource. For too many people, the simple act of contacting a plumber or repair person can feel like a game of chance. As a transwoman and a professional maintenance technician, Mercury Stardust has discovered (the hard way) that we live in a world with much to fear. If you've ever felt panicked about opening your home to strangers in order to fix a maintenance issue, this book is for you. Renting a home can be a complex process—from finding a safe and affordable space, to hiring help for moving in and out, and of course, managing any repairs that come up during your stay. You deserve to feel empowered to take matters into your own hands—and it’s not as hard as you might think. In this book, Mercury will show you how to tackle the projects that need improvement in your home—from how to properly fix a clog in your bathroom sink and safely hang things on your walls to patching small and medium drywall holes. Remember—a little bit of knowledge can go a long way toward making you feel more safe and in control of your own life.

Safe and Sound is a great resource for renters, that have rules and conditions that they need to follow in their lease. The book offers useful information about renters rights, as well as support and encouragement that readers can do new and challenging things. I found the text to be well written, easy to follow, and strangely comforting. I loved the gentle tone of the writing, and the space for emotional resets. I have followed Mercury Stardust on Instagram for awhile, and I was thrilled to get a copy of this book via NetGalley. I have always leaned towards trying to fix the little problems in my apartments, now house, myself and this is resource I wish I had back when I first was on my own. I think that homeowners who would rather tackle the doable repairs themselves rather than invite other people into their space unless they have to could get a great deal from this book as well, even if apartment hunting and all they trials that go with it are not something they need.

Safe and Sound is a well written and valuable resource for renters, and a good book to have on hand for anyone that might need to deal with a household emergency. I will be buying copies of this book for all the young adults in my extended family when they are ready to strike out on their own.

This book was pretty helpful. I feel like I learned a lot and was able to not get too bored while reading about somewhat not interesting home tips. Mercury's easy approach and can do attitude is definitely felt with each project.

Special thanks to DK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an amazing resource and provides a lot of easy to understand information. I would highly recommend for anyone but especially those looking into renting a home of their own and current renters/owners.

“Don’t panic—Mercury Stardust, AKA The Trans Handy Ma’am is here to help!”

This book is a treasure. Not only is it helpful and practical, but it’s PRETTY and KIND.

What other handyperson manual assumes you know nothing, but DOESN’T make you feel useless?

What other handyperson manual takes care of its owners emotional health as well as their plumbing?

I loved the illustrations, the handy charts, and the simple, logical instructions.

The Emotional Resets are such a unique and I-didn’t-know-I-needed-this-but-you-can-pry-them-from-my-cold-dead-hands feature.

Even though I’m a homeowner, and this book is geared more towards the renter, it’s a book that should be on everyone’s shelf.

I’m purchasing the hardcopy for my son for Christmas.

9.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and DK Publishing for this handy, handy ARC.

Being a long time follower of Mercury, I was ecstatic to find out that she came out with a book. I’ve learned a lot from her tiktok videos!

I love how this is a step by step process of renting an apartment from making a toolkit, to renter friendly ways to mount stuff onto a wall. I already bought a copy for my sister and I think this is a book every young person should have on their bookshelf!

Thank you NetGalley & DK for the digital copy. A special thanks to Mercury Stardust! All opinions are my own.

Mercury Stardust is such a light in our dark world. This book is so thorough and thoroughly enjoyable. I will purchase this for my adult children when they decide to leave the nest.

I never thought I’d EVER say that a “handyman/woman” book would be fun, but man was I wrong!

I saw the name of the author and one-clicked this gem. Known as The Trans Handy Ma’am, Mercury Stardust kept me entertained with her fun vocabulary while also giving amazing tutorials on basics home repairs that can be used for both homeowners but especially renters.

I just loved the whole tone of this one. It was fun and light and supportive and had almost everything you need to know about home upkeep.

ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley.

Mercury is such a sweetheart!
She’s so intelligent and writes with great detail and depth about most things I imagine I would need to know if ever working on a house myself (I have my dad for that for now haha).

But seriously, she makes fixes seem so much less overwhelming and complicated than what I imagine, and I think this is honestly a great gift for anyone moving into their own place!

I would need a physical copy though, like others said the ebook is east to get lost with.