On the positive side, this book gave light to experiences and perspectives many people have which are underrepresented in literature and we need more of! There are a few moments of deep humanity, applicable to everyone. But on the negative side, the book didn't hold my attention enough, there was something superficial and not super engaging about how it was written. I liked the story, but the way it was written just didn't grab me enough.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this E-arc for my honest review.
A touching story of mental illness and accepting who we are. The author was able to blend humor with tears as well as heartbreak and empathy.
This is a story of learning to accept yourself and who you are not defining yourself by illness. It also sheds light on the stigma that society has on mental illness in a very real and raw way. Highly recommend.

Cute book but it took way too many turns to get to the ending. Events happened that just didn’t make sense.
While I did finish the book, it isn’t one I would be running to recommend or read a second time.

I loved this debut novel! The whole crew felt like my new best friends. I fully expected Dee to realize she was actually in love with Misa but alas that was not part of the story. I’m so hopeful for Dee and what comes next. Refreshing and realistic view into serious mental health struggles that are affecting so many people.

Book was tagged as a romance, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was! It was more focused on mental health and strategies of coping, with some fun parts thrown in. It was also a book about self discovery after tragedy and trauma. All that to say - it was still a good book! Dee is our main character with her own manic episodes, while Matt and Misa are two other main characters that are intertwined with Dee. All have tragic background stories and have been through a lot, but Dee is out to discover who she is and who she wants to become. Very appropriate take on many heavy issues, and a well written story. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

Was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story and how connected I felt to all the characters. Dee is struggling to adjust to life outside of the psychiatric hospital where she spent some time getting a handle on her bipolar diagnosis. While there she became close two other patients one of whom she fell in love with. When they all are discharged her friends have fallen in love and are now in engaged to each other leaving her to feel left out and as if she's not "healthy" as they are. When the invitation to the destination wedding arrives she and her sister go for the week and she has to decide if she really is truly in love with Matt or just not really moving forward with her life. This was so well written and handled such a delicate subject so well I will definitely be reading more from this author. Dee's struggle was so real and you could relate to her and just want the best for her and everyone involved in the story. I want to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The book was fantastic. I love getting to know everyone and I loved getting to read about such a great topic.

Thank you NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this in advance.

This was one of my favorite recent reads. Very different than most Romance novels, but very good, and very thought provoking. Mental Health is such a struggle for so many, and I was glad to see it portrayed so well in writing. This can be a hard feat, but I was mesmerized. Moments of humor, love, growth and vulnerability were sprinkled throughout. Definitely would recommend.

Such a funny yet eyeopening read about the struggles with mental health and how to build and maintain friendships around that. Refreshing and real!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book took me quite a bit of time to get into. I think I was over 50% of the way through it before I enjoyed it. That's not to say it's not a good book, but just wasn't doing it for me in the beginning.

However, once I got into it I really did enjoy it. The three main characters are all wildly different yet they fit well together. Dee, Matt & Misa are all forces to be reckoned with in their own ways. I really enjoyed the friendship between Dee and Misa the most.

Tilley, Dee's sister is a walking tornado of emotions and drunken mistakes but is the winner of the book, in my opinion. Her utter devotion to Dee's recovery is so touching and meaningful, I love her so much!!

I'm torn on if I'd recommend this book. I think it has themes that won't appeal to just anyone.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book that totally surprised me! Though I wouldn't categorize this as a romance, it was a beautiful story about friendships of all kinds - those we inherit from our families and those we build during our lives. I found myself consumed by the story and super invested in each of the characters. I loved the focus on mental illness and think I learned things about my own family members who struggle with it. The author did a wonderful job making each character multidimensional and likable - even when messy. I was rooting for each and every one of them.

Never Been Better deals with the difficulties living with Bipolar. The story is written in two time lines. The past focuses on time spent in a psychiatric hospital. The present is at a destination wedding of two the former patients and friends of Dee, the main character.
Dee struggles with figuring out what normal is for her and her Bipolar illness. She also has to learn just how much is too much when trying to support her two best friends.
As a person who deals with Bipolar Disorder the book did a fair job of explaining some aspects the illness. The difficulty after a psychiatric stay was also fairly well described. No book can fully paint a picture of the illness, and a psychiatric stay and all that goes with it. This book manages to capture these things in a way that isn’t too graphic and disturbing.
There are mentions of suicidal thoughts and attempts

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Pretty good read! This book starts rather slow and has a bit too much background that made the plot drag. But I kept going and was glad I did as the story turned out in the end to be pretty great! I really appreciated how the author handled mental health.

At first, I didn't really know what to expect, and to be honest, it took me a bit to really get into this book—like, it dragged on for a while before I finally wrapped it up.

But around three-quarters of the way in, I started cheering for the characters and genuinely hoping they'd catch a break. It turned into this cool story about finding yourself, loving who you are, and dealing with life's curveballs. Gotta admit, though, there was a bunch of extra stuff that bugged me for the first three-quarters, but I ended up getting where the characters were coming from and kinda digging it.

Not your usual read, but it ended up being pretty fun!

I stopped after chapter 1 (7%). The opening chapter was almost entirely backstory which has me questioning if the author started the story in the correct place and if the author is actually… well, going to “show” a story or “tell” a story via flashbacks and heavy exposition in the same vein. Not for me, wasn’t interested in continuing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

80/100 or 4.00 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was better than I was expecting, given the subject matter. It handles mental illness and mental health in one of the most relatable and realistic ways I've read in a long time.
Outside of that, the storyline was predictable, but it ended in a satisfying way.

I was a bit underwhelmed by this story, unfortunately. While it's marketed as a romance with "falling in love" on the cover, I was hoping for a fun flirty storyline - which this was definitely NOT. I enjoyed learning more about mental health from the main characters in the book but the whole plot fell flat for me :( I didn't feel like the connections between certain characters were very well developed and I felt frustrated by parts of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the opportunity to read this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

Never Been Better By Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a well written along with insightful book about a romance and mental health. This book is about a character named Dee and her friends named Matt and Misa who she met during her time when she was in a Mental Hospital. Her friend Matt is engaged and Dee has feelings for him/ is pining over him all the way up until his wedding. It is a very interesting book to read and really learn alongside the characters

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for allowing me to read an ARC of Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson in exchange for my honest review.

I feel this book was miscategorized as "romance." Were there romantic moments? Yes; however, this was more a story of love. Loving friends, family, and yourself.

"But that's the thing about mental illness. Whatever you lean on the most is in the greatest danger of disintegrating beneath you." This line in particular really resounded for me, as I feel this is true of anyone.

I loved every one of the characters. I loved the growth of the characters individually and as a whole. The support and understanding they showed each other was phenomenal.

This book was obviously written from the heart, and I will definitely read it again.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun beach read! It is light enough for any time but interesting enough as well!