I loved this book. It's raw and real and I related to it entirely too much. It's a good mix of real and hopeful, and it definitely doesn't skirt around anything that should be talked about. I loved the illustrations and the way Ollerton speaks about their own personal experiences. It's at once love and devastating to read, and for other neurodivergent people like myself, entirely relatable.

English

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity given me to read this e-ARC. To say that Lavender Clouds is introspective is putting it mildly. With its colorful, and in my opinion, beautiful and funny drawings, it was able to dig deep into my moods, the processes of my strange and funny mind, my habits, negative loops and the constant effort to stay afloat in some days. A comic about ADHD, autism and mental health that should be translated into Italian and read in all schools and universities. Especially for those people who go through all this feeling wrong, broken and misunderstood but still somehow survive. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Bex Ollerton, because by bringing your difficulties to life you made me feel understood and represented.

“The sky doesn’t need to be clear to be beautiful…”

Italiano

Ringrazio Netgalley e Andrews McMeel Publishing per l’opportunità datami di leggere questo e-ARC. Dire che Lavender Clouds è introspettivo, è dire poco. Con i suoi colorati, e a mio parere, bellissimi e divertenti disegni ha saputo scavare nel profondo dei miei stati d’animo, dei processi della mia strana e divertente mente, delle mie abitudini, dei loop negativi e del continuo sforzo di restare a galla di certe mie giornate. Un fumetto su ADHD, autismo e salute mentale che andrebbe tradotto in italiano e letto in tutte le scuole e università. Soprattutto per quelle persone che affrontano tutto questo sentendosi sbagliate, rotte e incomprese ma che comunque in qualche modo sopravvivono. Grazie dal profondo del cuore a Bex Ollerton, perché dando vita alle tue difficoltà mi hai fatta sentire compresa e rappresentata.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.

I find this book 100% relatable and I know others well too. It's always a relief to find that your thoughts and feelings are not only valid but shared with others. It's nice to feel not alone

This collection of comics are not only beautiful in their artwork, but also emotionally moving. They are a touching depiction of the inner life and struggles of neurodivergent people. Even neurotypical people with mental health issues will find something to relate with tm in these comics. What a wonderful way to teach people empathy and ti understand how different brains work!

This is a really relatable story. I loved the art style and how we work through anxiety and other mental health issues with the author. The book is a journey of elf-acceptance and can be appreciated by anyone.

This book is so important! Everyone struggles with mental health in their own ways and reading this helped me feel so much better! I always thought it was just me that thinks like the situations in the comics but it’s comforting to know I’m not alone. I could relate to almost every single page. I’ve never felt so heard before especially with a hard topic as mental health is. Because of this read I will take the time to be a lot easier on myself and try to help shift my way of thinking a bit! I also really enjoyed the art style as it was really nice to look at while reading! I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this book so I have a reminder that everything will be okay!

I wanted to read this because I have read Sensory: Life on the Spectrum, which was a collaboration work of the the same author with others. I enjoyed her works the most and I wanted to read something where someone put into words and graphics what I struggle with everyday.

The comic is a compilation of mostly one-page strips of Bex Ollerton's (aka schnumn) everyday battles with herself, the things people who expected her to be "normal" have said to her, what it's like on her good days and how she tries to be gentle with herself. I can relate so much with her that I'm glad she gets to make a book about it so that more people like us know that we are not alone.

On the art style, I love it a lot! Her (mostly pastel) colour choices, her simple and cute illustrations are so pleasant to the eyes and easy to comprehend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This collection of comics / comicpanels by Bex Ollerton is in its style very cute and in its content somewhere between hope and despair.

Bex shows what living with depression, anxiety and ADHS feels like. Being burnt out, loving your work but being burnt out, working hard and hanging on by a thread but not being able to look hopeful into the future.
But she also tells the reader about how every step forward is a tiny victory and that progress is progress, no matter how small or whether you fall back into old habits or not.

It‘s a nice collection but nothing really new that would stand out of the mass of comicpanels about mental health.

this pretty short comic is a good piece of literature for everyone struggling, and we all do sometimes. i'd recommend it to teenagers, to new adults, basically everyone. the cute art style softens some of those pretty hard to accept truths and feels like a warm hug. the comic makes you feel seen, you realize you're not alone in your struggles and many people experience the same stuff you do.

This memoir is a short, sweet reminder of what life can be like when you’re fighting through burnout. Or, rather, when you can no longer fight through it and have to let it consume you for a while. Originally serialised on the author’s website, this collection of strips about neurodivergence, mental health, and feeling like the world is leaving you behind is both relatable and comforting.

I’m currently going through a big life change, and have been feeling on the brink of burnout myself. As someone who, like the author, is autistic, I really empathise with that feeling that everyone around you has worked out what life is about and how to tackle the demands that feel insurmountable when you’re neurodivergent.

Due to the serialised format of the original, this does feel somewhat disparate at times. Though there’s a strong overarching theme throughout the book, it does sometimes feel as if we’re seeing a variety of different points in the author’s life, giving a mosaic feeling rather than a clear narrative structure. Some points are returned to throughout the book, which sometimes feels like a motif and sometimes like a jarring moment of deja vu. However, there’s some genuinely touching moments of reflection that feel as if it’s grasping through the page (or screen) and demanding that you in particular are the person it was meant to reach.

“Healing has no timeline. The road is long and difficult. You will lose your way over and over again, and you may find that some of the people you used to rely on can’t support you anymore…
But you’re not alone. And you will make it through this.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I liked this little graphic novel. The illustrations are cute and the language is funny in a casual and self-depricating kind of way.

The overall tone of the book is fairy negative (but in a light-hearted way), wherein the author recounts their experiences with depression, anxiety and stress in a very forward manner.

You should note that this is by no means a self-help book and the author doesn't really offer any 'answer' to the experiences presented in each of the comics. I don't think that takes away from the book at all, but rather gives a very real representation of what it's like to live with depression, etc.

I think any neurodivergent person who suffers from depression or anxiety would find this book to be incredibly relateable.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley, the Publisher and the Author!

At first I liked this book. But it got bleak and monotone and way to much text. 🙈
I struggle with anxiety, emotional overload (being an empath) and depression and a lot of what was pictured here was very recognizable and sometimes confronting, so it was relatable at times, though I don’t struggle with all of the same mental health pieces. Although I read the whole comic, it was to much for my brain to take it all in. My mind is all over the place and so is this book. Which made it hard to keep being focused. I enjoyed it nonetheless and am grateful for it to be out there and for others to see and maybe understand other who struggle a bit more. Thank you for this chance!

Thank you to Andrews McMeel and NetGalley for the eGalley to review!

I have never related to anything so much before. Wow. There are several comics I want to photocopy and put up on my desks as reminders, because they resonate so deeply being neurodivergent and mentally ill myself. To put such personal, yet relatable, comics into the world like this took a bit of courage and I can see them also helping many people aside from getting a morbid laugh. There are quite a few inspirational messages in here and subtle advice to others, as Bex Ollerton shares her own process for dealing with these tough situations.

My only issue is most comics are only one page while there are some that take multiple pages to tell, yet they all run together. Some of them I'm not sure if the next page is a continuation or a separate comic because there is no indication other than subtle panel frame differences. There is also a bit of text speak which could be confusing to some audiences, but that's a very minor thing.

I really enjoyed reading this graphic memoir and it'll be on a mental health recommendation list for sure.

Loved it, I connected to the author so much. She made the comic strips easy to understand. I could relate heavily and had some new insights about my neurodivergence. I am positive this comic will help a lot of people feel less alone

Very real and honest depiction of what it's like to be neurodivergent! I loved the color palette used for this comic, and the art style was great. The content was all also very spot-on and as a neurodivergent person myself, I related to so much of it! This is a great one for neurodivergent people to read to feel less alone and for everyone to read to help understand the people in their life!

A comic collection about what its like to be a neurodivergent. Really insightful, gecause the author is telling her first hand experience. There kay be a lot of explanation about neurodivergent itself, but You dont get this kind of insight easily on the internet.

Omgggg I have never seen something that depicts my life so well.
Other reviews talked about how it didn’t have as much hope as they were looking for which is fair. But for someone that needed to see that other people relate!! This was for me and I’m so glad I read it.

The art style was fun and the text was legible.

Overall enjoyable experience.

Thanks to netgalley and Andrew’s McMeel for an eARC.

I quite enjoyed this little collection of comics. The art is lovely, and I quite enjoyed the sweet, encouraging panels, and related a bit too hard to the rest. It was comforting seeing my struggles reflected in a caring way.

My only minor grievance is there were a few sets of panels I wish had some variety of continuation to, some felt like cliffhangers, but perhaps that more a me thing than anything else.

The art in this book was creative and expressive of the author's style. I enjoyed how candid it was about mental health. It was extremely relatable.

I loved the artwork, it's nice and calm and not to much which really helps when showcasing the different struggles of neurodivergency and mental health issues. The internal struggles were all very accurate which I loved but I would have loved to have it end on a more positive note. I can imagine people would find the amount of negativity discouraging. On the other side, it is not claiming to be a self-help comic or whatever so it does not have to have more positivity or need to be uplifting.

Overall I found it quite good :)