Happy: Finding joy in every day and letting go of perfect

📚🌟Happy by @fearnecotton 🌟📚 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 So here it is my first read of 2021! I made the decision at the end of last year that I wanted to start the new year off with a non-fiction read and well.... what better book to start a new year with than HAPPY. It literally says it all. Now I will be completely honest & say that I have never been a Fearne Cotton fan. I guess I was jealous in my teenage years as she was good friends with the band Mcfly. Let me explain 🙈 at that time I was about 14/15 and almost certain that I was going to marry Danny from Mcfly (I mean why not right?! 🙈😂) so I guess my childish, adolescent brain felt a twinge of jealousy of this beautiful young woman who seemed to have it all figured out. I didn’t hate Fearne (I’m not like that at all) I just didn’t warm to her & as such paid little attention to all the wonderful things she has created. Now in my thirties and finally over my insane crush on Danny from Mcfly 🙈😂 I was able to open my mind & read the first of Fearnes incredible works... Happy! I am now well & truly immersed & completely in LOVE with @fearnecotton. How have I gone so long without this beautiful humans words of wisdom?! This book is a breath of fresh air ❤️ It is so interactive & there are so many exercises all the way through where Fearne encourages you to scribble & doodle your way through the book. At first I’ll admit I was reluctant to deface the book with my pencils... as I don’t even dog ear the pages in my books 🙈. But once I got into the spirit of the book I was drawing away like a regular Bob Ross 😂. Fearne discusses some vitally important topics within the book such as depression & how we treat ourselves and our bodies! She makes you think about what brings happiness into your life.... what takes it away.... and finally how to bring balance back to your life! I now love Fearne to pieces & reading this book I realise just how much I have in common with her. This was the perfect book to start the new year with and I loved it so much I even went and purchased her new book ‘Speak your truth’ which was released today! Highly recommended for anyone who wants to find their happiness & live a life of gratitude & peace x

I absolutely love this book and that has taken me by surprise for several reasons. I normally get really irritated by self-help books. As a lifelong sufferer of severe anxiety I often find mental health books can be quite patronising and fake. I never seem to get far with them before hurling them across the room in a fit of rage but this one, no, not at all. I like her writing style and it has not irritated me in the slightest. I probably fall way outside the expected demographic for these books. At 56 I am obviously closer in age to Fearne's mum than to the author herself. I'm a true introvert and never been one to run with the crowd so although I had vaguely heard of Fearne Cotton I don't follow social media or adhere to the cult of celebrity. In fact I suppose, if I'm completely honest, it made me dither a bit about whether to invest in the books. However, I'm very glad that I did. My anxiety and depression has me at a real low point currently and I need all the help I can get. Browsing led me to Happy, Calm & Quiet and Happy has turned out to be an unexpected joy. It's very readable and well thought out and whilst it isn't a 'therapy' based book it's not light and fluffy either. I have got far more enjoyment from reading this than I ever would have expected. It has been surprisingly helpful in calming my thoughts. I'm glad I found this little gem of a book and I'm looking forward to reading the other two titles.

This book is like a warm hug. The content is so positive, uplifting and inspiring. It focuses on several areas of our lives we can work on to be "happy" such as relationships, nutrition, yoga, identity, balance etc. but with a goal to work on what resonates with you. The book is also interactive and there are so many exercises where Fearne encourages you to scribble and doodle your way through the book. The book is full of pearls of wisdom that are really accessible and Fearne is just so relatable. Would highly recommend as a starting point for the inspiration to make a change.

To me this is a very good feel-good book that actually does what it says on the cover. I like the fact that it’s written in a very understanding way, fully aware of our limits and it’s not condescending. A lot of the time we can find ourselves thinking: “well it’s easy for these so-called celebrities to preach us mere-mortals on how to live our life” but there was none of this “hollier than thou” tone, but rather a collection of feel good nuggets that we can re-read as many times as we want (it does not follow a chronological progression as such, so any chapter and subchapter can be read in any order. It is written simply indeed but it still takes some time to go through as there are quite a lot of thinking points to consider. It’s obvious that this was done with a lot of care and not rushed for publication. Other than the content, I like the design, the feel when you hold the book, the illustrations, choice of colours and general lay-out. I am one of these binge-self-help book readers with a rather embarrassingly big collection and this is one of the few books that I would keep if I had to do a big sort out.

When I bought this book I had no idea how comforting it would be to me dealing with my own mental health problems currently. Not only does this book help me feel normal about the way I'm feeling it has so many useful and easy exercises I would not think of doing which has really helped me. This is a book I will dip in and out of for a long time to continue to do the exercises. It's honest and empowering to everyone going through their own struggles right now would defiantly recommend. Like some books that focus on mental health it can be quite a daunting and negative topic but this book is perfect with its honest story from Fearne and how she has battled with depression to simple changes you can make in your life to fulfil happiness. One of the best books I have read and I am forever grateful for stumbling across it. Would defiantly recommend to anyone who is going through a struggle or who genuinely wants to make changes to fulfil happiness. Great read!

as the title says, Fearn Cotton is simply an inspiration. this being the 2nd book of hers that I have had the privilege of reading. both being such a joy to read. fern is like an artist, she has portrayed everything she has been through and experienced and how she has got through it all and converted it into a book in such a beautiful, inspiring way. she sounds like an expert, the joy of her writing is the honesty and wittiness as well as the exercises she includes, it's what I would call perfection. I have thoroughly enjoyed ever second of this book as well as her other one (quiet) and it felt like everything I needed from a book and I have often found myself feeling abit better at sudden moments here and there compared to before I had read any of her books and I think she is the reason for that. I can't recommend her books enough to anyone, it's just an exquisite way of wanting help and getting it, in every way you can possibly think of.

I really wanted to enjoy this book as I like the author. I can fully appreciate why other people might enjoy it. Fearne gives a very honest and transparent account of her own journey from depression to happiness, and explains the little things in life which have helped. This is certainly interesting and worth a read. Where I struggled was the interactive bits where the reader is invited to do activities to document their own journey. I found it a bit patronizing and it wasn't clear to me how this would help. As I said, I get why many people would like this book. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I prefer something that's a bit more evidence-based for helping people achieve happiness in their lives.

A milliun thank yous to the lovely Fearne Cotton for writing this amazing book.. I decided to order based on other top mark reviews :) and I am more than "happy" that I did:) I feel like this book has been written especially for me. Personally.. It is helping me so much through my latest ugly instalment of the Big D or "menkness" as I call it.. .. it is helping me to think more clearly and also helping me to learn new tools to deal with the mind/body process of coming out the other side to see that rainbow and sun again! It has been written so simply and honestly with helpful tasks too. I've read it in 4 days and started again today underlining everything that is relevant to me... I have also completed the first task too. Thanks again Fearne.. "Be Happy" Xx