Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately, this was not for me. DNF at 40%.

The premise seemed right up my alley - witches, potions and discussions of mental health? How could I not like it?
This does seem to be for a younger audience - perfect for the YA audience. It deals with toxic positivity - feeling like you cannot let yourself feel the any negative emotions and bottling everything inside, feeling like you don't deserve to let yourself be sad. For someone who is already aware of the discussion surrounding toxic positivity, I was interested in diving into the story - unfortunately, it didn't have much to offer.

Another weird detail: there is a metaphore for animal testing - the main character refuses to create potions using animal hairs. However the metaphore doesn't track - animal testing and using some hairs your cat shed is not the same thing at all, and the main character seemed rather ridiculous.

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. This graphic novel should be on every bookshelf. It powerfully addresses topics including mental health, relationships (healthy and toxic), and gender dynamics. It does a wonderful job normalizing emotions and that there are no "negative emotions". I especially enjoyed the way the author explains the job of each emotion.

4,5⭐️
This book is set in an alternate world where magic is everywhere but it’s only for mild practical purposes, the main topic is about the main character, Joana, dealing with drastic emotions that started to appear after she began a new life in foreign country. A cozy fantasy that hits close to reality and a lot of people could relate to. Really love the atmosphere, and the illustrations are so pretty.

This graphic novel was so cute and also has a lot of insight on mental health and relationships of all kinds in life. The artwork and storytelling is amazing and it was a fun way to get into such deep topics in life. I thoroughly enjoyed this in one sitting and then promptly forgot to review it :( but better late than never i guess!!

Love this isn't a book about magic eventhough we are immersed in a world of magic. Everyone has abilities. Everyone is also a person. Joana has to face her emotional dragons. She is a ball of impostor syndrome, fear, sadness, and joy. The dragons become too much hen someone else takes credit for her work. Seeking help from a therapist helps her tame her dragons and decide next steps. A few moments the dialog feels preachy. Stunning artwork throughout.
VERDICT- solid mental health addition for teens.

Though I enjoyed most of this book, I felt like everything was very fast paced and gave me a bit of whiplash. Which I know mental health problems can happen slowly or quickly, but I felt like I didn’t see so much of the build up due to time jumps. It didn’t feel quite as realistic to me since we skipped so much time throughout.

I felt like I had an handful of unanswered questions as well. I’m assuming her back represented a tangible emotional baggage, but how come nobody else had a bag like it? Is it something only the individual witch and these specific dragon trainers can see? Or do bags look different per witch and some do have them? Why were Tom’s eyes red? Did she have any of these problems in Spain?

The artwork was really well done though, and I did love some of the smaller pop culture references. Hopefully this isn’t a stand alone book, and we get other perspectives, as I don’t see how we continue with MC’s POV.

There was a lot of information on anxiety and handling tough emotions throughout this story. There was a lot of relatability with the feelings Joana, a young witch starting her career, experienced and I appreciate the openness that life if tough and it is all right to get help if one needs it. The art was detailed and colorful and did well to help tell the story. I wanted more in the plot, was not sure about the magic system, and was not entirely sure which age group this would work well with, which took this down to a 3 star.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early arc for review.

“How do you think dragons are made Joanna?”

from the story to the illustrations, this graphic novel is captivating, intense and unexpected. A five star read I cannot wait to share with other people who live with anxiety and a complicated relationship with their own dragons.

Loved this! I was expecting a silly witchy novel and instead got a wonderful slice of life story with helpful coping mechanisms. It's been a while since my last therapy session. This story helped remind me I need to be more conscious of my dragons and know how to handle them. I'm happy I read this before the New Year, puts me in the right headspace.

I really enjoyed the themes of "I feel awful thanks" and the way it tackled mental health. It's really good to see it being represented more in books, and in different forms. I really loved seeing all the supportive characters around Joana. The story really captured what it is like to be juggling so many aspects of adulthood and how it can be difficult to do everything at once. I am rating the book three stars as I enjoyed the art style and the story, but it didn't have anything that really grabbed my attention. It was still a worthwhile read though and would recommend it to others who enjoy graphic novels.

I was kindly gifted a copy of "I Feel Awful, Thanks" from the publisher via net galley in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel was a very fun read. I enjoyed the characters and storyline. I can't wait to buy it for my library and see it fly off the shelf.

this was a fun, heart-filled story that helped to highlight real-world emotional issues from a more fantastical lens. i will say, with the way the blurb stated that jo had "dragons inside her," i thought it would lean far more fantasy, but using the metaphor of a beast in favor of regulating mental illness was pretty smart. i thought that there were some issues with the pacing, time flying past much faster between scenes than made sense for the narrative, but the illustrations were beautiful and the moral of the story centering on understanding how to regulate our feelings was successful.

In this witchy book we follow Joana, who doesn’t feel good. We follow her and see her try to get in touch with herself and her emotions.

This is honestly quite hard for me to review since I didn’t really enjoy reading it. The themes discussed, are in my opinion important and the message that you should use the tools that are at your disposal is something, that was helpful to me.

So in terms of the mental health aspect I liked the depiction of it. Sometimes it just felt a bit long and like it interrupted the story.

Now to why this wasn’t exactly enjoyable for me. This isn’t a big book, still I had to push myself to finish it. For me there was no real connection to any of the characters. The plot was to fast paced and the pacing was off.

If you struggle and haven’t quiet figured out everything, you should still give it a try. I see this working for other people.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who often struggles with fear and anxiety, I felt seen reading this book. I loved Joanna's characters and her friends and how they see that something is wrong and are ready to do everything they can to make her feel better. The psychological aspect of the book is what I loved the most because it is very well explained and everybody can relate to feeling at least a few of those emotions. I highly recommend it.

Joana's struggles with adulthood including a focus on work, relationships, and mental health were so strongly relatable. Throughout the story you empathize with her and the wild balancing act we all try to do. Joana faces her dragons and learns how to tame them instead of hiding from them.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, the art style is beautiful and the message is so important. We definitely need to have more open conversations about mental health and that it’s okay to not be okay.
I would recommend this to so many people and can’t wait to see the beautiful finished copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

I love witchy novels and graphic novels so I was super excited to read this story! I also am a big advocate for mental health so I was super interested to see what this story had in store! Overall I did enjoy this book. I thought it had really awesome themes and tackled the theme of Mental illness really well. I appreciated the conversations between Joana and her therapist, I thought they brought a rawness and realness to a fantasy novel. The reason I gave this book 3 stars was even though I did enjoy it overall I didn’t find it anything special.

This review is also posted on goodreads!

This was such an unbelievably cute and relatable story! The fantasy world usually focuses on the intense emotions of battle, love and gore(!), but it was so refreshing to have such relatable characters, who happened to do magic. Having the resolution be full and rich with detail was the cherry on top. “Happily Ever After” only gets you so far, and I’m thrilled that Lara did not let us down. Absolutely recommended.

Joana is a young witch who travels to London to pursue her dream job in potion making. As she encounters difficulties on the work floor, in her dating life, and at home with her roommate, she finds it hard to manage her emotions.

This graphic novel teaches the reader that it’s okay to not be okay, and that there is a way to deal with all of the emotions we’re feeling. The emotions that the MC experiences are portrayed as dragon’s that she has to face and control, and I absolutely loved this aspect of the story. I think a lot of people are able to relate to Joanna and might learn a thing or two from Joanna’s journey towards self-love.

With its beautiful illustrations, witchy theme, and important discussion of mental health, I definitely recommend this one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange of an honest review.

Es una buena historia, pero creo que en la parte en que pretendía ser "más fuerte", me aburrí. Me dieron ganas de saltarme páginas completas de diálogos con la "terapeuta", me sentí en un libro de autoayuda, y buen, en retrospectiva, quizá sí lo sea.

Hubo partes en que sentí que hubieron demasiados detalles, cosas un poco innecesarias. Y otros momentos en que se dejaba mucho a la imaginación. En fin, no logré acostumbrarme nunca a su ritmo.

Lo que destaco de esta novela gráfica, son sus bellísimas ilustraciones, su comprensión y presentación de las distintas emociones humanas, y los bellos lazos de amistad que muestra (la red de apoyo de la protagonista).

En fin, no es una mala historia, pero no era para mí, al menos quizá no en este momento.