Book Review: I Feel Awful, Thanks by Lara Pickle

[ID: a brown book with an illustration of a blue haired witch casting a spell next to a black cat in front of a storefront. The words I Feel Awful, Thanks emerge from the green smoke of the spell. The book sits on a white shelf in front of a stack of books with the edges showing. A line of orange roses sits on top of the book stack and on either side of the book. Small fake white pumpkins are scattered on the shelf with book page confetti. A black dragon sticker and a brown geode sit on the book pages. A white column of stone sits to the left of the book next to another orange rose.]

@LibraryOfDreaming’s Book Review:

Can anyone else relate to this title today? (Or everyday for us chronically ill folks… 😫)⁣
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I FEEL AWFUL, THANKS is an interesting little graphic novel about an extremely stressed out witch learning to tame her dragons, a.k.a. her anxiety and depression.⁣
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The mental health rep (based on the author’s own experience) feels real and I really liked the fantasy element of portraying emotions as dragons. The illustrations are cute and perfectly suited for an October read. However, I tend to feel like most graphic novels are all vibes and not much plot. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t read a ton of graphic novels and unfortunately I FEEL AWFUL, THANKS has the same problem. ⁣
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I think the story is treated sensitively, but the format itself (and the short page count) makes for a more shallow read than I would’ve preferred. The main character’s journey is wrapped up a bit too quickly and easily. I would’ve liked to see more world-building too as the bits and pieces we got of potion-making was really interesting!⁣
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But considering the limitations of the format, this book was still an engaging read. I just wanted more! Especially more dragons…⁣