This wasn't an easy book. I mean it was an easy book to connect with and an easy book to read but I don't feel the author took the easy way out on this. These aren't happy people doing a project involving Instagram and hashtags. There aren't magic tricks that make all their problems go away because they're remembering to smile at strangers and dance in the rain. Annie and Polly have problems that legitimately suck. Problems that would be too much for anyone to bear. And at the end they still have those problems. However, can you be happy with such opposition and can being happy make those problems a little easier to bear?

It was interesting to see the project progress and how it changed their lives. There aren't unicorns riding rainbows and eating cotton candy at the end but there's is more laughter, more joy, more hope, and maybe a few tears. I loved watching the project evolve and getting to know the characters. I loved that while Annie's world especially opened up she was still very much herself.

This was a really wonderful read and just the read I needed at the moment. It inspired me to shift my focus a little bit and focus on the positive. This is a fantastic read if you're looking for characters you can really connect to and need your own bit of inspiration.

I was trying to describe this book to my friends the other day over lunch, and I realized that the notion of it sounds depressing, but the wonderful thing about this novel is the complexity; the emotions this book evoked were all over the place, but in the most wonderful way. I laughed, I cried, but most importantly, I soaked up a lot of wisdom. This wonderful tale of friendship allowed me to examine my own life and perspective, and by the end of the novel I was inspired to try to do more each day to live my life to the fullest, much like Polly. Eva Woods did an outstanding job, and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

It’s very rare for me to read a book that touches me on such a personal level, even if I relate to the characters in a major way or if the storyline reaches someplace deep inside my heart I don’t often feel truly moved and inspired by a book. I think this is one of those magical moments where I picked the perfect book at the right time, Something Like Happy was exactly the type of book I needed and I didn’t even realize it until I was done.

Woods was inspired by the 100 days of happy posts that we’ve all seen floating around social media and I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes I’ll roll my eyes at them. No ones life is that great every single day, right?! That’s not the point though, it’s about creating your own happiness by making small changes. The concept behind it is so simple yet so pure, can’t we all find something each day to bring us our own slice of happiness? It can be as easy as eating a piece of cake or doing something kind for a stranger. But these small things can truly change our outlook and make us happier, even if only a bit happier, right?! That’s what Polly thinks and if anyone has a reason to be angry and bitter it’s her. She’s thirty five and only has months to live but when she meets Annie she convinces her to join in her happiness project despite Annie being a very unwilling participant. Annie is at the lowest point of her own life and is angry and bitter and would prefer to stay that way. Once you find out why Annie is so broken it’s easy to understand her behavior. But Polly is persistent and before she knows it the two have actually become real, true friends.

The themes here are heavy, you have loss, grief, pain, heartache and much more. But this isn’t a depressing read, it’s truly uplifting and inspiring without being cheesy. Friendship is so important to this story and the relationship that blossoms between Annie and Polly is honest and beautiful. Polly especially oozes positivity but she’s not fake, she’s just making the most of the time she has left and it was a truly gorgeous thing to witness.

If I’m ever feeling down or throwing myself a pity party I’ll pick this book up again, it’s exactly what I need to read to quit feeling sorry for myself and embrace the life that I was given. It really gave me a new, fresh perspective and inspired me to celebrate the little things and to be truly grateful for all that I have. Happiness is a choice and though it may not always be an easy choice, it’s definitely a state of mind.

Reminded me of JoJo Moyes, just a 'love' story between two women,.
Lovely read.

I've spent most of my life quite happy, and making others feel happy only increases my joy. I love a good inspirational tale, and was hoping this one would pull me in and make me feel all the things. Instead, I couldn't stay awake while reading it, and it took me much longer to finish than I expected.

Polly is endearing, and easily my favorite character. Some might find her over-exuberance annoying, though I appreciate a dedicated quirky character. Annie's whining got old for me fairly quickly, and the other characters all seemed to lack depth.

I did read all of it, and it's a decent title, though I'm not sure I'll recommend for our library to carry it.

I have gotten a few gems from Harlequin lately. They are not romances. These books that I have read have been women’s fiction and they have been good women’s fiction. So, my perception of Harlequin has been changed for the better. I still like their romances but with the women’s fiction that they are putting out is so much better. Something Like Happy is one of those books. I went into reading this book thinking that it was going to be boring but boy was I wrong.

The plot of Something Like Happy was very good and very sad at the same time. Annie and Polly hit it off from the beginning and I loved reading their interactions up until the end of the book. The idea of doing 100 Days of Happiness is intriguing also. I am actually considering doing my own 100 Days of Happiness myself. I want to see where it goes and how far I get.

Something Like Happy fits into the women’s fiction like a glove. I would even go as far to say that it is chick lit. I usually do not read women’s fiction or chick lit but I have found myself being drawn to it lately.

Annie was such a depressing character. She was not happy and it showed in her personality and her life. So when she met Polly at the Dr’s office, I was wondering how that friendship would affect her. It was uplifting to see Annie’s transformation from a bitter, unhappy person to someone who was full of life and forgiveness. She had some pretty ugly things happen to her. Polly forced her to face them and get over them, well, for the most part, get over them. She also forced Annie to go out of her comfort and do some pretty insane things. It was those things that made this book unbelievable!!!

I loved Polly. From the minute Annie met her, you could tell that she was a character. Her outlook on life was something that I could only wish that I had. Her terminal illness only added more depth to her character. I also understood that she wanted to live the rest of her life to the fullest. Which she did with Annie’s help.

There was a small romance between Annie and Dr. Max. That romance was so small that I thought it was only on Annie’s side…like unrequited love. If you want to find out what happens between Annie and Dr. Max, you need to read the book.

The end of the book was both sad and hopeful. I cried for the last 3-4 chapters of the book. When I finished reading Something Like Happy, I had to sit for a while to reflect on what I read and the message that was throughout the book.

5 stars

Summary of Something Like Happy:

Something Like Happy pulled at my heartstrings while I read it. I loved the message woven through out the book as well. It is a beautifully written book that will make you cry and it will make you think.

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Will I reread: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: mild language and some adult situations

I would like to thank Eva Woods, Harlequin, Graydon House and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Something Like Happy.

All opinions stated in this review of Something Like Happy are mine and mine alone

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Big thanks to NetGalley, Graydon House and Eva Woods for the opportunity to read and review this book - wonderful!

This is one of those books that will plug into every emotion that you have. It may leave you a bit breathless at the end but it will definitely remind you of how grateful we need to be in the present.

Annie is sad. She hates her job, her London flat, her husband left her for her best friend, her mother has dementia - so she has reason to be sad, right? Along comes Polly - a young woman Annie meets while visiting her mom at the hospital. Polly has cancer and only 3 months to live. She drags Annie along on a mission - 100 days of happy.

This all may sound cliché but it's a wonderful ride along with Annie and Polly and their group of friends and family. In the world of nothing but bad news, this book truly gives you pause and makes you think about how you use each of the moments we are blessed with.

In a world where many of us are feeling at odds for various reasons, this book is a reminder that it is important to stop and smell the roses. Something Like Happy is a novel that explores the idea that no matter what your circumstances, there is still joy to be found in the little things if you let them. Eva Woods has crafted a beautiful story that is relatable, humorous, and contains a cast of characters that will tug at your heartstrings.

At first glance, one might assume that this story is going to be one that tries to turn the characters’ lives around by putting on rose-coloured glasses. This book, however, is so much more than that. I just love how Woods has woven the 100 Happy Days Project into the novel because it perfectly shows how making small changes in your day-to-day life can help you feel better, if even for a moment. Whether you are working at a dead-end job or have a life-threatening disease, doing a small something for yourself, like Annie and Polly do, can help to lift your spirits. For example, Polly takes Annie out for a picnic lunch during the work day. Annie’s circumstances may not have changed, but it helps her to recharge and face the rest of her day.

The aspect that I love about this book the most is the humour that is found throughout the entire book. Even though there is a considerable amount of heartache in the plot, Woods manages to find a way to pop in some fun dialogue here and there. It really makes the story so easy to relate to and essentially takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute the reader will be laughing along and then the next, feeling overwhelmed with what the characters are dealing with.

There are many characters in this book that are so well-developed and interesting. Annie’s roommate, family members, and the doctors are side characters that all have quirky personalities and add to the flavour of the novel. Annie is one that readers will easily relate to. Polly, however is my absolute favourite. Polly is just so incredible and seems to be the life of the party, even though she is faced with so much adversity.

Something Like Happy is a book that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a book that is a little bit different, and gives you a fresh outlook on life. After reading this one, I was definitely inspired to make some small changes in my everyday routine. It really is important to try and see the world from a new perspective.

Annie Hebden has had a lot happen in her life and she hasn't recovered from any of it as it keeps piling on. The current drama is the dissolution of her marriage and her mother in the hospital for early on set dementia, it is in the hospital where she meets Polly who is a patient and will completely change her life.

With the help of Polly, Annie is challenged to do a 100 days of happiness challenge where each day she either does something or finds happiness in something each day. I loved how the book was edited with long and short chapters each with a title of what Annie did or how she found happiness in that day and the short or long snippet of that day.

I couldn't divulge too much about the book because it is so worth the read and the little surprises inside are great. There were pages where I was crying and then the next I would be laughing out loud, it was a book full of feels! I read this on vacation and it was the PERFECT vacation read to dip in and out of by a pool or curling up for an afternoon of quiet.

I was excited to do research on this author after I finished and find that she has two books on her backlist that I will have to read very soon!

SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods is simply outstanding!!!!!
This book broke me and no this is not an exaggeration - ask my husband who woke up suddenly to the sound of me wailing at 2 am, lol. This story sucked me in and made me care so deeply about the characters and pulled at my heartstrings from start to finish and I definitely went through a box of tissues as I read it, but it also made me laugh out loud, made me appreciate my life even more, and hammered home the point that life really is what you make of it.

Annie Hebden is caught in a monotonous routine of sadness, anger, and grief. And in fairness, after what has happened to her, I completely understood why. Having suffered a tremendous tragedy in her personal life, she now lives in a dirty old flat, works in a job that she detests, and now spends most of her time in hospital visiting her mum who has dementia. Life is hopeless and miserable and Annie cannot see past the darkness.
That is until Polly pops suddenly into her life and refuses to leave - colourful, vibrant, optimistic Polly who has an inoperable tumour and is determined to make each day count. Armed with a plan for her one hundred days of happiness, where she must do something that will make her happy every day for the next one hundred days, Polly ropes Annie into her scheme too. Annie soon finds herself meeting new people, actually showering, and making more of an effort to re-enter the world of the living. With plenty of hilarious antics, Annie and Polly soon forge a friendship that will make your heart melt. But in order to fully embrace the happiness of now, Annie must face up to the heartache of her past, and with the days dwindling away, Polly must stand toe to toe with her own demons too...

Annie and Polly are just the best characters, and while I really loved the extended cast in this book, it is their relationship that really got to me. Both of these strong women are suffering in different ways, and together they find what they need to allow them to find the best in everything they can. Polly breathes life back into Annie's world and really wakes her up from her despair, while Annie is the straight-talking, honest, friend that Polly needs to get her through what is coming. While I cried my eyes out at parts of this story, this is by no means a depressing, morbid read, but rather a celebration of life with plenty of funny moments that made me laugh, and shows the importance of recognising hope and happiness in the smaller, more simpler things in life.

SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods is everything I could wish for in a story that revels in living life in the moment and the importance of friendship. It was an absolute hohttps://www.facebook.com/BooksOfAllKindsBlog/nour to read this book and I will make sure to take note every day of the small things that make me smile, for as Polly likes to say,
"Happiness is a state of mind."

Fun read, enjoyed the characters and had a nice pace. It took a few chapters for me to connect but once I did the pages flew by.

m pretty sure I've never read anything like this before. I was bewildered and exhausted in the beginning by Annie, who was utterly depressed having experienced unnamed losses that she wallowed in, and wallowed in, and wallowed in. She hated her job and her leisure time was spent visiting her mother who had early dementia in the Alzheimer's hospital ward.

Enter Polly, who frequents the hospital for tests to track her brain tumor whom she has named Bob. Polly has lived a life of privilege in contrast to Annie who was raised by her single mother to not expect too much. Polly has just left her cheating husband and is angry at her cancer diagnosis, so decides after meeting angry, miserable Annie to just make herself happy despite everything.

Both are changed by their unlikely friendship when Polly challenges them to 100 days of happiness, the number of days the doctors tell Polly that she has to live. Polly is creative and relentless in her pursuit of her last experiences, and confides in the end to Annie that she's the brave one, living with grief and loss, swimming against the current every day.

The three sub-threads relating to social issues that were nicely braided take this above just a story of life and loss; the underfunded medical care, immigration injustice, and drugs and youth on the streets. It also has a nice bit or romance. I think this will appeal to readers of Liane Moriarty.

Something Like Happy is based on a fun concept. How would your life change if you lived a 100 day happiness challenge? This book follows the story of two unlikely friends on one such happiness journey. It was a fun, easy read, however, I found it a bit too sentimental and unbelievable at times. With that said, sometimes you just need a happy, inspirational story. On those days, look now further than Eva Woods' for a good story.

An emotional book that got me in the feels a couple times, but parts did fall a little flat.

Annie is a mid 30s woman who feels like her life is falling apart - her mother is diagnosed with early onset dementia, her husband has left her for her best friend and she is absolutely miserable in her dead end job. While visiting her mother at the hospital she meets Polly, a woman diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, but who is described as "lightning in a bottle" and makes Annie her pet project to experience "a hundred happy days" before she passes. Polly pushes Annie to get outside her comfort zone - makes her take life by the horns, have some fun and take some chances and in the process, become unlikely best friends.

Enter a cast of characters charmed by Polly - her brother, George, Annie's roommate, Costas, her doctor, Dr. Max, among others, who as accomplices to making Annie's life improved. Lots of second chances abound - Polly getting out of her dull and busy life before her death and living with a joie de vivre before she passes, Annie coming out of her depression and utter sadness over the loss of her family in many different ways. Even Costas, George, Polly's parents and others are inspired by Polly to make changes in their lives to be happier. A couple parts were a little flat or contrived, but for the most part, it was a good read and made me happy to see people come out of their shells and enjoying life more.

This book had almost a Jojo Moyes "Me Before You" feel but with friends instead of romantic interest. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book about accepting the ups and downs in life and moving on. Annie suffered some tragedies in life, and was feeling hopeless until she met Polly. A quote from the book says it all, "The happy days, the sad days, the angry days. Being awake to it all." Well written with much humor and emotion.

Something Like Happy by Eva Woods is one of those books that will stay with you. It's funny and it's sad, at times you won't even know if you want to laugh or cry. I liked it so much that if this was ever made into a movie, I'd be the first one in line to watch it.

In Something Like Happy, Eva Woods gives you a look into true friendships. How others see life and death and how someone can deal with the struggles presented to them in their own different way.

Polly and Annie are night and day, and I think that's the reason their relationship works. Ever optimist Polly succeeds at getting the best of ever pessimist Annie. The way Annie pushes her away at first is how anyone would react if they had a stranger knocking at their door. But the way in which Polly carves her way into Annie's world and how she makes Annie see what she's missing out on is ingenious.

Polly is a narcissist in her own way, but not annoying. Her reasons for doing what she does, for manipulating her loved ones into doing outrageous things, are acceptable given what she faces and what 100 days mean to her.

Annie, on the other hand, is trying to survive living one day at a time but she's still stuck in her past and that pain. With Polly's help, she learns to finally let go and live again. Even if at first it seems Polly is forcing her, but soon she sees Polly is right.

I had high hopes that Polly would cheat time and be happier a little longer, but she leaves the same way she first comes... Suddenly. I can say so much about this book, like it's one of the best I've read in 2017 and that I wish everyone 

I can say so much about this book. It's one of the best books I've read in 2017 and I wish anyone who comes across it gives it a chance. It'll be worth it.

I was drawn to Something Like Happy because of comments from other reviewer's about how the book helped them gain a new outlook on life or changed their perspective on what's really important versus not worth sweating over. After going through a tough time myself, I thought Something Like Happy might provide the "jump start" my life needed. While this is a work of fiction, Something Like Happy is also a "self help" guide for people feeling stuck (and who hasn't at some point?) Reading about Polly-diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and given three months to live-yet embracing every day she has left with a gusto that sometimes leaves everyone around her (and sometimes Polly herself!) breathless-is like watching the sun burst out of the sky after a long gray winter. It's appreciating the simple pleasures in life (like reading a heartbreaking yet uplifting book like this!) and focusing on what you have (while still acknowledging what is lost) that is the main message of Something Like Happy. I don't know if I would be as brave as Polly if death was staring me in the face (instead of hovering just out of sight like it does for most people), but Something Like Happy is a joyful book that will make you smile no matter how bad things are in your life, and give you hope that happiness is something that will find it's way into your heart again.

I couldn't finish, didn't like the characters and the writing was flat. I have lot's of books to read and I thought this one would be the ONE. I was expecting something uplifting, I am sure a lot of people would love this kind of book but, i am sorry to say, not my cup of tea. Thanks for sending the ARC to review.

The first thing I did after reading this book was to see if there were other books by this author, because I loved this book. A very emotional read, but there was a tremendous amount of humour to offset the emotional roller coaster of the main character. There are lessons aplenty in this book: about living life to the fullest, forgiving others in order to move on with your own life, and celebrating friendship, wherever you find it. A very moving and poignant read.

This new novel by Eva Woods has the most vivid characters intertwined in a whirlwind of events that will change their life forever. Once you get a glimpse of a better version of your life, once you make that brave decision you were so scared to pursue, there is no turning back. Is there?

These are not the only reasons why you should read this book, there are plenty of other, but these seem like the most important:

- an incredible friendship;
- a heartbreaking fate;
- love that can help heal and mend; and
- the saddest story that will make you shed tears and tiny smiles, believing that not everything is lost.