I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the completed version. I imagine the artwork is very beautiful, because the rough sketches look great. I thought this was a good but tame representation of an eating disorder. I appreciated that it was subtle and not graphic. I also loved the ending and the main character coming to terms with herself. Truly beautiful work.

"Eat, and Love Yourself" is a short, and somewhat simplistic, yet gorgeous graphic novel centering around discussions of body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

The story follows Mindy who, by chance, purchases a chocolate bar called Eat, and Love Yourself, not knowing the new perspective it will give her on her life and her past. 

When I say this book is really beautiful, I mean it. If Eat, and Love Yourself was a movie, it would win an Oscar for color grading. The amount of aesthetically pleasing, perfectly color-schemed pages in this short novel is astounding. 

But the plot beneath the beautiful appearance is a bit one-dimensional.

This book is basically a parable. It shines a light on the very important topics it’s trying to tackle in a thorough and graceful, yet quite obvious, way. More obvious and simplistic than was necessary even for the YA audience it was intended for. Just from reading the synopsis, it’s pretty clear what will happen in the story and how it will end up.

It’s hard to really connect to a character, even when she is incredibly relatable, who is so clearly the means to an end and I felt a certain lack of emotional investment to the characters and the overall story, which was unfortunate considering what emotional ties would have added to this novel and to a topic that is so emotionally driven.

I rated "Eat, and Love Yourself" 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Boom!box for the early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Pros to this book: the graphics are beautiful, and the dialogue is easy to follow. Throughout the story, you definitely start to garnish emotion for Mindy. However, as I have seen the effects of ED for someone close to me, I'm not sure that I am happiest with the portrayal of the cycle. I think it is a great topic to select to educate others through a graphic novel format, but I was left wishing that a more body positive theme was developed through the story, rather than mainly within the last couple pages. #EatandLoveYourself #NetGalley

This was so good. My second graphic novel and I enjoyed it.
I loved the MC, and I could very well relate to her I suppose. Her conflicts were genuine and so were her emotions.
I loved the illustrations a lot. They were sooo well done and brought out the essence of the story even more. And it was amazing how the whole meaning of the story could be propagated through the illustrations so well in such short pages.
Loved it!!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book. All views expressed are competent mine.

Oh Wow.
Let me just start with that. I didn't quite know what to expect when I started this graphic novel but I was soon completely drawn into the story. I wanted to scream at Mindy and at some of her choices as much as I saw myself in her, which: Did I ask to be called out like this? No I did not. (But thank you anyway, Sweeney Boo, for that reality check.)

In Eat, and Love Yourself we meet twenty-something Mindy, who lives with her cat and has an eating disorder. She eats when she is stressed, or not stressed. Has anxiety or feels good, content... in the end, she always seems to find a reason to eat. Additionally, she suffers from Bulimia. She also is very critical of herself. Due to previous bullying, she doesn't think that any boy could ever be interested in her and completely disregards her best friend, when she compliments Mindy on the way she looks.
Mindy buys a new brand of chocolate on a late night shopping spree and with each bite is transported into a scene of her past. She observes her past self in situations which led up to making her the way she is and for the first time, she realises that and starts to change her outlook on life and her view of herself.

One, I would like to note that the drawing style is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and I absolutely adore each and every character in this comic. Mindy is absolutely stunningly drawn and I took a very long time looking at every detail on each page. The pacing is lovely, the way this story is told is an absolute delight and I really enjoyed reading this little comic that is all for self love!

I absolutely recommend this to anyone who is into comic books, struggles with themselves, struggles with food... oh, hell, just struggles! Or know someone who does, and for everybody in between.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorders, Depression

This powerful graphic novel follows a young woman on a journey. She is plus sized, and dealing with some of the harsh reality that comes with that. She has one good friend, who starts to notice behaviors that cause her pause. One night while she is at the convenience store picking up some things, she notices a particular candy bar, and opts to pick it up. It gives her the power to revisit memories from her past, so that she can learn to love herself.

The art is beautiful and impactful. She sees people that put her on this path, people who loved her no matter her size, and how she felt about herself. This story could definitely be triggering to some people. For me, this was all too relatable, (having dealt with a lot of these things in my younger years.)

I think this story is very powerful, and that it should be read and appreciated throughout. I would honestly love a follow up volume seeing how things pan out for our character.

Eat, and Love Yourself is an inspiring book about growing up and letting go of the teen misconceptions you have about yourself; learning to accept yourself despite the childhood themes you're still carrying. Mindy is a beautiful character and my heart ached for her awkwardness and lack of self esteem. The lesson about looking outside of yourself and trying to see the you that others see is a valuable one.

I absolutely loved this. It's super cute, touching, and definitely one of my new favorite graphic novels ! I could relate a lot to the main character's struggles and experiences, and the artwork was incredible. This is a character-driven story, and one of self-discovery, self-love, that touches on the difficult themes of body dysmorphia and eating disorders in a very thoughtful way. 10/10 would recommend.

Eat, and Love Yourself is a graphic novel about a young woman living with an eating disorder. Mindy lives in Montreal and works at a coffee shop. She is conscious about her body and wishes she could be thinner. She starts having flashback/time-travel experiences as she eats a chocolate bar. She goes back to when she was a child and teenager to revisit how her parents, friends and others helped form her body image.

This was a different take on an eating disorder story...kind of like a mash-up with Dicken's A Christmas Carol. It was a quick read with a lot of stuff to think about. The overall message is positive about taking control of your own life and body image.

I'll admit, I had a hard time reading this due to the western comic style. I started reading manga first, therefore, I cannot unlearn reading from right to left no matter how hard I try. However, I did get the gist of this entirely introspective comic with authentic illustration and the powerful message that is coming across.
The fact that I most definitely read the talk bubbles out of order and still got to enjoy and love everything being said and done....Now that says something.

ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review.

This review is being published on the release date (April 21st, 2020)

Content/Trigger Warnings: Fat shaming/fat phobia, body dsymorphia, eating disorders, depression, anxiety

Dearest friends, let me start by saying that there will be many pieces in this review where I am speaking from my own experiences of eating disorders, body dsymorphia, and disordered eating, and that I strongly urge anyone who picks this graphic novel up to be in the right head space before reading. I will be addressing many things in this review and I think it’s important to state that everyone who reads this graphic novel will experience it differently than others will. I truly liked this graphic novel and I think many readers will like this graphic novel. However, this book did miss a few marks for me and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed.

Our story follows our main character, Mindy who suffers from bulimia and body dsymorphia. One night when she goes grocery shopping, she discovers a candy bar she never heard of before and soon realizes this chocolate bar isn’t like all the others. This chocolate bar takes Mindy back to points in her life to teach her a lesson to hopefully bring her closer to loving herself and seeing the true value despite what others say.

For starters, the art work in this graphic novel is very beautiful and absolutely captivating. The coloring of each panels really helped set the tone and the experience for the readers. I also really enjoyed the way the chocolate bar was used as a way of flashing back to the past. I thought that was a really creative and unique way on the author’s part as well.

I also really appreciate the harsh reality of what eating disorders are like and the way various eating disorders were handled in this book. As some who had bulimia nervosa from a very young age into pre-teens and is still dealing with disordered eating, the representation definitely landed all the hits. You can tell that the author truly understands eating disorders and is written by someone who lived it. I do have the content warnings listed above so please make sure you are practicing self-care when reading this graphic novel. There were some parts that definitely sparked some need for self-care with myself. so please make sure you’re in the right head space. I will say that this graphic novel is brutally honest at addressing fat shaming, fat phobia, and eating disorders especially due to a lot of scenes being from friend and family. How even though these are people a person can care about, they can still find ways to hurt us by saying hurtful things and using “we only want what’s best for you” as a way of justifying their actions.

Despite these positive things, I definitely had some issues with this graphic novel. For starters, I felt very underwhelmed emotionally. I stated that I have lived with eating disorders almost my entire life now and it just didn’t pull on my heart strings the way it has for other readers. My experience with eating disorders has always been a very brutal relationship especially when it came to the loved ones around me and the things they would say. So when the scenes of conflict with the loved ones arose, it felt like things were swept under a rug and never truly explored in depth. I feel like an opportunity was missed on a proper conversation happening between Mindy and those loved ones. I would have loved to see her really sit down and have those conversations.

My other issue was the ending. By the time the ending rolled around, it should have felt like Mindy learned something. However, once again I felt very underwhelmed and feeling like Mindy learned nothing. It almost felt like the conclusion to the story was rushed. I also want to point out that there was never any true feeling of Mindy learning to love herself through this entire book. As we read through the book we see Mindy see how everything started to happen and she does acknowledge what is happening to her. However, we never get a true sense that Mindy fully understands what it means to love herself. All we have is the ending where she states that she’s going to do better by her body. That’s it, it’s no address in further detail or even concludes with bonus content with some time that has passed. We just have her saying she’s going to do right by her body. I really wish we would have gotten a couple more pages or even a more in depth look at how she’s going to start doing right by her body instead of the feeling that it did.

Overall, I did like this book and I think it’s a great message at addressing eating disorders in a more visual tone. However, I would have liked more from this graphic novel, in so many ways. I also would have liked bonus content ending on a more positive note of reclaiming her body and actually treating herself with more kindness. I think many readers will enjoy this book, connect with it, but for myself, I truly wish there had been more depth. The art work, however, is absolutely stunning and I think many will love it as much as I do.

I received an ARC through NetGalley from BOOM! Studios. This graphic novel follows 27-year-old Mindy who purchases an “Eat and Love Yourself” chocolate bar. With each bite Mindy is brought back to moments of growing up and seeing once again how people reacted to her eating habits and her weight. It’s clear Mindy is still dealing with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia and with each trip back in time the reader can see the struggles with family and friends that have effected her mental health. The art is fantastic, but the story doesn’t quite deliver the end message. I wanted more character development between Mindy and all the secondary characters. The ending felt rushed. Not bad, just not quite there. There is no content that would prevent older teens from picking this up and seeing the bullying that continues to effect people later in life.

I really enjoyed reading through this graphic about body dysmorphia and learning to love yourself. I loved the art work and the concept. I thought the magic element brought on by the chocolate bar was new and well played out. I do, however, wish that it was a bit longer. I felt as though there were many ends that were meant to be tied up but were not. I enjoyed seeing Mindy come to a new level of understanding with herself and Elliot, but such a large part of this book was how her family and Shae came to add more issues. While they were addressed slightly, it felt rushed and not completely resolved. I would absolutely recommend this book to friends and family.

Eat, and Love Yourself is a book tackling body dysmorphia, bulimia, and lack of feelings of self worth. Mindy eats away her feelings, then finds herself feeling disgusting, and the cycle continues. She does not notice that her friends and the people she meets think she is perfect the way she is. Mindy purchases diet foods and the magazines with airbrushed models and limits her worth based on her appearance in her mind. One evening, she goes out to grab a snack. Mindy buys a chocolate bar and some sort of magic happens as with each square she visits a moment in her past. Will realizing what brought her to this point help her heal? Will Mindy learn to love herself? Will she allow others to love her? Important topic and read in graphic novel format. YA read

Vibrant artwork, positive messages, and a well-developed graphic novel. There is nothing not to like about Eat, and Love Yourself. I recommend it for new readers of this medium and those of us who have been enjoying comics for a while. Great things from BOOM!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a rocky read for me almost the whole time. The end made the journey a bit smoother but it took a while to get there. I think the story would have had more purpose if she came to her conclusions earlier in the novel rather than the last three pages. The subject matter is very important to address and I liked how it included her feelings and thought patterns and how they originated. The self-isolation was executed well and was a valuable part in depicting Mindy’s struggles with her body.

Review to come in 3 days on my blog/goodreads.

A girl with body issues finds a chocolate bar that has special powers (drugs, magic, both?) and teleports her (in a way) to the past where she will learn things that may in the end be the path to self-love (hopes this makes sense).

I fell in love with the cover and then the blurb. Plus, I am always interested about books about body issues and see what caused them/how the character is doing and see if they get better at the end.

I am going to try write a review but at this moment, but my mind is really not in a good state with the stay-at-home going for the 3rd almost 4th week.

We see that her eating problems and her weight isn't just related to what she does now... it is definitely tied with her shitty parents. Sorry, but that dad was just horrible and the mom just closed her eyes to her kids problem and later acts just as shitty as the dad. Bleh. What the hell parents? And in her teens, when I didn't even find her fat.
The poor girl eats and eats, which I can imagine, she wants something to easy her mind, to make her feel better again. :(
I did think that the whole parents and forgiveness was just done a bit too simple and easy. Come on, this is years of mean comments, of shitty remarks, and it is solved just like that? No. Just no.
Poor Mindy. We see how she has nightmares, see her eat and puke. I just wanted to hug her so badly.

I did like the book but what the hell is up with Mindy's huge ass glasses? They cover her whole face, why?? It really distracted me from the story. Plus, I laughed my butt off during the scenes from the side, it just looked like she was wearing some windows instead of glasses.

Mindy dear, don't run away all the time when things get tough. I understand it though, I have the same problem or well in a way, but I know from myself it just isn't the best idea.

I liked that each time she eats a piece of chocolate and goes back to the past/and back we get a close-up to the chocolate and how much is still left. Nicely done! I also liked when she ate the last part and what happened next. You go girl! I am so glad that she is gaining more confidence and is now going to try to break the cycle. All the luck and love to you Mindy, I am rooting for you.

The ending was fun and I am definitely hoping that she gets together with that guy.

The art was really fabulous and I like it so much.

All in all, a wonderful graphic novel which I loved reading. I would recommend it.

I felt so connected with the main character, living more or less the same problems than her. It felt great seeing the journey of someone with eating disorder because I've just managed to put a word on what I feel. I think this graphic have a solid potential for helping people with this disorder and others to better understand it.

The art is so pretty too.

Will pick up rat queen for sure, I'm pretty sure this author have good chances of becoming my favorite graphic novel author.

Thank you NetGalley and Boom! Studios for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an important story told in such a great way. Mindy's constant reflections with her past self was such an eye opening experience that anyone with a mental illness would find relatable. It also brings out the necessary discussion that needs to be had surrounding eating disorders and body dysmorphia. The emotion that was brought out through the writing really shows an author who has experienced these issues and knows what they are talking about. Heartbreaking tale with beautiful art style makes this one truly remarkable story!

A bit rushed and disjointed at times; made it difficult to get into.
I get what she was trying to do here, just didn't work for me.
Positive note:
The art is AMAZING and a large portion of my rating is just for the illustrations.
Thanks to NetGalley & BOOM! Studios for my DRC.