Years ago, I made friends with a stranger at a Barcelona cafe because he had a “Friday Kahlo” tote and I was wearing a vaguely floral headband. On the tote was a unibrowed, flower-dawning Frida holding a beer and smoking a cigarette, the expression on her face being very much -___-. While sipping our coffees, we chatted about how iconic Frida and her fuck-all attitude is. My first encounter with a fellow Friducha, as Arianna Davis aptly dubs fans of the legendary artist. The international love of Frida Kahlo instantly unifies. 

In this part-biography/ part-self-help book, Arianna Davis explores the life lessons we all can glean from the life of Frida Kahlo, the ever unapologetically authentic woman beyond the popularized icon, immortalized on totes and t-shirts.

I feel like this book is for both those new to Frida Kahlo and the avid Frida lover, offering a different view of Frida Kahlo, a chance to reflect on the mirror of her life. For biography enthusiasts, I want to note that this is not a traditional biography tome. It won’t explore the nitty gritty details of Frida Kahlo’s life, but it might open your eyes to something about your life, in reflection of hers. 

I hadn’t looked at Frida Kahlo’s artwork in a while, and looking at them now with a little more life under my belt, I saw and experienced them in a new light. Her fierce, honest confrontation and embrace of pain. A reminder of Kahlo’s boldness and candor is something I didn’t realize I really needed right now, in both my art and life in general.

I would've never expected a biography or a memior to mix well with a self-help book but this truly was the best of those genres mixing together. I guess that's a lot like Frida; mixing her feminine with her masculine. This book is full of everything you'd need to know about Frida as well as how her legacy can inspire people and change lives. Truly a great book.

As a lover of Frida myself, I really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea. I found it to be bland and devoid of the life that Frida herself infused into everything she did. I had gone into reading this book thinking it would a guide that used Frida's wisdom and applied it to daily life. I instead got an interpretive biography, and that's a big difference. I probably would not have picked up the book had I realized that the way it was marketed wasn't anything like what was inside the book. This book does not make good on what the synopsis or the cover promises which is a guide to living boldly like Frida. This is a fairly dry biography with some commentary thrown in.

I had a Kindle edition of this book, and the formatting was so bad that there were times I debated just not finishing the book because the formatting was so distracting: artwork cut in half and split between pages (The one-piece not cut in half is 95% of the way through the book), and columns that should've been sidebars were not reformatted for kindle layout.

At times, the fact that this book was written and rushed to the presses within the last seven months. It feels unrefined in parts, and the section breakdowns don't always work well. It feels like it should have had a round (or another round) of beta readers on a platform such as NetGalley where I received my copy, and then had another round of revisions based on that feedback.

It was not a terrible book, but it was not what it was marketed as either.

I thought this was great nonfiction about Frida highlighting information about her that is commonly known and then the information that only experts know. The author does a great job of showcasing Frida living her life boldly! So, I think the author did what they intended to do.
	I liked how the author made sure to incorporate social and cultural concepts in the work! I think the author constructed the work to have a build-up in Frida’s boldness, so the reader could become more inspired. The chapters have specific themes of Frida’s life, where there was an overlapping of information in different chapters. I wonder if there would have been less overlapping of information in chapters if the author took a chronological approach? Regardless, the author chooses these themes for the chapters to best showcase Frida’s boldness and to have it be an inspiration. I liked how there were sections in each chapter that were like a guide for how the reader could be bold like Frida was.
	Now, this book received 4 out of 5 stars because of a couple of reasons. The author cites very personal reasons for choosing to do a book on Frida, which is great but mentioning the connection randomly in the beginning and the end did not help with the flow of the book. It might have done better to leave the personal connection to be in an author’s note, so it did not take away from Frida. Another reason is that as some with a BA in History, I think there should have been more sources used to construct this biography and to make the book more credible to have the sources separated by chapter not just as the book as a whole. It is always better to have too many sources of information than too few. 
	Overall, I do recommend this book because the information about Frida was highly interesting and the tidbits to live your life more boldly were enlightening.

What Would Frida Do?  talks about Frida’s life, love for her art and her husband most of all, her pain and heartaches, her passion and living life to the fullest despite of her circumstances. 

Not much of a Frida fan as I only know that she is a Mexican artist and been being some souvenir stuff with her face on it. When I read this book, I learned a lot about her life and her works. I keep on googling all the works that the author mentioned in the book, only to find out my daughter has a Frida book we bought way back that she used it as reference for some of her art work.

The book was presented in ten chapters referencing on Frida’s life and work detailing some of the most intimate stories of her life.  I enjoyed the author’s writing and the researched she put into this book is commendable. At the end of each chapter, she put in some lessons or thoughts on what would Frida do that we can also apply into our lives. Although I find some of the passages in the book she keeps on repeating and most of the lessons  she presented are general and something that can found in other self-help books.  But overall,  I loved and enjoyed reading this and if you are fan or curious to know more about her as an icon,  you need to read this.

In the last chapter titled Viva La Vida, I did not know that the song by Coldplay was inspired by Frida Khalo.  After all the pain and suffering she endures over the course of her life time, in which some say she did her best works during the most painful moments, she demonstrates  her love for life and yes,  Long Live Life!


Thank you netgalley for the eARC.

This book is part history lesson and part inspirational/creative burst. I enjoyed the peek into Fridas life, the timeline of her work and her personal history. There were also parts that covered some of the people we know and love who were inspired by Frida. The cover is beautiful and so are the illustrations through out. I love the WWFD energy and they break it down into some interesting parts, any Frida fan would love this book!

Well, you can call me a Friducha now...

What Would Frida Do? is a self-titled “Guide to Living Boldly,” just as Ms. Kahlo did. The book weaves together the stories from Kahlo’s legendary life, using her writings to herself, friends, lovers and family to help present-day readers to find Frida in their own lives. Segmented into ten commandment-like themes (such as Confidence, Pain, Identity and Friendship), author Arianna Davis writes about Kahlo with such familiarity and feeling that you can’t help but read on!

I must confess, this was my first foray into learning about Frida Kahlo’s life. She is such an icon that while her image always felt present in my life as a woman and purveyor social media purveyor, I had never purchased anything with her image featured as I didn’t want to be a shallow consumer of someone who I assumed was a feminist icon. All this to say, I loved learning about Frida, and for all those who aren’t usually a self-help/care genre reader - you should still pick this book up if you’ve ever been curious to learn about the great self-portrait artist!

If you love: Frida Kahlo’s work, the concept of self-portraiture and how it relates to selfies, Mexican art and culture, and motivational quotes - you’ll love this book!

This book was a history lesson and a motivational text all in one. The illustrations were lovely, just like the cover, and the historical information about Frida and all the aspects of her life were so interesting to read about! If anything this book motivates me to go out and read more about the incredible Frida Kahlo!

The actual motivational/self-help aspect was okay. It didn't break the mould and the advice was mainly centred around art and creativity so I definitely think creative and artistic people should pick this up for a little inspiration as well as casual life lessons and reflections on daily life all through the lens of life of Frida Kahlo and her struggles, politics, and relationships. 

There were some weird moment where the author would imagine what Frida felt and would say if they had a conversation and I thought it read a little weirdly and presumed too much about what the artist would think and would actually say.

Overall, a solid motivational read that I would recommend to everyone!

WWFD is a playful homage to the legendary Frida Kahlo. It's a great primer for those new to her story, or a good refresher for longtime fans.. It's not a comprehensive biography but rather an exploration into different facets of Frida's life and and some lessons that might be applied to our own lives in current times. There is quite a bit of repetition which makes it possible  to treat each chapter as a stand alone. The author's respect and admiration for her subject clearly shines through. The illustrations are cheerful but keep your browser open as you will likely want to look up some of the artwork for yourself and dig deeper into some of the fascinating details about this extraordinary woman..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy.

The latest offering in “Fridamania” is WHAT WOULD FRIDA DO?: A GUIDE TO LIVING BOLDLY from Arianna Davis, the digital director of O, The Oprah Magazine.  She seeks to carve her niche and shine unique amongst the multitude of Frida homages by showing the reader how they might infuse into their daily lives a shot of Frida’s ‘alegría’ and the way she lived her colorfully bold life.  Arianna is a self proclaimed “Friducha”, and I must admit I am part of the Frida adoration ranks as well, but am in good company with the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé, ColdPlay, and Salma Hayek.  I will never forget my “Frida Day” with bestie Sara Abu-Rumman in Chicago, where the highlight of our celebration of all things Frida and Mexican was the Oscar winning film, Frida starring Salma Hayek.  That film was also the beginning of the author’s Frida journey, but the world has been swept up into a Kahlo frenzy ever since the Women’s Rights and Chicano Movements have brought the artist to heights of fame never achieved during her own lifetime. Posthumously her painting Two Lovers in a Forest sold for the highest amount of money ever paid for a Latin America artist’s work and currently all books I read my daughter that showcase great women trailblazers and heroes include her amongst the ranks.

So until you can make the ‘Friducha’ pilgrimage down to the Museo Frida Kahlo at La Casa Azul yourself, grab this book to learn new little known facts behind a confident strong woman who embraced and used her imperfections and pain to soar to new heights with her painting, make signature statements with her outfits and hair, and fight for her causes and country.  While you may not always agree with her beliefs and behaviors, you have to admire her staunch love and support for all the things she loved, from her home country of Mexico and its culture to her beloved “Panzon” Diego Riviera.  Nothing could stop her if she willed and wanted it— from attending her artist exhibition from her bed to rallying at a protest from her wheelchair to coming back from her husband’s affairs and many health issues and surgeries — she used her pain and roadblocks to inspire her best paintings and create her greatest work and achievements.  However, Davis’s book doesn’t shy away from painting Frida in all her contradictions, acknowledging that 39% of her paintings were self-portraits despite her eschew of flattery, her countless affairs, her self revision of her birthdate and name, and her aversion as well as disdain for “Gringolandia” ‘s people and food just to name a few. 

Set your calendars and grab your fellow “Friduchas” for an evening full of tequila, mariachi music, Frida movies and art books, and authentic Mexican fare to honor the formidable Frida Kahlo next month, October 20, 2020, when Arianna’s WHAT WOULD FRIDA DO? Releases.  Use it to amass and create opportunities to make bold splashes in your life’s giving and doings! 

“Viva La Vida” - Frida Kahlo

‘They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams or nightmares. I painted my own reality.’
An inspiring read about Frida Kahlo and her life as an artist, a wife and a friend, most of all, a trailblazer, who knew how to live loud and proud, embracing her strengths, weaknesses and eccentricities. She married Diego, known for his philandering habits, divorced him and married him again, all along loving him with the same ferocity as the day she fell for him. 

Even when bed-ridden, she never let it deter her from creating and painting, even attending her exhibition against her doctor’s advice. She forgave her sister whose affair with Diego broke her to pieces, she went on to fight for her beliefs despite the challenging conditions she was in, she survived her miscarriages, overcame polio; she never let pain nor the world define her. 

This book encapsulated her spirit and wisdom, her passion for life and love and the people who helped shape her life. There were inspiring quotes to lift one’s spirit, anecdotes, timelines of events in her life from her illness to the celebrations of her as an individual and an artist and political pursuits and snippets of her letters to Diego and her friends which were found recently.

The author took what we could learn from Frida and divided it into chapters such as Confidence, Strength, Creativity, Style, Love, Sex, Identity, Friendship and Viva la Vida, and ending each chapter with ‘What Would Frida Do If…’ she needed to find inner strength, she needed a spark of creativity, she needed a little style inspiration, was heartbroken, wanted to seduce someone, take a stand, and wanted to build a strong inner circle.

Clearly Frida lived her life to the full. Yes, she was a walking paradox – portrayed her self as one who’s strong and determined, and yet her paintings showed otherwise, declared her love for her husband, yet engaged in affairs, womanly and feminine yet also manly and masculine in her outfits. But did she care how she was seen by others? Never.

Some of my favorite quotes from her.
“The most important thing for everyone in Gringolandia is to have ambition and become ‘somebody,’ and frankly, I don’t have the last ambition to become anybody.”
and
“I don’t belong to any category.”

I love the fact that it didn’t bother her that she was seen as the wife of Diego. She just wanted to make him happy to the extent of befriending his ex-wife to learn how to cook his favorite foods from her, and she dressed up the way he liked. It didn’t bother her that she was without ambition, when today, we are so caught up with the rat race, wanting to powerful and ambitious, chasing for trophies and the acknowledgment of others. Frida proved to me that there’s nothing wrong in being proud of who we are and who we want to be, even if it's going against the grain of society. Thank you, Frida! And thank you Davis for writing this book! This was much needed, especially now!

This book would make such a great gift especially because Frida is so well-loved!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of What Would Frida Do?

Like many art lovers, I was familiar with Frida Kahlo and her incredible contributions to the art world but there was so much I did not know.

The book is broken down into ten chapters that outlines Frida's philosophies in life including sex, politics, identity, family and love.

I wished the book contained some of Frida's artwork, which would have saved me time from Googling the titles of her pieces, but the lack of art might be due to copyright issues.

This is a great book for any Frida Kahlo fan or anyone interested in learning more about an extraordinary woman; talented, sassy and a woman ahead of her time.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
Though the formatting was a little funky with the digital ARC, I think this could be a beautifully accessible book for those who love Frida and also for those who have no idea who she is.

Arianna Davis clearly knows Frida Kahlo and how to embody her way of life. 

This book is a deep exploration into Frida's life: how she lived, how her decisions directed her life, and how little she cared about what people thought of her.

I was completely clueless who Frida Kahlo was. If not because of the captivating cover of this book, I would have not requested and picked it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. Here's my honest review.

Reading What Would Frida Do? is a gift to one's self. This book isn't only offering self-help tips through Frida Kahlo's life history but it's also giving us a profound background on what Frida Kahlo stood for as a woman, a wife, a friend, an artist, an activist and as Frida Kahlo herself. 

Arianna Davis did a fantastic job laying this guide to love, life, and happiness through Frida Kahlo to us. This book needs to be celebrated.

A fun approach to living boldly inspired by Frida Kahlo. Ask yourself What would Frida do? She would always do whatever she wanted to. 

The author is very well educated on Fridas life and clearly respects her. Frida herself is fabulous and iconic in every way.

 The book looks at so many topics through different lens including identity, love & all around festivity & creativity.  A sweet self help book to find yourself and become comfortable with who you really are.

The author of this title clearly loves Frida Kahlo.  She has immersed herself in the life of this artist by spending time at La Casa Azul (Frida's home) and by letting the spirit of this artist infuse her.  Ms. Davis has also researched Frida's life and work.


This book includes much biographical information on Frida; her life had contradictions and these are explored.  There are many quotes throughout the illustrated text.  Ms. Davis also looks to Frida as someone who can guide readers on good ways to live their lives.  The book looks at this topic from several points of view including confidence, pain, creativity, style, love, heartbreak, sex, identity, and friendship.  For example, the author notes the famous eyebrows and sees them as a way of loving/accepting herself, implying that there are ways that readers can practice their own self-acceptance.. Other suggestions include things like the using a creative outlet to help build inner strength.


If you are a fan of Frida Kahlo or if you enjoy self-help books, this book may appeal to you.  Many thanks to the publisher for this title.  All opinions are my own.

What Would Frida Do?: A Guide to Living Boldly by Arianna Davis is a fun, informative biography and self-improvement book perfect for when you need a some inspiration. I read Hayden Herrera's big, long Frida biography many, many years ago, but it's been a while, so it was nice get a a refresher. This was delightful to read, and I even got a kick out of the self-improvement aspect of it. What would Frida do? She wouldn't give a damn what anyone thinks, and neither should you! I wish I could show you the cover in color because I've seen pics of it and it's gorgeous, but unfortunately I only have a copy of the e-book (thank you @netgalley!) and this book's publish date is Oct 20th. Author Arianna Davis summed it up nicely in a Refinery29 article saying, "as a bi-racial Latina—my mother is Puerto Rican, and my father is Black—I love how deeply proud Frida was of her own identity as a Latina born to a German father and a Mexican mother with indigenous roots. In the Latinx community, especially, Frida has become an icon for many of us—a symbol for standing up for who you are and never letting anyone define you but you." Be true to yourself, amigas, and live boldly!

I've had a passing interest in Frida Kahla and her life over the years. I can't say I knew a lot of details about her life, but I knew enough to admire her apparent zest for life, and the way she completely owned herself and everything about her life.

This book not only delves into her incredible life and talent, but uses that to highlight valuable life lessons along the way. I think the most important message that the book conveys through the life of Frida Kahlo is to life your life fully and passionately no matter what.

I enjoyed reading the book on the whole. Both for the insights into Frida Kahlo's life as well as the quick snippy takeaways. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book.

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. This modern analysis of the incredible life of Frida Kahlo through the lense of how she may handle modern times kept my attention throughout. I devoured it in one sitting. I loved the author's voice and her connection to Frida. I learned so much about Kahlo that I did not know.

This book was also a beacon of inspiration for me. I can't wait to move forward with some of the ideas that sparked from the "What Would Frida Do..." situations at the end of every chapter! 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to this eARC!