Frida Kahlo is remembered for more than just being an artist: she is known for being an inspiration, a feminist, and a fearless force to be reckon with who continually celebrated herself. Unapologetically herself, Frida was authentic and always embraced what others might’ve consider to be flaws.

This book provided an introduction to all-things Frida, which was helpful to readers such as me who went into this book with extraordinarily little knowledge of who she was and the legacy she left behind. After reading, I was pleased to learn so much about her art, style, marriage, and the adversity she faced within her lifetime.

It was easy to see how much the author adores Frida and looks to her for inspiration in her life. However, the writing was a little too redundant for my liking, and readers who already know details of Frida’s life might find the knowledge in this book to be very general.

This book is classified as a biography/memoir, adult nonfiction, and self-help. However, I was not a fan of the self-help elements in the book, which attempted to lead readers to learn more about ways they can apply parts of Frida’s life into modern-day trends. Although I could see where Davis was going with this, I found it taking away from the many remarkable and biographical complexities of Frida.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media, Seal Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

#WhatWouldFridaDo #DreamscapeMedia #NetGalley

4.5 stars**
I had so much fun reading this! I loved the way this was formatted with biography mixed with "What would Frida do about ____". I thought this was a fun spin on a biography. And the cover of this? GORGEOUS! It definitely drew in my attention. I knew basically nothing about Frida before this and now having read it and knowing more about her life I would have loved to been friends with her. She was an awesome person who had her flaws, recognized them and accepted them. The introduction chapter with a brief summary of Frida's life I could have gone without because all of it was talked about in more detail, so a lot of details were mentioned multiple times but it wasn't really a big deal.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this to people who are interested in Frida Kahlo or biographies in general.

I was intrigued by this book title because I love Frida Kahlo's artwork and the movie Frida starring Salma Hayek. The book does an excellent job of telling Kahlo's life story and explaining how her personal tragedies and pain informed and influenced her artwork. The book is a well written love letter to Frida Kahlo but I found it repetitive. The introduction of the book details Kahlo's life and accomplishments but then each chapter refers to events in Kahlo's life that were already described earlier in the book. There is certainly a lot to be learned from examining the artist's unique life but I think you might need to be a very big fan to really love this book.

Part biography, part personal development, this book shares the life of legendary artist and icon Frida Kahlo while drawing from her fierceness to inspire readers to emulate Frida’s bold and fearless spirit. Each chapter was filled with interesting facts about Frida’s life, details about her art, quotes from her, and practical advice about how to live as authentically as she did. I have to admit although I know who Frida is and some of her art, I didn’t know a lot about her life going into this book. I was able to learn more about her and how incredible she really was and I loved the advice on how I could live like Frida myself. People who know more about her might not learn as much, but for a Frida beginner like me, this was a great starting point. Listening to it, I felt like I was listening to a friend talking, which made for a great listen!

Read if: you love learning about badass women, you want to learn more about Frida, and/or you’re looking for some inspiration.

Thank you to @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for this advanced listeners copy in exchange for an honest review.

As an art teacher and big fan of Frida Kahlo not only as an artist but as a person. I was very excited to read this book. Through this book, we learned what Frida would do when presented with specific challenges based on how she lived her life. Frida lived her short life to the fullest even when presented with serious health concerns and traumas. The book was a little repetitive, a lot of the stories were repeated multiple times throughout the book. #netgalley

Date reviewed: January 13th, 2021
Pub Date: January 5th, 2021

What Would Frida Do? A Guide to Living Boldly is a beautiful mix of biography and self help. With chapters broken up by theme, (love, heartbreak etc.) there is a little something for everyone. Though the words and actions of Frida, we are shown what rising above, strength in the most difficult times and loving without bounds looks like. Living boldly is a choice, and if we channel our inner Frida, we can do just that.

Throughout What Would Frida Do? I was able to hear her voice. Not only were there suggestions of doable things we could do to live boldly, but her voice in the form of quotes was throughout. The descriptions of her work was so vivid and I was googling many of her paintings to understand her better. I did not know that I NEEDED to know about Frida. She is so strong and is a great role model. I listened to an audiobook, but I will be purchasing the hard copy of this book for myself and the women close to me!

#dreamscapemedia #NetGalley

The author is likable and I enjoy her writing style. Unfortunately, this book is unnecessary. We would never know what Frida would do because she's dead. The author spends only 10% of the book answering this question. Her speculations: keep a journal, drink tequila, wear a uniform. Most of the book is reviewing Frida's life in a timeline then divulging in a specific topic for each chapter. Extremely repetitive, so much so I had to check to see if I'm re-listening to a previous chapter. I listened to the audio book but I hope the physical book has images of Frida's art and photos of her. If not, I would not recommend.

I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley.

What Would Frida Do is a contemporary combination of self-help and biography. While Davis does go into detail about the life and works of Kahlo, she also shares personal insight and interpretations of certain periods from the artist's life and shares what important lessons she believes can be learned from Frida Kahlo. 

I would describe the tone of this book as conversational. The audio version certainly helps add to the writing as it isn't a typical biography. Instead, What Would Frida Do comes across like a friend eagerly sharing information with you about something new that they discovered or something that they love. The author’s passion about Frida and the idea that Frida helped her with her own self-discovery is very evident.

I personally like the blend of self-help and biography. It was new and interesting and the style of the book lent itself as more of an open dialogue, leaving room for personal opinion. I have seen some reviews state that they disagreed with what they perceived as criticism of Frida for staying with her husband throughout their rocky relationship and the representation of Frida as an imperfect person but I believe it is okay to just disagree a little bit with someone's personal opinions, even authors. Since the book feels like a discussion, I feel it is normal for perceived and very real "flaws" of such a lively and complex person to come up, just they would during any drawn out conversation about an artist and an honest review of their life.  My main criticism lies within the repetitive nature of the book. I wouldn’t have had a problem with a quote being reused or an idea being reintroduced multiple times if it was a technique used sparingly; however, there were many times that I felt that information was regurgitated in the following chapters twice or even three times.

I, like many, find the life of Frida Kahlo fascinating and enjoyed getting to see someone else’s perspective on it. I also loved seeing how the author believed that moments from Frida’s life could be used as inspiration for all. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to review an ARC copy of this audiobook.

What a confusing time to read books! Only those which completely capture me will do, and this one did just that.

It seems like Frida simply is, just as Blue Dog simply is (don’t mistake this for a comparison of Frida to Blue Dog, no, no, no. But the images, one of self-portrait and the other of a blue dog, are proliferate in our culture due to the painter’s singular concentration on their subjects). Other than watching the Frida movie and knowing the icon, I didn’t know much about Frida. This book has seriously broadened my horizon’s but in such a fun, palatable way. Normally when I read non-fiction I take it in small bursts but WHAT WOULD FRIDA DO captured me and kept me coming back for more, even in a time of such turmoil here in the US.

The book is divided into 10 sections dedicated to subjects, such as creativity, style, and sex. Throughout the sections Frida quotes are amplified. There are also timelines and then a wrap up called “What would Frida do . . . .”

The book is creatively inspiring as well as full of strong woman tips. Perhaps this is why I kept coming back to it over and over. Easy to digest, engaging, and strengthening, WHAT WOULD FRIDA DO has earned a keeper spot in my heart. Creatives and woke women will love this offering.

Narrated by Marisa Blake “What would Frida Do?: A Guide to Living Boldly by Ariana Davis” was a pleasure to listen to as Davis's appreciation for Frida Khalo explored salient aspects of the artist's life and was explored in this brief yet full memoir. She describes herself first as an admirer of Khalo and explores the relationship the artist has had with her devotees or “Friduchas” as she referred to her students. The contents of this book were separated by chapters adding to key elements found in Khalo’s brief yet full life. The narration by Blake added pathos to this engaging tale of heartbreak, love, creativity, and identity. This memoir gives its reader the inspiration to look to other memos and biographies of Khalo adding to the memorizing effect felt after reading Davis’ guide to living like Frida did boldly and full of life. On Goodreads, I give this book five out of five stars and accompanied the audiobook five out of five stars. I highly recommend it. I’d like to thank Netgalley and Dreamscape media for a review copy of its audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I’m at about 4.5 stars from this but that doesn’t take away from how much I loved this book!

The reason why I went with 4.5 was because I felt the first 30% of the book was a bit repetitive. It also felt like a very long introduction.

Once I passed that I flew through this book. Loved the narration for this book as it was easy to follow while working on my crafts!

As of last year I read a book on Frida’s life but really preferred this one. I thought this book was very informative and enjoyed how the book used references such as her diary. This made it all that more personable.

I really enjoyed the format of this as well. Each section started with its own “What would Frida Do?” on day to day problems and gave examples as to how Frida dealt with these issues. Each chapter seemed to end with some popular Frida quotes which I greatly enjoyed.

Kuddos all around. I loved. (:

I knew nothing about Frida aside from seeing some of her art in a museum and seeing her face on all types of merch. The authors adoration and passion for Frida makes this a lovely happy read that I would recommend if you are in need of a feel-good book.

Author Arianna Davis takes inspiration from the life of Frida Kahlo to guide readers (and in this case listeners), through life. Frida Kahlo lived life to the fullest, even while dealing with severe medical and relationship problems.  Kahlo is today a feminist icon with a signature style, but during her time she was not considered to be commercially successful. However, her style, boldness, and her outspoken nature showed a desire to overcome and live a life by her rules.  Davis uses personal stories of her inspiration from Kahlo, as well as many references to the icon's art and life, to encourage listeners to live their life to the fullest. The audiobook is cheerfully delivered by narrator Marisa Blake, and works as a great distraction during a workout, a commute, or doing the day to day work that builds up our lives.

What Would Frida Do is available in print and audiobook now.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was really disappointed in this book. That's hard for me to admit for an ARC, but honestly, I expected so much more from a book categorized as a BIOGRAPHY of Frida Kahlo. If this was a memoir of the author's experience getting to know about and feeling like she had an understanding with Kahlo, it would be easier to accept, but this book is listed as a biography in several places, and I just don't agree with that classification. There are SO many personal reflections by the author and personal experiences of the author's, it doesn't feel like a biography of Kahlo.

I first fully put a face to a name with Kahlo a few years ago, when my kids were in middle school and doing an art class about artists of the world. Kahlo was included in the materials, and I vaguely recognized the name and the style, as having seen it 'somewhere before', but was curious enough to read the Wikipedia article and the quick artist bio provided by the school. After that, I started looking for information about Kahlo, and in the recent years, there have been more mentions of her, as the feminist movements have become more popular. Any and all of those sources - including the 1-page bio in my daughter's 'artists of the world' school book - contained more actual fact (and less emotion or projected feelings) than this book does.

Between the time that I requested to review a copy of this e-ARC and the time I was granted the book, I found an e copy of the book through the library system, and planned to read it. After listening to this audio, I went back to the book to see if artwork was actually included in the book, as there are so many references to the different pieces. I couldn't find any artwork contained the the copy of the book that I'd checked out. I'm not sure if that's an issue with the ebook from the library, and the actual print book does include those art images, but I found it very strange that a 'biography' of an artist contained no images of the work referenced or of the artist, her home, etc.

I had issues with a few other points of the book, including the careless comment about alcoholism, the repetitive nature of most of the book, and the frequent comments about Kahlo's sexuality - it seems to me that many books lately seem to be adding a lot more details about sexual fluidity and comments about a person's sexuality than I ever remember reading at any other time of my life - but for me the 2 star rating comes from the lack of information in this 'biography' and the over abundance of the author's personal experiences, understandings, thoughts and projections of how SHE thought Kahlo would respond. If this book is going to be labeled a biography, I'm being generous with a 2 star review. Had this book clearly and continually declared itself to be something of a memoir of the author's life finding Kahlo and learning about her, I would have raised the rating to a 3 or possibly even 4 star review. I don't think the author has a bad writing style or an inability to write - she is clearly interested and maybe even passionate about the topic. But that doesn't make it a biography. I think clear lines need to be drawn for the genres.

The narration of the book, done by Marisa Blake was well done. The narrator's speech and diction was clear and easy to understand. I've not listened to Marisa Blake's other works, and know nothing about her, but her pronunciation of the Spanish names and phrases felt authentic and consistent. (I saw felt because I am not a native Spanish speaker and have not traveled in the areas for the book, so I am only assuming it is authentic.)

I found this biography of Frida Kahlo very interesting and engaging. While I enjoyed the audiobook, I found the self-help portions at the end of each chapter to be a little over-reaching for me. Knowing the popularity of Frida in pop culture today, I think this will resonate with a lot of people even if not with me.
I'd also note that reading about Frida without visuals misses half the goodness, even if you know her work, so I recommend the print or e-book of this for sure (or look up the paintings online while the author discussed them).

This would be a great gift for friends.

I thought this was an interesting introduction to Frida Kahlo's life framed by lessons we can learn from her life today. I really enjoyed the details I learned about her life, and did find inspiration from her life to make small changes in my own.

I thought the narrator did a wonderful job giving voice to Frida and Diego, and I thought the descriptions of the paintings were very good at evoking the feelings through audio.

This book was so fun. I really loved learning more about Frida’s life, and the author does an amazing job of bringing the reader along on her own journey of discovery and love for Frida’s unique intensity. My only complaint is that some of the facts felt pretty repetitive, but I do get why she brought them up in each context. I wasn’t expecting true “what would Frida do” advice, but loved that the author went through not just Frida’s good decisions, but also her questionable ones, to come up with Frida’s answers for modern questions. Highly recommend to anyone looking to learn more about Frida Kahlo!

I’ve always been a Frida Kahlo fan. I’ve been interested in her since I studied her work in both art and Spanish courses in high school. She’s always been a trailblazer that I’ve loved for her unapologetic authenticity.

Thoughts about this book:

Things I love: This book has tons of lesser known stories and excerpts from her personal correspondence. In some ways my appreciation for Frida grew after reading this and in other ways this brought her back down to earth from the pillar she’s been placed on. This book provides a lovely perspective on how to truly live during difficult times. The cover! I know it’s superficial but the cover is joyful and just makes me happy.

A few things I didn’t love: I enjoyed the lighthearted biographical nature of this book but I do think others may be disappointed that it’s less of a guide than the title would hint at. Many of the stories and historical facts are repeated multiple times and become annoying with each retelling.

Note: This is my first ARC (advanced reading copy) thank you very much to the publisher for sharing the audiobook with me in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Recommended for: Anyone feeling limited by their personal circumstances (illness, heartbreak, etc.). Frida Kahlo was an exceptionally resilient woman and could be a source of inspiration for anyone going through challenging times.

I received a free audio copy of this book from NetGalley.

The only reason this didn't receive a 5/5 star is because I wasn't very fond of the repetition of Frida's life, based on the format of the book. It is broken into different sections rather than the timeline of her life. The information was wonderful, though. I loved learning more about Frida Kahlo's life and grew a deeper respect for her. It also made me reflect on my own life and think of ways that I could adapt her mindset in a lot of ways.

It's a very interesting read. I recommend it!

I went into this book with little knowledge of Frida and her life. I felt like this was a good wrap up of her life and the key things that people would talk about in history. The author recited many quotes, described Fridas love, work, and family life and mixed it in nicely with some self help ideas. This is book truly encourages feminism and being a strong woman in a society that has unhealthy expectations for women. While this was a good read, it was just okay in the sense that I would want to re read it or recomend it to someone else. If you would like the cliff notes on Frida's life then this might be the book for you.