As someone on the Autism spectrum myself, only diagnosed within the past decade, I am continuously seeking out information on Autism and how it affects women in particular. It was incredibly powerful to read a memoir that combines experiences, many of which rang true for me as well, with some of the science around the Autistic person’s brain mechanics vs that of a neurotypical individual.

I listened to this on audio, as I tend to do with memoirs, but found myself highlighting quite a few passages. For that reason alone, I think this book makes a fantastic immersive read for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of this prominent disorder and its effects on individuals as well as families.

Read if you like:
•memoirs
•neurodivergent rep
•information on autism and its affect on both kids and adults
•reading about the autism experience

Thank you Hachette Go and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies.

This audio book is amazing. I was wanting to read the actual book but whenever the author is reading their own book in an audiobook- I prefer that!

I have a child that I just cannot understand and I am wondering if perhaps she may have ASD. Listening to this book doesn’t make me feel ashamed of it but yet proud.

I applaud this book and think it should be a must read for all parents and teachers. Early detection could prevent so many problems.

Thank you for this copy!

But Everyone Feels This Way is a relatable memoir from a young Autistic woman about her experiences through school and afterwards, including her Autism diagnosis. Detailing how this affected her existing close relationships, especially when she was coming to terms with her own diagnosis was very interesting, and not something I have seen discussed widely.

The title comes from the fact that she was an emotional kid growing up, and being told that her extreme emotions were "normal" were not helpful in understanding both herself, and how to cope. This is a fairly common experience for Autistic girls and women when seeking assistance, and one of the many reasons why these stories from females of all ages are so important.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed hearing about Paige's neurospicy experience and autism diagnosis. The book did leave a few items unanswered like what is going on with her dad. What happened with the bad boyfriend. I had never heard of Layle prior to reading this book so perhaps those questions were previously answered on her TikTok?

This book was magnificent. I loved being able to hear from the POV of someone with autism rather than just learning from a neuro-typical person. Seeing the growth Paige had throughout the past few years is amazing. I felt all of her feelings and truly felt like I was living through her experiences.

Paige’s memoir has heart and is authentic in style and content.

I preferred the second half of the book and found the sections offering advice the most useful and interesting. However, the style, flow and approach generally was solid.

I would have liked to hear more about her friendships and relationships - things were explored on a surface level in this regard, especially female friendships.

She comes across as a warm person who is mildly surprised at her TikTok fame!

Overall, a personal, authentic and interesting memoir that discusses what it is like to have autism and navigate life.

In her Memoir ' But Everyone Feels This Way ', Paige Layle details her journey to the discovery and continued understanding of her Autism diagnosis. The audiobook version is read by Paige herself, adding to the intimacy of her experiences. Her writing is both informative and deeply personal. It's a must-read for anyone looking to understand the Autism Acceptance perspective on autism advocacy. She explains the clinical side of her diagnosis: the process, what led her and her family to seek out answers, and why advocacy is necessary; Paige also goes into great detail describing her emotional journey. The young advocate gives an intimate look at how her experiences, both before and after her diagnosis, have shaped her feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance. Her story can be heartbreaking at times and there are portions that might be triggering to some, but overall this memoir is an important contribution to understanding what Autism Acceptance means to our society.

Thanks to Hachette Audio for providing this advanced copy of the ' But Everyone Feels This Way ' audiobook.

I've followed Paige on TikTok since she initially blew up back in 2020. I found what she was sharing about Autism incredibly relatable and she just had this spark that I really loved. A couple of months back, when I saw that she had a book coming out, I was incredibly excited and interested in what she would say.

But Everyone Feels This Way is a raw and honest account of Paige's childhood where she went undiagnosed, to her mental health struggles, and then follows the difficulties she still faces surrounding the ignorance people have about Autism. It was a very informative read while also remaining deeply personal to her own experience.

I loved the formatting of Paige telling her own story and the interjecting "field notes" of stuff she noticed while the event was happening. I also listened to the audiobook which Paige narrates and she was such a great narrator.

I often feel weird about rating memoirs and so on goodreads I have this marked as no rating, but Netgalley won't let me do that so I will just give it five stars. Just know that I really did love this book.

Thank you Hachette Audio for my gifted copy!

Autism acceptance influencer Paige Layle takes readers along on her deeply personal journey of living with autism, before and after diagnosis.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! As someone not on the spectrum, I learned so much from Layle's intimate account of life with autism, and the importance of receiving a diagnosis and appropriate support. This is written incredibly well, as Layle blends humor with candor, delivering a captivating, unputdownable memoir that leaves readers inspired and awed.

Layle narrates the audiobook herself and I loved reading along with the audiobook in my headphones. She is a gifted storyteller and hearing this in her own voice added to my experience, for sure!

What a remarkable young woman doing such important work! Highly recommend this book!!!! ❤️

This was a very interesting insight into the world of autism. Although this is just one person's experience with ASD, she does her best to try to educate the reader on all the different variations. This is in no way a medical journal and the thoughts and opinions are only of the author, but if you keep that in mind this is a very enjoyable read. I can only imagine this was very cathartic for her to write.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the gifted copy!

This is a very emotional memoir about Autism. Paige Layle details the struggles to receive a diagnosis, and leading up to that diagnosis, the feelings of wrongness and badness she felt about herself. I think anyone who has been diagnosed with neurodivergence and/or a mental health condition can relate. I definitely could! She also discusses her related issues, such as OCD, anxiety, and depression. As someone who has OCD and is often told "everyone thinks like that" or "everyone's a little bit OCD", I completely related to the feelings these (often well-meaning) comments cause: invalidation, frustration because you can clearly tell everyone does NOT think like you, or possibly worse, the feeling of "ok well if everyone experiences this, why am I the only one who can't seem to handle it?"

This is such an important memoir and I enjoyed it so much!

By far one of the BEST autism memoirs I've read! This is a deeply personal, open book about the autism influencer author's journey to getting an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, her struggles with self-acceptance, depression and suicidal ideation as well as great commentary and insights into societal ableism and how one autistic person's experience is only one autistic person's experience.

HIGHLY, highly recommended, especially on audio read by the author herself. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. Perfect for fans of books like fellow Canadian, Sarah Kurchak's award-winning "I overcame my autism and all I got was this lousy anxiety disorder."

I thought this was such an important book, and I am so glad that Paige shared her story.

A lot of this book resonated with me, as Paige detailed her early childhood with undiagnosed autism, and her confusion as to why others did not have the same reactions to things that she did. When she received her diagnosis, she had an answer and explanation, but it did not immediately make things better or easier for her. She needed to take the time to understand what it meant to her before she was ready to share it with the world.

I absolutely loved that Paige narrated her own story for us. It felt so much more personal. There was a point that I cried because her frustration and hopelessness were so triggering.

It is such an important book and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to listen to it.

This book is a 10/10 for me! Paige Layle knows what she wants to say and she says it. This touching memoir, she talks about her life before and after being diagnosed with ASD. She's funny and relatable and I loved that she read the audiobook! I think that helps to more fully understand the emotions she went through. I will be recommending this book to as many people as possible and I already pre-ordered a physical copy!

But Everyone Feels This Way is a memoir by a young adult TikToker who is very vocal about her experience with autism. This memoir was well done, and I think would be an extremely good read for a young adult also struggling with their experience being neurodiverse in a neurotypical world.

The subtitle of this book indicates that this book can get a bit dark, as she is very open that she struggled with suicidal thoughts before being diagnosed. Readers should be aware of this before jumping in, but Layle does a good job of not ruminating on these past thoughts, and connects how her lack-of-diagnosis impacted her mental health. She's very open with her how she perceives the world, and how she does not understand things the same way as neurotypical people. I am not autistic, so I learned a lot about her autistic experience, but as someone with ADHD I was able to connect with her experience of thinking differently than others. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

Layle is still fairly young, and that shows. I think that this book would be better experienced by people closer in age to Layle, which was very much her intended audience.

Layle narrates her own book, and she did a great job at it. It was an easy listen, and she's very engaging.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so raw and powerful. I don’t have the words to summarize this book and articulate my thoughts. I related this book in so many ways and in so many levels.

I love how Paige unfolded her story along with bringing the misunderstanding of autism in our society. Such beautiful writing a Paige is a strong FMC and I appreciated her approach to this novel. Hearing Paige’s story and perspective was relatable in so many ways. What a great story of self discovery and how we view ourselves and our others may perceive us. The mask that one might wear in order to just exist. Paige’s story and struggle with her daily interactions and the impact of this as suicide idolization was heartbreaking. How Paige struggled at a very young age with understanding herself and relating to ‘how others are’. Very hard to read and relatable to be misunderstood as people. So much of her story involved a wide perspective of her interactions and thoughts towards herself, family, school, health care, and social dynamic. Her desire to help bring understanding and education to the misunderstandings of autism. The beauty of being authentic, true, and feeling our emotions. The true self love of ourselves the battle of just having been diagnosed and the continual personal growth after her diagnoses. This story is concluded with action steps to take in order to heal ourselves. We all have our own responsibility to ourselves, to be authentic to ourselves, actions, healing, and boundaries.

What a great reminder to have an understanding that no one thinks alike (even within the spectrum). A great reminder to be authentic to ourselves no matter our own stories. To ask the hard questions and not judge ourselves and the unknown of ourselves. Sometimes life isn’t what we expect and not always being a certain way is ‘normal’. As a society there is a lot of disservice in people with disabilities and the reality of bias in people based on ‘circumstance’ are frustrating as hell. We are not one size fits all and not 100% on things over another. In Paige’s story she illustrates this a lot in the HUGE misunderstanding for autistic individuals and the nuances of the spectrum with every case. All cases should be treated uniquely as the individual is and how labels of ‘high functioning and low functioning’ vary and are misused. Paige identifies as a autistic person and the importance of prose to the reality of this being a part of her. I have a lot of the same principles as Paige and struggle with intrusive thoughts. We must always. I wish I read this book when I was younger, questioning myself.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hatchette Audio, and Paige Layle for the Arc Audiobook of this copy. This book caught my immediately based on the tag line. 'How an Autism Diagnosis Saved My Life' and didn't know Paige's story before listening to this book.

Join autism acceptance activist and TikTok influencer Paige Layle on a deeply personal journey of self-discovery and acceptance in "But Everyone Feels This Way." In this poignant memoir, Layle shares her experience of being diagnosed as autistic later in life and the challenges she faced navigating a world that didn't understand her.

From struggling with daily routines to feeling overwhelmed by sensory stimuli, Layle candidly reveals the inner workings of her mind and the journey to understanding herself. With honesty and vulnerability, she challenges stigmas, taboos, and stereotypes surrounding autism, advocating for greater acceptance and understanding.

"But Everyone Feels This Way" is a powerful testament to the importance of embracing one's authentic self and finding strength in vulnerability. Layle's story is a beacon of hope for individuals navigating their own journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

Wow. First off, thank you NetGalley for access to this audiobook.

This was an amazing journey through the life of a neurodivergent woman. I felt extremely seen by this book. I also think it could educate neurotypical loved ones of those with autism, etc. Emotions and thought processes were captured beautifully, and having the author narrate her own story just made it hit harder.

I devoured this in a day and loved it. I highly recommend it, especially in audiobook form!

In this interesting memoir the author recounts her experiences growing up and struggling to deal with life, change, socializing, school, feelings etc. while dealing with suicidal ideation as well, and finally at 15 getting a diagnosis of autism alongside depression and anxiety.

It gets at how women are often diagnosed later in life because they are socialized differently and often learn how to mask in ways that might lead to them not getting flagged. And I would say the author's experiences and struggles are even more visibly intense than a lot of women diagnosed later in life. I think it's an important conversation that is being had because there are a lot of misconceptions about Autism Spectrum Disorder and what it looks like in a range of people. I would love to see more women opening up about their experiences that may be similar or different, but we also need to talk about how incredibly difficult and expensive it is to get diagnosed as an adult, especially in the United States. Which is part of why there has been a spike in online discussions of self-diagnosis after research and taking online assessments (that have been shown to be accurate based on studies by the way). This isn't the whole picture because people are not the same, but it's an engaging memoir. Note that there is quite a bit of graphic depiction of mental health issues including panic attacks, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and being hospitalized. The audio book is great. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I loved listening to Paige narrate her audiobook as it added more genuineness to it. Her story of being an autistic women is so inspiring to others who are recently diagnosed or having struggles understanding diagnosis.