I LOVED THIS BOOK. Rilakkuma has always been my favourite character, and to have a book all about the worlds cutest little bear is amazing! The topics touched on were really great and wonderful at subtly talking about certain issues. I would definitely recommend this!

I seriously only got this book because of Rilakkuma. >v< I love Rilakkuma plushies and everything.
I get that it's a book for children but there just isn't really anything that is fascinating. The idea of a book about Rilakkuma and friends is cool but that really is just it. There's no plot and I really enjoyed how lay back the book is. You can pick it up any time of the day with your child or children and just read it with them. It's a really cute book. But the illustration is really light, there's no contrast. Everything is so light that it is kind of eye-straining to look at the illustration for long. But it's a simple book and it's really cute overall.

I adore San-x and everything that they create, especially Rilakkuma and his friends. Naturally, I was very excited to see this on NetGalley! Rilakkuma: By Your Side is a pretty cute book with, unfortunately, a lot of issues. The book can be read straight through but is actually meant to be flipped through when you need a pick me up. It's filled with sweet messages that can be very relatable and encouraging...one of my favorite pages was: "Sometimes you don't want to do anything." pictured with Rilakkuma lazing about while Kiiroitori cleans. 

My absolute favorite part of this book is the illustrations. I appreciate that they are traditionally drawn & painted with watercolors (rather than digital). However, because these are scans of the paintings, the images appear low quality as the brightness and contrast are too high for digital devices. Also, I wasn't a fan of the choice of using Arial for the font in the book. Because of this, it feels disconnected from the original language and unfinished. 

Image quality aside, the book's main issue is the English translation. There were quite a bit of typos as well as sentences that didn't make sense. Such as: 
- "I want to dry together." while Kiiroitori is crying. I'm confused. What does this mean? 
- "Sometimes motivation just 'disappear' from us."
- "Spoil 'youself' when you feel small and timid."  (By the way, I *love* this spread. It's definitely a favorite of mine.) 

In it's current state, my rating is a 2.5/5. All in all, Rilakkuma: By Your Side is a book that would be great for children and interested teens & adults, just as long as it goes through another edit to fix it's mistakes. I would love to see this in it's final physical format. I'm interested to see how the illustrations look on paper!

i love rilakkuma, but i wish that i had had a physical copy of this book, because the watercolors were sometimes too bright to see in the ebook version.
some of the english translations of the japanese text didn't quite make sense.
overall, it was cute and motivational, but i think a physical copy would be better.

“It’s okay to do things out of order.” I love that the instructions that come with this book encourage the reader to play by their own rules. You can read it any way you want, and discover new things every time you open it another way. 

The book is filled with really cute illustrations as can be expected with the Rilakkuma brand. It’s equal parts funny and moving. Every page contains wisdom and reminders on how to live our lives fully and without regrets. The words of wisdom range from the profound to the mundane, but they always ring true. This is the perfect read for anyone needing comfort, fun and a warm hug from friends.

The illustrations in this little book are adorable- just flicking through the pages conjures up a sense of warmth, security and friendship. However, many of the phrases feel unwieldy- I think it could benefit from an additional translator. As a result, some of the meaning behind the text, which is meant to encourage mindfulness and self-care amongst young people, has been lost.  I cannot recommend this book to my readers as they will have trouble parsing it. Despite this, I would love to read further books featuring Rilakkuma and eagerly await the Netflix show.

Rilakkuma is a Japanese fictional character that is quite often seen as plushies or on items such as kitchenware. This book is a very short picture book with some short sentences that are very calming to read. 
It's a really nice book to be able to read and flick through, however I had an issue with reading it on the kindle as it would be so much nicer to visibly see the images in the way it was intended. 
I found this to be quite a calming read with the images I did see and the sentences it accompanied.

*ARC has been provided to me by Netgalley and its publishers for an honest review*

This was truly a cute little book to flip through and would be something to go back to if you were having a cruddy day. It didn't take a lot of time to flip through and read the quotes and take in the illustrations.

This book is adorable, positive, funny and uplifting. I've always loved Rilakkuma and his friends Korilakkuma and Kiiroitori because they are so adorable and can smell the proverbial roses as they can find joy in the simple things in life such as friendship and food.  What matters most in life is that "We are here. Always here. By your side." It shows the importance of having a good support group and network. You need people to laugh with, cry with and to talk with and to be there for you, and you be there for them.  "Seeing and noticing are only small part." You need to look at the bigger picture and analyse yourself and others and look in depth.  And sometimes letting go is the right and best thing to do-"Sometimes you need to close things." Always look forward and be better than you were yesterday. "Tonight is connected to tomorrow. I will raise my energy for tomorrow."  Happiness and sadness need to coexist together, they need each other. "A storm may also exist in lovely weather." Live life by your own terms-"Only you can change your own rules." Find out what works or doesn't work for you. Trial and error. Embrace your imperfections, for they can be perfections in themselves. "Even if you work really hard, you can still get drenched. Let's wait... time and patience can work miracles if you let it." This book offers a lot of life advice we could all use in our daily lives like "Even words that need a ton of courage can be said." "If you fall into a hole, you can get out through a different one."  "Whatever choices you make, you will be able to see new places."  "Stepping back is also progress", when you stop and re-evaluate your situation.  "A new place becomes familiar after the second time there."-This helped me from getting lost and to alleviate my homesickness. "Your legs know how far you have come." It's okay to do things out of order by changing your schedule a bit. "You can find new discoveries within yourself. Unexpectedly good!"-as you discover what your vocation and talents are.  "There are times when things fit, and times when they don't."-this goes for both people and pathways. "Delicious food will not only make you happy, but also bring you warmth and good health." It helps me be grateful that I have good food to eat.  "Some words just pass by."-when you're not ready to say anything. "Anger tends to be hidden behind tears." "Depending on how many things are put together, you can become many things." "Because emotions are invisible, there will be many times you don't notice them."  "Even stars with weak lights are amazing stars." "Even if we don't meet for a long time, it will be great when we see each other again." Overall, I loved this book. I liked the illustration and the life lessons and advice. This book was a nice and easy read.

This book is so nice and peaceful. I love Rilakkuma so of course I couldn’t resist reading this book. It is exactly what you think it would be. Adorable pictures and little statements to bring you up.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an adorable little book filled with quick little observations. Some are silly, some are more serious, and all are reminders to be present and enjoy the world around us. 4 stars because the cover features Korilakkuma despite the title, and some of the translation feels a bit stilted. Overall, though, it's a sweet little book and a great gift for Rilakkuma lovers!

Review to be posted tomorrow/soon on all sources mentioned on my profile.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I just ADORE Rilakkuma, so I couldn't resist requesting this book when I saw it on Netgalley. 

However, this is one of those cases were I would have had a physical copy rather than an ecopy. The book just doesn't work in ebook format. Why? Because this is a motivational/inspirational self-help book thing, you can read it from cover to cover, but I have to say it really got boring after x pages. The best is, what they also recommend at the beginning, to put it next to you and then pick a random page and see the text + flip further for some cute Rilakkuma and friends. But you cannot do that with an ebook. At least not in my experience. 

I did think the book was cute, and I think it would be something I would buy. I can use some motivation on some days and the texts are very sweet and motivational (for instance this one: "Sometimes you need to close things", or this one: "It's okay to do things out of order".) But there is more! Flip the page after the motivational/inspirational text and there is Rilakkuma and his friends!

The ending had me smiling, I was really happy that they ended on that note and that Rilakkuma and his friends are there for me. 

The art is just freaking adorable, I was squeeing the whole time. 

All in all, I would still recommend this one, but again, be sure to get the paper edition of this book.