I really struggled to get through this one. Maybe the upbeat, in-your-face vibe of it was just not suited to my mood when I read through, as it grated in many instances... Might need to circle back around to it someday

I had not heard of Luvvie previously, but I was curious about the book cover and the descriptor.

These are the types of books I have in my library for my daughter to access.

I would not describe this book as a self-help book, it's more of a "This is how I've done it", and it would be a good idea to try to be a bigger, better, more assertive and be able to stand taller version of you.

Filled with anecdotes and advice, Luvvie shows us ways to challenge the inappropriate in areas that you may have previously been silent.

Funny, high-spirited and empowering – Highly recommended.

May we all have access to a grandmother like Mrs Funmilayo Faloyin.

4.0/5.0 #TheFearFighterManual #NetGalley

I would like to thank #NetGalley and #PenguinRandomHouse for the opportunity to read this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is due for release on March 02, 2021.

I admire everything Luvvie has achieved in life but found her repetitive and slightly full of herself. I do believe in standing up and being heard without being overly loud and found her attitude rather aggressive, which came through profoundly, in this book

I've made several attempts to read the book but the formatting made it difficult to follow and I didn't feel like I gained any valuable insights from it so I am afraid I didn't finish it.

I will preface this review by saying I’m not familiar with Luvvie’s work. I haven’t read her debut novel, nor have I seen her TED talk. From this novel, she sounds like an immensely powerful, outstanding woman, and she aims to teach the reader about how they can be powerful too.

My issue with this book is I wasn’t sure most of the time if it’s self-help or memoir. It seemed to flit between the two. If it was a memoir, I would certainly give this book at least four stars. However, it’s marketed as self-help, and aside from mantras which the reader should by all means internalise, there is little actually to help. It’s like a TED talk but in words. For me, personally, if I need a shot of confidence, I’m more likely to watch a TED talk rather than pick up a book.

I have given it three stars because it certainly provides an insight into the life of an African American trying to make it in a white male dominated world, so hats off to Luvvie for providing this insight through her raw, undiluted honesty. In terms of self-help though, there wasn’t a lot here I felt I could take away.

The only thing that you have to fear is fear itself. And spiders. Fuck spiders. “Run from what's comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be mad.” ― Rumi

I was really looking forward to reading The Fear Fighting Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones as I''d enjoyed her debut book I'm Judging You.

I found the book to be quite revealing and honest, as you'd expect from Luvvie. I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes she shared from her life.

I would recommend the book to anyone who needs reassurance, and those also those plugged into "Black Twitter".

What I didn't like, the editors have done a particularly poor job (with numbers and misaligned text which would make it particularly hard to read for some) when it comes to the issuing of an ARC which has led to my giving the book an exceptionally low score. This is unfortunate and I hope the reviews don't hinder the book's success.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes, you don't really gel with a book, just sometimes, how the author writes rubs you the wrong way. This was the case for me here, sorry.

Next up for Sophie was Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones. Sophie isn’t usually one for self-help books, but this one promised to help with overcoming the fear of failure, of hearing no, and of speaking out for what we want – which made her pick it up.

What she found was a book full of inspiration, several laugh-out-loud moments, and some true wisdom from the author’s “professional troublemaking Nigerian grandmother.” There are also some hard truths in there to swallow, especially when it comes to the countless extra difficulties faced by Black women trying to achieve the same goals. Jones shares dozens of anecdotes from throughout her life, from her childhood through to her successful career today as an entrepreneur and CEO of her own company.

The book is divided into three sections: “Be,” “Say,” and “Do.” The “Be” section encourages readers to know themselves: who they are, what they stand for, and who they belong to (the people we love and want to fight for) because before we can ask for what we want and deserve, we have to know ourselves. The “Say” section explores how to ask for more, draw our lines, and get what we deserve – it also encourages us to not be afraid to fail because that means we dared. Finally, the “Do” section pushes us to form supportive squads, grow as people, and not accept BS from our detractors.

Even before the book was finished, Professional Troublemaker had helped Sophie recognize that some advice she had taken on board in the past had come from a source that didn’t have her best interests at heart, and she was already making plans to finally chase down some opportunities she had held back for too long. This book will help you reach for more and Sophie hopes to take much of its advice on board.

So this is a readable and insightful look at the importance of speaking up for yourself and how to navigate that without blowing up your life or reliving your mistakes forever more. This is dedicated to the author's grandmother - a formidable Nigerian woman who overcame substantial obstacles, lived her life as she wanted and spoke out when she thought it was needed. I particularly enjoyed reading about how the author's upbringing - split between Nigeria and the US has informed her perspective and the lessons that she has taken from the strong women in her life and the squad she has built around herself. It is quite American-self-help book in tone at times- which is not always my style, but I enjoyed it and found it just on the right side of my personal line for that. I'm not sure how much of this is applicable to my life - but there are some important ideas and lessons here that I will sit with (as the Americans say) and digest and try to use to inform my thinking and behaviour. Also I already couldn't wait to be able to meet up with people in person again, but after all the sections about her friends and squad, that's only got worse!

I didn't like this book. The formatting was off-putting, with numbers on almost every line, but it any event, I didn't like the author's way of writing, and I didn't find this book very helpful. Disappointing as I was looking forward to reading it.

I enjoyed this book because it was straight talking but at the same time felt very familiar. I didn't know that Luvvie Ajayi Jones has already published another title so I'm definitely going to read that now

Professional troublemaker what a great concept and well articulated throughout the book. Feeling the fear and understanding what is the actual fear? Does it matter? Is it the fear of failing at something? Why are we so afraid? All these questions are answered in this book along with personal examples of the authors experiences and her very wise grandmother. Confident, sassy, inspiring and very funny, the author gives her advice in a very direct way for everyday life. Really enjoyed this book and not familiar with the authors work before, I am about to listen to her ted talk. Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy of the book.

I really struggled to read this one. There is the attempt made at a selfhelp book but I wasn't sure that this was achieved. It is interspersed with bits of Nigerian wisdom which is interesting but it doesn't seem to be explained very well. I had to abandon the book partway through which I hate doing as the author had spent a lot of time on it. The formatting of the file also made it difficult to read with lots of numbers inbetween lines which also made it hard to keep track.

Luvvie Ajayi Jones’ Fear-Fighting Manual is a kind of shout-it-from the-rooftop book. It reads like a good pep talk, noisy and upbeat, promoting a you-can-do-it attitude. It is however not for me – hence only three stars. I wholeheartedly agree with the aspirations, sentiments and most of the ideological bent of this book but was not so keen on the style of its delivery. I couldn’t help but feeling force-fed. Luvvie Ajayi Jones is a champion and as such is campaigning for action. This dictates her writing style and the character of her book.

As per the title of this book, it is indeed a manual with lots of Dos and Don’ts when it comes to getting the better of your fear, backed up by the author’s life experiences who identifies as a ‘professional troublemaker’: ‘Folks like me …committed to speaking truth to power.’ She is a black Nigerian woman with her ethnic and cultural origins linked to the Yoruba people. Relatively early in life she emigrated to the States, which provided her with a different set of experiences. Her biggest lesson of living beyond fear however she draws from her grandmother, who we get to know as a larger-than-life and influential figure with a huge presence.

At the heart of this book lies the critique of a system that is designed to favour first of all white skin colour, but also men and the establishment generally, ‘and for the rest of us to be born poor, live poor, die poor’ and ‘to be afraid of the consequences of what happens when we want a piece of the pie.’ In other words, we are settling for the status quo out of fear of repercussions or unintended consequence that change might bring – and with this attitude the status quo remains not only unchallenged but we do our bit to fundamentally re-enforce it. And that is the book, an A to Z of how to be true to yourself, get on, rock the boat and bring about the change that will bring about a better life for the individual and for society in general.

Jones’ main message is not to let fear stop you becoming the person you want and can be. She provides you with some grounded ideas of how to become this brave person who will stand up for herself and for what is right, and forcefully encourages her readers to make their mark without feeling guilty about taking up this space.

What I really liked was her pride in her Nigerian kith and kin. Her strong sense of identity is inspiring and, maybe one day, when the opportunity arises, I will get a Nigerian friend, as she advises. I certainly could do with ‘access to some rowdy energy’.

We're all afraid. We're afraid of asking for what we want because we're afraid of hearing "no." We're afraid of being different, of being too much or not enough. We're afraid of leaving behind the known for the unknown. But in order to do the things that will truly, meaningfully change our lives, we have to become professional troublemakers: people who are committed to not letting fear talk them out of the things they need to do or say to live free.

The Fear-Fighter is what we all needed to hear and read this year. We all carry fear in some form or another, but it's the tools and lessons of learning to take action even with fear that spoke out to me. She reminded me to speak up and use my voice, and I tested myself at least four times in the last two weeks to do this very thing, move out of my comfort zone by not being silent, complicit and learning to ask for more in my work life (because men do it all the time).

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Wasn't sure what to expect and have to admit that the writing style was new to me - it felt part anecdotal and part common sense/advice.

Luvvie Ajayi Jones' book reminded me that it's okay to be different, and to be more confident in myself. On some level it felt like the times I sounded out my inner thoughts with family or a very good friend. Just got to put words into action.

I requested this book because the description of it sounded like it was a book I could relate to & learn from. I opened it using the Kindle App on my Samsung Note 20. The first thing I noticed about the book was it's formatting, it seemed to be written as random sentences punctuated with numbers in brackets at the end of each one and nothing made sense. At the start of the book, there was the usual chapter listings but even those looked odd to me. I scrolled through the book to see if it was going to get any clearer, but it didn't. I didn't get any further, through choice, and removed it from my collection. Very unusual layout, nonsensicle rubbish.

This book was my introduction to Luvvie; her career path is inspirational. I really enjoyed the professional chapters and the advice given, these sections could be a book in their own right. It was interesting to hear about Luvvie's family background too.

This is an insightful, thought-provoking personal growth tool on the importance of speaking up for yourself and throughout Jones presses us to embrace and celebrate our accomplishments and strive to achieve in whatever areas our hearts desire.
She uses examples of her own episodes of impulsiveness to neatly illustrate how they can be turned from mistakes or failures into learning experiences by taking the lesson and running with it, owning your own behavioural faux pas and being independent, fierce and fantastic.
Luvvie is a guru to her fans, who love her unique brand of empowering truth talk, and it’s not hard to see why. Her infectious energy jumps off the page and this book can’t help but put a smile on your face and make you stand that bit taller. It's a powerful and indispensable no-nonsense guide to facing your fears head-on and it could hardly have come at a more fitting time—the middle of a pandemic in which much of the population are understandably paralysed with fear and anxiety.
Bold, enlightening and endlessly witty, Jones instils the courage in you to be your true, unapologetic self. As Jones states in her own words, "the point is not to be fearless. It is to know we are afraid and to charge forward regardless, to recognise the things we must do are more significant than the things we are afraid to do. This book shows you how I’ve done it, and how you can, too."
I highly recommend this book.