A beautifully written book on how to find the most beautiful things in life, focusing on beauty in the everyday ideal / way.

This book uses artwork and words to capture true beauty and allows us to stop the busy and the rushing and just take the time to appreciate things we might not have originally have seen if we hadn't looked in between the cracks and taken the time.

A gentle and reflective read, I do feel I would have appreciated this a lot more physically rather than an eReader, there is something about just holding a book that make its more magical.

Many thanks to Netgalley, publishers and the author for this free ARC in return for my review.

I thought this was a great idea for a book and found it a very gentle read and somewhat reflective.
It was harder I think to fully appreciate it as an ebook format as there are space and pages for the reader to interact with the book and add there own thoughts etc. So would definitely recommend that this one be bought as a physical book..
It jumps around a bit in its topics and format that that just adds to its quirkiness and free style.

I think I have probably just found my favourite book of 2022 and this is it! I adored reading this so much so that I got to the last page, shut the cover, turned the book over and began to read it again from the beginning.

‘Everything, Beautiful’ is a story of beauty. Beauty in all the everyday little moments that we often completely overlook out of habit and in a rush to be, see, do and achieve the next thing. Ella Francis captures these moments in gorgeous artwork and words. She makes you pause and ponder on all the amazing things that happen everyday and that we see if only we remember to look.

This is a story that can be read cover to cover or could just as easily be dipped in and out of. There are some suggestions in it of different things to try to find that magic in the everyday again. I was especially grateful that all of these things were completely accessible and just allowed each reader to embrace their own reality without any adjustment, effort or barrier to be worked out.

I highly suspect that the author is of kindred spirit origin. There was a slight essence of Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon and Mary Oliver in this. Her talent is incredible and for either the artwork or words alone this book would be fantastic and so combined it really is superb.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and also now know what I will be getting everybody for Christmas!

My only suggestion for this book would be to read it with fluffy socks, plenty of time and your favourite hot beverage.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A meditation on beauty, this is a lovely book, filled with sweet illustrations, quotes, and space. The space gives the reader the opportunity to interact with the book and author and make it unique. This is a book to take time with, to read a portion and reflect on it, even to play with it. For some this might seem a little woo-woo, but I sometimes like to pause with a book where you can spend time on a page or a concept, The ability to add your thoughts and reflections on the blank space is a bonus. Take your time with this one and think on the beauty in your life, in nature, in the world at large.

Quotes to enjoy:

When the world feels unbearably large and largely out of control, what I've found is that there is almost always reassurance and meaning to be found in the smallest of things, in the smallest of beauties.

...the mundane can be made miraculous.

...the beauty that never leaves, even within the confines of grief or illness or hardships too hard to name....Finding beauty within the darker, damaging things does not alter the weight of them, but it can, if only for a second, provide reflection, provide breath, provide safe pockets in which to shed tears or fury or terror, glimmers to hang our hopes on like coat hooks in a hallway.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

I love the idea of this book and in taking time to stop and notice the beautiful in everyday life. As it's also a workbook, I am sure it's much easier to follow and use in physical form (rather than an ebook). I found it jumped around quite a lot and some of the text, because of the layout, was hard to read on my kindle. A lovely concept. I just found it hard to follow and it didn't fully hold my attention.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this book. A book about beauty; such an abstract concept, as well as subjective. Good for an essay, perhaps, but how do you fill a book?

The answer? With a lot of filler - handwritten quotes taking up a whole page, artwork taking up several pages. The book itself is written very well, describing beauty in poetic language and evoking the imagery of the beauty it describes. It is a very gentle book containing philosophical musings on the meaning of beauty and what society views as beauty vs. actual beauty, as well as lots of paragraphs listing what the author herself thinks is beautiful.

However, I found the constant alternating between typed paragraphs and yet another quotation written in a hard-to-read style of someone with poor handwriting quite jarring, and the illustrations that go over two pages, also with quotes on them, hard to read on an e-reader. Overall, it was not a smooth reading experience. I suspect this may be the kind of book you buy in hard copy to flick through when you have five minutes. It is hard to read from cover to cover due to the constant shifting from print to handwritten text - don’t buy if you are expecting a lot of content because it simply isn’t here. That said, the illustrations are pleasing enough and what content is there is pleasing to read.

With thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for providing an advance review copy. All opinions in this review are my own.

Filled with thoughtful, intimate and brilliant insights, inspirational quotes, breathtaking illustrations and space for readers of all ages to write, draw and reflect on their own ideas of beauty, Everything, Beautiful is the perfect book for everyone who wants to reclaim a sense of wonder in their everyday lives.