2. Characters that feel so real that you have to look up for a moment to remember they're not actually talking to you

3. Telling other people that this is a must-read for everyone who has struggled to find reasons to be happy

This book will probably prove difficult to review properly, but it resonated in me in a way that means I can't ignore this one while reviewing the best books of the past year. It was a book that hit home, hard, and it was confronting to read while it was also very wholesome.

Hannah seems like your average teenage girl. Alright, she has two famous actors for parents and just moved to a new school, but apart from that? Apart from that, she suffers from bulimia. The book tells her story in two parts. The first is about how her condition is affecting her, about what it does to her and what has made her feel this way. The second is about how she fights to regain control, how she fights to once again be the girl who wrote down her reasons to be happy.

4. Characters that inspire you to fight for what you want in life

The story is interspersed with a list of reasons on why to be happy. This list contains trivial things, like raw cookie dough, hammocks, and seeing a shooting star. Somewhere during the first part of the book, Hannah stops reciting her list, because she feels there's nothing that makes her happy anymore. I think that is part of what makes this book so powerful; because even if the concept of throwing up food to feel in control is somewhat foreign to you (as it was to me), near everyone must have had a moment in life where they felt like they couldn't be happy anymore.

To find herself back and to heal, she goes to Ghana, where her Aunt is filming a documentary. There she faces things like monkeys, mosquitoes, no electricity and no plumbing that make her (want to) forget her struggles. This part of the story tells her way to recovery, with relapses and all, but always with hope. The message is clear and beautiful; there are plenty of things that can make you happy, as long as you let them.

5. Books that stay with you

As said before, it is quite difficult to do this book justice in a review. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and took me from laughter to crying and from feeling almost attacked by how real the emotions felt to feeling celebratory because every little victory for Hannah felt like a victory for yourself. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a story that makes you re-evaluate your own happiness and who needs a little emotional boost. The book will leave you feeling a little raw, but only in a good way.

6. (Re)reading reasons to be happy