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Joyful, Anyway
Not yet published
Expected 7 Apr 26The bestselling author and Duke University professor discovers the true magic of it appears when we least expect it—and even if we don’t feel happy, we can be joyful, anyway.
Life aches. Joy is the cure.
After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached—for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day.
So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a 5-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere. A lemur sunbathing. A belly laugh at a funeral. A dive into the Atlantic with a shark wrangler.
In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom, and longing.
This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more—feel more—by making room for small extraordinary moments.
For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is achy for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we Is this it? Joy will there is more.
Life aches. Joy is the cure.
After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached—for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day.
So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a 5-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere. A lemur sunbathing. A belly laugh at a funeral. A dive into the Atlantic with a shark wrangler.
In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom, and longing.
This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more—feel more—by making room for small extraordinary moments.
For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is achy for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we Is this it? Joy will there is more.
304 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 7, 2026
15 people are currently reading
8196 people want to read
About the author
Kate Bowler
18 books1,808 followersKate Bowler, PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel and The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities.
After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her latest, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.
After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her latest, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 2, 2025
I always believed in the white picket fence.
I was in my early 20s when, over the course of a year, it seemed as if I had lost everything a human being could lose.
My wife died by suicide not long after the death of our newborn, Jennifer.
Not long after, I lost both of my lower legs due to infection and, quite honestly, a lack of self-care.
Finally, my already fragile finances fractured and I found myself living in my car.
After a childhood with spina bifida and years of childhood sexual abuse, I was broken. Yet, my own suicide attempt failed.
So, I wheeled. I wheeled and I wheeled and I wheeled. I wheeled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles on an event I called "The Tenderness Tour" because, after all, tenderness was what I found myself looking for and I knew it would take 1,000 miles to find it.
I found it. I returned from that first Tenderness Tour convinced that the old tapes that playing throughout my life were lies and that there was a reason I was still alive.
I began to believe in the white picket fence. I began to believe in my good life.
I returned from that first trip, there have been 35 since, and I began slowly assembly the puzzle pieces of my life in an effort to build what I considered to be my good life.
Alas, there was no white picket fence.
I never remarried. I never had another child. I never became "happy," whatever happy means. I kept living. I kept wheeling. I built a better life with a good job, good projects, a tapestry of friends and family of choice.
I thought of all of this often throughout Kate Bowler's "Joyful, Anyway," Bowler's latest journey that weaves together personal testimony and academic excellence to explore the surprising magic of joy to carry us through the exhilarations and exhaustions of love and those often unbearable tensions that exist when we experience trauma or pain or loss or grief or illness or any other of life's inevitable benchmarks.
For many of us who read nearly everything Bowler writes, myself included, we already know that Bowler survived a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Having survived cancer twice myself in the past three years (bladder, prostate), I ache with familiarity as Bowler shares these stories just as Bowler herself ached knowing that she should be grateful and yet such an experience also leaves you longing for even more.
Now then, if you know Bowler's writing you know that this longing did not result in toxic positivity or some miracle plan or a journey into prosperity theology. Instead, it became an openness to the everyday simple experiences of joy.
"Joyful, Anyway" isn't about fixing one's life. It's also not about some faux denial-based joy that calls us into simply letting go of our traumas and our dramas. "Joyful, Anyway" is more about learning how to hold the door open for joy to surprise us so that we can live in the tension of a life where we experience everything and refuse to surrender our joy.
It has been 35 years since that first Tenderness Tour. Even being alive defies logic, though I'm not quite prepared to call it miraculous (especially after reading "Joyful, Anyway."). Life has turned out so extraordinary that a feature documentary recently had its world premiere about The Tenderness Tour and my current efforts to eliminate medical debt for others.
I've lived a life far beyond anything I've ever imagined.
Yet, there are still certain tense truths that continue to radiate throughout my physically difficult life filled with significant health issues, few natural supports to speak of, and a social awkwardness that I find both hilarious and embarrassing. Bowler, whose public persona is one of frequent laughter and deep compassion, exudes what I can only describe as an honest humanity and a rich tenderness throughout "Joyful, Anyway," a book where Bowler peels away the layers of her own existence to share with us that awkward tension that sometimes breaks us and other times resurrects our souls.
I was in my early 20s when, over the course of a year, it seemed as if I had lost everything a human being could lose.
My wife died by suicide not long after the death of our newborn, Jennifer.
Not long after, I lost both of my lower legs due to infection and, quite honestly, a lack of self-care.
Finally, my already fragile finances fractured and I found myself living in my car.
After a childhood with spina bifida and years of childhood sexual abuse, I was broken. Yet, my own suicide attempt failed.
So, I wheeled. I wheeled and I wheeled and I wheeled. I wheeled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles on an event I called "The Tenderness Tour" because, after all, tenderness was what I found myself looking for and I knew it would take 1,000 miles to find it.
I found it. I returned from that first Tenderness Tour convinced that the old tapes that playing throughout my life were lies and that there was a reason I was still alive.
I began to believe in the white picket fence. I began to believe in my good life.
I returned from that first trip, there have been 35 since, and I began slowly assembly the puzzle pieces of my life in an effort to build what I considered to be my good life.
Alas, there was no white picket fence.
I never remarried. I never had another child. I never became "happy," whatever happy means. I kept living. I kept wheeling. I built a better life with a good job, good projects, a tapestry of friends and family of choice.
I thought of all of this often throughout Kate Bowler's "Joyful, Anyway," Bowler's latest journey that weaves together personal testimony and academic excellence to explore the surprising magic of joy to carry us through the exhilarations and exhaustions of love and those often unbearable tensions that exist when we experience trauma or pain or loss or grief or illness or any other of life's inevitable benchmarks.
For many of us who read nearly everything Bowler writes, myself included, we already know that Bowler survived a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Having survived cancer twice myself in the past three years (bladder, prostate), I ache with familiarity as Bowler shares these stories just as Bowler herself ached knowing that she should be grateful and yet such an experience also leaves you longing for even more.
Now then, if you know Bowler's writing you know that this longing did not result in toxic positivity or some miracle plan or a journey into prosperity theology. Instead, it became an openness to the everyday simple experiences of joy.
"Joyful, Anyway" isn't about fixing one's life. It's also not about some faux denial-based joy that calls us into simply letting go of our traumas and our dramas. "Joyful, Anyway" is more about learning how to hold the door open for joy to surprise us so that we can live in the tension of a life where we experience everything and refuse to surrender our joy.
It has been 35 years since that first Tenderness Tour. Even being alive defies logic, though I'm not quite prepared to call it miraculous (especially after reading "Joyful, Anyway."). Life has turned out so extraordinary that a feature documentary recently had its world premiere about The Tenderness Tour and my current efforts to eliminate medical debt for others.
I've lived a life far beyond anything I've ever imagined.
Yet, there are still certain tense truths that continue to radiate throughout my physically difficult life filled with significant health issues, few natural supports to speak of, and a social awkwardness that I find both hilarious and embarrassing. Bowler, whose public persona is one of frequent laughter and deep compassion, exudes what I can only describe as an honest humanity and a rich tenderness throughout "Joyful, Anyway," a book where Bowler peels away the layers of her own existence to share with us that awkward tension that sometimes breaks us and other times resurrects our souls.
November 17, 2025
This is Kate Bowler's best book yet. My word for 2025 is Joy, and this book gave me a lot to meditate on. She shares academic, spiritual, personal, and even crowdsourced insights on what joy is and how to find it in everyday heartache (big and small). I plan to give this book to several friends and get a hard copy for myself!
February 23, 2026
i will read anything by KB!!! honored to have read an ARC through netgalley. always delighted by kate’s words, wisdom, and her ability to tether what is beautiful and gorgeous to all that is grief and longing. this comes out so soon and I will be recommending to all my deep feeler friends and my therapist.
November 28, 2025
3.5 (good)
I found this book to be relatable and full of emotions. It was full of down to earth humaness. Which I very much appreciated. I loved that this is not a book to make you feel great! It is one that shows you that even in times where people say you cant find joy or happy it can still be possible. The chapters were sbort and pretty simple but that many times is just what you need when you are in a tense time and looking for something, That little bit of hope.
I feel this book will help some out there and even if it dont it is great to get to know this author and hear some of her story.
I found this book to be relatable and full of emotions. It was full of down to earth humaness. Which I very much appreciated. I loved that this is not a book to make you feel great! It is one that shows you that even in times where people say you cant find joy or happy it can still be possible. The chapters were sbort and pretty simple but that many times is just what you need when you are in a tense time and looking for something, That little bit of hope.
I feel this book will help some out there and even if it dont it is great to get to know this author and hear some of her story.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Relatable, actionable, and science based.
I just finished reading Joyful, Anyway a Non-fiction, Self-help book written by Kate Bowler. I read the EBook published by Random House. NetGalley gave me a copy of this book. I read this book on Kindle. It is a stand alone book.
This book is a must read if you like: Practical suggestions, feeling seen, and avoiding toxic positivity.
If you want to be habitually joyful, you have to fill your pockets with ordinary joys.
The author takes us through a journey, looking at why we feel like we can't have joy, what outside forces are affecting our joy, and how to take baby steps to bring joy into our lives
I think this book feels pragmatic in the best possible way. She doesn't shy away from hard topics, but rather brings them into this really important conversation.
If you are looking for a book to tell you to ignore the bad and focus on the good, this is not the book for you. I really enjoyed it because of that. She doesn't tell you to be joyful anyway. She explains how we can be joyful, anyway. Inside of hard things.
I really liked her pragmatic approach and realistic conversations. This isn't a feel good book. This is a book to show you how to build habits to feel good.
I loved the whole book. It has an intense focus on really digging down to what matters and realizing that joy is there.
This book is one I will need to read again and again. The step by step suggestions are not "5 steps to a happy life". They are habits that will impact how you see life.
Content Warnings: As I have said she doesn't shy away from hard topics. That include death, grief, abuse, and other adult content. It is all handled well, but read the content warnings.
I just finished reading Joyful, Anyway a Non-fiction, Self-help book written by Kate Bowler. I read the EBook published by Random House. NetGalley gave me a copy of this book. I read this book on Kindle. It is a stand alone book.
This book is a must read if you like: Practical suggestions, feeling seen, and avoiding toxic positivity.
If you want to be habitually joyful, you have to fill your pockets with ordinary joys.
The author takes us through a journey, looking at why we feel like we can't have joy, what outside forces are affecting our joy, and how to take baby steps to bring joy into our lives
I think this book feels pragmatic in the best possible way. She doesn't shy away from hard topics, but rather brings them into this really important conversation.
If you are looking for a book to tell you to ignore the bad and focus on the good, this is not the book for you. I really enjoyed it because of that. She doesn't tell you to be joyful anyway. She explains how we can be joyful, anyway. Inside of hard things.
I really liked her pragmatic approach and realistic conversations. This isn't a feel good book. This is a book to show you how to build habits to feel good.
I loved the whole book. It has an intense focus on really digging down to what matters and realizing that joy is there.
This book is one I will need to read again and again. The step by step suggestions are not "5 steps to a happy life". They are habits that will impact how you see life.
Content Warnings: As I have said she doesn't shy away from hard topics. That include death, grief, abuse, and other adult content. It is all handled well, but read the content warnings.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
“You will never be cured of this grief, it’s true. But you will be joyful, anyway. I swear.”
Big fan of Kate Bowler here . . . so I was thrilled to receive an ARC edition of her upcoming book Joyful, Anyway, due to be published in early April 2026.
Part memoir, part “self-help” (I don’t like that term, especially in describing this particular book, because it’s more . . . “self-understanding,” really) Joyful, Anyway is just Great Storytelling . . . with a real-life slant. Kate Bowler writes like she’s writing to you, personally. Like she’s a good friend just talking with you over a glass of wine. Totally accessible, completely relatable (even when she’s running off a cliff to try para-sailing), and always tender, Kate’s new book is the perfect book to take you through the aftermath of any of life’s (many) disappointments. And she’ll make you laugh while she’s doing it.
I can’t wait to buy a copy of my own to add to my personal library.
Highly recommended.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Joyful, Anyway will be published April 7, 2026.
5 stars.
Big fan of Kate Bowler here . . . so I was thrilled to receive an ARC edition of her upcoming book Joyful, Anyway, due to be published in early April 2026.
Part memoir, part “self-help” (I don’t like that term, especially in describing this particular book, because it’s more . . . “self-understanding,” really) Joyful, Anyway is just Great Storytelling . . . with a real-life slant. Kate Bowler writes like she’s writing to you, personally. Like she’s a good friend just talking with you over a glass of wine. Totally accessible, completely relatable (even when she’s running off a cliff to try para-sailing), and always tender, Kate’s new book is the perfect book to take you through the aftermath of any of life’s (many) disappointments. And she’ll make you laugh while she’s doing it.
I can’t wait to buy a copy of my own to add to my personal library.
Highly recommended.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Joyful, Anyway will be published April 7, 2026.
5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
✨B O O K R E V I E W ✨
📚 This book is not to be picked up unless you’re willing to do some deep thinking and contemplating and maybe even a little crying. It was essentially the author’s journey looking for joy. Countless stories and encounters and moments that led her to the discovery that joy is… elusive and yet always out there. Joy can surprise us even in the midst of heartache or pain. Joy and happiness aren’t the same, thankfully. Kate Bowler is honest and raw and asks the hard questions.
🌟 If you find that you’re aching for more joy, the not toxic positivity kind, then this book is for you.
Thank you to @NetGalley and @KateCBowler for the ARC!
More about: Joyful Anyway - Kate Bowler
📖 Kate explores and discovers the magic of joy. How it appears when we least expect it - and even if we won’t feel happy, we can be joyful anyway.
If you want more trustworthy reviews be sure to give me a follow!
#Memoir #NonFiction #BookReview #BookReccommendation #Spirituality
|| Book Review, Self Help, ARC ||
📚 This book is not to be picked up unless you’re willing to do some deep thinking and contemplating and maybe even a little crying. It was essentially the author’s journey looking for joy. Countless stories and encounters and moments that led her to the discovery that joy is… elusive and yet always out there. Joy can surprise us even in the midst of heartache or pain. Joy and happiness aren’t the same, thankfully. Kate Bowler is honest and raw and asks the hard questions.
🌟 If you find that you’re aching for more joy, the not toxic positivity kind, then this book is for you.
Thank you to @NetGalley and @KateCBowler for the ARC!
More about: Joyful Anyway - Kate Bowler
📖 Kate explores and discovers the magic of joy. How it appears when we least expect it - and even if we won’t feel happy, we can be joyful anyway.
If you want more trustworthy reviews be sure to give me a follow!
#Memoir #NonFiction #BookReview #BookReccommendation #Spirituality
|| Book Review, Self Help, ARC ||
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC: A wonderful book. A theologian's exploration of how to cultivate joy in an already full life and one that has managed to overcome significant challenges. Written as short chapters, Bowler explores this subject with humor and humanity. This is not a self-help book in the classic sense. Bowler starts off describing her life and the ache that she feels and turns to the invitation to be open to joy. She is a strong advocate for not embracing "toxic positivity" but rather deeply curious compassion and honestly. Her humor is delightful. I found this book a gift and will consider it a reference. In dark times, she's a voice that should be amplified and celebrated.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was not familiar with Kate Bowler. I did not know her story. In this book, Joyful, Anyway I gained a deep appreciation for the life she has lived through and the hard sought joy she has fought for in the process. She blends memoir and self help to give the reader her background and strategies to be able to look through a different lens. HAving gone through my own big life tragedies, I found her words balm for the soul and also hilarious at times. Her candor was refreshing! I think this would also be a great audio book to be able to listen to!
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Joyful, Anyway will be published April 7, 2026.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Joyful, Anyway will be published April 7, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I am a big fan of Kate Bowler’s No Cure for Being Human, and her writing style that combines a memoir with self-help, and a good amount of humour. I agree with her that there’s a cult of toxic positivity in American (and Canada), and it’s a dangerous obsession. There’s so much pressure to mask true emotions and pursue happiness only. But that’s not real mental health. So let yourself experience it all, and let moments of joy surprise you.
My favourite quotes: “Life is absurd and it’s hard to be human. Joy won’t cure you but it will carry you…. We take our chances that all things considered, life is worth living”.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
My favourite quotes: “Life is absurd and it’s hard to be human. Joy won’t cure you but it will carry you…. We take our chances that all things considered, life is worth living”.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
October 30, 2025
Best-selling author Kate Bowler has released her newest book, "Joyful, Anyway." In her new book, Bowler describes her life as a cancer survivor and how she has turned to joy as a lifeline. She refers to her former psychiatrist/therapist who prescribed her "all the joy in the world" and goes on to define joy according to researchers, the grief-stricken, and kids. Finally, she asserts that the best way to be more joyful is to "make a list. Keep it small. Ask for help"
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I read this through an advance copy on NetGalley. Kate Bowler just gets it. Her ability to weave together so many stories from her life into yet another beautiful book is like a salve. This book is both a reminder and a guide to so many of us that hold, or try to hold, the grief and the pain alongside glimpses of joy. Kate reminds us to see the tiny moments of joy through gentle love and daily interactions, however small, with those around us. This book is well worth the read and is one I’ll be returning to when I need a reminder to find hope amidst all the pain.
January 14, 2026
I have to admit that I am biased toward this book, as Kate is one of my favorite writers and people to follow on the internet. This book is different than I was expecting, but just as meaningful. She explores joy - what it is, how to find it, and why it matters in a relatable way. She uses humor and stories, making me feel as though I have been there and know the people she knows. She is a favorite person for me and this book continued that.
📚Thanks to NetGalley, Random House, and Kate Bowler for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
📚Thanks to NetGalley, Random House, and Kate Bowler for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book really met me where I'm at. I found it really comforting, hopeful, and also incredibly real. Kate is articulate, the book is very well written, but not sappy and doesn't sugar coat. Readers go on a bit of a journey with the author to discover joy and coming to terms with the "ache." Naming and acknowledging the ache made me reflect, but the book doesn't stop there and investigates joy. I highlighted a handful of passages and even rewrote a quote in my planner. I would recommend this book to anyone who has read Kate's previous books. Big thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.
February 14, 2026
While a bit different than what I was expecting (which is silly because it’s exactly the book the author intended it to be), I found endless sentences to highlight, reread, and reflect on. I think anyone expecting to read a “happy” book after reading the title might feel a bit misled, but keep an open heart. As she shares in a quote from Kaveh Akbar, “I hope that when there is laughter, it’s laughter made wise by having known real grief—and when there is grief, it is made wise by having known real joy.”
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I went into this nonfiction book not knowing what to expect. I guess I was thinking more memoir than random essays about life but I did enjoy parts of it. Others felt kind of random and more about her friends than her per se. Good on audio narrated by the author who I learned is Canadian so yay for that. Overall it's not a book that's going to stick with me long term though. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Kate Bowler's newest book isn't a book that is telling you how to be happy, but is telling you that you can feel joy in any situation. This book reminds you to find the small moments to be grateful for even when you're feeling like it's you against the world. While this wasn't my favorite book, I did enjoy it and will make time for the smallest moments to be thankful for.
Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
February 16, 2026I live in the same city as the author and regularly see the mural with her quote, "Life is so beautiful. Life is so hard." So it was a literal sign that I should read her latest book for work. Two phrases stuck out for me: "The general fact that most women are better at being married than being happy." And "There is more," which can apply to both joy and sorrow, that there will be more time, and that there may be more meaning.
November 3, 2025
I really liked this one, more than her last one. Kind of a memoir, kind of self-help, very thoughtful, very genuine. She had some great stories (mostly about hospitals and doctors), and an awesome story about accidentally spending the day with Tom Holland the historian not the actor (I’m a fan). Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
November 16, 2025
This part self-help, part memoir was full of short chapters and lists, all about how to recognize and seek out joy even when things are really, really hard. I love listening to Kate Bowler talk on podcast interviews, and this little book reads just like she talks.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
November 22, 2025Part memoir and part self help, Kate has very human moments with us on finding joy in tough times. I enjoyed the transparency of her parts on family, spirituality and self discovery. The reflections quickly became my favorite piece of this book.
*I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review*
*I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review*
December 6, 2025
I love Kate Bowler’s writing, and her new book is no exception. This one’s focus on joy feels timely and important. I definitely felt like this is a message I needed, and I think others will too, especially since it focuses on joy versus the ever-popular toxic positivity.
Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the review copy.
Pub Date: April 7, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the review copy.
Pub Date: April 7, 2026
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Kate Bowlers latest, Joyful Anyway, is a little bit memoir, a little bit self help, and gives you a lot to think about. It is full or stories and quotes and lists that the author has collected in her latest project, her search for Joy in her life. I found myself identifying with her chronic pain, and although I have never struggled with a fatal cancer diagnosis, thank goodness, the reality of going through something traumatic one day and then quickly falling into everyday life was something I think most of us can related to.
I found this book, like all of them that I have read, both enjoyable and thought provoking. It reminds me that pretending to be happy does not work, but perhaps opening myself up to find joy during the routine of every day will. Joy is not exclusive from pain, but can even exist at the same time, but we can be so busy rushing from thing to thing or focusing on our pain and distress that we never notice the small joys.
Thank you to net galley and Random house for this e galley for review.
I found this book, like all of them that I have read, both enjoyable and thought provoking. It reminds me that pretending to be happy does not work, but perhaps opening myself up to find joy during the routine of every day will. Joy is not exclusive from pain, but can even exist at the same time, but we can be so busy rushing from thing to thing or focusing on our pain and distress that we never notice the small joys.
Thank you to net galley and Random house for this e galley for review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is chock full of things to consider as I journey through the ups and downs of my life. The author’s sense of delight and humor is contagious and yet she encourages us to embrace the other feelings too. This book will stay with me long after I’ve closed the book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this one.
October 23, 2025
*thanks to the publisher for the early copy!
a helpful map for finding moments of joy amidst the suffering of the world and of our lives, chronic illness sufferers especially.
a helpful map for finding moments of joy amidst the suffering of the world and of our lives, chronic illness sufferers especially.
November 16, 2025
Kate is always such a joy!!
November 19, 2025
A beautiful, warm exposition of joy even in the darkest of times.
January 9, 2026
Argh. I cry, I love. 😭😭😭 Kate does it again.
Review to come!
Review to come!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I am endlessly delighted by Kate’s writing. She’s a true gem. I loved this!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews