I have a little bit of an embarrassing confession to make- yes yet another one. Although I have a couple of Beth's earlier books on my ever increasing 'to be read' pile, 'How Not To Be A Loser' is actually the first one that I have read. Now I am rather miffed that I have left it this long to discover how flipping fantastic an author Beth is. I adored 'How Not To Be A Loser' but more about that in a bit. I loved the character of Amy Piper and I warmed to her from the first time I met her. In fact by the time I got to the end of the first chapter, I felt as though Amy had become a friend and I naturally felt protective of her. From pretty early on, it's obvious that Amy struggles with her mental health. She is the lone parent of an adorable sounding little boy, but she struggles with agoraphobia, anxiety, stress and depression. Just one of those conditions is bad enough but to have all of them in one must be horrendous. I identified with Amy to a certain extent because although I have never suffered with agoraphobia, I suffer with stress, anxiety and depression so I could understand where she was coming from and I could appreciate just how debilitating these conditions can be. One day, Amy resolves to create a new life for herself and her little boy. The story follows her attempts to do just that. There could even be a new romance on the horizon if Amy just allows herself to relax and enjoy herself. Does Amy find the happy ever after ending that she so deserves? Well you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you. It's no word of a lie when I say that I was hooked on this book from before I even read the synopsis. I loved the bright and breezy cover and the title certainly made the book stand out from the rest. The synopsis convinced me that I needed to read 'How Not To Be A Loser' as a matter of urgency. So for once, I did what I was told and read the book. Reading 'How Not To Be A Loser' became an addiction and it was an addiction that I wasn't willing to break. I would pick the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters and fill in the odd half hour but I became so engrossed in the story and so wrapped up in Amy’s life that I just couldn’t stop reading. The pages turned increasingly quickly as I raced my way to the end of the story- I was that desperate to find out how the story ended and to discover if Amy got the happy ever after ending that she so deserved. ‘How Not To Be A Loser' is brilliantly written. The author has one of those easy going writing styles that is easy to get along with and easy to get used to. In fact, reading this book felt more like a chat between friends rather than an actual book. I hope that makes sense. In Amy, Beth has created a lovely, caring and compassionate woman, who you can’t fail to warm to. The author has clearly done a lot of research into how mental health problems affect you as a person and I found myself nodding along in agreement with certain parts of the story. This book had a bit of everything- there was drama, humour, sad bits, happy bits and well you get the picture. The author uses such vivid and realistic descriptions that I did feel as though I was part of the story myself. In short I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘How Not To Be A Loser’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I look forward to reading much more of Beth’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.