You guys!! Busy is a legit writer with a voice as clear as a bell. This book is honest, funny, intimate, and well-observed by a person who has observed some sh*t.”
—Tina Fey

“Judy Blume meets Karl Ove Knausgaard meets one brave woman from Arizona. On the page, Philipps’ toughness shines through—a rare and feminine ethical code; devoted and blunt. It’s a thrill to watch her stumble right up until the very moment she storms the f*cking gates. Also: just as casually addictive as her Instastories but no guilt because it’s a book.”
—Miranda July

“If you think you know Busy from her Instagram stories, you don’t know the half of it. This book delves deeply and candidly into Busy’s life in a way that will surprise and delight you. She does not shy away from the darker stories, but she’ll make you laugh (hard) while you read them. You might not even know if the tears or from laughter or sorrow or recognition. You will see yourself in the book. You can’t help it. We are lucky to have Busy’s rigorously authentic book (personality) in our lives.”
—Jenni Konner

“To know Busy Philipps is to love Busy Philipps (and follow her on Instagram). And now, it's also to read her funny, refreshingly candid memoir about Hollywood, motherhood, and BFFhood (with her Dawson’s Creek castmate Michelle Williams, of course).”
—Cosmopolitan

“Philipps paints a picture of what it’s like to be a woman in the world of acting, from sexism to body shaming to juggling parenthood and career in a celebrity memoir that stands apart in a crowded field.”
—Library Journal

“One of Instagram's realest, funniest moms-slash-humans brings that humor and honesty to a memoir that anyone will love, regardless of whether or not you were obsessed with Freaks and Geeks. Philipps entertained us for years on TV, but her behind-the-scenes experiences battling sexism, becoming a mother, and forming famous friendships with the likes of Michelle Williams make for an engrossing personal history.”
—Apartment Therapy

“From dealing with body shaming, motherhood, betrayal and more, This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps helps us to rise above adversity. With a sly sense of humor and an unapologetic wit, this is the book you will read over and over again.”
—USMagazine.com

“Her voice is clear, bright and engaging—‘sparkly,’ to borrow her word.”
—StarTribune.com

“Actress and, more recently, Instagram star Phillips shares the deeply candid story of her life and career in a book that’s both funny and straight-talking in its assessment of the challenges of making it in a sexist system (she recounts instances of on-set bullying and body shaming on the sets of shows like Freaks and Geeks). As she does in her acting and in her social media, Phillips holds back nothing on the page, neither her triumphs nor her stumbles. Fans will find that Philipps remains a social media star with toughness, depth, and a sense of humor.”
—B&N Blog

02/01/2019

Comedic actress (Freaks and Geeks; Cougar Town), Instagram star, and now late-night talk show host (Busy Tonight) Philipps recounts her formative years, countless failed auditions, and her hit-and-miss career in this candid memoir. Philipps admits that when she was growing up in Scottsdale, AZ, her chief goal was to get attention. She knew early on that the Hollywood route would be her path to success. She reflects on her often painful teenage years (date rape, abortion, peer pressure) with emotion, but her stories also contain doses of humor (her imitations of her mother are very funny). In Hollywood, she has faced sexism and body-shaming, and she is not afraid to name names (James Franco and Steven Levitan are chief among them). Philipps also discusses her marriage to screenwriter Marc Silverstein, her pregnancies, and children with brash candor. VERDICT Fans will find much to delight them here. ["Philipps paints a picture of what it's like to be a woman in the world of acting...juggling parenthood and career in a celebrity memoir that stands apart in a crowded field": LJ Xpress Reviews 9/28/18 review of the Touchstone hc.]—Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

Television actress Busy Philipps wears her heart on her sleeve in this moving performance of her memoir. Listeners will recognize aspects of her roles in “Freaks and Geeks” and other shows in the personal stories she shares. Mainly, though, listeners genuinely get to know Busy: mom, daughter, student, teen, friend, wife, and artist. Other times Busy quietly whispers her deepest thoughts on topics that range from events that traumatized her to others that filled her with waves of love. The sense of an intimate chat makes the performance fly by. Busy’s audiobook empathizes with the human experience as well as providing laughs. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

2018-07-31

A highly candid, tell-all memoir from the cult-favorite actress.

In a book that often reads like a Real World confessional or an open diary, the Cougar Town star bares all in recounting her rise to fame: from childhood passion to become an actress to fraught teen years getting in with the wrong crowd and terminating a pregnancy to facing sexism in Hollywood to dating Colin Hanks to landing a role on Dawson's Creek to countless failed auditions to falling in love with and then considering divorcing her husband. While the honesty is refreshing, much like her Instagram persona, the narrative occasionally comes across as narcissistic. Philipps is open about her overwhelming need to be liked and included, a sentiment that provides the throughline of the book. For example, she chronicles the time she dislocated her knee at a middle school dance because she wanted to see why boys where moshing to "Smells Like Teen Spirit." "That is what I get for wanting to know what was going on," she writes, "for wanting to be a part of things, for wanting more….It's too bad I didn't realize the life lesson I was being handed. Because maybe, possibly, it would have saved me from even more pain in the years to come." At the same time, Philipps is happy to dole out some literary retribution, calling out some of those who have wronged her—e.g., she calls Freaks & Geeks co-star James Franco "a fucking bully" and Modern Family director Steven Levitan "a fucking asshole" who enjoys "the joy of being an oblivious super successful white man" in showbiz. But while the author is quick to point the finger, she's also her own harshest critic. In explaining her Instagram use, she writes, "the reason I started the stories…was because I was lonely."

Ultimately, the book is a page-turner, albeit one in which the need for the readers' approval is felt on nearly every page.