What does it really mean to be happy?

Seconds is a stand-alone graphic novel by the author of the Scott Pilgrim series. The story centers on Katie, about to turn 30, who ran the kitchen of a very successful restaurant, who has dreams of owning her own restaurant. So she forms a partnership with a man and buys a building that needs a lot of work. The construction is taking a long time, which makes her unhappy. The restaurant she ran is slowly phasing her out and although she no longer works there, she still thinks of it as hers, and even lives in an apartment above the restaurant. She can’t let go of being the rock star there. She’s having a fling with Andrew, the man she picked to replace her as head chef and while she’s hooking up with him, one of the waitresses in the restaurant ends up badly burned. Katie drives her to the hospital, and Andrew ends their relationship. She reflects on her life, and is clearly unhappy. She gets a visit in the night from a girl who appears on her dresser and gives her a chance to change her life. She simply has to ingest a mushroom, write down what she wants to do differently, and go to sleep. She finds a collection of mushrooms, and even though the girl warns her not to, she decides to change more and more of her past in order to make things better. As things get worse, more fantastic and strange things appear in her ordinary world.
Seconds does not have the goofy humor of Scott Pilgrim. It’s a more adult story, although there were some moments that made me smile. I really liked how the story deals with how to be happy with what we have and who we are at the core of ourselves. I did not like the romantic story within the story though, Max, Katie’s ex is gorgeous and a decent cook, but otherwise there doesn’t seem to be very much to him. Andrew seemed to have more potential as a partner for her, so I was not thrilled with how eager she was to get back together with Max. That was a minor flaw to an excellent story that I wanted to read again after I finished it.