puddlejumper's reviews
726 reviews

This is an accompanying book to her Exercise for Better Bones that focuses on yoga. 

It is a really useful guide that is very clear and gives easy modifications to make movements safe. 

I think it is important that people take responsibility for their bone health and have the resources to make exercise accessible to them. 

This is a great resource. The glaring issue with it is that the website links no longer work. I think the digital copies could be updated with her new website as the information is still available if you search for it. 

This is a low stakes cosy fantasy about an adventurer going on a quest to find his missing husband. 

This didn't work for me. I found the humour quite off putting, one of the characters keeps flirting with the MC even though he says he wasn't interested. It got a bit uncomfortable but I think it was supposed to be horny Grandma funny? 

I didn't like the main character. He was single minded and mean. He treated the people around him badly and never apologised or accepted that he was wrong. Made it hard to care about him. 

The author was clearly having fun with the characters and it's not badly written. I just didn't like it. 

It is difficult to judge this book because who this is targeted at will change my opinion on the book. 

If this book is aimed at yoga teachers who are looking to learn more about pelvic floor and post partum bodies or as additional information alongside pre/post natal yoga training then I think this is a good book. 

If this is aimed at non-teacher yoga people to guide them in their self practice then this is not a good book. 

The good stuff first. The anatomy section is amazing. It is important to know the different layers of pelvic floor, the muscle fibres, and how it connects to the rest of the body. 

Too many books treat pelvic floor as something completely independent from the rest of the body which is just not true. 

This bit was the best part of the book. It was suitable for everyone and was written in an accessible way. 

The exercise section is where things get tricky. The models used show a range of body types which is great except they are all super flexible. Even when a modification is given, there usually isn't a photo of it. 

Many of the exercises require props which not everyone will have. This includes teachers. I had no idea what a trestle was and I've never seen that in a yoga studio. 

Many of the exercises are advanced exercises and not suitable for people new to yoga. I would not recommend these to people without having a teacher guide them. I would also worry they would get stuck in the folding chair because those ones looked dangerous. 

Again, this is where the audience matters. There is nothing wrong with having more challenging poses if this is aimed at teachers. If this is aimed at the general population then have them in a separate section or offer many different modifications. 

The exercises themselves were interesting. There are better and more accessible exercises than the ones shown in this book. They might not strictly be yoga though.

The special conditions at the end were interesting though they did not cover hysterectomies or pelvic floor dysfunction not connected to child birth which I thought were big oversights.

I wouldn't recommend this to the general population. I would recommend it as a teaching aid purely for the anatomy section. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

I was really excited to read a queer retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth. I was disappointed.

I could not stand the writing style. Lyrical writing can be poetic, this was bloated with unnecessary similes and metaphors. The words start to lose meaning. 

The dense prose distracts from the utter lack of plot or real character depth.

The author made the baffling decision to have Psyche’s chapters in first person and Eros’ in third person. Eros was the more interesting character, first person would have given more insight into the character. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

Well that was devastating but in the best possible way. I couldn't put this down and I was tense reading it. It built and built to a conclusion that made sense to the world and story.

As much as I loved it, the pacing felt a little off and some POV chapters weren't as well done as others. Though that could be my bias as some characters I cared more about than others. 

It was an excellent final instalment of an excellent fantasy series. I would recommend this to everyone who enjoys fantasy and epic novels because it is something really unique in those genres

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

The book starts immediately where the last book left off. I would suggest re-reading the first book or reading the wiki because it goes straight into action and assumes you remember everything that happened. 

I liked that it started this way. It was a continuation and that really worked for this series. 

I loved it. The world building was great, the pacing felt right, and it was fun to join the characters again. 

The series had a satisfying conclusion. I thought the ending was a bit rushed. I would have liked a bit more time spent on that but overall I really enjoyed the book. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC