puddlejumper's reviews
726 reviews

 

Sakurai’s exam nerves meant that she didn’t do as well as she expected and didn’t get into her preferred school. A teacher offers to write her a referral to her dream school if she can get a truant student to start coming to school. 

The artwork fits the vibe perfectly and there is a comic element to the plot which I enjoyed. Overall, it's really cute if you ignore the blackmail/coercive start to the couple's relationship. It really wasn’t needed. 

Honda could still ask for daily favours and they eventually start getting closer and catching feelings. The semi-forced kiss ruined it for me and felt very out of place. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

 

 This was such a wonderful and heart-warming asexual/aromatic coming of age story. The characters and relationships were really well done and interesting. There was exploration of what being in a relationship meant, what love meant, and that platonic relationships can be just as valid as romantic and sexual ones. 

The art style was great and I really enjoyed reading it.  

 Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of the book 

 This is a good reference book for mat Pilates. The sections on apparatus and small equipment are really not worth it.

It's well laid out with clear instructions, watch points and photographs. 

This was published in 2010 and it felt like an older Pilates book. There are a few things I wouldn't do as a teacher but I know I was encouraged to do as a student many years ago. 

I recommend this, alongside other books, as a good reference book for new mat teachers. 

 

I just wasn't feeling it and it's been on my shelves for ages. Going to donate it. 

This is rather clunky and the pacing is off. This is marketed as adult fantasy but reads more like a YA novel. 

There is no subtlety at all and the characters are one dimensional. Much of the plot is predictable and there was far too much sexual assault for my liking.

I cannot find any information on the author or their qualifications. It could be a translation issue but this reads like it was written by AI.

There are consistency issues, the syntax is awkward and it's unbelievably confusing to read. 

Onto the content of the book, what is this book? What's it about? Whose it for?

The exercises are badly explained, there are no images, no guidance on springs, this is just rubbish.

This was a book I found through Kindle Unlimited and I can't find any information about the author and their qualifications.

The book is badly formatted. There are sections that just repeat what earlier sections say. This should have been tightened up into a smaller pamphlet style book. 

It relies on stock photos which means most of the exercises aren't visually shown. The written instructions are not good enough to be used alone, there needs to be a visual element. 

The content is shallow. I don't know who the audience for this is because if it's aimed at pregnant individuals there isn't enough information or guidance. What little there is, is sometimes not actually accurate.

There were no citations. Don't quote medical journals and not cite it. 

There is a section on flexibility and mobility that doesn't seem to relate to anything. Most of the exercises are contraindicated for pregnant people and it doesn't say this. I think this is a general section but don't put it in a Pilates for pregnancy book.

A hypertonic pelvic floor presents the same way as an ‘weak’ pelvic floor. Kegel style exercises are not always recommended and urinary incontinence is not proof your pelvic floor needs strengthening. 

I know it's free and it's tempting to go for the free/cheap option but don't. There are so many good pre/post natal Pilates books or courses or videos. Go find them.

This is a training manual for a teacher training course the author is running. I would assume that the course goes into a lot more detail but I'm going to review the book that I have.

The pictures were great. A lot of time was spent on capturing movement transitions to show how you would move. There were photos on how to safely use the box which I thought was a great idea. A lot of manuals skip that and it can be hard to explain/demonstrate that to clients.

For every exercise you, as a teacher, should know the purpose of it, what muscles are working and how, and know why you are teaching it. 

This book doesn't give you any of that information. It teaches you how to safely teach a series of exercises but not understand them.

If you aren't doing her course then I wouldn't recommend this book. There are books that are better (and cheaper). I don't really know why this is being sold on Amazon. It should be used for her training course and not available elsewhere. 

 This is a horror story retelling without the horror. It fits more into the 'saved by a monster and they fall in love' trope.

There was a plot that was consistent throughout the book. The ending was a bit unrealistic but I don't care, the plot wasn't the point of the book. I appreciated that it was there though.