Subtitled “Strong Opinions from Smart Women”, this collection of short articles from the website The Pool really did feel like a breath of fresh air.

I haven’t really encountered the website before but I’m delighted to be introduced to it now and have already had a good browse around and signed up for their emails.

The book is divided into various sections - e.g Gender Politics and Power, Work, Parenting, Body etc - each containing several articles of a few pages each on that general theme, from a wide range of contributors. Some I’d heard of (Lauren Laverne, Sali Hughes, Viv Groskop, Bryony Gordon), many I hadn’t. Hence it’s super accessible and easy to dip in and out of. Each piece is thought provoking and often inspiring. The only thing I would say is that there seems to be a bit of a lack of lesbian voices, with the Love, Sex and Relationships section, for instance, feeling very focused on heterosexual relationships..

A great book which I’m sure I will return to again and again.

Thank you for the recommendation of this. It was extremely powerful and I would stress that everyone should read this.

I loved this book so much! This covers all aspects of life and has some advice and anecdotes from many up and coming writers who you have heard of and others who you can discover and love. You can dip in and out of this book or binge. Would recommend this to all humans who want to know more about how we all live our lives honestly.

I haven't read all the essays included in "Life Honestly" because many of them don't apply to the life stage I'm currently at which is why I can't really relate to them at this point, but I look forward to picking this essay collection back up again when I reach my thirties and forties.

The essays I did read, especially on harassment, work culture, and feeling like I haven't hit all the mile stones I should have, all felt really relatable and well written. It felt good to read about other people's experience in the work place and how I wasn't overreacting but actually experienced very similar events and emotions as others in my position.

I like that this book offers a platform to a variety of women at different life stages, with different life experiences, and with different backgrounds. It shows the variability of problems women face throughout their lives but also how many of these problems are essentially the same for all women.

One essay, on the the necessity of having sex in order to have a functioning relationship, bugged me however. Because I'm asexual I mostly skipped over the essays on romantic relationships, because they aren't really applicable to me, but the headline really bothered me and reading the whole thing didn't make it better. Even the implication that sex is a necessary part of a healthy relationship is really off-putting to me and, in my opinion, devalues a lot of of very healthy long-term relationships.

Apart from this one essay, the articles were really interesting and dealt with important topics.

Life Honestly is a fantastic collection of essays on topics faced by women every day. These topics range from politics and relationships to motherhood and sex. Each essay is informative and well-written. I will be adding Live Honestly to my book collection.

The editor of the collection and co-founder of The Pool introduces the book by telling the reader about the role articles have played in her life.

“Over the years I have been indebted to the women bold enough to share their stories about everything from cripplingly heavy periods to massive career leaps. Laterly – and less seriously – I have learnt to say ‘and’ instead of ‘but’, delete every other ‘sorry’ from my emails and to say ‘yes’ unless I really mean ‘no’. In which case I just say ‘no’ and have done with it. When my eggs abruptly dried up, it was to other women’s stories I turned to get me through.”

Together with her co-founder she created The Pool to offer a safe space for women.

“A bull-shit free, truth-telling zone. This is how it is. The anti-Instagram, if you like, where the pain, stress, ridiculousness and joy of everyday life was not airbrushed away.”

The first section of Life Honestly was my favourite because it was about gender politics and power. One of the first essays in this section says that in order to make feminism work you need to share stories to raise awareness of inequality which is what this book does.

In this section of the book one woman talks about the story of a woman who was unable to close a joint bank account with an abusive partner without him being present, about the slut-shaming of Monica Lewinsky. My favourite essay of the section was one about why we don’t always take sexual offences seriously.

The woman who wrote the essay had to put up with a man masturbating next to her but didn’t report it because she felt like it wasn’t serious enough. In the essay she looks at the reasons why she came to that conclusion.

“Don’t make a fuss. Don’t whinge. There are far worse things that happen aren’t there? Don’t ever seem too highly strung, or emotional or ‘crazy’. Don’t appear like you ‘can’t take a laugh.’ The way women are publicly treated – shamed and embarrassed by uncaring self-righteous, self-centred men is diminished as ‘just a joke’. And so, when something happens, we…diminish its gravitas too.”

One of the other essays that captivated me was the one by the rape victim who described herself as a victim blamer also. She talks about her experience and then about a phrase she heard later which has stuck with her and is important to remember.

“Then a few years ago I heard the phrase ‘lets stop teaching women how not to get raped and start teaching men not to rape.”

Later essays in other sections talk about maternity leave and attitudes in the workplace to women of potential childbearing age, friendship and how to avoid toxic friends, and body image.

I found the article by the woman who chose not to lost weight for her wedding particularly refreshing.

This book is a must for anyone interested in feminism or simply looking to read more about issues facing contemporary women.

A collection of essays on a variety of subjects some more relevant to myself than others but all well written and engaging with some powerful passages. I think it would be a book to dip in and out of depending which section is most relevant to one at any particular time. The essays are short which is ideal for a book to pick up at any time, in fact I think it would be the best way to read it, or at least in the subject matter sections.

I had never heard of The Pool before and looking it up, I am now totally hooked on this no nonsense site for women's issues and I shall be letting my daughters know about it too.

It is a total 'must have' book for women of all ages and might offer an insight to a woman's take on things for men to read too

I raced through this book, although I had never heard of The Pool I have already visited the platform and would encourage all woman to do so. It is full of interesting, helpful and funny content which is instantly assessable.

This print version of the platform is divided into various topics such as work,, health and beauty self esteem, parenting and lots more besides. The inclusion of inspiring female writers ( a few I know and some new writers to me ) added to my enjoyment. These writers not only shared their advise and opinions but did so in a honest and entertaining way. I found it really refreshing to get another woman’s “take” on something , almost like having a coffee and chin wag with a good friend.

When woman come together we can move mountains and this book has definitely reaffirmed this to me personally. A must read for every woman whatever age, sharing and supporting each other can only make us stronger.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my chance to read this great book.

Wow. I am blown away. What a truly inspiring novel from some extremely inspiring women - I didn't know how I'd feel about this book, but after reading it I feel like I could take on the world.

This is a book that no matter your age, no matter your background, you need to read it. Told by women, for women. This is the book that speaks volumes in the world of today.

I have never read through a book so fast. This collection of essays should be read by everyone.
Each piece has an author that is versed and passionate about the topic in which they are writing about.
There’s a bittersweet beauty in some of the articles, and I certainly hope they reach out to the people who need them the most.

As a big fan of the articles on The Pool, I was really excited to read this. I found myself particularly moved by the chapter on the #HomeToVote for the Irish Referendum. It's a great mix of thoughtful pieces on feminism and so well written. The list of contributors is impressive and also great for finding new writers that you maybe weren't familiar with. Loved it!