"We play for the love of the game, and we are determined to carry on." - Alice Kell, Captain of the Dick Kerr Ladies soccer team, 1921.

In the 1920s there were few opportunities for women in sports, either as part of the education system in schools or in the professional realm. This book tells about the women and girls who pushed for more sports education, better equipment and access, and for recognition in professional competitions.

I am not an athlete by any means, but I was inspired to see these stories of women who broke the barriers and strove for excellence in their sports. This book has stories, biographical accounts, sports stats, newspaper articles from the 1920s, quotes from famous athletes of the era, and even the stories of people who opposed women's involvement in sports.

With stunning black and white photographs, this book captures the fiery spirit of these early athletes! The photographs are full of action and movement, showing the grit and steel of the women as they push and strive and conquer.

I really like the writing style. It brings in the emotional element of the history, bringing you close to the women, but also keeps an unbiased style, giving the plain facts and not passing judgement on any event or person. I like this, because it allows the reader to decide for themselves what their opinion is on the history.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

This book is perfect for anyone interested in the Bullet Journal method, but not sure how to get started. With simple explanations for each step of the set-up, there are many options for how to lay-out your schedule, habit trackers, goals, and diary.

I appreciated how organized this book is, giving clear instructions in each chapter and offering various modifications to make the planner fit your own style.
There are examples for each layout and beautiful photographs of simple bullet journal pages. I got inspired to try out some new ideas in my bullet journal!

I really liked the writing style in this book. The author is friendly and relatable, but sticks to the main subject without taking any major tangents into personal anecdotes.

There are a few places with some mild profanity, but I was able to ignore those and enjoy the rest of the book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

This book gives practical self-care ideas organizing from A to Z, including things like healthy social interaction, meditation, cleaning and decluttering, making time for hobbies, using positive affirmations, taking a walk, listening to music, and practicing compassion. There is a flow chart quiz at the back of the book to help you determine what type of self-care you need the most.

I took off one star from my rating because of the heavy profanity in the book. It was completely unnecessary, and ruined my enjoyment of the book. I'm not sure why a book about calming self-care would include such ugly words. I thought the point was to surround yourself with positive thoughts and beautiful ideas to enhance the quality of your life. And the profanity completely destroyed that.

The book also includes many ideas that I found strange; leftist political ideas, astrology, and other things that didn't make any sense in a self-care book. There are many good ideas in here, and I think many people could benefit from the good advice. However, I did not personally enjoy it and ended up skimming through most of it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This book teaches the reader how to meditate by focusing on the breath using techniques of listening and creativity that musicians also use.

As a professional pianist, I didn't quite find what I expected in this book. I thought it would be a book about USING music as a way to meditate, but this is mostly about how music practice and meditation practice share the same techniques and characteristics. I guess I was looking for advice about meditating WHILE playing an instrument or listening to music, but the author advises meditating in complete silence.

The writing is clear and interesting, but verbose and repetitive. The writing style is beautifully lyrical, but quickly becomes tedious as each paragraph is overloaded with words. Each chapter is a restating of the same meditation ideas that have already been introduced in previous chapters with just a slight difference in the perspective. All of the meditation guides are very similar: focus on the breath, think of a mantra, imagine a sound. I would have preferred more variety.

It's all excellent advice on meditation, but it's the same concepts through twelve chapters. This book could have been much shorter. I enjoyed the first chapter, and my enjoyment diminished with every chapter because I got tired of reading the same things over and over. Each chapter has a slightly different focus, but not enough to warrant an entire chapter as if it was a new concept.

There are also some strange ideas about spirituality and enlightenment that I didn't agree with, but those were few and far between so I just ignored them. Those things did not influence my enjoyment of the book.
The author also includes some stories and anecdotes of famous musicians, rap artists, and rock bands that he has known in his career as a composer and producer. I didn't like a single one of those stories. They had nothing to do with the topic of meditation, and they were full of drugs and ugliness. Those DID influence my enjoyment of the book. In a negative way.

There are some really good ideas in this book about meditation and about the characteristics it shares with music. I think many musicians would be inspired to try meditation and deepen their meditation practice with the concepts in this book.

All the elements for a good book are there, but the execution left me feeling bored instead of inspired. However, that might just be from my own mood and expectations while reading. Other people might enjoy the book much more than I did.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This book has hundreds of stickers, and glossy endpapers that can be used as a background for the stickers to be placed and reused in a scene. The stickers are sturdy and don't lose their stickiness over time. I even tried placing a sticker on a plain piece of paper, and it stuck just fine and then came right off without leaving any sticky residue.

The designs for each sticker are colorful and fun! You could use them on the background scene provided with the book, or use them in notebooks, cards, journals, or on any hard surface. There are so many stickers to choose from! Some of them are duplicates, but most are individual designs. I love the vibrant colors!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This book has sixty-nine colorful airplane designs with clear instructions on how to fold each paper plane. I was amazed at the variety of the designs and how detailed and colorful the artwork is. There are planes that look like butterflies, aliens, bombers, and all kinds of interesting things.

There are several different ways to fold the planes as well. There are rotor planes that spin, and diving planes that will swoop up and down, and gliders that will stay up for long periods of time.

The instructions have illustrations that show each step and where to fold along the dotted lines. It's easy to follow and simple to put together. There are also flying tips that tell you how to launch the paper planes, and how to bend the paper to get the best flying results.

This is such a fun book, and I can't wait to try out dozens of these beautiful paper airplanes!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This guided journal gives writing prompts and activities to help relieve stress, enhance your life, embrace the good, find joy in the little things, and simplify your schedule. With a beautiful pastel design and inspiring quotes, this book teaches us to be gentler with ourselves and forgive those little mistakes that make life so interesting.

I really love the overall message of this book! I am a perfectionist and a worrier, so this kind of reminder to slow down and accept the imperfect things in life is just right for someone like me. There are breathing exercises, creative projects, mindful writing prompts, gentle self-care challenges, goals to spend more time with friends, get out into the world, allow the imperfect to happen, and choose happiness.

The chapters are divided by Work, Home, Family, Friends, Adventures, Creativity, Body, and Self. But you could skip around the book and choose a page from different chapters whenever you like. Each page has little baby steps that you can take through an imperfect journey that brings joy.

The illustrations are cute and fun, with soft colors and a relaxed watercolor style. I can't wait to get started with some of the activities and journal prompts in this book!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

These short stories add to the folklore and stories of Earthsea. They range from ancient tales of how the Wizarding School of Roke was first founded to more recent tales that fit in with the timeline of the rest of the Earthsea books. Some are parallel stories to the main books in the series that tell of other characters with similar magic and how their experiences dovetail with the main character's stories although the characters may never meet.

The writing is excellent and the stories draw the reader into the world of Earthsea. Some of the stories are very sad and full of violence, but others are bittersweet and beautiful. The author does a wonderful job of describing a setting and a new character in a few well-chosen words that immediately connect the reader to the story.

I enjoyed these stories, and they are a wonderful addition to the Earthsea books!

Diana is too young to join in the activities of the other Amazons, and she has no companions her own age. She tries to fashion a friend for herself out of clay and sand, attempting to perform magic to breathe life into the figure, but her longing for a friend may plunge the entire island into chaos.

I loved this graphic novel! The artwork is colorful and vibrant, showing the clear action and the emotional responses of the characters. It really brings the story to life and creates an energetic mood.

The plot is excellent, with many moving parts that propel the story forward. Each scene is interesting and full of excitement and mystery.

I loved Diana's young character! You can really feel the struggle she is working through as she tries to figure out who she is and what her place is among the Amazons. She has such a strong personality, and her courage begins to blossom even while she is fighting for her own self-worth. Her emotional reactions as she interacts with other characters are powerful and pull the reader into her shoes.

I really hope there will be more graphic novels about Young Diana!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.