I wasn’t sure what to expect from this series of articles and was excited to find out. It is not so much a book to be read, but articles to dip in and out of, which will challenge and provoke you and above all educate! It always made me reflect. They give you advice, comments and opinions which really challenged my thinking.

Such a wide variety of areas are covered, I’m sure that every woman will find something to mull over. Some, I particularly wish I had read when I was younger. So many of the articles gave me pause for thought and provoked discussion with friends and family, I found them to be both empowering and inspiring.

This was such an interesting read! Filled with a wide variety of topics, a lot of which are hard-hitting and will make you think. I really enjoyed the aspect of the book; broken down into different topics with numerous essays within. It was the perfect book to pick up and put down again.

I can't find a way to share my thoughts on this. Part of me found it interesting and reassuring but there was one particular contributor who really should not have been asked. I won't say anything more about it. I'm sure this will appeal to women who like reading the Pool, but I'm sorry to have wasted the publishers time, and mine in requesting this title.

I think that the students in our school library need to hear lots of diverse voices and read stories and lives of many different kinds of people and experiences. When I inherited the library it was an incredibly sanitised space with only 'school readers' and project books on 'the railways' etc. Buying in books that will appeal to the whole range of our readers with diverse voices, eclectic and fascinating subject matter, and topics that will intrigue and fascinate them was incredibly important to me.
This is a book that I think our senior readers will enjoy very much indeed - not just because it's well written with an arresting voice that will really keep them reading and about a fascinating topic - but it's also a book that doesn't feel worthy or improving, it doesn't scream 'school library and treats them like young reading adults who have the right to explore a range of modern diverse reads that will grip and intrigue them and ensure that reading isn't something that they are just forced to do for their English project - this was a solid ten out of ten for me and I'm hoping that our students are as gripped and caught up in it as I was. It was one that I stayed up far too late reading and one that I'll be recommending to the staff as well as our senior students - thank you so much for the chance to read and review; I really loved it and can't wait to discuss it wth some of our seniors once they've read it too!

Life Honestly: Strong Opinions from Smart Women - the title says it all. The excellent writers in this compilation share articles of personal thoughts, opinion, comment and advice in subjects from gender politics, work, beauty and parenting, to name a few. They cover important subjects and have powerful things to say, infused with bravery, wit, compassion and honesty. It was interesting to read quite different things from these different women, each valid in their own right. Some resonated with me more than others, but all left me thinking, having learned something new. An absolute must-read.

This book was marketed at strong opinions from strong women but I found most of this book to be uninteresting at best.

I really enjoyed this collection of essays from women about current themes like love, work life, relationships, and family. They describe personal experience to talk about things that are relevant in today’s society. They are very well-written and engaging. I could relate to some of them, I sympathized with others, and I found them all very interesting. I had this book on my TBR list for quite a while (I regret not picking up earlier) and, before I started reading, I didn’t know what The Pool is, but I found myself completely engrossed in this collection of smart, authentic, and captivating stories and I highly recommend it.

This made a change to my normal read. A colletion of essays by writers from the Pool with something for everyone to dip into including work, beauty, health, self-esteem. There is quite a lot to take and I think it's easier to take it in small chunks like a magazine article

I found this book to be quite hit and miss. I like the concept - women talking about female problems in society - but most of the articles didn't apply to me. It felt like half of them were about raiding children in London with London being massively expensive. Neither children or living in London is applicable to me, so I found myself skimming a lot of this book. Other articles were more interesting, such as the Irish women and repeating the 8th.

This book is great for a lot of people. A lot of these essays don't apply to me as a white woman but I still think they are important to read regardless.
I'd never heard of The Pool before which is almost a shame I think but I did recognise some of the authors.
While I enjoyed a lot of this like most short writing collections I find I never love everything and so a 3 star isn't a bad rating but a middling and acceptable rating for something that was good but not amazing.

Publisher: The Pool
Rating: ★★
Format: Netgalley EARC

I was looking forward to this as I enjoy a bit of non-fiction. There’s just TOO MUCH in it. Quality over quantity is important. Found myself just skipping to the bits that were relevant to me. I did enjoy these bits though.

I hadn't heard of The Pool before requesting this book, but I'll have to keep an eye out for them in the future. This book was quite interesting with lots of thought provoking statements and interesting essays.

I had never heard of the pool before requesting this book, however it’s definitely something I will look out for in future.
I really enjoyed this book; it’s thought provoking, relevant and clever. There’s some fabulous essays in this book that will stay with you for a long time after reading it.

Unfortunately, I requested this book, but didn't get to read it before it was archived. I wish I had gotten to it.

Life Honestly is a collection of essays and articles about things such as work, friendship, relationships, mental health, style.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

This is one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. I received this entirely unexpectedly and having heard very little about The Pool; essentially a group of women who talk (very passionately) about a whole host of topics; healthy, beauty, work... There's essentially something for everyone in this book. I am sometimes sceptical before reading a book like this but this is essentially life-lessons, often bittersweet, narrated by incredibly strong and passionate women. Their passion shows in the writing and makes it a pleasure to read. It's laid out so that you can dip in and out of the essays as you please too - no pressure to read these back-to-back; they know how busy life gets!

I must admit that I had never heard of ‘The Pool’ before I read this book. I have never been one of those women who reads magazines (other than in the waiting rooms of doctors and dentists) much preferring to lose myself in a book. That aside I found most of the articles thought provoking, funny, witty and well-written and liked the fact that I was able to dip in and out of this collection as I wished.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I hadn't heard of The Pool until I saw Life Honestly on NetGalley, but with authors like Juno Dawson and Louise McSharry involved I thought this collection was going to be a new favourite.
With such a wide range of voices covering a huge selection of topics, I was unsurprised but disappointed to be underwhelmed by rather a lot of the essays featured in this book.
From a writer unquestioningly defending Asia Argento - an actress who helped break the Harvey Weinstein story but was also accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old, a fact which isn't even vaguely mentioned - to various semi-fluff pieces on clothing, there were a few sections that I skimmed over and I did find myself getting bored quite regularly.
However, when more serious topics were addressed they were covered well. I'm definitely planning on checking out more writing by Poorna Bell and Robyn Wilder, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend Life Honestly as much as I'd recommend checking out The Pool and just reading the articles you're really interested in.

This was enjoyable. Clearly a collection of magazine articles, the light, journalistic style was just what I needed on wintry days when I couldn't fully engage my brain. I particularly enjoyed the earlier chapters - feminism, parenting, money. It's a shame it petered out towards the end. It was a mistake to end on Style, this was by far the weakest chapter. More Juno Dawson please.