A very informative read with plenty of insight. I do think this book would be better for a pre-teen/teen audience. I definitely wish I had read it when as was a teenager as it was a lot more informative than books we had about menstrual cycles when I was younger. I would definitely purchase this for someone that’s just started their period.

I've been a little late with my review for this - and have to blame my MA for that a I simply did not have the time I felt the book deserved for reading. It's highly informative and I was surprised to find that their was stuff I did not know!

What a refreshing read. Periods have been a taboo subject for too long. A book to give to my kids so they can find their way through the maze of issues/ situations with our monthly " friend". Interesting for me as I come to the towards the time when I will no longer have them.

I am so pleased that I have read this title and gained an understanding of my period - why aren't we taught this in school?! Lucy gives a fascinating insight into the many stages of the cycle and I now feel like I finally understand my body.

Thank you for my earc of this book! In general I am loving how many more nonfic books related to womens health are being published. It’s a topic that has been ignored for too long. This is insightful and interesting and I’d definitely recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about their period.

I really enjoyed this one, it has a fun tone and is also really informative. I like the idea of hacking your menstrual cycle and would definitely suggest this one.

DNF @ 52%.

I picked this up hoping to learn some more about my menstrual cycle and hormones, and consider how to manage my period better. The first half of this book really did this for me and I felt like I was learning a lot. It's very conversational in tone and very readable. Around 30-40% of the way in, the book then just becomes very repetitive, and fluffy (as though the author has had to pad out the information to make it into a book rather than an article) and I simply didn't enjoy reading the same information again. I didn't find it useful, so I just decided to DNF.

I will also say that I took issue with how female-centric the language is in this. Despite the author acknowledging that it's not only women who get periods, Peach continues to use trans-exclusionary and female-centric language, which was really disappointing.

I wish this book had been around when I was a teenager, I think it should be read by everybody - not just people who menstruate. There is so much to learn, especially around the history if periods that I didn't know and without this book, would never have even thought to look. An educational book that's also very interesting!

We need more books - and more conversations - about periods. This is a reasonably interesting approach to furthering these conversations, but there are better books on the same topic.

Possibly a book better for younger readers, there's an informal, slightly patronising tone to a lot of it.

I liked the idea of exploring the four stages of the menstrual cycle but, as I say, not the approach or voice for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was very informative and despite being written for adults I felt could be read by teens. I didn’t mind that the style of writing was done that way - for me it made it easy to read

Some great idea, yes common sense but sonetimes we just need things pointing out to us!!!

I thought this was a great, interesting book to get to know the phases of my period. Definitely would recommend this to anyone younger who is just coming to terms with this new phase of their life. Some parts I couldn’t particularly connect to as I suffer from pain during my time of the month. I also wish it has a little bit more representation from the Trans and non-binary community.

Breaking the period taboo with each page, it is an insightful yet entertaining read. Every girl/ woman should read it!

I really enjoyed how candidly this book talked about periods and owning your period, I really enjoyed reading it thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity.

At the age of 40 I have come to realise that my cycle is key to making the most of me. I have listened to other experts in the field to try and understand my cycle and how to harness it for the good. This is the first explanation that actually is easy to understand. The author gives great everyday life examples and I feel as though I have finally gotten a good grasp on it all now.

Fascinating subject and a great accessible book.

Thank you to NetGalley & publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for a honest review.

While I believe the author had good intentions with this book, I don't think it was pulled off as well as it could and should have been. The book is marketed as an adult book but it's written as if it's geared towards pre-teens. There were lots of random capitalised words and exclamation points and whilst I don't mind an informally written book, this pushed it over the edge and it felt lazy and poorly written. In addition, most of the period advice was far too obvious, such as; eat chocolate, take painkillers, use a hot water bottle - you don't need to read a book to know these things.

As a woman with endometriosis, I also feel that the author almost erased the role other structural inequalities play in regard to menstrual stigma by placing the onus of empowerment as the main and only way to end it, in particular medical professionals who under diagnose conditions like endometriosis. To be fair she does touch on this, but just kind of shrugs it off by saying "just try another doctor" when it is really not so simple. This is again very surface level.

Overall I think this book would be a good read for young teens however I wouldn't recommend this to adults who already know the basics when it comes to the menstrual cycle.

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are two main reasons why I didn't like this book:

- It is marketed as an adult book when it is written as if it's geared towards pre-teens. Lots of random capitalised words and multiple exclamation points. I don't mind an informally written book, but this pushed it over the edge and kind of felt lazily and poorly written. Much of the period advice was painfully obvious, like eat chocolate, use a hot water bottle, take painkillers - you don't need a book to tell you these things, you barely need a Google search.

- This book seems to be centered around the idea of period being linked to 'female empowerment', and this is then tenuously related to destigmatising periods. Personally, I fundamentally disagree with the idea that period stigma can be ended simply by feeling empowered by them, there are a lot more structural inequalities in play and it feels a little condescending and naive.

This book maybe would have been useful for me to have read when I was in my early teens, in the mid 00s. Sadly it also feels left behind there - while Peach makes clear (correctly!) that ability to reproduce does not equal desire to do so, she’s still stuck associating menustrating with “womanhood”, regardless of the fact not all women are able to have periods and not all the people who experience them are women. This association I don’t think is helpful for cis women who menstruate either - I don’t think we need to feel empowered by our periods or reproductive systems, although I certainly agree we need to not be ashamed of periods. Learning to work with menstrual cycles- e.g. manipulating exercise and diet - I think is really helpful without it needing to fall under a somewhat condescending umbrella of “empowerment” - not to mention the fact it’s hard to feel empowered by something that for many people sucks and hurts a lot of the time, and no amount of painkillers and meditation can get around that (if it can for you, well done! Consider yourself very biologically lucky).

I’m also concerned placing the onus of empowerment to get rid of menstrual stigma erases the role other structural inequalities play - in particular medical professionals who under diagnose endometriosis etc. To be fair to her she does touch on this but just kind of says, just try another doctor, you deserve to not feel pain. Which, sure, but for a book attempting to address period stigma, it's again very surface level and really doesn’t move much past basic advice bordering on pseudoscience and platitudes of “empowerment”. The Do/Dream/Give/Take phase tracking bordered on period astrology for me, and much of the advice kind of felt like a YouTuber self-help book where they bullet point how to boil an egg- obvious and surface level.

To finish off, the couple of anecdotes about how non-Western cultures view periods were interesting but too short and kind of written in a “how cute and inspirational!” way that felt uncomfortable. The use of 'biologically female/male' might have been fine in 2009 but are we not past that as a society? If you're writing a feminist book in 2020, please read some form of gender theory. And, last of all, maybe don't cite Monsieur Misogyny himself, Charles Darwin, in your period book.

If you still like Caitlin Moran and her noughties feminism, I think you’ll enjoy this. If you’ve progressed past that, I’d advise skipping it.

This book has already changed my life. I think it should be on the curriculum and available for everybody, girls - to understand hormones and moods and boys to understand the girls in their life.

This book informed on things I didn’t even know about and shows how undereducated we can sometimes be! I really enjoyed reading this book and have recommended it to a lot of people as it’s just something as a woman you need to read!
It’s books like this that need to be given to girls and even boys in school to gain and understanding of what women go through once a month and how not one woman is the same! Would have to eliminate a lot of stigma and further educate people on something so natural. How well this book is written is also fantastic it’s gentle and empowering and this isn’t a combination I have seen very often!

Most certainly NEEDED this book in my teens and definitely learnt a lot about my period and body from the reading being in my late twenties too. Really enjoyed the author's own experiences and journey navigating learning about periods. Also liked the illustrations and bullet point advice style pages too.

What a great book! Packed full of really helpful and useful information and written in a very entertaining and understandable way. I'd highly recommend to any woman looking to be better educated about their menstrual cycle, wish I'd read it years ago!