Brilliant book, very positive and inspiring.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This was a wonderfully insightful book by Louise Minchin and showed just how strong, powerful, determined and Fearless women can be and what obstacles they can overcome.
Lots of different stories from an array of fascinating women, sports and challenges and I loved that Louise got involved herself in many of them too.. a brilliant book to read, enjoy and maybe read again.

Former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise doesn't disappoint. As you'd expect from someone who does triathlons, Louise doesn't just profile women who have amazing adventures: she joins them. So we see her caving in the dark, free diving under the ice in Finland with the first woman to swim a mile in the Antarctic Circle, and swimming from Alcatraz with two teenage sisters who have braved the shark-infested waters over 70 times.

You have to wonder why these incredible women don't have more public awareness, but wasn't this always the problem? How can we inspire young girls when the patriarchs who dominate publishing, film production and the media make all the decisions? Minchin's book is a must-have for parents of teenage girls.

An inspiring and motivating read.

Following her fight at the BBC for equal rights of female newsreaders to be given more headline/top of the hour slots, compared to male counterparts.
Louise felt driven to highlight the stories of extraordinary women and their extreme, adventure-seeking, courageous endeavours - to be the best versions of themselves.
Loved how she formed close empathic bonds with 18 incredible women - who in their adventures are trailblazing and breaking down barriers.
Incredibly awe-inspiring and moving - powerful reminder of the female spirit.
Thanks @louiseminchin, @bloomsburybooks & @netgalley for the eARC

A great collective of inspiring stories on how women are just amazing. A really truly inspiring read and something I didn’t know I needed to read

If you only know Louise Minchin from presenting BBC Breakfast then you're in for a shock and treat. Independent, daring, fearless, inspiring...all this and more. If you want inspiration to pursue goals outside your comfort zone you could do far worse than this.

Absolutely awe inspiring! This book is filled with wonderful stories of women who strive through sheer hard work and determination, sometimes against the odds, to be the best in their different fields (and there are some extraordinary fields) and I would include Louise in that too who overcame many hours of hard training to join them. They are all to be admired and it was so interesting to read their individual stories

I wasn't very familiar with TV presenter and triathlete Louise Minchin, as I don't watch breakfast TV, but the concept of this book sounded interesting. In her introduction, Louise observed that as a TV presenter she would often interview people who'd achieved feats of daring or endurance, but noted that those featured were nearly always men. (You know the sort of thing - 500 marathons in 500 days while barefoot and balancing a tin of soup on your head.)

Women were surely also achieving similar feats, but it clearly wasn't being reported as much. Louise, therefore, set out to find - and indeed become part of - these stories.

Probably because I hadn't read the synopsis particularly carefully, I hadn't initially realised that Louise would be undertaking these challenges herself, alongside the women who devote their lives to doing terrifying stuff. This definitely adds a great dimension, as we follow Louise's experiences of being cold, scared, knackered and - frequently - exhilarated.

In the course of this book she tries out all manner of often terrifying and usually uncomfortable activities including climbing, caving and freediving under a metre of ice in the dark, along with less immediately dangerous but also challenging activities like walking across Dartmoor and playing rugby. Oh, and cycling across Argentina with legendary endurance athlete Mimi Anderson.

There are loads of inspirational women featured here, many of whom have overcome considerable obstacles to achieve what they have - ultrarunner Susie Chan, trailblazing rugby player Zainab Alema, Paralympic cyclist Kadeena Cox, ice swimmer Cath Pendleton, and many more.

In the words of Belinda Kirk: "It is not an adventure unless there is adversity. If you aren't suffering a bit… you haven't left your comfort zone. It is beyond your comfort zone, where you stretch yourself, that you learn."

Definitely worth a read, especially if you're in need of inspiration. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy!

Fantastic book filled with inspiring woman and their stories. I read 18 unique individual stories about different women striving and accomplishing their goals in many different fields. I know this book will appeal to many different ages of women young and old and inspire them to reach and achieve their own goals.