January 2023 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Blog tour calendar: Expectant by Vanda Symon

Review: Trouble, by Katja Ivar

PUB DATE: January 19, 2023
MARKET: Nordic Noir
BINDING: Paperback B-Format
PRICE: £9.99
EXTENT: 224 pages
ISBN: 9781913394-776

The third in the series featuring Hella Mauzer, to follow on the success of Evil Things and Deep as Death.
A Nordic Noir of the first-order set in Helsinki in 1953. A dark political thriller at the heart of the Cold War; a novel about ruthless ambition and betrayal, but also about the challenges of being a single professional woman in post-war Europe.

Helsinki, June 1953, at the heart of the Cold War. Hella, now a reluctant private investigator, has been asked by her former boss at the Helsinki murder squad to do a background check on a member of the Finnish secret services. Not the type of job Hella was hoping for, but she accepts it on the
condition that she is given access to the files concerning the roadside death of her father in 1942, at a time when Finland joined forces with Nazi Germany in its attack against the Soviet Union. German troops were sent to Finland, the Gestapo arrived in Helsinki and German influence on local
government was strong, including demands for the deportation of local Jews.

Colonel Mauzer, his wife and other family members were killed by a truck in a hit and run incident. An accident, file closed, they said. But not for Hella, whose unwelcome investigation leads to some who would prefer to see her stopped dead in her tracks.

Blog tour calendar: Song Of Silver, Flame Like Night, by Amelie Wen Zhao

Blog tour calendar: Out of the Blue, by Robert Tregoning, illustrated by Stef Murphy

TBR Pile Review:The Train Happy Journal: 30 days to kick start your intuitive movement journey, by Tally Rye

Format: 112 pages, Paperback

Published: December 2, 2021 by Pavilion Books

ISBN: 9781911682257 (ISBN10: 1911682253)

Blurb

Personal Trainer and Broadcaster Tally Rye is one of the key figures in the global intuitive fitness movement.

In her first book, Train Happy she encouraged us to change the way we think about exercise, teaching readers to approach movement with a mindset of self-care rather than self-punishment and in doing so to rediscover the joy in eating and moving more mindfully.

In The Train Happy Journal, Tally builds upon the core principles of intuitive movement from self-care, body acceptance and body positivity to intuitive eating with interactive exercises and journal prompts to help readers reflect upon their relationship with fitness, think about how it has been influenced by Diet Culture and ultimately get them feeling good about moving their body.

The journal is interwoven with colourful illustration and expert advice as well as inspiring quotes and testimonies from a cross section of representational voices – with room for the reader to document the inner work intrinsic to a successful intuitive movement journey.

My Review

I’ve read through this journal and I’m working through it with reference to my current exercise plan and also in reference to my past exercise routines. I like the pages looking at why I exercise and the thoughts I have around it. I am finding it useful. The book recaps some of the material in Train Happy, in less detail. I preferred this journal to the main book; I think it is more useful.

TBR Pile Review: Train Happy – An Intuitive Exercise Plan For Every Body, by Tally Rye

Format: 160 pages, hardcover

Published: February 4, 2020 by Pavilion

ISBN: 9781911641520 (ISBN10: 1911641522)

Blurb

Let go of the ‘exercise rules’ and learn to love working out and moving your body in a multitude of ways!

Personal Trainer and Broadcaster Tally Rye is on a mission to change the way we think about exercise, encouraging you to approach it with a mindset of self-care rather than the traditional self-punishment narrative. Gain knowledge and tools that enable you to navigate your path to a health first, holistic approach to fitness which includes insights from leading experts in body image, mental health and intuitive eating.

As you read, you will discover the wonderful physical and mental health benefits of regular activity and then start to feel their effects as you follow Tally’s 10-week training plan. The plan is designed to slot into your life in a sustainable and flexible way, providing resistance workouts, bodyweight workouts and weekly challenges to keep mixing it up which can all be done in the comfort of your own home.

Audiobook Review: Butcher, Biter, Spy, by Ryan Green, narrated by Steve White

Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 13-01-23
Language: English
Publisher: Ryan Green Publishing

Summary

On the bloodstained floor lay an array of butcher’s tools and a body without a throat, torn out by Fritz’s “love bite”…

Deemed psychologically unfit to stand trial for child abuse, Fritz Haarmann was locked up in a mental asylum until a new diagnosis as “morally inferior” allowed him to walk free. His insights into the criminal underworld convinced the police to overlook his “activities” and trust him as an informant.

What harm could it do?

When the dismembered and ravaged remains of young men began to wash up on the banks of the river, a war-torn nation cowered under the threat of the man known as the Butcher, Vampire, and Wolf Man.

The hunt for the killer was on, and he was hiding in plain sight.

Butcher, Biter, Spy is a chilling retelling of one of the most brutal killing sprees in German history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the listener into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.

TBR Pile Review: “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 other myths about fat people, by Aubrey Gordon

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

Published: January 10, 2023 by Beacon Press

ISBN: 9780807006474 (ISBN10: 0807006475)

Language: English

Blurb

The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice

The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive.

In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.

As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.

Blog Tour Calendar: Trouble, by Katja Ivar

Review: Different, Not Less, by Chloe Hayden

Title Details
ISBN: 9781922616180 | Murdoch Books
Paperback | Embargo 5th January 2023
RRP £14.99

An empowering guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from Netflix’s Heartbreak High star and disability advocate, Chloé Hayden.
Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she’d crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And why are you people so touch oriented? None of it made sense.

Chloé desperately wished to be part of the fairy tales she so dearly loved. A world in which the lead is considered a hero because of their differences, rather than excluded and pushed aside for them.

She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept. After years of being ‘weird, quirky, Chloé’ she was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It was only after a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less that she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after.

Different, Not Less is a moving, at times funny story of how it feels to be
neurodivergent as well as a practical guide, with insights on how autism and ADHD present differently in females, advice for living with meltdowns and shutdowns, tips for finding supportive relationships, communities and workplaces and much more.

Whether you’re neurodivergent or supporting those who are, Different, Not Less will inspire you to create a more inclusive world where everyone feels like they belong.