I was worried that this would be one of those self-satisfied and bossy books. The ones that make you feel like you're living your worst life unless you leap out of bed at 3.30am every morning, chug a [insert latest must-have superfood] juice, go for a 10-mile hill run wearing a rucksack full of concrete bricks, and then gently polish your chakras before you start work.

Although getting up early is a big part of the power hour, thankfully, it’s not about slavishly copying someone else’s routine. Or adopting their definition and measures of success. It’s about deciding what you want and why, not allowing procrastination to get a look-in and taking action to reach your goals. 

I thought the whole book would centre on the power hour, but you don’t get to that until the very end. The chapters leading to it explore the essentials that need to be in place if you’re going to achieve what you want. Mindset, developing helpful habits, physical activity (not just exercise, anything that involves being up and about and moving your body), sleep, support from other people and knowing what your purpose is.

The parts I found most interesting were the ones about sleep and creating your own power hour. I’m fond of a self-help book, so the ideas in the other chapters were ones I’d come across before. The scary facts quoted from Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, (for example, “Insufficient sleep has strong causal links to every major disease in the developed world, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, obesity and diabetes”) convinced me to take getting 7-8 hours of shut-eye a night a lot more seriously. And I liked the explanation of how you can slice up your power hour in different ways. 

Power Hour’s a relatable and easy read and, depending on your situation, the suggestions are doable. They’re not rocket science, but they’re good reminders that an effective way to work towards what you really want is to chip away at it. And it’s best to do this first thing in the morning, before your responsibilities, and other people’s to-dos and demands, start hoovering up your time, attention and headspace.

I'd recommend this to anyone who knows they want to make small but meaningful changes in their life, but isn’t quite sure where to start.

Review shared on Amazon.co.uk and Waterstones.com

This book looks to show readers how they can harness the first hour of their day to achieve their goals.

The authors writing is relatable and motivating. 

This book has helped me to focus on my goals and to strike a balance in my life. I am now fulfilling my needs as well as those of my family.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Cornerstone at Random House UK for an advance copy of this book. 

Although I love the concept of this book and I was excited to read it, as far as I was concerned, it failed to deliver. Too much content was taken from other sources with hardly any research of the author's own. 

Honestly, if I want to know what X expert thinks of Y subject, I'd sooner buy their product. I wanted to see Herbert's take and opinion, but this was sadly lacking.

The basic message seems to be that, so long as you get up at 5am (unlikely), you can pretty much achieve anything you want to. But really, any time management process will help you to do that. 

I was disappointed with this book.

The Power Hour is a lively book that is quite engaging in its style.  Unfortunately there was nothing new included.  All advice has been done and said before and the idea of getting up an hour earlier and using this hour to have a positive impact on your life has been well documented in many forms.  On a positive note the authors writing style is very good and it is an easy read.  A good book for anyone new to the subject especially those just starting out, and maybe a bit of a reminder to those of us who have heard it all many times before.

A departure from my regular fiction reads, I had seen Adrienne on social media and her book interested me. It’s really beautifully written with personal stories, which I found inspiring and motivating, a really nice January read. I think it could be a useful tool to return to again and again.

There are some interesting ideas in this book, although there's nothing in particular that I didn't already know. Naturally, each time someone writes about this subject, they put it in their style and with their particular spin on it. I enjoyed the way it was written, and there were some useful reminders. Basically, Adrienne explains the benefits of the power hour. That hour in the morning before everyone else is up when you can focus on something of particular importance to you, whether that's a run or a yoga session, writing journaling, reading etc.

I read this during the third UK lockdown in January 2021 and to be honest, that may be impacting my lack of engagement with this book. I read it hoping that it would stir up some motivation and get me going, but it's not had that effect. I'm sure other people may read it and get more positive and productive results. Unfortunately, the advice and guidance didn't suit me right now.

I understand that the author has a podcast too, so the book did encourage me to look these up and I may well dip into one or two of those to see if listening to others' experience has more impact.

The one interesting thing I did take away from the book, was that the author wrote it mostly during her power hour and so I congratulate her on her own motivation and staying power.

This is an interesting idea about claiming back a little bit of our lives. I do however think that if you are of the mindset and have the body rhythm to rise at five am.,you probably already do it!

I found this a really inspirational book. While I have no plans to get up at 5.30am and jump straight into some exercise, it has made me start 6.30am start routine where I take an hour to be just me and think of what I have coming up before the kids wake up. Very helpful book.

Having seen this spoken about on a website I thought I’d request it. An interesting read and contains some useful tips that I will try.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book

Some useful strategies here that I plan to implement.

I like the concept of a power hour, but do not think I could commit to 5am. Herbert gives lots of advice and tips on how to improve your mindset, for example some journal prompts. How to create powerful habits through prioritising how we want to feel in the future. I found the chapter on sleeping better particularly helpful..

This book is basically about getting up earlier and making better use of your time. There is little that is “new” in the way of psychology and self development but the book is a well written, interesting read. Ms Herbert has a podcast and the book is a distillation of her main ideas. She has much in the way of self motivation and is trying to change you to a dynamic force of nature like herself. 

I don't know if it’s the pandemic or the style of the book but I just didn’t connect to it. I don't use a snooze on my alarm clock but as a retired person, whose partner still works, I try to keep a routine as far as possible. I hoped this book would help me structure my day and although I did pick up a few ideas, it didn't resonate that well. I wonder if I am the wrong audience?

I was given a copy of the book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Adrienne’s introduction to the book was interesting, she shared her own challenges and setbacks and the reasons why she decided to write this book.

Some of the information wasn’t new to me but it was useful to be reminded of them. Such as the benefits of having a growth mindset over a fixed mindset. Creating habits, however small and build them into your daily life. I now have a kettle bell in the kitchen to use every time I’m making a brew. MrTT has joined in on this one too.

For me, the last couple of chapters The Power of Purpose and Creating Your Own Power Hour were more useful. They got down to business and provided me with the detail I was looking for. Plenty of thought provoking questions and actions to takeaway and work on, as well as some motivational quotes to help get started.

Recommended to those wanting motivation to kick start new habits in 2021 (get out of those PJs.  We're so over 2020 right!).

Power Hour presents the idea of dedicating the first hour of your day to doing something which is going to have a positive effect on your goals, your state of mind and your life as a whole. Not only does Adrienne explain why the Power Hour is so beneficial, but there are also plenty of exercises to help you discover what you want to use your sixty minutes for. 

Lots of people and their ideas were already familiar to me, however this wasn’t a negative. In fact, it was a welcome reminder of the work I’ve already put in, and a gentle kick up the bum to restart some of those good habits. For those people not familiar with some of the concepts, Adrienne explains them clearly and coherently, and readers have the choice of going away and continuing their own research.

The beginning of a new year is certainly a good time to be introduced to something like the Power Hour (although applicable at any time of year, of course) and I think there is a lot that can be taken away from the ideas, suggestions and exercises that are set out in the book.

Reviews posted on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you for the ARC.

Hmm ...  a little disappointed by this book.

Basically all I need to do is set the alarm one hour earlier than normal, get up, do something and all my problems will be over ...

Not a massive fan to be honest.  I was expecting far more from this book than I actually found.
Nothing particularly original, so while it was an easy read with some good observations and advice it didn't motivate me.  Sorry!

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review.

If you struggle to manage your time and want to be able to do more but never seem to be able to find the time then you need Power Hour- How to Focus on Your Goals and Create a Life You Love, in your life. Read and informative read that gives you loads of helpful advice, Written in an easy style, it feels as if you are just reading a friends thoughts on the subject, 
Great read!

The premise of this book is that by waking up very early and devoting that first hour to your current goals or passions that you can move towards having a happier and more successful life.
One of my favourite quotes from the book is: ‘Asking questions does not highlight a lack of knowledge, it highlights your willingness to learn’.  For me it wasn’t the concept of the ‘power hour’ that I found the most interesting but instead the idea of continual learning, with incremental improvements that can build to create a great change or reach a larger goal.  The idea that hard work and consistent dedication were required.  I really took away the idea that our actions need to match what we say we want.  There’s no point in me saying that I want to be able to play guitar but not actually practicing how to play it.

I enjoyed the fact that the author never felt that she would let her lack of what others would term ‘advantages’ or ‘privileges’ to hold her back from achieving her own personal goals.  The mantra of ‘you can do hard things’ is repeated throughout the book.  The author has a fantastic sense of the importance of time, and of using it wisely.  

I read an ebook version of this book, but the author runs a regular podcast and is a keen public speaker, so I imagine that the audio book version would be very enjoyable.  The style of writing is very chatty and like a good friend sharing their advice and passion with you.  

So don’t worry if the idea of waking-up early isn’t for you, there is still a lot of other things and ideas that can be taken away from this book that you can implement to make improvements in your own life.

Thanks to the publisher for gifting me an ebook copy.

As a fully-fledged listener of the Power Hour podcast already, I was really excited to get my hands on this book and Adrienne Herbert did not disappoint. I found it very easy to read thanks to the fine-tuned sections of purpose, sleep etc. and I enjoyed the friendly tone of voice.

There are a lot of books if a similar vein floating around the book sphere right now and I enjoy that Herbert’s own method is well-researched, yet strongly has its individuality set in how she has sculpted it to benefit her own life. In her own words, ‘If I want to learn from someone, I will watch what they do before I listen to what they have to say’ and Herbert shows she practices what this book is created to preach. There are plenty of useful tidbits that have been repeated in countless other self-help books but the packaging of them in this book is easy to digest. Although I did appreciate the input of her interviewees or other influences she has used, it felt like the perfect balance of outsider knowledge and her own opinions.

It comes across as honest and passionate, giving you the impression the author really does care that you use your own Power Hour going forwards. In my opinion, that is the best way to engage the target audience of this book and it will be something they can return to again and again.

I have come across power hour before and have tried to apply into my every day life, this is the first book where it was much more easily to digest and easy enough to immediately implement into my everyday life. An inspiring read and a book I will refer back to.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this and review with my honest thoughts.