Against my own better judgement, knowing full well what to expect from this book and the style of poems I'd find inside, I still thought I'd give "I Love My Love" a chance, hoping to find something slightly different. But I didn't. The poems were less contrived than I feared they'd be, which was encouraging, but they were nonetheless simplistic and bordering on prose in verse form. The conversational tone is probably what adds to that. These poems are personal, yes, but they felt more like something a young and angsty teenage girl would write in a diary and then forget as she grew up and matured, later uncovering it among a pile of forgotten things and feeling nostalgic while going through it again. It felt like something raw and emotionally scattered that made me almost uncomfortable to read because of how simplistic it felt, with an aspect of tunnel-vision to it. Maybe readers who can relate to the subject matter will find this more enjoyable, or it will help them get through this stage in their lives. The only thing I could do while reading this was cringe as I remembered my own phase of amateur phase of poetry writing and how I couldn't wait to get out of it and begin to think and write in a more complex manner. I couldn't get beyond the technical side of these poems to their content, though even when I could I found both of them to be lacking equally.

It's difficult to rate this book, because some poems I couldn't connect with but there were others I adored. So I'm not focusing on the former ones but the laters, which are powerful and encourage you to embrace who you are, recognise your worth, and LOVE YOURSELF before you love someone else. Self-love is crucial, and this is the message that makes this poetry collection such an empowering one.

The message of this book is so powerful, I think women should give it a go, go get your cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate, take a sit and read.

Reading this is a roller coaster ride for me, for my feelings and my facial expressions. Hahahahaha! I smirk, I frown, I smile. I sometimes have that "bitch what?" "this is so sad" "too emotional" "that's inspiring" "so endearing" expression and a blank stare. You know those expressions right? right.

I will post my full review on or a day or two before the release date of this book in my blog, which is on Valentine's day! That'd be fitting because Valentine's day is a day of celebrating love!

For me, not that you need to know but I'll share this anyway,✌ Valentine's day is not just the only day to celebrate love, love should be celebrated everyday. But hey there's always a day where we have to be extra. 👌💕

I saw this collection and hoped it would fill me up like Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace's work do. But it was a let down. That, and the cover is ugly.

This is one of those books which you believe you will love but ultimately you tire of how much time it takes for it to make sense to you. I gave it up in between. I was half way through he book and I gave it up. It was testing my patience a lot which annoyed me towards the end.
I love my love is essentially a poetry collection which focuses on your own insecurities, self discovery and letting yourself fall in love. While the collection seemed quite interesting in the beginning it started getting repetitive pages after pages. The same emotions are depicted in different words. The similar feeling of melancholy is spread over the book like dull clouds. Some of the lines in the poems are beautiful while the others are just crude. It does not even give you enough time to delve on the previous poem. I took enough breaks between reading the poems but I still couldn't get through the entire book. I DNFed it.

By the title alone, “I Love My Love” readers may not be at all surprised to learn that Reyna (Mays) Biddy (1994-) discusses her love addiction in her intimate debut poetry collection. This coming-of-age volume is also scheduled for formal release on Valentine’s Day.
Biddy, from an unnamed city in California, recalls her parent’s dysfunctional troubled marriage. With her Spanish speaking mother apparently leaving the family, her father, left in the poison of anger and bitterness towards her which she spoke of: (for my mother/who gave me her heart/we will never be on the same beat) ~ (for my father/who gave me his soul/we will never feel the same things) Biddy also said: “I wanted to sing my parents love song.” The messages are mixed, in “my mother’s interlude”. The news of her mother’s death from unknown causes is only briefly mentioned, her loss is felt on a deeper level as Biddy writes “self-parenting” poetry a mother may have written her daughter of advice and love. Many of the poems are simply titled, a few words or less. “Little me” is about Biddy’s developing younger sister.
Young teen love is fresh and fearless, early writings include: “results” – “pseudo” to remind her that without him she is nothing. – “10 Reasons I Could Never Leave” – “halfway close” – “rhetoric” – “love note” –“free styles off chardonnay” – Biddy then writes (to all the boys I loved/Forgive me for giving you/So much power over me/You were never worthy)
Most of the poetry is of love, longing, and broken dreams when romantic relationships don’t work out. The men Biddy chose professed undying love, desire, and need for her in their lives, yet it seemed that after they got what they wanted they left her. At times she seemed on the verge of desperation to please, doing whatever she could to impress these men. “Sweet Talkin’ Guy” (1966) song by the Chiffon’s kept coming to mind while reading most of these poems. Standing by Biddy’s concepts of self-love that bring her the dignity and respect she deserves, may take additional time. Biddy seems genuinely grateful for her astonishing gift to write, to share, encourage, and inspire others in this nicely done volume of poetry. ~ Many thanks to NetGalley for the e-DRC for the purpose of review.

Holy shit. This was such a powerful book with such beautiful poems and such an important message. Absolutely loved it.

I really enjoyed I Love My Love. I’m a huge love freak so the subject matter of this collection was right up my street. I loved how personal the poems were, to the extent some were uncomfortable, as if by reading the collection I was being given a sneak peak of the poet’s inner world; their thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears. The poems in I Love My Love deal with a universal theme – love – but are much more complex than a casual glance would suggest. Many of the poems were like private, intimate little loves notes from the poets to family members and lovers. The images used throughout I Love My Love are beautiful and powerful. I’d highly recommend this collection.

I wanted to start the year with poetry. I really loved Lang Leav and Amanda Lovelace, both published by Andrews McMeel. So, while browsing the publisher's page on NetGalley, I decided to give Reyna Mays a try.

Unfortunately, having a good publishing house doesn't necessarily mean you get to like the author, too.

The first thing that irked me was the lack of capital letters. Lovelace did the same, but her hitting Enter after every two words or so, helped very much. Mays writes even whole paragraphs without caps. That made it hard for me to read.

Then, there's the fact that Mays seems angry and bitter most of the time (and curses a lot). And while I am like that, too, most of the time, I didn't want to read about it. I hoped to find out how she overcame most of her shortcomings. So... this was really not to my liking.