Poetry that will appeal strongly to the Tumblr generation -- and beyond.

Amanda Lovelace's debut poetry collection, The Princess Saves Herself In This One, isn't afraid to lean into the style of the Tumblr generation. At the same time, the writing doesn't prevent itself from spreading beyond the confines one might imagine it would have. With poems inspired by fairytales, growing, and a hefty dose of self love, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Broken into four different parts addressed to four different kinds of audience, we are invited to find and keep what messages resonate with us the most. Are we the princess, the queen, the damsel, or the reader? It's empowering for each portion of the audience, while not shadowing the others in the same light, if that makes sense.

Amanda Lovelace is the definition of a modern poet, An incredibly emotional and wonderfully told story.

This is a collection of contemporary poetry. It is written in freestyle, concrete -type poetry, and somewhat experimental, but I found it very enjoyable. It is slanted toward women and this collection explores losses and grieving but also empowers and inspires. The book is separated into four parts, the princess, the damsel the queen, and you.
It takes the reader through the struggles of the poetess as she encounters each layer of herself. The little girl goes from the fairy tale to real life. She comes to believe in herself while bearing her soul. I especially loved the line
"I was born a little bookmad."

I thought that was just me. This book was easy to read and I recommend it for the poetry reader that seeks to find herself in others.

I appreciated this book in a way that many educators of today's youth likely would. I understand that most of the student's I interact and teach struggle with a multitude of complex emotions, something that Lovelace very clearly works through in order to create this poetry. The format is also one that my students would appreciate; while many who are a bit more traditional poetry consumers may not appreciate the style, I personally think that it is one my student's love. It is brief and sharp-- there is no flowery language that circles a main idea, it cuts to the quick. This is also similar to much of the poetry my students love from Rupi Kaur, if that's your thing.

Beautiful. Raw. Emotional. I loved every second of this collection. This is definitely something I plan on purchasing for my school library.

As I am just dipping my toes into the expansive sea of poetry, this was a lovely addition to my collection of read poetry.

The collection is divided into four sections: the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you. As suggested, the first three are focused on the authors story, while the
last section is directed at the reader.

I have been seeing this book everywhere for months. The title itself was enough to interest me as it promised an empowering story. I feared that it would be full of cheesy
poetry ready to be marketed to the world who just want something to quote and look cool. I found that I enjoyed most of the poems a lot though and I definitely felt the
emotion behind each word. However, I cannot deny that some of them just were not for me. It was overall quick and enjoyable.

The title itself made me want to read this book, because it gives you such an evocative image in your mind. The minimalistic cover is very beautiful as well.

As for the format, you either love it and enjoy reading it or you don't. I think that's a very personal preference. I personally do really like it. Ms. Lovelace's writing is very poignant and heavy. I think it's very brave of her to share her story like this.

The book itself is split into four parts (princess, damsel, queen, you) and I think the poems fit the different parts very well. You can follow the timeline of her story and how her thoughts change. I can truly recommend it.

Content warning for: abuse, death, suicide, eating disorder

I am a member of the American Library Association Notable Books Council. This title was suggested for the 2018 list. It was not nominated for the award.

Unable to read - I read via Kindle and my Adobe is acting up, so I was unable to open the document.

This is a poetry book for everyone, but especially for women and young girls/young women. This book of poetry is "about writing your own ending." How many times, and how many fairy tail stories do we read, especially to our children, that the shining "knight in armor" protects and saves the "princess/damsel in distress"? Too many. More of a book of empowerment, this book has poems for just that, saving yourself and writing your own ending.

This book was phenomenal!!! The writing was beautiful, and all of the poems really brought out my emotions (a few of them produced tears!). But the book was true to the title in that it really told the story of a girl who didn't need saving, and who learned to save herself.
Some of my favorite poems were the ones about her and her mother, and the relationship they had. Also, the poem talking about teaching her daughter the word 'no' was beautiful and inspiring.
The format of the book was also very unique, and not every poem was just plain line, some of the poems were split all of the pages.
Overall, I just really loved The Princess Saves Herself and this One, and I would HIGHLY recommend this poetry book to literally anyone.

would like to thank Netgalley, they author and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I can’t possibly not compare this book to the one by Rupi Kaur, because both are very similar. Very, very similar. Unfortunately both also aren’t too good. And for both - pressing ‘enter’ a lot does not make one a poet.

I feel like I have to mention that criticising work does not mean criticising the person, her life or experiences. I’m glad that her life has turned around. I hope she will do the same with her work and produce something better next time.

Once again, this is just a string of stories, thoughts and notes that should have been compiled in a diary, this isn’t poetry. This is a wannabe story. And although all the hurt and emotions, and feelings are true and the author has suffered again, that does not mean that everyone who suffers has to publish a book. That doesn’t mean that everyone who suffers has talent or can write (or understand poetry).

I once read a brutally honest comment on a blog that quite reminds me of the content of this book. It pointed out all the whining and complaining and lack of action or style, or deepness. This turns into a cliche happiness and peace. Although I do agree, that writing all your pain, might make an easier closure and help the person who does it, once again - publishing it, doesn’t make it art.

I actually can’t believe that I liked Milk and Honey better. I will save you the mandatory sentence with a line break after each word, it is starting to become a cliche.

And I don’t think that ever by reading a poetry book, I should know the author’s life story. Because the poem shouldn’t make me concentrate on her, it should help me - the reader, discover, ache and be me, find my soul and look into it.

One of my favourite poetry collections!

Wow, this book of poetry is beautiful and emotional. Lovelace has a special craft for poetry and I cannot wait to read more of her work in the future. I felt like I was back in college and falling in love with my all favorite female poets, like Anne Sexton, Louise Glück, and Sylvia Plath, all over again.

Lovelace's words strike a definitive aurora of emotions. Her words are passionate and empowering and grows stronger with each word you read. While reading this collection of poetry, I was constantly marking up pages of favorite lines and favorite poems--I could not just pick one.

I appreciate the ambition and creativity of poetry, but this one didn't seem to catch my interest or understanding. I understood what Lovelace was trying to do, but there was simply not a single meaningful poem in this collection. Hitting the return key and writing in all lower case letters doesn't make this a poetry anthology. I perhaps think, if anything, this collection adheres to the younger readers crowd. Thank you for the opportunity to read it and review.

This book isn’t

a collection of poetry.

It is has the format,

that is similar to this

book review I am typing.

*********

However, it does tackle

lots of essential topics,

like Mental illness,

Abuse,

and eating disorders.

*********

Those weren’t added,

to simply make

the book “TRENDY”.

They were actually

created for a reason.

********

Amanda poured

her soul into this,

with pretty words

and vivid descriptions.

*******

This book wasn’t

what I had in mind.

I was both

disappointed, yet

very amused.

********************************************************

hitting
enter
after
every
words
could
pass
as
"poetry"
nowadays.
IT'S GOT TO STOP.

The message in this collection is one of the most powerful I’ve read in a while. Every poem in here just screams empowerment and they really spoke to me. Some of the words in here I felt I really needed to read, and that’s why I loved this collection so much.

This whole book centres around the idea that women should be proud of who they are as females - in fact people should just be proud of themselves - and that they don’t need to depend on anyone to lift them up, so to speak. The title of the book really does sum it up. It is a story that is personal to the author - their own story of escaping abuse and finding empowerment - and thus I don’twant to say too much on the actual story, other than that it is incredible and inspiring.

The main issue I had with this book was the actual writing itself. Technicalities, I guess. As a creative writing student who primarily focuses on poetry, I do query whether some of the poems are truly poems - though I am most certainly not alone in thinking this and conclude that it is an issue that cannot be ignored and put down to pickiness.

Let me say this now: pressing enter after every line does not make a poem. What the ‘poem’ is saying is absolutely wonderful - the words themselves work beautifully. But leave it as a sentence maybe. It would work so, so much better. If you read other anthologies in a similar style, you’ll realise that a new line is begun because the word is particularly relevant, because starting a new line at that point symbolises something. I was often reading these poems and feeling as though enter was pressed haphazardly after a paragraph had been written - keep it as a paragraph.

I still loved this though. It was beautiful, heartfelt, and powerful, and something that I really felt that everyone should read (I then went and nagged my friend to read it!). Just because I didn’t feel as though the formatting of the words was relevant or particularly well executed, I definitely do not feel the same way about the words written and the messages within the book. Will I be picking up more by this author? Definitely. I’m looking forward as well to seeing how her poetry style improves and changes in her next book.

This book is mostly a "pick" for content. Lovelace has had a difficult life, and she's stronger coming through her struggles. But the form felt too casual, the wording wasn't anything special, and sometimes it was hard to tell who she was talking to or about. And there were feminist overtones as everyone's mentioned, but nothing above and beyond your basic feminist values. I would recommend this for teens and those new to poetry.

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. They were thought provoking and made one examine the world around them.