Modern poets such as R.H. Sin face a clear challenge: resonating with both new readers who want to easily understand and digest their words while still offering something substantial and unique to the literary world. There are a lot of emerging modern poets and much of their work is beginning to sound the same. Are heartbreak and sadness the only subjects we can write about now? Why are the poems so short and unfinished? I’m not sure why I expected more from Whiskey, Words and a Shovel, but I was disappointed to find some beautiful poetry, but much of it felt half-baked and incomplete. Ideas that were simple enough to understand but did not leave me wanting to digest or ask questions. I think the purpose of poetry has become lost and the readers need for convenience and need “to understand.”

Over all, this was a good and fun read, but I still would have liked it to be a little more. Some of the poems completely wowed me and they were so brilliant that I reread them too, but the others were not so good.

Wonderful poetry so much real in every lines.
I felt so amazed and happy while reading it.
Thanks so much

An awesome collection of poetry. Can't wait to read II and III parts in this trilogy. I would recommend it to every poetry lover.

A repetitive concoction of poems about love of self, heartbreak and how to fight mistreatment from the people who claim to love you which at first seems tasteful but then becomes rather bland and tasteless. It's not that this book or the poetry was bad, it was fine even brilliant at times but the repetitive nature of the themes of the poems just put me off.

It may prove to be a helpful poetry book for people going through troubling relationships but since I'm not, there was hardly anything I could connect with - the only theme that I could relate to was overthinking after midnight. I respect the fact that the author stayed true to himself and wrote about his experiences but I believe the job of a good author is to make sure that everyone whether or not going through what he was can connect to the book equally, which sadly, in this case just didn't happen.

The writing was also amateur and lacked development - there were so many times I wished some lines were added to a piece or subtracted from one, which could've made them better and more evocative. Personally, the shorter poems worked much more than the longer ones - they were short, powerful and delivered their intended message in a succinct manner.

e.g.
reading regret: you’re the chapter in my life I should’ve skipped.

Overall, a disappointing read which could've been easily turned into an amazing one if only the editing team would've done their job and made sure that the almost entirely similar poems in the collection stayed unpublished, instead of adding them.

Self love requires revolutionary thinking and the powerful endurance of grit. Sin's work is popular and rightfully so. With rhythm and punch set to a young heartbeat, Sin delivers. I highly recommend it and have already purchased it for my teenager.

A fantastic poetry collection featuring quiet and loud topics!

Thank you to Netgalley, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and r.h. Sin for the chance to read and review this ARC;

A follower of Sin’s poems on instagram, I jumped so hard and so fast at the ability to get a first read of this book in before it went to publication (and straight from reading I ran to pre-order myself a copy of this book so I could own it as well).

These poem are knock-down, drag-out, brutally honest, emotional and messy where needed, and so clearly something everyone everywhere can sympathize with the feelings and situations of being caught in while figuring out relationships.

I feel like poetry is the perfect medium to talk about how finding ourselves and loving ourselves first and foremost, is the most important part of ever having any other kind of relationships in our lives. That to understand ourselves is to give us the first stepping stones to truly understand others, and to leave spaces open to learn to understand about them the things that aren’t like ourselves.

Bravi, I will be following and collecting this author hopefully for years to come.

Having read and enjoyed the poet’s Whiskey, Words, And A Shovel III, I was delighted to get my hands on the revised edition of the first collection. I enjoyed this collection. I didn’t like it as much as III so it gets a lower rating. The poems deal with the same themes as III and some of them are effective, hard-hitting and emotional. Rin explores themes found repeated multiple times in contemporary poetry: love, loss and heartache. Very little new can be said about these themes but Sin manages it a few times. However, some of the poems didn’t work for me especially the ones describing how a woman feels engaging with the world. These were very cliché. At times I felt some of the poems were too short and lacked depth, so short I’d hasten to call them poems at all. There is some good stuff in Whiskey, Words, And A Shovel I and some not so good stuff so I didn’t completely love it. I would recommend it though.

I love poetry. However, I find that most of the ones I see on bookshelves today are a bit too... mainstream? They all have the same theme and I'm always afraid to purchase a copy because I'm afraid I'd be disappointed by the contents as a whole.

A lot of them, especially the ones about love have little to zero impact towards me. Other people seemed to love it though.

Whiskey Words & a Shovel didn't seem to be like one of them but it ended up that way. I liked it at first, but towards the end it seemed average to me. Maybe it's just me, maybe I shouldn't have consumed it all in one go.

Nevertheless, if you're new to the genre and want to explore, you can pick this one up. Its bite-size poems are enough to give you a taste of a little bit of everything in between the joy of falling in love and heartbreak.

I had heard so many great things about this book from the first edition and was so excited to get a chance to read the revised edition and it did not disappoint! This stirred so many different emotions in me and I loved how the author went back and forth between the highs and lows with each poem.

Simple yet deep.

r.h. Sin writes poetry that touches the reader's soul, makes a connection.

Many people hate poetry. They think it is a bunch of fancy words that require a cypher to decode the meaning. Full of metaphors, similes, and metered verse they just don't appeal to the average person.

Then you get the haters that think poetry has to be stuffy and appear in some obscure literary journal to have merit.

So when it comes to poetry you get the people that avoid poetry in general, people that avoid anything "non-literary", and people like me who appreciate the words whether they are fancy verse or free flowing thoughts.

Sin's poems appeal to poetry lovers like me who enjoy the words and meaning and he is appealing to hybrid fans- those who never really cared for poetry but find meaning in his words.

Sin connects with the average person because his poetry can be deep, profound...yet the words are simple and easy to understand.

Stark, blunt, they reach out and grab you.

Things we all feel, put into words we can all understand.

Simple. Exquisite.

Lines that go stright to the heart with no wasted words.

This is a solid collection of poetry that can be appreciated by anyone who has ever been through a bit of heartache and those who are needing a reminder that you will recover. No matter what.
Some of the pieces are really short, only a couple lines, and feel more like random thoughts than poems. Some of them are STELLAR and hit you right in the feels. The writing is simple and honest. There is no dressing things up for the sake of pretty words. If anything, these pieces have been stripped down to their bare bones and they benefit from it.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the free digital copy for review.

Reading this poetry book was a pleasure after all. The poet didn't leave the feeling of broken in oblivion but recorded nearly each emotion. Many poems recalls and echoes with reader's emotion and experience. However, as a literary work, it lacks a kind of depth, and leaves a trace of tweet and modern fast food like consuming taste. It could be more aesthetic in that sense.

The poet has a catchy mind, very sharp. Some short poems are very to the point, showing a broken heart from its roots. Like it.

As anticipated, this book of poetry was a rare treat for my soul! These words possess such depth and meaning! What a talented writer with this ability to convey all our human emotions!

Just over a year ago I wrote this short review:

Last month I reviewed R H Sin's Whiskey, Words, and a Shovel II. I was so impressed with the work that I ordered this collection. Sin sticks to what his does best -- hard-hitting, brutally honest, emotional, and pertinent poetry. There are no wasted words in his writing and no missed meanings. Just an outstanding work.

The new release will make many people happy. I have been asked more than once to sell my copy of this book. It was such a hit that when the first printing sold out, or before that, the price skyrocketed. This revised edition contain the same punch and emotion as the first edition. For all the people that missed the first edition, you now have a second chance.

Available May 2, 2017