This book was...weird. As in, I honestly thought for a while it was some kind of joke book. Or some kind of hipster "so hideous it's ironically good" crap. It's honestly that bad and that weird.

It read like it was written by either a teenager (melodramatic language, cliche one-liner platitudes, bizarrely graphic content) or by someone who *thinks* this is what POETRY should be (odd structures and rhyming schemes, nonsensical punctuation, awful metaphors).

Listen, I love poetry. I read a lot of it. I studied it in college. I'd like to think I can tell when something is well-done but not my taste versus when something is just bad. In this case, I really believe it's just BAD.

The moment I came across Michael Faudets first book, I took a new turn in poetry. The moment I knew that Michael Fudet and other poert Lang Leav shared a passion together I was mesmerized how their poetry spoke to each other. Faudet poetry is mesmerizing, steamy, sexy, and leaves you naked for more. I enjoy reading Faudets work through his social media but was glad I was able to get a glimpse on his new work. Recommend? absolutely. Will you get hot and steamy? ABSOLUTELY

I am beyond disappointed with this. What I love about poetry is the emotions it translates and we connect with but, with this collection, there was none of that. It focused too much on the physical aspect of relationships and when we got to the "Kitty Club" I just gave up.
Seriously, what did I just read?

It was alright, but I felt like I've read most of these lines before ("impossible to resist", etc) in the first two books. I wrote down a few words, however:

"There were so many paths I could have taken in my life (...). Perhaps I should have followed my instincts (...). I ended up choosing the path of least resistance. The one that looked the easiest. Only to discover it was made of quicksand."

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, my own computer is damaged and I have been unable to download this copy to read. I am genuinely interested in Michael Faudet's work having previously read Dirty Pretty Things.

After hearing so many good things about this author’s previous work I was excited to read this.
What first captured my attention about this book was the cover it’s stunningly designed and follows a similar theme to the covers of his previous two books.
As the author states Smoke & Mirrors is a collection of short stories, poetry and prose. Every line is written beautifully, you can tell the author is passionate about every word he writes.
I enjoy reading poetry books as they give me a chance to indulge in raw emotion, and this was certainly a book filled with emotion. Reading through the carefully formed pages made me feel as if I was getting a welcome glance into the authors life.
The book does have sexually explicit elements which may not be to everyone’s taste, I admit it was a bit too explicit for my liking, although there are many passages that aren’t explicit at all.
Overall this was a pleasing read, I’m glad I got a chance to read it and look forward to seeing future work by this author.
My personal favourites from this collection are: I Wish, Stay Together, and Love Yourself.

Smoke & Mirrors is the second Michael Faudet book of poetry I've read and I seem to like this better than his first one. It has a mixture of short stories and poetry all dealing with relationships, falling in love, sexual, emotional, life in general. It definitely is worth the read if you didn't really feel connected with his other works and want to give him another try.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I crossed my fingers this collection will be my cup of tea. It's a variety of poems, quotes and short stories and honestly, it slightly improved. It's good Michael Faudet's erotic poems were toned down and explores more on love and relationship. Some of them are cheesy and cliché, some stood out like Pathways , A Long-Distance Relationship, The Hanging Tree and Nobody's Fool. However, there's one piece I didn't like: The Kitty Club. It's ridiculous.