I’ve rated this poetry collection according to what it’s about and the issues it focuses on instead of the poetry itself. That doesn’t mean the poetry is bad, just that, they didn’t always gave me what I expected. Somethings are for aesthetic purposes while some are just the poet’s style (called the free verse)--which I’m greatly impressed by.

The collection covers a wide range of topics from abuse to stigma against menstruation, and like any other poetry, a few can relate to me while a few can relate to you. That’s just how reading perception differs and should be treated in a healthy way. Without deviating from the review any further, let’s get back to the good and bad stuff.

There’s a raw honest in each of the poems. No, I haven’t read Amanda Lovelace’s poetry before this (not the every so famous Princess Saves Herself In This One) so it was a surprise to see a poet’s emotions jumping at me with a great leap. This makes the poems empowering and all the more real.

The poems speak up against trivial things that aren’t actually trivial. I remember one poem spoke about politeness and how being polite shouldn’t be something a woman should do always by default. Especially not when the other person isn’t polite in the first place. The poem ends with a line: ‘get up, you’re nobody’s doormat.’ It’s the little additions here and there that pop out and make me feel stronger.

The structuring is gripping and reflects a more woven together collection with four parts: the trial, the burning, the firestorm, and the ashes. It reads like a story when you can read each poem separately as much. The formatting is well thought out and I’m all for aesthetics so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the red colored font garned extra points.

There are rants about rape, physical abuse, misogyny, body shaming, and just about all the things that women have to go through despite of coming so far in time. I appreciate the poet for fulminating about such saddened issues and for bringing intersectional feminism into the pages of a white and red collection.

However, some ideas are too straight up generalized and that’s something I can’t fully support. I don’t believe that all women are right and all men are wrong (that’s not what the poems are all about) so it’s hard for me to read about boys being completely generalized as the match-boys and being submitted to a collective rage. Basically, as much I’m against misogyny, I’m against misandry too--after all, feminism isn’t about hating men.

Overall, it’s a really good book that I would definitely recommend for poetry differs with taste and you might love this so much more than I did. Plus, we need more feminism oriented literature so let’s push up the few do have.

Trigger Warnings: misogyny, misandry, rape, physical abuse, body shaming, transphobia, child abuse, intimate partner abuse. Violence, fire, menstruation, sexual assault, eating disorders, trauma, death, murder.

This was fantastic. The concept and the metaphors were mind-blowingly beautiful. This was pure perfection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book contains moving poems about women. I could not recommend this enough to women in my life.

Thank you to Amanda Lovelace, ladybookmad, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy of “the witch doesn't burn in this one” for an honest review.

I continue to be madly, head over heels, in love with all of Amanda Lovelace’s poetry. From the Process to the witch, I love the empowerment her books talk about. Wrenching women from their roles and putting power back in her life, and all those who read her works.

I will continue to recommend her to my students, and purchase her for myself and my poetry loving friends.

When I saw that Amanda’s second book was up on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it.From the get go I was impressed simply because the font was also red. I wanted to love and cry over this book as much as her previous one.

However this wasn’t really the case. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed this poetry collection, in fact I’m sharing two of my favourites that I picked out for you, it just didn’t have the same grip for me that her first book did. No doubt I’m still gonna buy a copy!
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I enjoyed how powerful they felt and how its very true to what a lot of women have to deal with.

Amanda definitely knows her target audience, knows her fans, and writes amazing poetry for them. I’m definitely somewhat included.

I felt a few poems were noticeably weaker due to the over use of hyphenated words as they made the flow of the poetry difficult to read for me. I know the repetitive use of these words were part of the aesthetic and highlighted the themes to the poems but for me it just didn’t work and lowered my enjoyment.

So whilst this wasn’t a favourite of mine, I still enjoyed most of the poems and will continue to read whatever else Amanda creates!

Keep up your hard work Amanda, I know you’re a huge inspiration to many people.

I was able to borrow a copy of this book from a friend, and I really enjoyed this collection. I connected with a lot of Amanda Lovelace's works in the past and I wasn't disappointed by this one. Highly recommendable for avid fans of the genre.

I love the poetry created by Amanda Lovelace and this collection does not disappoint. I enjoyed experiencing the storyline and emotions throughout the poems and feeling somewhat closer to the writer through shared thoughts. I would always recommend Lovelace to anyone, poetry lovers or not.

The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One is a follow-up to Lovelace's previous poetry collection titled The Princess Saves Herself in this One. These are poems full of vim and vinegar, full of fury and rage. There are poems that rail against how women are treated in general, how men attempt to keep women down, eroding confidence, about how women are seen as 'not good enough’. These poems, they promote women's confidence as well. They lift women up, pushing against stereotypes. There were a few of the poems that left me uncomfortable. Ones that dealt with murder of oppressors. Still, this is an important collection that everyone would benefit from reading.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After reading and loving the princess saves herself in this one last year, I knew I would need to read Amanda Lovelace's next poetry collection. The witch doesn't burn in this one is full of so much anger and intersectional feminism. It is feisty and fierce, and it is perfect for the #MeToo movement.

I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. Due to the general hype around Milk and Honey, I've kept away from poetry books because I just didn't get it. But with The Witch Doesn't Burn In This One, I do. I get it. It conveys such important messages and I want everyone to read it and learn something from it.

What I liked
- The structure was adding more meaning to it and made it easier to read a portion of the poems at a time, while that portion was still a coherent set.
- It was incredibly artistically pleasing and I think most people would agree.
- It deals with so many important issues that everyone should have thought about at least once in their lifetime and try to change themselves for the better in order to make this world a better place for everyone.
- I don't think I've missed anything by reading this one first instead of starting with the The Princess Saves Herself in this One.

*eARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley*

Very short, a little repetitive in some places, but also super enjoyable and relatable. I love poetry, and I appreciated this a lot, and it has so many pretty, fiery words. I just don't have a whole lot to say about it! I'm still getting used to how poetry collections are generally published, so I wasn't always sure how well the structure worked out here. And I do think the criticisms of it are valid. However, I think it's worth a read! It's super quick, and female-focused, which I love.

some destruction is beautiful.

Rating: 3.5 Paw Prints!

Unfortunately, this collection of poetry ended up really disappointing me. After the fantastic first collection, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, I felt rather let down by this one. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I didn’t think it was on par with Lovelace’s previous work. Her first collection tells a story of her life—a personal journey of discovery with messages that evoke intense and relatable emotions. Alongside these poems, there is a loose fairytale-type narrative going on at the end of each section, and they reflect every part of her journey.

That same format of the background story is true for this collection, but the poems deal with broader topics, so they don’t have that same intimate quality as her previous poetry. Lovelace deals with some incredibly tough matters here, and she does so in a very eye-opening way. However, though I of course applaud the fact that she is speaking out on these subjects, I just personally did not feel as emotionally invested in the poems, and I found them a bit repetitive at times.

One of the things that still rings true in this collection is Lovelace’s incredible talent for writing beautiful and impactful poetry. Though these particular poems did not resonate with me quite as much as her others, her words are still extremely powerful and relatable. Everything she has to say is thought-provoking and empowering, but the messages she is trying to convey come across as somewhat one-sided at times.

She has a very strong feminist voice, though I felt that she approached the topic in more of an all-or-nothing style rather than speaking in an equal and balanced way. Feminism, and any type of empowerment movement in general, should not focus on being dominant over others, but should instead focus on creating equality among all. I still do very much enjoy Lovelace’s poetry, so I definitely plan on continuing to read her work in the future.

To be honest, I prefer the first one. This, for me, came out too strong for my taste. Rough and angry instead of peaceful and soft. But that's just me. Apart from this, I manage only to read maybe half of the book, did not finish it. It felt as if the author was very angry and I maybe that's how it suppose to come out, so it wasn't my cup of tea. Some passages were great but overall, I would give this book maybe 2 out 5.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series but I didn't finish this one. After reading the first 10 pages, I skimmed to the end. I didn't like the overwhelming feelings of anger and hatred which is about all this book made me feel.

Maybe i should get over with poetry, 90% of the timedid not work for me, and this is one of those cases. Yes, the message is awesome and powerfull, but I don't feel nothing and think anything elese during and after read this book.
So ad, but I guess is me, not it

the witch doesn’t burn in this one is a poetry collection about feminism, being confident, rape and many more inspiring subjects.


the witch doesn’t burn in this one is the first poetry collection I read written by Amanda Lovelace and I cannot wait to read her first book, the princess saves herself in this one. Amanda Lovelace’s poetry is so beautiful and inspiring and I couldn’t stop reading!


My favourite poems from the collection are:

the best kept
secret.
but i owe some things to myself, too.
trouble trouble.
survival.
you are your own lighthouse.
we tried to warn you.
they wanted us weak but they forced us to be strong.
my body rejects your desires.
expectations vs. reality.
everything is a distraction.
how to prevent getting sexually assaulted.
how to prevent sexually assaulting someone.
what men dream about.
she.
things i will struggle to say & that’s okay.
a witch knows mirrors do sometimes lie.
we need you here & whole.
your winter will come to an end.
no one will be left in dark, dusty corners.

This collection of various stories from different authors about witches were interesting to read. I enjoyed some stories more than others but there are a variety of topics and characters that can captivate anyone. Some of the authors in this book have made me want to look up them individually and read more of their work. I look forward to another collection of stories of this caliber, perhaps for a different magical or supernatural being, such as mermaids.

This was a great sophomore release by Amanda, and, from beginning to end, it was an empowering read!

I started following Amanda Lovelace's writing after recieving her first book, the princess saves herself in this one, from a book club i was in at the time. Her poems about the princess who through finds her rescue to herself rather blew me away, and the witch doesn't burn in this one followed suit. This is the second installment in the women are some kind of magic-series.

Disclaimer: I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unlike it's predecessor, which pages told of loss yet eventual survival, the witch doesn't burn in this one tells of rage and revenge - both from the witches burned long since, and from their descendants. It desplayes the power of anger in a way women's narratives so rarely do - anger about people who have hurt them, about discrimination making for a constant uphill battle, about a world seemingly not made with them in mind. I'm also thrilled to se the explicit inclusion of trans woman in the text - an issue that is far too often forgotten by feminist prose.

The writing style, whilst definetly interesting, is somehow manages to be it's own strength and downfall all at once. Feeling more like slam poetry than anything else, you can tell the words are very deliberativly picked and far stronger together than any of them could be on their own, but it felt, to me at least, that the text would've held so much more had it been performed rather than just read. Of course, having someone go around and read every poem to every person wanting to hear them is a bit much to expect, but, somehow, I was still the feeling that it could've been "more", which, incidentally, made the text in itself feel lacking.

I have never read anything by Lovelace before, and I liked it.
I know some people didn’t really like the writing format, but it didn’t bother me at all.

This collection is great. It’s a lot about feminism told through the perspective of witches. Which I think it’s cool! Some of the poetry give me chills in a good way. Lovelace sent out important messages through some of it.
But there are some that I feel a bit too angry (or violence) and made me feel uncomfortable rather than empowered (this is of course a personal thing).

Trigger warning; Rape.

*The e-copy is provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you! :)