I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. I felt as if the poet was very angry about things that had happened in her life, and her only release was to write about it. She visited several major issues happening in today’s society. I feel as if this poetry will help many women on their path to recovery and dealing with their pain. This collection of poetry should be read by every woman, not only those dealing with abuse, rape, etc.

I liked this one more than the princess saves herself in this one. Maybe I didn't pay that much attention to that one or maybe it didn't have the same impact as it would have if I hadn't read it so close to milk & honey by Rupi Kaur (which I thought was better). Whichever the case, this sequel was better. The message of feminism, female empowerment and independence felt stronger and louder and the poems felt more meaningful.

There were some of them with which I couldn't identify because they involved experiences that I've never had, but nevertheless I was empathic towards the author. At first it may seem a bit "dumb" or "not real poetry," but with each poem the book takes form little by little and it sets a fire inside you that you won't be able to extinguish.

I would give this 3.5 stars if half stars were allowed.
I was contemplating DNF'ing this after the first 40 pages even though this is less than 200 pages. It did get better after, but the first part definitely detracted from my overall enjoyment. I felt that the first one in this series, The Princess Saves Herself With This One, was more personal which really helped me connect to the poetry within it. I was looking for more of that in this one and I didn't quite get it.

Firstly the poetry was a bit too narrative for me. I knew it would have some kind of story arc, but I felt that the poetry was too closely tied to it, so that maybe having that to fall back on hindered the book more than helped it.

This deals with a lot of feminist topics, but possibly it deals with too many of them at too broad of a level. This brought nothing new to the table for me, but I imagine if you're newer to feminism then it might make you think about some things.

There were some parts that I did enjoy, specifically within the second half of the second chapter "the burning" and the first half of the third chapter "the firestorm". Likely due to the more personal nature of those poems, and that's where the extra half star came from. Everything else was unfortunately meh.

***I received an arc via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review***

After finishing this book, I am struck by the same sense of awe that I felt after reading Lovelace’s first poetry collection, the princess saves herself in this one. Her voice is such a strong one, and as you read her words you feel this overwhelming sense of strength and empowerment, and it makes you want to scream from the top of your lungs. I love how the simplicity of Lovelace’s poems contrasts with difficult subject matters, and I also love how she draws from her personal experience when writing- it means that the poems are raw and show so much vulnerability, but this makes them all the more relatable.

My only critique of this collection is that to begin with, the poems play very heavily on the witch-burning theme, to the point where the metaphors seem a tad overdone and the poems a bit forced. However, as you continue to read you can see that Lovelace comes into her own, and you begin to recognise the familiarity of her voice. So if you read this and at first don’t connect with it, I’d definitely recommend continuing, as halfway through it really begins to shine. You won’t regret it.

(As a side note, I also love the fact that at the beginning of this collection, there is a list of trigger warnings. This is so important, and makes the book accessible to just that many more people. Lovelace is amazing.)

4.5
Wow. This book.
I completely loved the first book of Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, so I definitely had to read this one, although I am still hesitant about the rating. I mean, I REALLY loved the first one, it is one of my all time favorite books, and I loved this second book but I still loved the other one more because it was so raw and made me cry a lot. It is so difficult to compare both books ; while the first one was more about love, suffering and healing, this second book is telling you "woman, be brave, rise above, don't let others bring you down". Yes, I loved the other one but I feel that this book is the one that should be read by everyone, not only women.
About the debate whether this book is poetry or not, for me it really doesn't matter, the content is powerful so I am not judging how it is written. Plus, writing poetry it is so difficult as riding a bicycle blindfolded.

P.S: If any mistakes, sorry but I couldn't express completely my love for the book without trying to check my grammar every time.

Wow, I absolutely loved this! And I was not entirely expecting to because usually I just do not 'get' poetry, but I still keep trying. Anyway, I have seen a lot of people give this book lower ratings because they don't like the 'modern' poetry style of this book, and I totally understand that because poetry is so subjective but I think it's what allowed me to really get into this. This is less what you would generally think of as poetry and more like ...almost really just prose but the way she breaks up the lines and arranges the words on the page are what gives it a more poetic feel and way of being read.

This is great for me because I kind of hate poems that rhyme and also that use long flowery words because I never know what they are actually saying. This style of poetry is very up front and direct and I think it fits the subject matter very well because it's just hard to sound angry when you're rhyming. There's a long list of trigger warnings at the beginning [basically everything you would expect from a poetry collection on women's rights] but I thought all of the topics were handled incredibly well and respectfully. I never read the first one because like I said I am so hit or miss on poetry, but I am definitely going to go pick it up now

The witch doesn’t burn in this one tells a story.
A story of strength, a story of feminism, a story of women.

I don’t know what to add. Feminism is everything and this book was everything. Made me feel a lot.

Also, FINALLY, a book that starts with trigger warnings.

Lovelace is back with another un-forgiving, furious and firey, stick-it-to-the-man and support-your-sisters (not just your cis-ters!) collection of poetry.

This collection interlaces a powerful female cry with the happenings of the Salem Witch Trials, a horrific event that impacted women, instilled oppression and ignited a fire in women, even today.

The thing I have come to love about Lovelace's poetry is that she does not ask for forgiveness for the hard things that she says. She does not shy around the ugly.

Instead, Lovelace will take the ugliness, set it on flames, throw it in the face of anyone who is listening, watch the blaze, and then hug her sisters and raise them up any way she can.

It is a glorious thing to watch. It is also frightful, heavy, and raw.

So why only three and a half stars? For one - the anger.

There is a lot of anger and firey disregard throughout this collection. And rightfully so.

But the way it was presented I felt apart from it. I could not relate to the anger that Lovelace threw about. I felt as though it was, at times, so emotional that the message was swamped and muddied.

Often I felt like Lovelace was portraying the exact version of the angry, blaming, feminist that is often attacked in social media. Which isn't bad and should not be demonized. But it left me feeling mildly uncomfortable and unsure.

But there were certain passages that just got me. Lovelace is incredible at taking those little, every-day things that impact the thoughts and behaviour of women and putting them into non-nonsense passages.

"there exists
a fine line
between
being
selfish

&
being
selfless"

The collection also includes longer proses that give a first-person narrative to women involved in The Salem Trials. These were powerful and brilliantly tied the entire collection together and acted as a strong and influential foundation to all the voices throughout.

I thought these were a lot more effective than the name-dropping of fictional female heroines, such as Katniss Everdeen.

Once again, Lovelace has provided us with an incredible collection of thoughts, issues, and feminine movement. While not as strong as her previous published collection, as always her voice is raw and loud and is something to be applauded.

First off, in no way is my rating objectively reviewing this collection on technicalities (I'm not a fan of how modern poetry is written and this was no exception), it's purely based on how much I enjoyed this book. That being said, this was one angry, uplifting, witchy, women celebratory book and I really liked reading it! In comparison to Lovelace's first poetry collection, The Princess Saves Herself in this One, this collection had much more pronounced feminist, anti-patriarchy, themes incorporated in the poetry, interlinked with other themes such as body image issues, domestic abuse, rape, societal pressure on what is expected of women and finally self-love. The diversity of themes in this collection is actually what kept me going because it did get repetitive on the witchy part and although I loved it, at certain points I was just too full of it already. Nevertheless, I liked how not only every poem was linked with the greater theme of the book but also how two three poems in quick succession maintained thematic similarity and made the flow of the book quite on point.

I really liked the coven rules and the specific 'homage'/'dedicated' poems that the author wrote. However, some poems/prose was so raw and evocative whereas others were just meh. Some poetry could very well be prose and even though some pieces which are termed as poetry did communicate what they wanted, they just were not poetry to me and that is even worse than pointless words because I understand what the author is trying to do with this but I just cannot accept it as 'poetry'.

Example:

"red lipstick:
battle cry.
battle cry.
battle cry."
- we tried to warn you II

Also, this had some problematic stuff like in the piece, 'did you really think you'd get to mourn the house you set aflame?', the author kind of bashes men who are trying to bring awareness to gender inequality issues by writing the stories of women because she says that their stories lack the essential 'smoke'. But then again that's the author's opinion and one thing that poetry will always be is, opinionated.

Despite these issues and some others, I enjoyed reading this collection because it was very inclusive and empowering, some of the poems can actually be used as self-help chants. It celebrates modern women: mother of dragons, breaker of societal shackles and forever unburnt witches. I felt like I was reading this with a room full of inspiring women surrounding me and that's a feat for the author!

P.S. for some reason while i was reading this, the image of khaleesi with her dragons breathing fire in the background persisted in my mind lol

Easily the most powerful poems I have read this year, or last year, and probably the year before that as well.

This is probably because I have not read Amanda Lovelace before, in any of the aforementioned years.

Amanda has taken the trope of witchcraft and witch-burning to weave a collection of poems that deal with issues like abuse and shaming and identity. My favourite poems were the ones that dealt with fat-shaming, something I am learning how to deal with, now that I am fat. Thank you, for writing those, Amanda.

Some of the poems are very visual - taking shapes of flower petals, or letters that melt - not illustrations as such, but words that are shaped or designed in a certain way. There is one poem which is just pen scratches - you have to read it yourself to experience it. I kept turning the pages for stunning poetry like this. Some pages had me stunned for seconds, maybe even minutes. Powerful, stunning, unapologetic, savage. Some poetry may leave you in tears, or provoke pyromania.

I have a digital review copy of this, but I'm definitely going to buy a print copy so I have something to cuddle with on the evenings I need some tender cuddling.

Oh wait, seems I forgot to use the f-word. Feminist. There you go.

I'm pretty sure you have witchcraft running through your veins
- women are some kind of magic

I was excited to read the Witch doesn't burn in this One! I read and loved The Princess Saves Herself in this One! I enjoyed reading The Witch doesn't burn in this one just as much! It makes you feel proud to be a woman, as well as inspired and powerful! One of my favorite poems out of the collection was this one.

They scratched it out of the history books
but on all of the great innovations
you will find scorch marks in the shape of a woman's
magnificent handprint
do not forget we need to be the history books now.
-women are libraries about to burst

This poetry collection is powerful, raw and beautiful. I think every woman should read this collection of poems.

I received an ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️ Warning - High Probability of Unpopular Opinions Ahead ⚠️

I’ve read Amanda Lovelace’s the witch doesn’t burn in this one twice now. I wasn’t familiar with Amanda’s poetry and was intrigued so read it immediately after I downloaded it. I had strong contradictory feelings about it and wanted to know how I’d feel after it sat with me for a while and then reread it. So, here we are straight after the reread.

My review may well feel like one big soapbox moment but if this book has reminded me of anything it’s that I am entitled to speak my truth and you are just as entitled to speak yours, whether we agree or not.

What I Loved

Trigger Warning - I really respect an author who knows the content of their writing may be triggering for some and points it out at the beginning so readers can make an informed choice about the suitability of that book for them personally. This book came with a detailed trigger warning for topics including: “child abuse, intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, trauma, death, murder, violence, fire, menstruation, transphobia & more.”

The Girl Power - I’m all about women speaking their truth. I love anyone of any gender overcoming adversity and stereotypes to achieve what others told them was impossible for them. I love strong role models and people who are able to transform what could have destroyed them into something that’s able to inspire others.

This Book Being Published - Just the fact that a woman who’s openly refuting the patriarchy and speaking her passionate truth has had her words published for anyone who wants to read them is a triumph. Sure, western society as a whole has a long, long way to go in terms of equality, glass ceilings, you name it. But this book has been published. This woman has not been silenced. We are free to read or not read it, and we are free to have our own opinions about it, even if they differ from other people.

What I Didn’t Love

The Generalisation of Men - While I certainly acknowledge the unfathomable acts that some men have perpetrated against women and have known my fair share of them, I also want to acknowledge all of the men that don’t fit in the perpetrator category. I know some extraordinary men who I know I could trust with my life and I don’t think it’s fair to make sweeping statements that are true of some but certainly not all. Yes, I realise this book isn’t about the trustworthy, respectful men but sometimes I worry that by generalising and only pointing out the bad (that I don’t deny is there), we forget to recognise those who have a positive impact on those whose lives they touch.

The Style of Poetry - By all of the positive feedback this collection is receiving it’s obvious this poet and her writing is resonating with a lot of people. It’s just not the type of poetry I typically enjoy and while I felt like shouting out a “Woohoo! Girl power!” at the beginning, by the end the almost constant rage against patriarchy and men exhausted me. There were a couple of instances of positivity such as “we can’t lose our empathy” and “you can be benevolent & love this world back to life”, but I felt emotionally and physically drained when I finished reading.

If you loved this book and were empowered by it, that’s fantastic. I do expect it will be very well received by plenty of people. I think in the end it boils down to this book and I not being made for one another.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

What I really enjoyed about this poetry collection is the straight-forwardness and feminist aspect. The poems can be empowering, even those which deals with rape, abuse and other crappy stuff.

I gave this book 5 stars. I loved this book as much as I loved the first one. It was full of empowerment towards all women. Full of clever metaphors that made everything 10 times better.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews where readers give this author shit for the way she chose to write her poetry, saying it isn’t real poetry because of how she had her line spacing and the way she chose to present it on paper. I think that’s utter bullshit. There is this thing called a Poetic License meaning you can express these emotions and stories in any way you would like. There are no rules to poetry and the fact that so many people are saying it isn’t real poetry tells me that they know nothing about poetry. Now that I’ve said my piece on that, let’s get to the actual contents of this book.

I felt incredibly empowered after reading this, I don’t care what people say about this, but this book made me feel so powerful. It kind of reminds me of that book from Friends that the girls read and got all empowered as women.

I love the use of metaphor in this book. It’s like I’m reading a fantasy that also applies to real life. I’ve always wanted to be a witch.

To read this novel, you don’t have to read The Princess Saves Herself in This One, but I would highly recommend you doing so. It’s a great lead in to this one.

This poetry collection does cover a something very controversial- the Trump Presidency. I personally don’t like Trump or anything he’s been doing, he scares me. His followers scare me. I feel like it was important for the author to broach current events in her poetry, I’m glad she did it. It gave substance to what she was trying to say.

This book is for the feminists out there. Would highly recommend this one.

the witch doesn’t burn in this one by amanda lovelace

Second book in the women are some kind of magic series

3 stars

“haven’t you
ever wished

you could
dance

in the ashes
of everyone who

ever doubted
your worth

& scoffed at
your words?”

I’m new to Lovelace’s poetry. I know that this is a sequel in a poetry series, but I didn’t think that it should stop me from picking up this collection and I’m glad that I finally gave Lovelace a shot. Some people adore her and some absolutely hate her because her formatting isn’t enough to call a poem a poem. I’m going to disagree with those haters because a poet has free reigns to do whatever they want with the formatting of their poetry. This means that if a poet wants to write solely in prose and call it a poem they can, so Lovelace is doing exactly what poets for centuries have been doing. I actually like her style, but I wasn’t blown away by her poems.


My favorite thing about this collection is that it focuses on witches and the burning of women, so it feels very reminiscent of The Crucible (and it is chalked full of literary odes to novels like Wintergirls [a fave], The Handmaid's Tale [one of the most profound novels I’ve read], and The Hunger Games [which is a fun favorite]), but Lovelace goes from striking imagery to interspersing the narrative to a modern day phrase. For instance, there is a fantastic poem about how men are burning women up because they are women and in the middle of the poem is the line
“they don’t even know what’s coming. how cute.”
The “how cute” portion was completely jarring and it threw me out of the narrative and the purpose of the poem. It does not work well it context to the poem itself and just that one phrase could have been cut and I would have adored the poem.


Also, I have a huge problem with one of the titles of a poem about a man drowning his partner titled “rip to the women who lost these games” and instantly I thought of Laci Peterson and felt sorrow. Not only is the poem very close to the narrative and the tragic murder of her and her unborn baby at the hands of her husband, but Lovelace has the audacity to call this gross tragedy a game that was lost. I get what she is trying to convey, that men and women are in a constant game for power and when a woman finally throws down the towel and refuses to submit she is killed, but I just can’t get behind the crass wording of the title. It deeply saddens me and it makes me uncomfortable. Again, I’m sure this wasn’t Lovelace’s intention, but Peterson and other women like her were not participating in games but trying to survive or find ways out of a situation that could give them just one more day.


Other than there were a handful of poems I really loved, but I wouldn’t say that this is an amazing poetry collection. I did really love the themes and narrative that Lovelace tackles, but I still think certain words and phrases are just unfitting for the narrative she is trying to convey. I do think Lovelace is a talented poet for our time, but she isn't a favorite.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

Plotastic Scale: 3

Cover Thoughts: I love white covers with red on them and this striking.

Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't really enjoy this book until the second half. Personally it just didn't resonate with me in the way I hoped that it would. I particularly like part three though, and that, as well as the fantastic imagery and evocative phrasing, is what redeemed this book for me.

I did not like this book. It had a "all men are bad" mentality. The author also writes things like "vengeance is the new moving on" and "show them the same mercy they showed our ancestors all those years ago. (none, none, none)". I do not agree with this way of thinking. You can't fight fire with fire. I think it's hurtful to paint a picture where all men are "bad", and to make it right with women being "bad" to men.

Amanda Lovelace returns with her sophomore poetry collection and does not disappoint. Leaving behind the softness of her previous collection, the princess saves herself in this one, the witch doesn't burn in this one holds back no emotion. Anger and a need for both redemption and revenge ripples through the collection as the narrator comes to terms with their own self-worth and past traumas. 

Broken down into four sections--the trail, the burning, the firestorm, and the ashes--strong themes of anti-patriarchy smolder through images of women being burned at the stake. With each poem, the narrator's power grows as she begins to acknowledge the history of how women have been treated all along and how the present and past mirror each other. Women may not be physically burned at the stake, but it doesn't mean they're not still hunted. That there isn't still work to be done to ensure a bright future for the women who will come after us. 

Written in a style akin to spoken-word poetry, it is easy to hear Lovelace's voice, and the emotion behind the words, in each poem. Part thank you to the women who came before her, part reminder to her fellow poets to keep going, and part warning to all those who would cause harm, Lovelace makes her readers sit up and take notice. She may be a princess, but she's also a witch: someone not to be underestimated. Someone who is just getting started.

I loved Lovelace’s debut collection, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, so I had high hopes for this sequel of sorts. While I do think WITCH makes a great companion to PRINCESS, I found myself zoning out and skimming some of the poems in this collection at times because the content felt so repetitive. Every poem read very much the same to the previous one. The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One focuses almost exclusively on women and the historical and current oppression they face, which I appreciated, but I do think this could have been more concise. I will say, I love how unapologetic Lovelace is in this collection. The anger and fear and frustration I think all women feel really comes through in her words here. However, a major concern of mine revolves around the fact that this collection definitely centers the experiences of cisgender, white women. Lovelace did attempt to acknowledge her privilege and to include trans women and nonbinary folks, but these efforts felt a little bit halfhearted. I think it definitely could have been a bit more inclusive and addressed interlocking oppressions. Maybe the conclusion from this is that we just… don’t need white women being the predominant voices in feminism anymore. Anyway, I digress. If you are a women of color, just know that this collection is told through a white lens. Overall, though, I think this is worth the read if you enjoyed PRINCESS, or if you need some unapologetic feminism in your life.

This is the second poetry collection in Amanda Lovelace's Women Are Somekind of Magic series. Similar to its predecessor themes are pretty heavy and Lovelace does begin the book with a trigger warning; some of the poems were particularly relevant from references to popular culture and (fairly) recent events like the 2017 women's marches; the main theme of women historically being persecuted as witches is explored from both a misogynistic oppressive viewpoint but also one of strength and empowerment and a reminder of what of owed to the women which have previously fought to get women's rights to where they are today.

I read this in one sitting and found it to both extremely powerful and a bit of an emotional roller-coaster, I gave this five stars and actually enjoyed it more than The Princess Saves Herself in This One (which I also gave 5 stars to).

One of my person favourites:
red lipstick:
an eternal sign
of internal
fire

- we tried to warn you

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review