This was a great poetry book. I always absolutely enjoy her work and I can't wait to read more in the near future. I highly recommend it.

Here's the deal: this type of poetry is very popular right now (especially on the internet and social media platforms). That doesn't necessarily mean it needs to have a derogatory connotation, but I do think it's true that most things written in this specific niche genre are trying to live up to the poets who originated/paved the way (like Rupi Kaur, for example). I liked these just fine. I think it's actually perfect to read on a phone screen or as an instagram post, just didn't need an entire collection of it if that makes sense? I will say, however, that there are many young adults and teenagers who eat this stuff up, and I think it would be very well accepted by some of my students.

Madisen’s style in this book is relatable, very raw and vulnerable as she focuses on important mental health issues. She definitely knows how to write pieces that pull at the emotional bits of a person.

I haven’t read her first book, but was so moved by this one that I will definitely be checking out that one as well.

She also includes some interesting journal entries scattered in with the poems. I like how this gives structure and depth to the book. Madisen gets time in these entries to really show her vulnerability here and that’s something that we all could use more of. So cheers to her for showing us her heart and being a mirror.

I enjoy poetry. I was definitely looking forward to it. I enjoy parts of this more than others. Some poems were just better than others.

I really enjoyed all the poems. They were all personal but still relatable, and beautifully written. They were all also about discovering who you are which is always relatable to me.

Beautiful poetry! I should have read this sooner - it was so simple yet complicated. Complex emotions, simply told.

This reads a whole lot like a very poetically written xanga from the early 2000s (or maybe I'm just remembering mine and my friends' that way). It's alright for what it is, but I'm having a hard time really getting into this or connecting to it. It's pretty clear the author is nineteen, not that there's anything wrong with that. I might be interested to look into this later on, and I know I'll recommend this to a few younger women in my life, but I don't think this is particularly for me. It's very journal-y, and not really poem-y, and I know there can be overlap, but this one really doesn't for me all that much.

This is an amazing poetry book for many reasons but for me, I like that the poems are personal while still being relatable. I enjoy many lines from this book that I bookmarked and can't wait to go back and read. 'Please Don't Go Before I Get Better' also has quite a few long poems, that's something I don't get to read that much these days, I didn't love every single poem, however, I did enjoy most. Something that I don't see much in poetry is the time and growth change, in this book, you see that chances from teenage life into adult life; I want to read most poetry books like that. This book is very self, without being self-centered. Self in the way of self-discovery and self-reflection.

Her word choice paints in such strong, bold colors. The cover reflects the poetry, that is also a plus for me. Poetry is one of my newest favorite things to read, I can't wait to read more by Madisen Kuhn, and thank her for sharing her words that are meaningful.

To me, this book was half poems I really liked and half I didn’t. I really loved the poems about mental health and felt that they put words to something super hard to describe. The other half felt like reading an inside joke you aren’t a part of. Like you had to be there. I didn’t love it, but if you are super into poetry you might enjoy it.

This was almost like opening a time capsule for me. It's very much a snapshot of a particular time of life for young, sensitive, and analytical girls. It was like reading an old diary of mine from undergrad in a good way. I think that because the writer is so clearly describing what's it's like to be a young woman with Feelings, Thoughts, Ennui, Love that it could be difficult for some people to relate to it that are no longer in this phase of life or simply did not experience it in a similar fashion.

It's a book I would feel comfortable recommending to those who enjoyed things like HBO's Girls and/or Rupi Kaur.

This is the second collection of poetry I have read by Madisen Kuhn, both times I have thoroughly enjoyed the poems in them. This collection in particularly has a lot of recurring themes throughout it and Madisen is very capable of painting a picture with her words. Also, I adore the cover art.

some of these poems were actually amazing. but some were not my cuppa and at points it felt like a struggle to finish this book. I wish i felt more of my own problems/emotions in this book of work i'd love it more, but i'm aware that can't happen with every poetry collection you pick up. Over all i really enjoyed her writing style and would recommend this book to a friend.

Madisen Kuhn has written my favorite poetry book so far. I’d never related to more stories, pain and growth like I did with this book. Some pieces were just too accurate and others were just what I needed. Illustrated with simply amazing drawings Please Don’t Go Before I Get Better is a heart wrenching book filled with poetry pieces about loving, hurting, knowing that sometimes you are hard to love, how you’re loving and sacrificing things for someone who might not love you back and learning to be alone.

One of my (many) favorite quotes reads:
“we can sit in silence
while the world around us buzzes
with all its certain chaos and
my soul will find yours
in the space that rests above
this mess of existing”

Please Don’t Go Before I Get Better won its way up to my favorite poetry book because it’s incredibly real. It’s not only about loving and getting hurt, it’s about being flawed and learning to be alone, which is something I’ve struggled with for a while now until I read the pieces in this book. I now want to go out and dance and be myself and take on the world without loving who doesn’t love me back. I don’t feel like a new person after reading this book, I feel like my own self with a new, better, mindset.

I thank the stars for putting this book in my path and Madisen Kuhn for writing the book that helped me see life with new eyes.

Cannot open file. If it were a Kindle supported file, I could have; as is, the encrypted PDFs do not open.

Would have loved to review it but no luck on the document! :(

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received this Arc from Netgalley for an honest review. Book releases May 1st 2018.*

"I'm in a constant battle with reality and pretend with who I am, who I want to be, and who I wish I could be."

This is the first piece of work that I have read by Madisen Kuhn and I adored it. It was a fast read for me. I literally read it in one sitting.
I love the fact that Madisen put a personal note to everyone who is reading this book, letting everyone know that they are never alone not matter what they are going through. I have never seen anyone put this in a book and it honestly bumped the ratings up for me.
All together these poems were a great read and brought back many memories and feelings for me. Madisen's poems are relatable, heart wrenching, beautiful, and masterfully tackled. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has loved poetry. I can't wait to see what else Madisen has up her sleeve.

Please Don't Go Before I Get Better by Madisen Kuhn is a collection of prose (journal entries?) and poetry about a young woman trying to find her sense of self as she leaves the teen years behind and steps into young adulthood.

She covers the ups and downs, aches and pains of this transitional time well, and I applaud her openness and vulnerability.

My thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book which is due out on 5/1/18.

Please Don't Go Before I Get Better
by Madisen Kuhn
Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books
Gallery Books
Poetry
Pub Date 01 May 2018
I am reviewing a copy of Please Don't Go Before I Get Better through Gallery Books:
In this collection of poetry and Prose Popular Millennial Instagram poet Madisen Kuhn shares a powerful collection of poetry and prose that would be enjoyed by many, but is perfect for fans of Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur. If you have someone in your life who has left their teenager years behind and is beginning to learn to navigate through adult life this book would be perfect for them as well.
This book deals with the many emotions of a millennial, the joys, sorrows, happiness day confusion. It's about Self-Discovery, as well as Self Reflection.
I give Please Don't Go Before I Get Better five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

i LOVED this book.

i found many of Madisen's feelings to be relatable due to:
-my own story with mental illness
-broken relationships in my own life
-her mix of emotions displayed in the various poems
-the honesty with which she writes

Highly recommend! Now i need to read her other book...

Thanks, NetGalley, for the read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

*1.5*

"...we can't choose a lot of thing, but we can choose to be good people..."

Please Don't Go Before I Get Better is an honest, raw perspective of the life of a young person. But it is also a wrong advertised book, because this is not poetry.

Starting with the poems, I believe that in this whole book, that has around 120 'poems', only two are worth the read, these being 'sunday, april 23rs' and 'people over places'. Both of these have heart, meaning that they, in their core, are more than just words put in a sentence. I loved those two thanks to the fact that I was able to se myself in both of them. Both were beautifully written and made an impact on me.

Something I really need to emphasize is that I really appreciated the talk about loneliness in the book, because the author doesn't see it as a negative thing, but as an opportunity to discover yourself through it and how it is important in one's life. The topic made me think about a lot of stuff and it sparked a lot of interest in me. Also, there was a thing Madisen referred as 'addicted to hurting' and that was a point of view I hadn't see before and enjoyed greatly. And that's pretty much all the positive things I have to say about this book.

First off, like I said at the beginning, this book is not poetry. At least not for me. A huge amount of the collection, about a 80 %, is more like a journal. The poems feel more like reflections or entries of a diary. That specially made my reading experience dwindle, because it wasn't what I was expecting. At all. And, as if it wasn't enough, all of them were boring. Big time boring.

Another thing that bothered me was that the names the poems had had nothing to do with the content. For real. This might seem like an insignificant detail, but it was a little bit frustrating to see no direct connection between the title and the poem itself .

I know the synopsis said that this was 'Instagram poetry', which I didn't know was a thing, but this wasn't what I expected. I definitely see why people could enjoy this collection and why it is so appealing to young people, specifically those that are familiar with Tumblr and other similar social media platforms, but this is not my cup of tea. I liked Madisen's journey through self discovery and appreciated the way she talked about some stuff, but I can't say I liked this. Maybe this is just not for me.

I really dug this collection of poetry. I really felt like I related to a lot of the themes Kuhn explored in her poems and really liked her writing style. It was very modern and beautifully done. The little illustrations also went well with the writing, which was very nice as well.