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

I felt every single poem, each one went right to my heart, and that's something because I don't enjoy reading contemporary poetry, but I'm glad I've discovered this one. Totally worth it!

I wasn't a fan. I think it just wasn't something that resonated with me, I couldn't get myself into this collection.

I enjoyed this collection of poetry! At first, especially after I saw the cover, I wasn't too sure about it but as I read it, I fell in love with it and how easy it was to read. The imagery and emotions that are created through each piece are lovely. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one!

I have never turned on a book so fast.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. Reading digitally could be why I didn't realize the author was a man at first. I just assumed the author was a lesbian so I was reading it from that perspective. Once I realized that the author was a man, the meaning behind all of it changed.

"You'll never find me where my energy isn't appreciated. You'll never find me planting my roots in places that don't support my growth"

"Imagine: a love that we don't have to define. A love that we don't have to attach a title to. A love that we let blossom and just exist...
...A love with no pressure. A love that flows. A love that only requires you to show up, with no mask or disguises, as yourself"

"Falling deeply in love with myself, and unless you plan to add depth to the oceans I swim in already, keep your distance and stay at shore"

Poetry is an odd bird sometimes. On occasion you do have to be in the right mood for it, admittedly, after giving the collection another try, the verses clicked with me.

Most of the poems are short but life affirming, without being over-flowery and very powerful in a memorable way. Really enjoyed this collection.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

The one word this book represents is healing. It explores different healing stages and the process in itself, how it is triggered and how it continues. Reading this poetry collection, I felt encouraged to heal, to grow, and to be more of myself.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes Rupi Kaur or is interested in growth, healing and personal development. While this is a poetry collection and not a self-help book, I find it the perfect companion to anyone who is willing to start or is already in a personal development journey.

This was such a beautiful collection of poetry. Billy Chapata paints such delicate and heartfelt pictures of love, heartbreak, and self-discovery. I would absolutely recommend this.

If you’re in need of a pick me up, Chameleon Aura is the book for you. Filled to the brim with poetry and prose offering advice on relationships and self love. This book is a mix of personal experiences and advice for others on learning to love and accept yourself and moving away from toxic people. If you’re looking for more depth though, I’m beginning to think that the instapoet trend is not the place to find it.

I thought that this would be an easy and positive read, but I was surprised that I actually found myself struggling to finish. While I found several key passages that I appreciated, overall the collection felt extremely repetitive. Words and phrases were used over and over in passages that it made it all start to seem a little bland. Self love, love languages, sun and moon, these phrases show up on every other page. I think the message would have been just as effective with a significantly lower page count, and that many of the poems and passages could be edited into one piece.

It is also clear that Chapata knows that the average instapoetry reading audience is female, as there is a lot of empowering messages disproportionately aimed toward women specifically, but not so much for men. While it’s nice to be included, it also feels like so much of the same that I read in every other modern poetry book with feminist themes. While I’m beyond happy that the core message of love, acceptance, and female empowerment are becoming more mainstream with more open support from men, I feel like it’s becoming a bit of an easy inclusion to appeal to masses on social media for shares.

It is honestly really hard for me to even consider this poetry, as a majority of the work feels like more of the same easy platitudes that are seen everywhere on media feeds. Of course it is still a decent book with a lot of positive messages for those that may be struggling. It’s a decent first book if you’re new to modern poetry. Overall I didn’t find much new from this collection from the next that I see pumped out month after month.

So I just flew through this entire collection in a few short hours. I have such mixed feelings right now, and I’ll probably need a lot of time to reflect on the poems. The poems in the first two chapters had me so moved, I was almost in tears. Each and every one of them spoke to me in a way that has never happened before with poetry. There was such a lightness, filled with hope and love, surrounding every poem. But towards the end of the collection, the poems became very repetitive and held almost no meaning. They weren’t necessarily bad, but they just didn’t touch me as earlier poems had. I would honestly recommend this collection though to everyone if only for those first two chapters.

Powerful collection about knowing your worth. Very thought evoking and beautiful. I enjoyed this one.

I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars.
I did like a few of the writings/poems in this book, but the rest felt a bit repetitive.
The topics mentioned are self-love, self-acceptance, particularly dealing with the past, and knowing how to move forward,
The writing was nice, and easy to read.

This wasn't for me. There are some great images and lines scattered throughout the collection, and generally the messages are very positive and encouraging, but much of the poetry fell into a trap that is a pet peeve of mine in much of modern poetry: it told me, plainly, what message I should get from the poem. Usually as the last line. So many of the poems ended with things along the lines of (these aren't specific examples), "Believe in yourself," or "Just keep going," or the like. That sucks all the subtlety out of poetry, and if you don't have to think about poetry then you're wasting your time. I don't believe every poem should require intense study, but if I can't even pause and see how I feel about a poem without being hit over the head with an explicit explanation of what it is about then something is seriously wrong. Good writing will make me think and feel, not just tell me what to think or how to feel.
I also didn't love the excessive use of bolding in the formatting-- it sucked even more subtlety out, which I didn't think was possible.

Almost all poetry is evocative in one way or another and much of what I have read relates to suffering, loss, hardship; basically negative emotional life events or feelings. There is a lesser amount that focuses on the elation, love, contentedness and positive elements of life; the only one I can think of offhand is Jason Reynolds's, For Everyone. Chameleon Aura not only has a pretty awesome title and cover artwork, but it focuses on said negative aspects of life then goes on to provide much-needed messages of hope, survival and empowerment.

The title makes much more sense when you discover that the book is divided into different sections all of which are assigned a colour of the rainbow; it also fits with Chapata's encouragement of growth and evolution. Although the prose is raw, emotional and compelling, I found some of it a little cliché, and there was quite a lot of repetition or emphasis depending on which way you look at it. The way the key themes of each poem, whether a single line or a lengthy paragraph, are highlighted or emboldened is an element you will either love or hate, but I do feel it keeps the subject of each poem fresh in the reader's mind and would be particularly helpful for novice readers.

Many thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for an ARC.

Chameleon Aura by Billy Chapata is a great read! I enjoyed Chapata's poetry style and the message about self-love and growth. There were a few poems that I enjoyed so much that I wrote them down. Like, "You've got magic in your bones, and gold in your soul."Chapata's skill of twisting words into meanings is a treat. With that said, I did feel at times it did repeat it's self but not enough to bug me. I can't wait to read another collection of poetry.

“Chameleon Aura,” is a collection if free verse by Billy Chapata. The organization of the collection is very creative. The book is divided into sections and each section is named after a vibrant color of the rainbow. Finally, the collection ends with a message of transformation and renewal.

Chapata emphasizes the power of self love and self acceptance. I believe that this is a worthy goal. His work makes me think of butterflies, rainbows, and caterpillars emerging from cocoons. I recommend this book for fans of shape poetry and free verse.

Looks like I am coming in with an unpopular opinion with this one, I had seen that most loved the collection. And I tried, hence me finishing it…

Then and there, were pieces that liked, but I feel that most of the work give off the repetitive facade; of the meaning, they are conveying. That is good for that is the theme of the book. But certainly, there are words out there that still can be used.

To the good bits, I liked.

-The intensity of respect and appreciation for women, I had read other works with regard to validating women and generally mansplaining. I liked how it was taken in here. And the majority of the pieces does cater the writer’s well being than validating others.
-The “I hear, you.” “You do you.” energy that the collection throws to the reader. It brings a positive aura to the receiver.
-The amount of healing, written on the pages will bring joy into one’s heart. To feel represented by it and or by the feeling of being to empathize with.

Chameleon Aura is a beautiful collection of poetry and I loved the messages it put across, but something about the writing didn't quite "click" with me enough for me to give it a solid 5 stars. I'll still recommend it to other readers, though.

I have dnf'd this book.

As a poetry collection, I did not like this book.

As a collection of inspirational sayings... sure, this was alright. I mean come on, the sayings weren't even that original.

'and when you love her
don't just love her petals,
love her thorns too.' (p. 17)


I was confused by the randomly bolded words, it really took me out of each sentence.

Honestly, it's probably just me. Lots of reviews seem to dig this, and I really wanted to (the cover looks awesome and the author sounds so interesting) but I just can't bring myself to keep reading.

This is my first time reading the poet. I hope it won’t be my last. I’ve said before that I really love poems that deal with human experiences and emotions. Odes about pretty tress do nothing for me. Chameleon Aura is crammed with poetry that deals with the subject matter I enjoy the most. Many of the poems are written in the second person as if the poet is addressing someone else, namely the world in general. This is an unusual POV for poetry and it took a while for me to get used to the style. Once it grew on me I really liked it. The only thing that I didn’t like is that random words in each poem are in bold which overemphasise, unnecessarily the subject of the poem or key themes. It took a while to switch this off. I really enjoyed Chameleon Aura. My favourite poems were Law Of Attraction, Reflections In The Mirror, It’s Simple, Really, Inner Magic, You Are Responsible For Your Healing and Bridges.