I loved all the poems. They were so nicely written in free verse. The topics were good as well. I want the author to write more.

I hate reviewing someone’s poetry. Poetry is deeply personal and it is a vulnerable thing to put out there for others to read. I know what the author was going for. I think more music themed poetry should be available, especially in the YA world. I loved that the collection came with a playlist (which I fully anticipate listening to). The feeling and emotion is there, but the writing is just not. There were a lot of grammatical errors and the writing was extremely juvenile. It felt like reading a young teen’s diary.

Music inspires so many people, and it is fascinating to see how songs are interpreted by others.
This collection was a little hard going at times, but overall i really enjoyed this fresh take on a poetry collection.

THIS WAS SO BAD. The grammar is messed up in about every other poem. How can you be messing up contractions but publishing a poetry collection? Second, I understand that these are inspired by songs. but they sound just like songs, or worse. There is no lyrical beauty in them and the author chooses the most simplistic words.

I feel like the majority of these poems lack substance. Where's the hope? I worry about people who really struggle with suicidal ideation and pick this collection to read. Feeling understood is important, but what's even more important is ending on a high note rather than a low note. This book won't save lives by continuously using phrases like "I jump" or "There's no way out". It's absolutely worrisome to this mental health & suicide prevention advocate.

I’ve been reading poetry lately and the idea of poetry being inspired by music (which is somewhat already poetry, if you think about it) was different, unheard of and it really interests me!

All the Lonely Hearts started with a playlist, which I felt should’ve come with a description. Was it what inspired the poems? If so, wouldn’t it be great if there was a link to a Spotify, 8Track or Youtube playlist so the readers can read the poem and be accompanied by the music that inspired it rather than to just search it up themselves or not bother? Just my two cents.

I roll my eyes and sigh at the idea of being so lovesick and in love. It’s definitely not my thing since currently, I’m more focused on other things than that. Hence, the first few poems were difficult to get into since this is, after all, All the Lonely Hearts. However, I realise that although I feel this way, loneliness and loving are feelings. And feelings aren’t easily controlled. Hence, with this view, I continued reading and the more I read it, the more I was able to appreciate it.

There were 70 poems altogether, 13 poems that I loved, many that had beautiful writing and a handful that I related to. Love + Heartbreak was the one where I read and felt, “Wow, that’s kinda how I think” whereas “I Can Breathe” was one where I remember reading it and admiring the way the words flowed.

I’d be lying if I didn’t mention anything about the cover since that was what caught my attention in the first place. I love the brush techniques, colours and how detailed the art is.

Overall, though the idea of being lonely because of love makes me cringe, I really liked this!

Refreshing way to deliver poetry! Using another form of art to inspire this book is genius! Really enjoyed this collection!

Title: All the Lonely Hearts: Poetry Inspired by Music
Genres: Poetry
Publisher: Ella Rye
Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Ella Rye, an author of various poetry collections, brings her audience this collection of free-verse poetry inspired by music ranging from Taylor Swift to Imagine Dragons. Rye attempts to show the inspiration music can have on poetry, whether it be from a song's word or melody.

Rye has a talent for bringing her emotions out and placing them out in poetry form with beautiful imagery and rawness. On a few occasions, I found myself re-reading a poem simply because the words unfolded a story of twists, turns, and emotional rides. In a time where some poetry is limited by shallow purpose and passion, Rye manages to bring raw emotions to her words with ease and understanding.

Despite Rye's talents and use of words, I found continuing the collection difficult. Whether due to the open-ending of a poem, the trailing off of a subject, or the lack of cohesive thought, I struggled to stay in-tune with most of the poetry. A poem holds a story, revealing it with delicacy and coherence―a good bit of Rye's poems do this―but there are some poems where the story begins one way, then, pop comes in another character, subject, or thought not introduced beforehand. As a reader, I wondered if I had misunderstood the poem or if the change in direction was purposeful by the author, and if so, for what reason.

The themes and messages of this collection are of good, empathetic quality and are relatable to many; and the music playlist added is a welcoming touch to the collection and might allow readers a better view of Rye's inspiration/mindset of the poetry.

The theme of this collection appealed to me instantly, along with its stunning cover. Poetry and music are closely related - cousins, I'd say - so the idea that this was a book of poems inspired by music drew me in from the onset. Unfortunately, the poems in this book didn't really speak to me.

As I mentioned, the association between music and poetry in this book is a huge asset, and I liked the inclusion of a playlist at the beginning of the text, as I felt it established a good tone and gives you the chance to listen along while you read. Since I was already familiar with a lot of the songs listed, I didn't choose to do this, but I can see how that might have added an extra dimension to the poems. In the first part of the collection, the poems resembled songs in a lot of ways, using rhythm and rhyme in a way that gave the book an interesting sense of musicality, and repeating certain lines in a way that's reminiscent of a chorus or a bridge. Sadly this wasn't something that I feel followed through to the conclusion, and the author did mention in a note at the end that she finished the second half of this collection a while after she began writing, with quite a long break in between. This made a lot of sense to me as I felt that the link to music became a little hazy towards the end, when later poems lacked the cadence that they seemed to possess in the beginning.

The writing didn't particularly stand out to me, unfortunately. Simplistic writing styles can be effective when words are used to evoke deeper meaning, but that wasn't something I personally gained from reading this - it just didn't evoke any strong feelings in me. It was also a pretty repetitive reading experience, with many of the poems following a very similar structure and subject matter. This writer clearly has a very cohesive style, but I would have liked to see more variety as I felt a lot of the poems blurred together. Towards the end I began to skim through collection as the poems just weren't holding my attention. I also felt the book could have used a few extra read-throughs as I spotted quite a lot of spelling and grammatical errors.

Sadly, this book wasn't to my personal taste. I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to poetry, and unfortunately this book didn't deliver what I wanted from it, but I appreciated what the writer was trying to do and I think there were a few moments where the intended theme shone through - I would just have liked to see that theme carried more cohesively throughout the book in order for it to really reach its full potential.

The selection of poems are adequate. Some were really nice but some were so so and unforgettable. I feel the rawness of the prose but I hope the author deal with the feels and how to relay to its readers.

All my thoughts can be summed up by this: It wasn't very good. I felt no connection to the writing, and barely noticed that it was drawn back and inspired by music. It felt like it was trying to be something it couldn't be and I DNF'd 27% through. Unfortunately it wasn't very good.

Music can be poetry and it was lovely to read these emotional poems that were inspired by music. Very thoughtful and lots of feeling. Would be a great gift for someone going through relationship turmoil.

This book wasn’t bad, but it was very sad. I never felt like there was an Happy poems. The music thing confused me.. there were lines in the book I didn’t quite understand.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

I love that the author gave us a playlist with this as well. This book wasn't my favorite poetry book... not by far, BUT there were some beautifully written poems in the bunch.

All of this poetry was written very well. I felt as if I knew the author of the poetry because some of the poems made me think they had been in a domestic violence situation like myself. Poetry is one of my favorite genres and I feel like this collection could be one of my top favorites of the year!

I liked that the author gave us the playlist in the beginning. I started by setting up a Spotify playlist for this collection and listened to it while I read. It's quick to get through as would be expected. I liked the second half of the collection more than I did the first. I was torn at first with what I thought about it. It reminded me a bit of The Princess Saves Herself in This One with the formatting and style of poetry -- or at least the whole "tumblr poetry" vibe. That isn't really my cup of tea, but it resonates well enough with a lot of people. So, I think this could really find its audience. That being said, there were a few poems that I did like. Broken Violin was my favorite out of this collection. I could relate to it. And I Break gave me my favorite lines out of the whole collection:
"I lose so much respect for you
Everytime you open your mouth"

By the end, I ended up giving it one more star than I originally thought I would be going to. It grew on me. I think it could definitely find its audience!

I'm a big fan of writing inspired by music since so much of my own writing is inspired by music. However, this book started out promising and soon dragged on and became far too repetitive for my liking.

In this collection of poems inspired by music and with an accompanying playlist of songs included, we see how emotions change and adapt in each poem.



From love, freedom and dance as well as sex, friendship, loneliness and heartache an array of emotions are travelled through and the words are gripping, raw and will move you to tears with the truthfulness and weight they hold. A brave and proud collection of poetry illustrating many life tales.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I fully acknowledge that this book is for teenagers, and not for me. I found it cheesy and kind of annoying, but at the same time recognize the appeal to the lonely, thoughtful teenager.