I'm gonna honestly say, the magic that felt like it was in the first installment of this creative collaboration really felt absent to me in this one.

The title of the book shows that it's meant to be about connections and otherwise. It's a good premise, and broad which is good when you set about a task of publishing a collection of poetry and the short stories other authors have been inspired to write based on those.

This anthology does show stories of connection, whether it's a professional relationship, one between a daughter and a mother, multiple stories of lovers in various stages, sisters, and death and its aftermath.

The problem for me was that, unlike in the first collection, I didn't really feel as though these short stories had any specific link to the poems that immediately preceded them. Oh, a line was used here or there that was the same or similar, but the themes that seemed present in the poems often just didn't seem to translate across into the prose.

This was especially disappointing when it came to the spectacular and stand out poem by Alicia Cook.

I loved this one almost as much as the first. I love the mix of poetry and short stories. I will be reading other books that these authors have written.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was an interesting mix of poems from a variety of poets. Based around themes of connection this collection was eclectic and has something for every poetry enthusiast. .

I'm trying to branch out into genres I don't really spend a lot of time reading. Short Stories and Poetry are definitely on that list.

I found the concept of this book very creative and was eager to give it a try. I was not disappointed.

Here is the way this works:
Have 10 writers write a poem. Switch those poems up and hand them back out to the writers. The writers will then read the poem they received and write a short story using at least one sentence from the poem.

Honestly, these writers were so creative! I loved every story but one (that one seemed to be going in a gross direction so I just skipped it).

If you are a fan of Short Stories or just like the concept of this book and want to see what the writers came up with, I recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to #CentralAvenuePublishing and #NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.I'm trying to branch out into genres I don't really spend a lot of time reading. Short Stories and Poetry are definitely on that list.

I found the concept of this book very creative and was eager to give it a try. I was not disappointed.

Here is the way this works:
Have 10 writers write a poem. Switch those poems up and hand them back out to the writers. The writers will then read the poem they received and write a short story using at least one sentence from the poem.

Honestly, these writers were so creative! I loved every story but one (that one seemed to be going in a gross direction so I just skipped it).

If you are a fan of Short Stories or just like the concept of this book and want to see what the writers came up with, I recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to #CentralAvenuePublishing and #NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this anthology <3

I'll be honest here; the main reason I requested this book was for Tyler Knott Gregson. I've followed him for a long time and he always writes prose that speaks to my heart. I wasn't disappointed in this work. I also was able to find some new poets to follow and the creativity and flow of the book was unexpected but wonderful. I would read it again. Perfect for fans of poetry and short stories!

This anthology is full of poetry and prose about human connection. I absolutely adore how well each of the poets/authors managed to interweave the work of the poet before them into their own story. These stories were delicate and tackled such emotional matters in such an elegant way. I found so many quotable lines throughout this book. I loved the themes explored, reading about loss, love, grief, self-growth etc in one well-written succinct package was the best experience. I have bought a physical copy of this book so that I'll always have it available to re-read.

Really enjoyed all the different voices in this anthology, great to dip in and out of. Love the way each poet/author follows on from the last keeping a common thread whilst putting their own individual slant on the story.

I received an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.




The gorgeous illustrations on the cover of this poetry book drew me in and so I had to request it.

However I believe it expired in the NetGalley App before I had a chance to open the pages so sadly I was unable to read this book.

Great writing from great authors. I plan to purchase a copy for use within a poetry unit at school.I thoroughly enjoyed this title.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. The way the poems and stories connected from one author/poet to another was brilliant and it made the whole book feel cohesive rather than a disjointed collection of distinct projects.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this fabulous ARC.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.

This was a decent collection of poetry and stories. I liked some more than others. This isn't a favorite of mine. But, one of the amazing things about poetry, and books in general, is that it resonates differently with everyone. A person can interpret meanings and have entirely different reading experiences from someone else.

Firstly I'd like to thank Netgalley for the ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book is full of brilliant authors that I only ever knew as poets but in this anthology that changed. I thought the idea behind this book was genius. Each author wrote a poem and then all there names were put in a hat or something similar. The name they picked out the hat they would use there poem to create a short story. The results were amazing. If I could have I would have read this in one sitting.

The poems were all great but the creativity that the author took from each poem to create mind blowing short stories just really made this book a 5 star read for me. The range of topics covered is huge and I love how people from all across the world can come together to create works of art.

Due to the formatting of the ARC it was hard to know who wrote what and the title of each story but my favourite stories have to be the one about River in San Juan and the one about Skylar and Norah! They were all so different yet all hit me. The twists and turns kept me reading. Grief, culture, parenthood, childhood and so much more.

I definitely recommend everybody to read this book and I intend to buy the first one and a hard copy of this one too!

I will say this wasn't quite what I expected from the summery, but I did enjoy it. I liked the connections of the pieces, and a nice mixture of themes. I am interested enough to read the first collection.

The stories in this book all followed each other so smoothly and swiftly. I really enjoyed seeing which story the authors had in their head while reading the poems.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one!

3.5 stars

So this isn't entirely what I expected. Maybe I didn't read the details but I wasn't expecting short stories. I was expecting just some short poem from the various authors. Tyler Knott Gregson is one of my favorites though, so that's honestly why I requested to read this. :) I think if you are true poetry fanatic, you'll enjoy this.

I’ve been dipping in and out of this in between full length novels.

I’ve enjoyed each short story and would re read again.

This was an interesting anthology of prose and stories.. The unique voices were intriguing and they pulled me on the journey with the narrators. The emotions exhibited, the intensity of the writing and just the general layout of this anthology had me engaged the entire time. I particularly love Amanda Lovelace's work, so this was a perfect read for myself!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this at all. I was under the impression that it was going to be poets writing *poetry* about one another's stories — not the other way around (writing stories about one another's poems). I like short stories, don't get me wrong, but this just lost my interests a bit too quickly. Great premise, just not the right fit for me.