Working in the mental health field I feel that the subject is very important. I enjoyed the theming and the writing in this book very much and appreciated the topics that it covered.

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. It was raw and real and felt very genuine. I loved the themes and frank discussions of mental health throughout, as well.

This was a lovely book!
Lovely modern poetry that gets the mind thinking.
The mental health themes are important!

This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

Beautiful simple poetry. I adore this book and have followed up by seeking out Emily Juniper's other writing. Absolutely recommended for all poetry collections.

In general, I’m not fond of poetry books. I normally teach poetry for 5 weeks annually. This book was the most requested from my students and they loved it. I’d choose this book over any other poetry book. The penmanship is frank and honest. There’s no sugarcoating in what is it like to have a mental health.

Thank you Central Avenue for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A Strangely Wrapped Gift
By: Emily Juniper

REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
As a person who has struggled with mental illness her entire life, I found many of the poems within A Strangely Wrapped Gift relatable, relevant and compelling. These words come from a place of truth and suffering and are authentic. Poetry is so open to interpretation, and personal experience shapes perspective. Thus, poems are always personal before anything else. If you have dealt with mental health issues, you might find some commonalities in these poems. I definitely recommend trying this book out for yourself.

As a teacher, I'm always looking for some lovely snippets of poetry to share with my students to inspire them. A Strangely Wrapped Gift has many lines I can't wait to share!

A Strangely Wrapped Gift is a thoughtfully composed collection of thoughts on mental illness, relationships, love and longing as well as growth and healing. This book reminds readers that we are not alone in our struggles, and we each hold the power to harness our words into something beautiful, something that can ultimately save each and every one of us.

I think the title describes this poetry collection very well. Strange thoughts and interesting musings intercepted by personal memories sorted into the four seasons give this an overall appeal.
I did like Summer and Autumn the most with the well-chosen similes and the more current topics. Especially the OCD numbered poems moved me.
But overall, the poems have a nice rhythm and don't feel too disjointed from another, so it easy to go from one poem to the next.

This was a collection that I was excited to read. I thought a lot of these poems were really great and the collection is centered around mental health and self love. I think the poems tried to really get into the meat of things, however, I didn't think it went as far as it needed to be.

This is definitely modern and contemporary poetry (super short, often one lines + odd line breaks), and I suggest that people who enjoy that sorta Tumblr, Insta-poet type of poetry to maybe check this book out.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for gifting me an eARC for an honest review!

I hope my daughters are born with the strength I have worked for.

I'm new to Emily's writing but was hooked straight away after reading the author's message at the beginning of the book. Her pursuit to raise awareness through her writing of OCD and other mental health illnesses really interested me as I have an invested interest in OCD. Wanting to further understand it was important to me. I felt so many things while reading this collection of poetry. I was inspired and heart broken throughout but could feel the strength from the author coming through in her writing.

Unconditional love is not romantic; it's dangerous. Love should always have conditions.

I love reading poetry that really gets me thinking and this whole collection was like that for me. It made me question things that I hadn't really thought about before and I saw things in people close to me that written down like this really hit home. I want to thank Emily for laying all her emotions in a book like this because they do help others and they have an impact.

I knew that soon everyone would be asleep, and I would have nobody to distract me from you.

This is a very strong collection of poetry and prose and really recommend this book. P.S. If you do not understand something then educate yourself. People shouldn't have to do that for you, they are suffering enough.

I attempted to read this book three times. But it just wasn't for me. I usually love poetry about mental health and darkness. However, the first portion of the book seemed more like prose than poetry. Ultimately, it just wasn't for me.

The title of this story is also perhaps the best way to describe it. Gritty and challenging, harsh and bleak, beautiful and blooming, this novel encapsulates mental health struggles in a way not many others have accomplished.

Raw, emotional and honest... I'm not usually one for poetry but I'm glad I spent time reading these. Tough subject matters dealing with mental health and other sensitive topics but it was tackled with heart and respect.

I enjoyed reading several aspects of this book! The pacing was wonderful, characters were well drawn, and the reading experience on the whole was delightful.

This is a book of poetry about mental health, love, loss and being LGBTQ+. A lot of the poems are about the author's experience with OCD and intrusive thoughts. The book is set out into five sections: summer, autumn, winter, spring and leap year.

This book is wonderful. The poetry is beautiful, and painful at the same time. The beauty gives way to horror, which then morphs into recovery, not completely fixed but changed for the better. The book is a journey, through the pain and towards recovery and learning to love yourself. It's very emotional and moving. I read the whole thing in one sitting, because I was enraptured by it.

This poetry is exactly the kind of poetry that I love. The use of nature, memories, and all of the senses really work in these poems. The poems are modern and accessible. I was reminded of Rupi Kaur's poetry, as well as others who are similar, so if you are fans of her poetry I think you'll love this book. The poems are very accessible, even to people (like me) who find a lot of poetry difficult to understand.

Overall, this is a beautiful book, well worth a read.

*3.5 stars

This was beautiful and there was a lot to unpack but I really enjoyed what I read. Some of them really hit me hard and I think it would take a reread to really take everything in but I am so glad I read it.

The poems are all about love, loss, mental illness, being in the lgbt community with some political points mixed in. It's split into five parts - summer, autumn, winter, spring and leap year - and everything is really dark and gritty and emotional. Really beautiful stuff. I especially liked the last three sections and I think there's something here for everyone to enjoy.

A nice collection of poetry. I really enjoyed this book. I was giving a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this collection but I am not going to rate it because I am not the right audience to give a meaningfull opinion.