This book is a collection of poems and prose that documents or chronologies the life of a woman who had to accept and understand the eighteen inches distance between her heart and her mind. We follow her on a life journey as she learns about heartbreak, acceptance, and as she builds and takes down a wall around her heart.

Trigger warning for rape, emotional trauma, and abortion.

There are a few lines in this book that got to me and one is in the very start
"It worries me that you'll always feel the need to be the one who loves more. And there is a pain in that type of love"
This hit me deeply, as someone who always loved too hard and too deeply, I used to forget how a loving relationship is a two-way thing. People who have not realized this, give and give but never receive and that can be so harmful.

There was also something special about her relationship with God and you could see that everything was in the way she was raised (although sometimes she could be a little condescending to people who according to her "were most likely all raised completely differently" which is not necessarily a bad thing). It was heartbreakingly precious to see how she handled her abortion and how she was unable to tell her mother because she feared her judging gaze (I believe that no matter how god fearing a family is, a daughter should be able to tell her mother anything, or I do hope that my future daughter can tell me anything)

There is a specific poem that I also loved "the paradox of human nature"
"The paradox of human nature is that
we teach each other to expect
supernatural miracles
Yet, when it comes to human relations,
we teach each other
to have no expectations"
I just kept thinking that this is human nature to a T. We place these astronomical expectations or unseen and alien things when we can't even place human relationships on the same slate.

This book delves into love, pride, courage, trust, doubt, selfishness, and much more. I would highly recommend it.

I requested this one on NetGalley a while back and was so delighted to have received a copy. This poetry book is quite a long one and it took me a few days to get through it but I really enjoyed it and some of the poems touched my heart.

The themes and poems were a bit difficult for me to get into because of all the detailed personal experiences the poet wrote about. This books has eighteen parts/chapters with a few poems about the theme of each chapter. I really loved how they were arranged and found it interesting.

Eighteen Inches is about loss, love, relationships and hardships. I admit, it was quite inspirational, emotional, raw and touching. There were a few times where I caught a tear rolling down my cheeks. I love poetry books that make me think about the deeper meaning of life and this one did a great job at it.

If you are looking for a touching read that will leaving you thinking about life and the decisions we make, I would definitely recommend this one!

*Many thank yous to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an eARC!*

[Full review is also available on my blog, whiterosestories.com]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

Damn, this was such a powerful book. It actually made me cry, it has been a while since I cried, I guess I needed that. Thanks, Mirtha

TW: Anxiety, depression, death, rape, sex, abortion.

"I am a woman who lives and does everything passionately. When I love, I love hard; when I hurt, hurt badly."

It was difficult to read this book. Difficult to the point I considered stopping. It made me cry since the beginning and made me remember things I thought I was ready to let go. So, pay attention to the back cover's warning and mine: "this book might make you cry..." Even so, I regained courage and continued. Yes, I kept crying, but less this last time. The other part of the warning is also true, by the way: "{this book might] fill you with nostalgia, empower you, or even give you hope."

It's both sad and comforting to know that we are not alone when it comes to heartbreaks, even if it seems that way. Castro Mármol writes down feelings of pain and longing that we might not know how to express through letters and poems, which might seem familiar from other poets nowadays, but that have the precise words to connect directly to you, even if you are not experiencing any of these feelings.

"Eighteen Inches" is an inch-by-inch journey that shows us that love might come and go and that it can be also found again, even if it comes in a different way. I don't feel empowered or hopeful after reading it but I think it's because I'm not there yet, not because this book fails in its purpose. I'm sure that it can be just right for someone else.

I'm eternally grateful to Mirtha, who decided to share a part of her soul to us.

I liked this collection. I felt at times it was a bit unoriginal in the sense that I've read very similar poems before. But then there were poems that I really enjoyed. I did not like the paragraphs explaining each new section. I found that to be super unnecessary and bothersome.

This poetry collection feels like someone read my mind and put into words some of my experiences and feelings. It's a very hard hitting, personal account of love, loss and hope.

I love the formatting of the book and that each section has a introduction of personal exp6that makes the poems that follow all the more powerful and relevant.

This book was truly a rollar coaster of emotions and I cried for a lot of it, even the parts that I have no personal experience with. I highly recommend this collection.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for the opportunity to review this book

A strong and potent collection with a lot to love about it. I definitely plan on coming back to it sometime, but unfortunately it hits a difficult place right now and I won't be finishing it for the time being.

First I never knew it was 18 inches between your head and your heart. Very interesting. This is such a beautifully written collection of essays and poems. Heartbreakingly beautiful and sad. Explores some tougher topics but so worth the read. Highly recommend this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review.

This review is being published before the release date (May 5th, 2020)

Content/Trigger Warnings: Cheating, toxic relationships, fighting/graphic violence, assault, sexual assault, rape, trauma/PTSD, guilt, abuse, grief, death/loss of a loved one, anxiety, abortion, sex, and more!

"If I must burn again, I shall continue to rise, and from the ashes be reborn , again and again."

Friends, this poetry collection was an emotional roller coaster. I cried for the majority of this whole book. It's not often books touch the scars of my heart, but when they do, they leave a lasting imprint. That's what Eight Inches did to me. It left an imprint and awoke so many of my own personal memories. This poetry collection is a raw letter of emotions from the author to the reader, for you to see the author for who she is and what she has endured.

This book is broken into eighteen sections; each a moment, a lesson, or a memory the author has encountered to craft them into the strong soul they are today. Each section filled with pain, loss, the struggles of coming of age, and learning to love anew. This collection has something everyone will feel in their heart or find locked within their memories for many of us have endured similar things the author writes in each section. As always, I may have stated it above, but please practice self-care while reading this poetry collection because there are a lot of trigger warnings.

"The past is not the past if it continues to live with you."

While I loved many parts of this, there was one part I felt the absolute need to talk about and address. When you enter the thirteenth section of this book, where it claims that happiness is a choice. Now this may not seem like an issue at first, the passage talk about how we have the choice to be happy and the tone of the entire passage didn't sit right with me. For those who suffer with depression or struggle with mental health, this passage can be quite harmful. This isn't to say that this wasn't the case for the author, but as a reader who struggles with mental health, I was quite confused and had to read the passage five times before the tone of this section finally sank in. No one is always happy all the time, to say happiness is a choice is to say that depression isn't a real illness, it's to say those who struggle with mental health aren't valid because they have a "choice" to be happy. In my opinion, this section could have been worded better and in a less harmful light.

Overall, I truly appreciate this poetry collection and I truly wish I could have given it a full five stars. This book had the potential to shine a light on mental health and how to truly balance living with mental health struggles, but there was an opportunity missed in this book. Otherwise, this book addresses many important topics not often talked about and once again I remind you to please practice self-care while reading this book because there are a lot of trigger warnings that this book addresses.

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

This poetry collection written by Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol is all about women empowerment, mental health and such. It's a well-written book. However, it didn't appeal to me as much as I thought when I started reading it. Rating: 3/5 stars

Captivating and beautiful and showing personal experience. Eighteen Inches truly grasps love, hope, loss providing a truly great and memorable read.

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

This book of poems is a very emotional and hard hitting read but very very worth reading. The book is set out in sections starting from 1" to 18"s and before each section of poems is a personal account written by the author as an introduction before the poems. This personal account before each segment really opens your heart and eyes to such a strong, hard hitting, and personal selection of poems that are all the more so due to such strong accounts in between.

I planned on giving this book 5 stars, until I came across the prose of 13". 'I found out that happiness is a choice", it said. While it may be the case for the writer, it is a very dangerous and wrong thing to say like it is a fact. I know it is a personal compilation of writings and poems. This might sound like silly semantics, but if it had said 'I found out that I could choose to be happy,'I'd have thought, good for you! But now, what was there to me, was 'happiness is a choice', and with that, 'your lack of happiness aka your depression is a choice'. No one is always happy, and depression is a real illness stemming from not enough of a certain hormone in the brain. Happiness is NOT a choice, just like not having diabetes is not a choice. (note: I am not depressed now, just have been several times)

Apart from this part that had me seething for a while because I hate ableism, I did love this very personal collection. The horrid ableism would have been good for one of the very few 1-star-reviews, but that would mean I told people to stay away from the rest too. I won't. Because I think most of the collection was worth 5 stars, I rate it somewhere in the middle.

Hard-hitting.
Personal.
Mental health.
Coming of age.
Art.
Love, loss and hope.

Yes, you can expect these when you pick up this collection. And the best part is that each of the section starts with a personal account of introduction which is relevant and important for part and yes, the poetry lines becomes more meaningful after reading this detail at the beginning of each section.

Kudos to the author for sharing such private thoughts and experiences.

It's worthwhile picking this up.

It's exhilarating! In a good way!

Perfect for Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur lovers!

Thank you #NetGalley for the book #EighteenInches

This book right here...let me compose myself....
This book will bring you to the moments, hurt and pain you've tried so hard to forget about and not in a bad way, more in a way that makes me feel like you too can heal and this is only true if you choose to read to the very end. And trust me, you need to...
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.