A very personal, yet universal collection of poetry, similar to how Montgomery puts it in one of his poems. His words are raw and unforgiving, but it was so intriguing and smart. I would love to utilize excerpts in my classroom since it has beautiful language that is so simple and complex simultaneously.

When I first requested this book I didn't know who Dacre Montgomery was (though I did know who Billy Hargrove was), I saw a book of poems and thought "cool I like poems". I didn't know I was about to get an honest and raw look into this authors life experience. Montgomery is raw and writes from a place anyone ever experiencing any sort of mental health issues can understand and relate. And waiting to read this collection until after I learned who Dacre Montgomery really was, I feel I love and relate to this actor more. That and feel like he is a much more down to earth person that I previously thought- because he gets 'it'. A deep, yet quick, read that really exposes those often times hidden layers of our favorite actor.

DKMH is a portrayal of angst and boldness. The rawness of each pieces marks how Dacre Montgomery stands. It reflects her personality, the handsomeness and his quiet yet bold type. DKMH's poems took my level of imagery into each pages is captured by intense metaphors. I love DKMH's originality.

Loved the idea of this book and was excited to read something by Dacre. The intro was great but the poetry felt very rudimentary. The rhyming was actually distracting.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved Dacre for years, and knowing that he will release a poetry collection made me the most excited fan! DKMH was raw and honest, exactly how I like my poetry. I'm happy to see him exploring his artistic side through writing, and I cans ay that I love him more.

Please give this book a chance. Though he's still starting (and I know that he could improve more), poetry written like this should be heard by everyone.

Rating: 3.5

This is a collection of short, staccato poems about being lost and finding. They’re prefaced as the harnessed energy of softness and anxiety: a bouncing of negative energy back into light. Bipolar, emotionally-intense seismic shifts from feelings high to low. At times they’re visceral: you can feel some parts of these poems on your skin. Poetry is so personal, and they’re a bit concrete and rhyme too often for my taste - but there’s something in the rhythmic quality of them: you can hear verses being rapped aloud. That said, it’s always fun and eye-opening to glimpse someone’s insides. They remind me of being a teenager: that lost feeling of youth. Like the poem your first boyfriend writes you on a folded piece of lined paper: naive and wondrous and about to be spoiled but before you know it will be, in a good way.

If I’d known who the poet was, I might have been reluctant to read this collection. Thankfully, ignorance is bliss and I went into this with zero expectations. I enjoyed this poetry collection. There is a long introduction section with a playlist which I skipped over and don’t feel was needed. I just wanted to read the poems. DKMH contains about half a dozen long poems broken into smaller chunks and each with a different theme. The themes are universal to poetry; first love, identity and the like. The language used is quite vivid and I enjoyed the flow of the poems and imagery. I must have to check out the podcast now.

I like poetry and I also like Dacre Montgomery, so this seemed like a great read. The title stands for the author’s initials and it started off amazingly and the introduction was wonderful. In it the author depicts what poetry means to him, his background and inspiration. There is also a playlist in the beginning and I liked that it included a small description about why a certain song was chosen for it. Afterwards I was sure I’m going to love this poetry collection, but that is not entirely the case.
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The book is divided into the four categories fear, love, anxiety and spirit and the love one was my favorite. Themes like identity, emotions and mental health were explored in this collection and you can definitely relate to those. The poems are rather simple and seem like little moments or thoughts and sometimes even a stream of consciousness. I liked some of it, while some poems were just overly confusing. The poems were also complemented by single line drawings and while this was a nice touch, they oftentimes didn’t really had to do anything with the poems.
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Overall, this poetry collection is good, but not my new favorite and I enjoyed certain parts from it. 3 stars.

(ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.)

I wanted to like this book because I liked Dacre Montgomery in Stranger Things, and the introduction, while it wasn't exactly poetic, was pretty good. But once we got to the actual poems, I was pretty convinced that I wouldn't like this AT ALL. and I was right, after finishing it, I didn't like it.

It might've been good as an audiobook experience, because he's got a nice voice, but the poems seemed like a bunch of words put together and most of the time I was asking myself, what does he even mean? I'm disappointed and I don't think his poetry is for me.

I thank Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I tried to enjoy it in both audio and ebook but after the first few pages it became like a game. The game where a person says a word and the next person quickly response with a word, this game can continue until you decide to stop.

Although after I wrote that maybe that was the idea. Early on in the collection it is noted that the author suffers from bi polarism and if that was the intention to capture the internal battle then it was done well. But if that wasn’t the intention then it’s reads and sounds like gibberish, like my toddler talking in riddles.

I will say that the author has a playlist that should be played while listening/ reading to the collection. It does add a nice interactive feature.

2.5 stars

The first few pages were amazing and I was hoping it would continue that way, it didn't. It was still okay but I didn't discover new favorites. The illustrations didn't match the poems but I still liked the simplicity of them.

I liked Dacre's debut poetry collection. I devoured it in less than an hour and I finished it wanting to read more. Even though is not the best poetry book I've read, I actually enjoyed the reading

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the DRC!

I was very surprised when I first heard about this book. I didn't know Dacre Montgomery wrote poetry. I didn't know about his podcast. Being completely honest, I only knew him from Stranger Things. He was great on the show, so I was curious to see his work as a writer.

I thought I knew Dacre Montgomery. Now, let me tell you: I have no idea who he is. His poems are so personal, so deep... He's definitely not just a pretty face. He shares some thoughts on his childhood, love, anxiety, adult life... But it's not the kind of poem that you understand the first time you read. I think I'll have to read this book a few more times to actually absorb all the meaning behind his words.

Nice read!

This poetry collection was very unique. I don’t believe i’ve ever read any poetry like this in a long time, if ever.

TW: Discussions on mental health (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD)

Such with almost every poetry collection, there is this case in which there were some poems I liked and some that were a miss. Overall, I like the vibe of the collection; these poems are simple. It is clear the writer is emptying his mind, trying to collect his thought, and in some poems it worked better than others. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite theme nor poem since the poems in the themes weren’t that different from each other (the same lay-out, word use, etc). It would have been for fun if that was the case, so there was more visible variety, though it would limit the way one can write their thoughts down, which I think was the strongest point of this collection. It gives an insight in Drace Montgomery’s head; memories of the past.

Overall, I liked what I read and how fast I read it (in one sitting, which is rare for me), and though I wished there was more variety that could tell when one theme started and ended, I did feel like the poems brought the emotions out of them.

The introduction was by far the best part - and that's such a shame. I wish the entire book was written with these deep and honest words but it's not. The rest of the book, the poem collection itself, is very random and repetitive. The drawings are nice but I kind of enjoyed them more than the content - which just shouldn't be the case.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy. I'm sorry I couldn't give a better review but I have to stay honest and keep it real.

TW: Discussions on mental health (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD)

As always, I'll start with my first impressions. I requested to read this book on NetGalley because I LOVED the cover art. It's very simple and stunning; just the kind I like and look for when reading poetry. The title intrigued me, as I didn't know what it was referencing. Then I noticed the author...and FREAKED OUT! I didn't realize that Dacre Montgomery (an actor most well know for playing Billy in Stranger Things-- aka my favorite show of all time) also wrote poetry, and I was seriously excited and curious to see Montgomery explore another art form. However, I was slightly concerned after reading the Goodreads reviews, as the average was about 3 stars and many of the reviews thought the collection was okay, not great.

Now for my actual review.

I was STUNNED by the opening forward. I had NO IDEA that Montgomery had struggled with mental health throughout his life, and the way he spoke about his struggles and life was beautiful, I could FEEL what he'd gone through, and it felt like I was having a private conversation with him. I also found it to be extremely relatable, as I have been through similar struggles with mental health, and I felt he described such struggles perfectly and in a way that's understandable, even to someone who has never experienced such things. I also related to how he uses tv, movies, and poetry-all around art-as an escape from everyday life and mental health struggles, and I relate to using poetry and writing as a way to get out all of the sadness and put it into something creative and constructive. It's very therapeutic.

Montgomery also adds a playlist at the beginning of his work to accompany his poems, albums he has religiously listened to for years, and I felt that it elevated the whole work. I enjoy seeing such elements.

The art featured throughout the book was simple and beautiful, a lovely addition to the poems. The line art is well done, and reminds me a lot of the style seen in Rupi Kaur's and Amanda Lovelace's collections.

As for his poetry, there were many poems that really got me in the ~feels~ and hit me in the gut. Some very stunning and truly beautiful, and Montgomery's poetry style is unlike anything I've seen before. The way he structures his poems via his sentence breaks and capitalization is unique from what I've seen, and it was really refreshing.

As for my critiques, many of the individual poems were forgettable to me. Some pages only had one line poems that I feel could have been fleshed out, and some poems featured easy rhyme schemes that were confusing and felt randomly thrown together. Most of the first section didn't particularly interest me (the the second section, LOVE, was overall amazing). Also, likely not an issue with the actual book, but many of the pages in my e-arc were completely blank. I've had this issue with some books I've gotten off NetGalley before, and I'm not sure where the issue comes from or if it's just user-error (I double checked with another device, thought) and it made me feel like I missed a lot of the book. That was definitely unfortunate.

Lastly, I was also intrigued by the title for the entire time I was reading the book, and it wasn't until the author bio that I understood it. DKMH are Montgomery's full initials––Dacre Kayd Montgomery-Harvey; which is also the title of his popular podcast. Now that I understand it, I love it.

Overall, I'd recommend you check this out! Though I have my critiques, there's a lot to love and appreciate, and the forward is a MUST READ!!!

Rating: 4 stars

Sadly, this poetry collection was not for me. I'm a big fan of Dacre Montgomery's acting in Stranger Things but I figured that I am not a big fan of his poetry. The poems did not really make sense to me because it felt like random words were being strung together. Where the poems should've been deep and meaningful, I only found them very confusing.

Even though I did not enjoy the poetry, I did connect with the book's introduction wherein Darce Montgomery talks about his mental health issues, only the poems that came after it didn't live up to the hopes I got after reading the introduction. I wish he'd write a non-fiction memoir about his experiences with mental health. I'd definitely read it if he does!

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

You know what?

If the book continued with the good writing with proper lines, description and expression as in the first few pages of this book, it would have worked out like perfection. I really, really love the first few pages before the actual poetry and sketch contents started.

Well, the sketches (are those doodles?!) just didn't work for me. Nor do they seem like they expressed anything. They seem incomplete and yes, totally irrelevant.

And no, the poetry lines did not do much for me. I could totally connect with the mental health representation (again!) in the first few pages (which is an introductory part I guess).

Please do write more as such in the next book. They seem more genuine and relatable and more well written as compared to the actual poetry content.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Arc provided by netgalley for an honest review ✨


I will probably not remember the poems from this poetry collection but I appreciate the work the author put into it. A lot of beauty can be added to this book by the poet himself.