This book just wasn't for me. I didn't connect to the poetry in this book as much as I have her other collections.

"I Must Belong Somewhere" by Dawn Lanuza offers a poignant exploration of life's complexities through poetry and prose.
The author's daring insights into themes of longing, home, and mental health provide a silver lining for anyone navigating the challenges of existence.
Lanuza's honest and contemporary perspective, woven with themes of displacement and companionship, makes this collection a compelling read for lovers of introspective literature.

I enjoyed this collection. I thought the poems and language really touched on some important issues like mental health, the human feelings, emotional trauma. I loved the contrast of longing and belonging and how the poems felt to almost distance the reader in a way to play and pull on those feelings even more. Sometimes the poems were too vague and it felt more disjointed to the overall collection but really enjoyed this one

I love this book. It so relatable in so many ways. It perfectly portray the struggles of having depression.

I received an ARC copy awhile back from NetGalley and Andrews McMeel. Due to losing access to my Net Galley account I was unable to submit my reviews until now.

I Must Belong Somewhere by Dawn Lanuza is a powerful and personal reflection on love, longing, and displacement. These poems and stories will really connect with you if you have a sense of longing to belong and wonder of where life will take you.

Modern poetry can often be hit or miss for me, as some of it, unfortunately, feel cliché and surface level. While I did find some of these pieces to be trite, others I found unique.

This collection also talks about various topics which might triggered you such as depression, self-harm, suicide etc. Please keep this in mind before reading it.

A loved these pieces:

“Despite my knowledge,
these words swirl around
my belly,
a fetus of doubt and worry,
a voice in the back of my head
saying my existence
depends only on my ability
to birth another life.”

"You should toughen up"
is why I'm hard on myself.
I've been told I'm soft.
- like "soft" is a bad word”

“Every once in a while she is convinced that she doesn't belong here anymore.
Yet she doesn't know where she should be just yet.
She finds herself where she is because she doesn't know where else to be.”

I have a special place in my heart for poetry that touches on mental health. This book was written so beautifully and honestly. Definitely recommend to anyone struggling with mental illness and loneliness.

I couldn't really finish this book, because it wasn't available in the Kindle format and when I checked the other reviews, I didn't think it'd be worth it to finish as there's supposed to be a lot of triggering content for me, such as suicide, body image etc. I feel neutral on the writing style of this book, especially since poetry is a bit out of my comfort zone.

Dawn Lanuza's works and I seem to have a hit-or-miss relationship, and the same goes with this poetry book.

Some pieces blew me away, others were okay, and there were some that felt too weak.

Overall, I admire her for sending out her very personal pieces to the world. Though I didn't care much for some of it (and maybe it was just not for me), I know this would perfectly satisfy some readers ❤

#I Must Belong Somewhere is a beautiful poetry book. Author # Dawn Lanuza is very moving. And for those that enjoy dark and deep this is perfect.
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Dawn Lanuza and # Andrews McMeel Publishing

4 Stars (I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

I have read one of the author’s other poetry collections also as an arc from NetGalley as well and I always enjoy her writing. This time around the writing/atmosphere seemed a bit darker than her previous collection. For me it hit a bit harder since I moved to a different province about six months ago. Living previously in the same place my whole life I was definitely in my feels. I recommend her poetry to everyone

"It's one thing to be spectator of someone else's loneliness,
another thing to be a prisoner of your own."
•
This collection deals with a lot of different themes, some I've been expecting bec this is obviously not my first Dawn Lanuza book, but pieces centering on displacement and loneliness hit harder for me.

There are a lot of places, times, and people I've been missing, even before this worldwide ~Pandora hit. The lockdowns only magnified what was already there (for everyone, not just me) and sometimes the words to express the anxiety and sadness just doesn't come at all. Finding them between the pages of this book felt like an outlet to me. More than the relatability, it gave me a sense of relief - "someone gets it!" And yes, in that sense, I found that elusive sense of belongingness I didn't even know I've been craving, even for a little while.
•
"You should toughen up"
is why I'm hard on myself.
I've been told I'm soft.

– like "soft" is a bad word
•
*The eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't affect my opinion of the book. Thank you.

3 stars. I didn't hate this poetry collection, but I didn't connect very well to it. It was pretty middle of the road for me. Review to come.

Due to being a high school English teacher, I am often behind on writing reviews. Here is a summary of my initial thoughts.

Beautiful, personal, heartfelt.
Poetry is a very personal. To write. To share. To read. It always makes reviewing poetry difficult because some people will review something harshly, not because it’s not well done but just because it doesn’t connect with them....or vice versa and review it well.
In this collection of poems, I found such beautiful belonging—just as stated in the title. A beautiful sense of being seen and known and understood.
Of course not every poem moved me the same way, but overall the collection was wonderful.
A few of the statements and lines of prose hit me so deeply I had to note them and write them down. Goodness, she said it exactly how I have felt without being able to articulate those feelings, but she did. And I believe that makes wonderful poetry.

Took me a while to read it, but when I did I felt related to the words that had been written down. Not for the faint hearted. Its very relatable...

While this book certainly didn’t do anything revolutionary in terms of the writing style or content, it still offered a beautiful exploration of how it feels to yearn for another place and, as the title suggests, to year for a place where you belong. Solid debut but nothing urgently life changing.

These poems and stories seemed like they were keeping everything (the reader, the subject, the underlying emotions) at a distance. It feels like there's some real meat there, but most of the works ended up being vague and general and cliched and conventional, like in '9':

"He asked her,
'Why do you keep writing love poems?
there are so many things
in the world that need
to be discussed:

poverty and war,
deceit and injustice.'

And she said,
'What hurt could
a little love poem do?

Every day that we see
the word crumble,
how are we not able
to remember:
a litle bit of love
could make this better.'"

Nothing in this collection stirred my heart.

This book of poetry is about finding your place: moving, searching, discovery, loss. Exploring a city and finding the ‘yours’ in it. It’s part memoir of the temporality of a nomadic childhood, and part love letter to finding magic in where you make your home. The writing style has something familiar to it that’s reminiscent of a classic storybook tale: it feels age-old, but told in a slightly ethereal, meandering, wondering new voice. I, too, am a ‘suitcase’ who moved around a lot as a kid, so this tugged at my kindred heartstrings. It has some beautiful moments that I want to go back to already, about the bumps along the road that might harden our soft parts. It made me think about that popular quote, but, instead: those who wander might have been lost for a minute, but they found their way back. And aren’t we all just wandering, here? These poems, at their essence, capture the goodness of going home.

I loved this. The writing style was lyrical and beautiful. The poems were relatable and easy to read. I loved the little illustrations throughout the book. It was such a pleasant read I would love to check out more from this author.

I’m a big poetry reader, and I’m always excited to find a new, interesting poet to read. Dawn Lanuza is definitely a serious talent, and if this collection is any indication I will be reading more of her!

I like the entire vibe of I Must Belong Somewhere. It’s a collection that would perfectly pair with Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore and a glass of wine. It’s an collection that reminds me of the Jo March champagne problems fan video I’ve been watching on YouTube on repeat. Lanuza’s poems perfectly capture the sense of messy 20s restlessness and experiences of love lost and love not right. I particularly loved the poems that focused on restlessness and figuring out where home was and how to find it.

The prose was a little less successful for me than the poems themselves. I felt like the collection could’ve been tighter structurally, but when it worked it really worked. I would definitely recommend this collection, and I can’t wait to read more of Lanuza’s work!

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I went to read & review this book on the publication day ( yesterday January 5th) and it’s not on my Netgalley shelf. I know I downloaded it but am unable to find.

If someone from Andrews Mcmeel Publishing can send me a widget to my email address I will gladly still review.

Thanks.