Modern, non-rhyming poetry is usually a hit or miss for me; when it’s done well, it really connects with me, but when it’s not it usually ends up being fairly anticlimactic. Luckily, the former is the case with The Truth of You.

Despite many of the poems exploring fairly straightforward subject matter, this poetry collection does an excellent job of bringing a fresh perspective to the common themes of sadness, love, joy and navigating life. It perfectly straddles the line between crafting poems that are relatable and easy to connect with, and incorporating a deeper perspective or new exploration of the topic at hand to keep things interesting and avoid compiling a surface-level, generic collection.

One element I most appreciated about this collection was that none of the poems felt like throwaways. Though not even poem was a favorite or particularly resonated with me, they all felt well-crafted and thoughtful, rather than added in to reach a page goal, which I’ve unfortunately encountered with some other poetry collections.

Overall, I’m excited to give more of Iain S. Thomas’s poetry collections a try. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is actually the third poetry collection by Iain S. Thomas that I've had the pleasure to read. I really liked the other two books, which were from the I wrote this for you series, and when I saw there was a new book available, I was looking forward to pouring a glass of red wine in the evening, dimming the lights and cuddling up to read it. That was exactly what I did, and as I expected, I finished the book in one sitting. Now, what did I think of it? The book is divided into five chapters, of which I really enjoyed the first four. They are about falling in and out of love, getting back together, all the stuff that is predestined to touch me somehow. And I'm not gonna lie, at some points Thomas had me blink away the occasional tear. I'm always amazed at how somebody else's words can feel like they describe your situation perfectly, and maybe even make you see it from a different angle. The last and longest chapter, however, is supposed to be uplifting (and I'm not saying that it is not), but this just is not the kind of poetry that pulls at my (masochist's) heartstrings. Nevertheless, I'm quite sure that others would enjoy exactly these kinds of poems.

Overall a solid poetry collection, which I would give 3.5 stars (and maybe even to a friend who needs to hear - or in this case read - some uplifting words).

I didn’t like this poetry book, it was not memorable and most poems felt pretty flat. This book didn’t move me. . I give it two stars because I can recognize that it is my own taste and that some people may like it.

These poems were beautiful. So many resonated with me. Some made me so emotional. They were wonderfully written. The illustrations were beautiful too.⁣
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I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

"The Truth of You" is a beautiful poetry collection whose words express the love and sadness we all experience at some point in our lives. It would be hard to read through this selection and not feel some kind of connection to the words on the page. I'm sure most readers will be able to relate to many of the poems in this book. Thomas does an excellent job writing about happiness, loneliness, grief, and love. Though not all of the works are attention grabbers, the book certainly does its job of making the reader reflect on themselves and their own feelings.

There are some poems that speak to you. They feel like you, you ache to read them, and often it's hard to stop because you feel like you're meant to keep seeing the words the way they've been written.

Many of the poems in The Truth of You were like this for me.

They weren't all like this, some were misses that didn't grab me but others I stopped to read again and felt touch me. This book is full of poems about life, death, love, hate, and self reflection.

You will find some of the poems in here will speak to you as well if you take the time to try them.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of poems was so beautiful! The writing amazed me and I felt connected to so many pieces. A brilliant author, I'll definitely have in mind when I'm searching for poetry.

A gorgeous collection of poems and drawings. I absolutely loved reading every poem and would highly recommend it! The drawings add a nice touch to the book and honestly, it’s a great read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for letting me read this arc in exchange for an honest review*