A little slow initially, but I'm glad I pushed through and finished this. I loved the message of the book and I'm really looking forward to hear what happens next in the next novel.

I honestly do not believe the synopsis is enough to describe this book. It turned out to be so much more. I enjoyed it thoroughly, it made me think of a tv series, it could easily be adapted to the little screen.
The narration shows you everything, you dont just follow Poppy in her adventure, you see other scenes with many characters. At first it was a bit confusing following all the characters, but soon enough you get the whole picture and where the story is going with all these people.
I read it in one evening/night, but was kind of disappointed when it ended. It stopped on a cliffhanger and I am eager to read the next one and find out more about the relationship she just began with the people from Maypole.

This book was okay, and a solid start to a series. However it was a little difficult to get through at times due to the heavy amount of dialogue, and I’m not entirely sold on the writing style. If you do keep with it, the story is good and some of the characters are lovely.

This book is about Poppy whose life is about to change because she has to move to her mother's childhood home in a small town due to a misunderstanding at her school. She has to leave her friends, but she might find new ones in the town of Maypole.
I've read quite a few books about fictional artists because I also like to draw and paint, but this one was really special, because the author of this book (June Rollins) is an artist, and she knows exactly how painting works. And for me, this made the book really enjoyable, because it portrayed the main character, an artist called Poppy, perfectly.
Overall, the book was very enjoyable. It has a little slow beginning and you might not know where the story's going for a while, but I promise it will all make sense in the end.
The writing is very nice, it was comprehensive but not too simple, I am really looking forward to reading more by this author. For a debut, this was an amazing book!
I would recommend this one to the people, who have some relationship with art or anyone, who likes a story with strong female characters because there are quite a few.
I loved how the story shows that sometimes you have to go through something hard in order to be happy in the end.

DNF at 20%

Too much dialogue, plot moved along too quickly. The prose that was included was too complicated and long-winded, and was about real estate and business dealings, which I as the reader had no reason to care about.
The premise was intriguing, but not executed well.

I think that the premise of this story is excellent, but honestly I found it somewhat hard to read. The writing style felt sloppy and a little all over the place.

Pushing through it however (though difficult at times) allows you to unearth a good little story.

The cover is stunning, I am a huge fan of simplistic and illustrated cover and this is what what first drew me into this book, then reading the synopsis and basic outline I knew I was interested.

I like Poppy’s character, she feels real and relatable. She struggles with issues that most young women do and her family relationships aren’t perfect.

The biggest let down of this hook is the writing style.

She lost her muse- June Rollins

Polly and Meagan are best friends. They are at the same college. Polly has failed a semester and her Pastor father has sent her away to her mother in North Carolina. Polly has a hard time making her way in the new city. As she starts going places and meeting people everything changes for her. She’s having a wonderful life.

I love how the author made the characters true to life. I’m looking forward to read more books by June Rollins. This is book 1 in a series.

Thanks for the ARC from NetGalley and June Rollins. This review is my own opinion.

DNF'ed near halfway through.

while the premise of this novel is so promising and i liked the plot, the book itself was so hard to get into. i struggled to actually connect to the novel and it didn't grasp my interest enough to keep reading.

beyond that, there's a line in the novel where a character was described using "anorexic-looking" and that was enough for me to stop reading. the use of an eating disorder as a descriptor is never okay, nor is it okay to belittle an ED the way this book did. while it may have been a one off sentence, its not something to be used in that context. on top of that, the mother's arc falls so flat and i can't get through her homophobia throughout the book.

Today, I'm going to be discussing She Lost Her Muse by June Rollins. Reading the description, I was drawn in pretty much immediately, as I just moved to a new area (although the move was under different circumstances). This book focuses on Poppy, a wallflower artist who is banished to Maypole, North Carolina after being kicked out of art school for an infraction she didn't commit. Between her holier-than-thou preacher father and passive "Shrinking Violet" mother, Poppy is stuck accepting her banishment with almost no fuss.


While living in Maypole, Poppy begins to discover her family's history and just how deep those small-town bonds can be. The story itself is fairly compelling, and the characters are likable enough, but I found myself getting lost in the narrative's plot. Outside of the constantly changing perspective (which I actually liked a decent amount), there were certain moments that felt very rushed, which was disappointing. The idea of an artist having to find their voice after losing a major part of their identity is so interesting. I didn't think the associated magical elements were necessary. If they were deemed un-deletable, then I wish there had been some more exploration into what it means, because as of right now, I'm just left confused and a little frustrated.

I think that this book really has such potential, it plays into the concept of owning yourself and your work, and not letting anyone discourage you. Rollins also highlights the importance of various types of friendships, which I think is a wonderful way to look at handling the movement to a new place.
I will admit, I connected with the characters and plot enough that I want to read the next book, so I will be anxiously awaiting that release.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

I think this book was supposed to be an intrusive fantasy but while the premise was very promising and had so much potential, it fell so flat. The writing was deadpan and robotic. Emphasis on robotic. It was so hard to get into & was extremely NOT my cup of tea.

The omniscient perspective made everything 10x worse. I felt so detached from the characters & we were shifting from one character to another in the span of 2 sentences. There were also too many characters. They just kept coming, and there wasn't one that I was inclined towards. Don't even get me started on the monster that is Pastor Wayne.

I'm an artist myself & it was so disappointing that I could not find one moment where I connected with Poppy, Poppy was so nondescript. I'm not going to be able to grasp her thought process if they're summarised in one simple sentence and we're again whisked off to a new character. I truly cannot picture her at all. The rest of the characters were similarly extremely underdeveloped, it's comical. If anything, this book reads like a cartoon with the most 2D characters I've ever read in a novel. There's no other way to picture it.

It pains me that I didn't enjoy it because I was so looking forward to connecting with Poppy.

The beautiful cover is what first drew me to this book. Once I read the synopsis, I was hooked and could not wait to start.

I like Poppy; she is real, relatable, and has common struggles that most young ladies have. She has a rocky relationship with her parents and is trying to break out of the role of "preacher's daughter" and make something of herself.

Meagan is Poppy's best friend and only looks out for herself. Poppy does not see this character trait in her best friend because she is too busy being thankful for the friendship. Meagan is spoiled and constantly looking to Poppy to help her out of sticky situations.

She Lost Her Muse by June Rollins is her debut novel. June Rollins is an artist with signature membership in the Southern Watercolor Society and Watercolor Society of North Carolina. She has twenty years of experience writing narrative essays.

This book held such promise from the synopsis, yet I was a bit disappointed.

I will start with the things I enjoyed about this novel. First, I love that it was set in North Carolina, as that is where I live! I enjoyed seeing Poppy's personal character development and addressing the issues that kept arising. I appreciated the way that Poppy interacted with the other ladies of the Monday art class. The dialogue, for the most part, was engaging, especially as the story got going. This story was complex and had a bit of mystery in it, with family secrets, adding an extra element to a contemporary story. The ending was much more interesting than the beginning. I also appreciated that despite one profanity this story did not have any explicit romantic scenes or an abundance of profanity, as I prefer clean reads. She Lost Her Muse would classify as a clean read.

My favorite line from the story:

"His open admiration of her work made her feel sweet and warm, like a chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven."

Now onto things that I did not prefer. I did not like that the storyline was predictable. I did not enjoy the homophobia, the demeaning language used concerning eating disorders, and the judgmental attitudes of Poppy's dad, who is the preacher but does not act like one. I also did not appreciate the way Christians were portrayed in the book. Most of them came across as judgmental, gossipy, and only seemed to care about themselves. There was not enough of a balance. I felt like there were too many characters without enough development toward the middle, as I got lost a few times, wondering, who is this again? I did not like that once the story got really interesting it skipped three months and ended up leaving many things unresolved.

Despite everything, I do feel like this debut novel is worth reading. It is real, raw, and you cannot help but root for Poppy. When I picked up this book, I did not realize it was the first in a series, so I am glad to report that there is a second book coming and should resolve the issues that were left hanging. Those who like Kristen Hannah, Jodi Piccoult, and Ann Brashares will enjoy this one.

Special thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

This one wasn’t it.

Every character is a cardboard cut-out of an archetype. The mean BFF. The über religious mean distant dad. The long-suffer preacher’s wife. And Poppy. Poppy is perfect. If only she could stand up for herself. She’s perfectly nice, perfectly pretty, perfectly talented; her only flaw is that she see the best in people too much. She’s basically not a real person. And she is so so dense. She has no idea what’s going on ever, and I got very sick of her.

Another thing with characters, is that the POV is in third person but constantly jumps to follow different characters. Sometimes, ones that have literally just been introduced. You have no context or concept of them, and suddenly it’s their POV.

The story and the characters just felt so ridiculous and stereotypical, I spent a lot of time being bored. Not a fan, so 2 stars from me.

One of the first contemporary novels I've read in a long time and I found myself enjoying it a hell (sorry--heck) of a lot more than I thought I would. I am very indifferent to religion so Poppy's father didn't affect me that much, to me he was just another shitty man using his faith to justify his actions.

I enjoyed seeing Poppy grow as a person and really come into her own which I think makes it a fun and easy coming of age novel for the people who might not have found themselves until their twenties. It was fun and I would definitely be picking up book two!

She Lost Her Muse
The Maypole Artists, Book 1
by June Rollins
June Rollins
Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles
New Adult | Teens & YA | Women’s Fiction
Pub Date 14 Apr 2021
I am reviewing a copy of She Lost Her Muse through Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA):
Poppy feels as if she nobody without Meagan, her best friend since childhood.
They are college roommates, both majoring in fine arts with high aspirations of becoming successful artists. But when Poppy is suspended a semester before graduating her world is shattered.
Pastor Wayne, her controlling father sends her away to live in her mother’s abandoned, soon to be condemned, homeplace while it’s being repaired. The same homeplace he’s forbidden his wife to visit, except for funerals, since they’ve been married.
Alone in a new town, in the rural mountains of North Carolina, Poppy struggles to begin again. She finally convinces her reserved, quiet Mother to share stories about her family’s past. She visits a nearby art gallery and develops a schoolgirl crush on the owner. She attends a local watercolor class, makes new artist friends and is dismayed by the instructor. She tells no one of her reoccurring dreams, but with the help of Liam, the town handyman, she begins to face issues leading to her own healing.
Will Poppy find a way to stop living in Meagan’s shadow, develop her own beliefs and accept her true muse hidden away in long-buried family secrets?
I give She Lost Her Muse five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

'She Lost Her Muse' is a novel to get caught up in the story, to enjoy the characters and get away from everything else.
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A false accusation leads to Poppy's expulsion from her dream college and back to her father's house. As his father a priest, the reason for her expulsion only causes the tension between the two to grow more and more. As if that were not the case, he decides to send her to her mother's village (whom she is forbidden to go except on special occasions), which she has never stepped on and must find a way to recover the illusion she had for painting because a setback should not stop her.
It is a novel quite different from what I usually read, since, although I read contemporary novels, I always need some romance and in this one there is practically zero. But, even so, I actually have enjoyed it very much.

It is a novel about learning to trust yourself. In which we see all the insecurities of the protagonist regarding her facet as an artist and how little by little she is overcoming them. And that message, which at least I have gotten, has seemed very nice and I have enjoyed it a lot.

If it is true that, in some moments, I must admit it, I have gotten a bit bored. Especially in the middle of the book, more or less, I think what happen is that more things started to happen that went away a little bit than I understood the plot to be. It is true that after having read all book, I do make sense of it, but at the moment it bored me a little bit.

I also liked that the ending was not predictable, or at least I was not able to put the hints together throughout the book and predict what was going to happen, and I like that. If it is true that there are predictable things, but as in any book, so that is not something we can criticize either.

Finally, I want to comment about the author's writing. From what I understand it is her first novel, which I found out after finishing it and it surprised me because I didn't notice it at all. I don't know if it's because I usually read more in Spanish, so I don't notice those things so much, but for me it was super easy to follow the story, find out everything and get completely into the plot. And that is something that more "established" authors do not always achieve.
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Review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CO0vcSFFGyM/

I enjoyed Poppy’s story very much, but thought the narration was too wordy and some of the dialogue stilted. However, I give A+++ for an intriguing premise and plot, and loved the surprise at the end with the key that Violet always wore. Way to go, Violet! And brava to Poppy for opening to her new life. Agree with another reviewer that Pastor Wayne’s character was very flat and too stereotypical.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint. I am obsessed with the cover to! The feel of the whole book is just my favorite.

Her lost her muse

This story begins within an art collage, where we meet Poppy and her two very different friends. Unfortunately through no fault of her own she gets suspended and she has to return to her home town "A dearth sentence for any young aspiring artist". Added on to this her farther is a controlling pastor. 

As punishment her father sends her away to her mother family house, to help with the manual labour during its renovation. 

However the people of this town grow on Poppy, she finds an art gallery and watercolour class to keep her occupied. 

This book has many characters, some more endearing that others! The only two problem I had with it was the amount of acronyms, I personally think a table at the front would have been handy. Also just over half way through the book it jumps forward three months which was a bit disappointing, as it would have been a great time to develop some of the characters and their story's. 

Overall I liked the art subject that the novel was based around and the uplifting ending. Happy reading!

Thank to Netgallery for giving me copy of this novel in exchange for my fall frank and honest review.

A book about artists where the author paints a perfect picture of the town and characters! I really enjoyed this book. I felt drawn in by the setting - it seemed very real to me - and the balance was great in terms of entertainment and social messages.

Ahhh Why doesn't good things ever last. I wanted this book to last longer but oh well.
This is my first read from Ms.Rollins and i was presently surprised because I've never read any of her works except being drawn to the covers of this.
Like her Main Character Poppy. Ms.Rollins tells a masterpiece of a story filled with friendships, love and finally stepping up to yourself and for yourself. I would love to read more from the author and was super excited when i discovered Poppy's story isn't over yet.