Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things was a beautiful, strong book to read. As always, Amanda Lovelace has a way of seducing yet encouraging her young readers such as me. Besides, I got to feel empowered and hugged by all the powerful poetry. Her words feel like a knife in our chests but also a warm friendly tap on our shoulder, which we need when life is being too harsh on ourselves. I would strongly recommend this masterpiece to everyone, but I need to remind you, dear reader, about the triggers: depression, anxiety, issues with body image, self harm. Take care of yourself and have a nice reading.

I have mixed feelings about this one, I enjoyed some things about it: like the gorgeous flower illustrations toward the beginning, and some poems really hit me. But otherwise, some of it felt pretty basic and like every other feminist poetry collection out there? There’s nothing very unique about this one.

As a teenager, I would’ve loved this. However, I am now in my mid-20s and just don’t find this type of poetry as riveting as I once did. The themes of this collection were all over the place, and hardly made you have to think about them.

This poetry collection was absolutely stunning, I already have a copy on my bookshelf to reread over and over again.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I enjoyed this more than Lovelace's first poetry collection (The Princess Saves Herself in This One), but this reads more like Instagram captions than proper poetry.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things by Amanda Lovelace is a collection of poems that attempts to explore themes of trauma and healing, but unfortunately falls short in execution. While Lovelace's poetry is raw and emotional, it lacks depth and complexity, often resorting to cliches and simplistic language that detracts from the overall impact of the collection.

Furthermore, the organization of the poems feels disjointed and haphazard, with no clear narrative arc or thematic structure to guide the reader. While some individual poems are powerful and moving, the lack of cohesion between them makes it difficult to fully engage with the collection as a whole.

sit with me as much as the other collections did. I felt like I had read it all before during different feminist poetry collections. Despite really looking forward to this one due to it having mythology references I did not enjoy it half as much. The mythology aspect was definitely my favourite aspect of this book. 

“Never once has she felt as if she’s interesting enough to be the daring heroine of her own story, & she’s oddly okay with that. —she likes being nobody.”

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is Amanda Lovelaces delve into poetry through mythology and folktale inspired poems. Whilst this was a little shorter than Lovelaces previous collections it did not feel too different to me in size and there was still plenty of poems to enjoy and read. 

My favourite aspect of this poetry collection was the fact it focused on mythology specifically Persephone, goddess of spring and the underworld. One of my favourite people from the Greek myths and I was so excited to see how she brought her across in the style of poetry. The symbolism with the flowers portrayed Persephone so well and by bringing in more masculine aspects just perfectly portrayed Persephone as the strong, independent woman that she is. It showed women as strong, powerful, fierce and formidable which was my favourite aspect throughout. 

“Being friends with girls isn’t TOO MUCH DRAMA, but you know what is? Constantly trying to burn your sisters…at the stake out of pettiness & resentment when you could just support them instead…”

Lovelace brings across difficult aspects of life and makes you realise that you are not alone in these feelings. However, I feel as though this was portrayed better within previous works. There were certain quotes that really resigned with me throughout but only a few stuck with me once the collection had ended. I just did not feel absorbed by the writing as I had previously, and I felt as though this was more like quotes, I would see on Instagram rather than an actual poem collection. 

Overall, I would go back to Amanda Lovelaces works however this one didn’t hit home with me. I ended up rating the book a two and a half stars. I loved the myth retelling but that was where my love of this book extended too. Hopefully the next Lovelace book I pick up I will love just as much as I loved her previous works.

I love this series by Amanda Lovelace. Her poetry is beautifully written and so fun to read! I will definitely be reading more from her in the future!

I sort of expected Lovelace to narrate the audiobook and she did a really good job! The audio actually had a little bit of extra in it – sometimes Lovelace would expand on a poem, or explain why she wrote the poem. I like how simple the poems were and at the same time meant a lot. As always I could see the passion she had for writing in her poems – both for poetry and for the topics in general.
Persephone is a big part of this poetry collection. Some people see the (Hades and Persephone) myth as a happy one – where Hades and Persephone are in love; others as more of a horror story – where Hades kidnaps Persephone and tricks her into eating the pomegranate seeds. This collection focuses mostly on Persephone and her knowing that she’s more than just a love interest, that she’s powerful and she knows it.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was not my first Amanda Lovelace but unfortunately I just didn’t find this as impactful as the other works I’ve read by her. I appreciate the feminist empowerment and drawing on a variety of topics that we struggle with such as embracing our truest selves, dealing with abusive situations. I appreciate the ode to Persephone’s story as it’s one of my favourites but I don’t feel like many of the poems stood out as amazing performances.
The illustrations were stunning!

I loved this book…I will be purchasing a copy for my collection!!! I think the poems were so empowering for women, I feel like there needs to be more feminist poetry on the market and this book fit the bill. I will be recommending this book to my friends.

Just as beautiful And mystical as Amanda Lovelace Previous work thank so much to netgalley for letting me review

This was my first time reading anything by Amanda Lovelace, though I was familiar with her titles and appealing cover art. I tried to be a generous reader, but ultimately, I was disappointed in this collection. The language and ideas were overly simplistic, and though it's great to see a young poet so excited about sharing feminist messages, I have to say that it was not executed well.
One thing that might have helped me appreciate this more is if the poet's commentary on her own poems were left to the end rather than interspersed throughout. This commentary felt unnecessary and interrupted the flow of the reading.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.

Firstly I love Amanda Lovelace Poetry in general, and this one did not disappoint me at all. It has quite a lot of trigger warnings like: Abuse, death, violence, alcohol, traumas and more. Well written and I love how she advices on self care, how we must take care of our mental health. I love the cover of the book it is so poetic. The writing is beautiful even people who are not familiar with poetry can read and understand easily. I really enjoyed this book.

This was actually my first amanda lovelace collection. I had her other works, but just didn't get around to reading them until I read Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things, then I binged all the rest I had. Needless to say, I was smitten. Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things keeps in theme with amanda's previous collections: self-love, self-esteem, learning to let go of toxic relationships in order to emerge as the "princess" or more likely, heroine of her own story. I love this non-judgmental, gentle prose that encourage women, no matter what situation they find themselves in, to find their courage to become their most authentic selves, even in the most harrowing of situations. While at the same time encourage, amanda is also cognizant of privilege and how that plays into how woman view themselves and their situations. Trigger warnings for abusive relationships. Those parts were hard for me to read personally, but if you are in a good mind set, this book of poetry will sweep you off your feet.

Amanda Lovelace's poetry gives me all the feels and is amazing!! Firstly, the cover of this book is so stunning.. Unlike the poems of many poets, I prefer to read hers in one sitting, as they are thematically linked and tell a loosely woven tale that as in all her books, are relatable to all women but perhaps on different levels. This collection reimagines Persephone’s evolution in our modern world through brief and evocative poems interlaced with art of wildflowers and wildfires. Lovelace’s poetry masterfully balances so many different emotions!! It was everything I needed to read at that moment. Add this too your tbr!

Many thanks to NetGalley & Andrew McMeel publishing for giving me an opportunity to read this in e-arc for exchanging honest review.

3.75 stars

I used to read her poetry books before this and it never fails me on feminism. That theme is on the point. I love her poetry solely the theme she carried.

However for this one, it fall short for me, a bit i think. I don't think this one quite strong as other of her poetry book. I think I myself can create one like hers. I get it, this is her poetry writing style but i noticed some of it felt like so short and it felt like a tweet.

Nevertheless, she wrote what she wants and never give a damn is something i can see. Ii love that. modern poetry really inspired a normal person can also write poems. The spirit is on fire but this one is a small fire. Apart from that, the illustration is SO GORGEOUS ✨✨✨.

I have collected Amanda Lovelace’s poetry books for years. This one will be added to my shelf as well
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This book of poems was gut wrenching but relatable. The power that friendship has over all of us (positively and negatively) plays out throughout these pages.
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The overall lesson of it’s okay to be soft and fierce all at the same time is beautiful.