Amanda Lovelace’s new poetry book taking inspiration from Persephone, and how she is both soft and fierce.

While there were some good poems once in a while, the majority were unfortunately disappointing.

There would be poems about independence and how women didn’t do everything for men, and the next poem would be about how the author is willing to change herself for a man. A lot of the poems were conflicted in that way, and it honestly felt weird to have poems that encourage self love and feminism right next to poems about heartbreak and begging for love. If it was supposed to be ironic, then it was lost on me and honestly didn’t work, as it just felt discouraging.

I enjoyed some of the empowering poems, and I think a lot of the poems have a great message. If you enjoyed other Amanda Lovelace books, then you’ll probably also like this one, as they are similar in many ways - poems that encourage ‘girl-power’ and self-love, and poems with messages about heartbreak, abuse, toxic relationships, rape culture and sexual assault.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Amanda is a great poetess who always speaks and defends important issues such as feminism, but I found this book unnecessary. It seems like a bunch of scrapped poems she put together into one book. If we want to read about important issues, we already have her other books. I really wish Amanda could write about other things than just that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this before publication date.

So, this collection is fine. Personally, I thought a third of the poems could have been cut, I really liked a third, and the final third were just okay.

Lovelace's critics point to her formatting regular prose sentences vertically and calling it poetry, and while there is some of that in this collection, there's also a lot of honest-to-goodness poetry that will only be criticized as above by people in bad faith.

At this point, on her eighth collection, most people interested in reading Lovelace kind of know if they like her stuff or not, and for those of you who like some collections and not others, this one's worth a shot. This has some really solid stuff, a ton of the Lovelace flair, and a lot of the same themes as her other poetry. On the other hand, there is a lot less anger in this collection than some of her others, so if her anger is what you're seeking, this one might let you down.

Regardless, if you like Lovelace, you'll probably like this. If you don't like her previous collections, you probably won't like this. If you've never read her stuff before, this isn't a bad place to start, in my opinion.

Another amazing collection from Amanda Lovelace! She is quickly becoming my favorite poet and I think this may be my favorite collection thus far.
For starters, this book is aesthetically pleasing. The cover and full color art between poems are so beautiful. AND I love that this collection is a loose reimagining of a modern-day Persephone and her thoughts/perspectives, which are powerful and relatable. I love the way Lovelace showcases the both the vulnerability and strength of female power and experience.

Amanda Lovelace is consistent. If you want to read poetry that is self-affirming, self-reflective, about mistakes and moving forward, about self-care and sometimes self-destruction, than this is for you.

This is a slim book of poems. It sometimes feels hard to determine if I’ve read the poem before (in a previous book) or if it is complete brand new. All her poems kind of run together (that’s not a bad thing but also not a great thing…). Some of the poems are very short (2-3 lines) and there is a lot of art filler (the same 2 images repeated). It would have been cooler if the art changed through the book or reflected Persephone (a theme/subject in the book)

Overall, I’d recommend if you like her work.

I  received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This is my sixth poetry book from this author, and she still has the same magic as my first time reading her. Not all poems hit me, but those that do...woo boy.

"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"

First of all, the artwork in this was beautiful! Second of all, the words were equally there too! This was a major pep talk for all women to stand up, respect themselves and give themselves a hug. Love the positive vibes and the themes throughout, really well written and put together,

This was great, but I'm growing tired of the "Instagram" poetry from Lovelace. I feel that nothing is new with her, and everything is the same.

who said you can't wear a flower crown & still remain a fearsome thing?

this was my first Amanda Lovelace book and it won't be my last but unfortunately, I just didn't connect with this one specifically.. There are still a couple of others on my tbr so *fingers crossed*

oh, and one more thing, women. *claps*

for those who wish to raise hell most elegantly

Before you begin reading, you are presented with a most considerate trigger warning, which is not something I often see in books, and I do appreciate it because we all have different levels of tolerance and I would never want to see someone blindsided with something they are unprepared for. A kindness.

The poetry is largely inspired by and an ode to the Greek Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, and to paradoxes like her.

Beautiful artwork, but I wish there was more variation to the two pieces we get to see. I would have loved to see multiple pieces.

One of my favourite of the more simple poems is about karma, and it expands on the cliché of “karma’s a bitch” and the author will leave everything to her “all-too-eager hands.” The poem is stunning in the way that it flows from the reader’s mouth, but it’s also quite simple, on the nose, and very unoriginal.

Despite so many collections of poetry that came before it, I don’t feel like the poet has improved her work, but rather is stuck in a perpetual state of giving her audience the same type of poem over and over. I would truly love to see a longer collection, even touching on the same topics, but highly edited.

I find some of the poems more impactful when I make mental edits. For example, in a poem discussing girls putting other girls down, the author writes “just support them instead.” I think we all learn in freshman English to leave out the filler words to leave a more impactful statement.

I would like to see a collection of the poems that hit the hardest. Just when I feel like I am about to be moved by the words in this book, I’m slapped in the face with a cliché. It has so much more potential than to reduce itself to this. A grand idea may be to post the clichés on Instagram where they belong, and can still be enjoyed, and then only include the absolute strongest, most moving blips of poetry on paper.

Instagram poetry is not without value, it’s just not for me.

My reading experience:
📈📉📉📈📉📉📈📈📈📉📉📉📉📉📉

I really enjoyed this collection a lot. You can tell how much Amanda’s poetry has improved over the years and continues to get better. She writes a lot of things that you can relate to, they make you feel things and I think any poetry that can do that is good. Also the art work in this book was absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

A perfect read (or re-read) for the moments you're not feeling strong. Lovelace's new collection urges women to embrace themselves as they are - the flowers and the fire.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley. I read everything Lovelace comes out with so I was pleasantly surprised to see she had new work coming out. I really liked the illustrations and her poems kicked butt! I like how it is equally sad and positive.

I've read Amanda Lovelace's work before, but I must say that this one is just as good as every other. Self-empowerment was my favorite aspect of this poetry. The way she wrote it was INSPIRING.

who said you can't
wear a flower crown
& still remain
a fearsome thing?
- make Persephone proud.

Aside from that, the floral artwork was pleasant.
Last but not least, I'd want to express my gratitude to Netgalley for offering this advanced reader copy.

This is a standalone poetry collection that explores femininity, and the concept of being both "soft and fierce". The collection alternates between soft and fierce poems, which are enhanced by the corresponding wildflower and wildfire illustrations, which I think are beautiful. The titles are located after the poems, which is an interesting and fresh aspect of this collection that I enjoyed. It took me a little while to get used to it, but the titles really act as punchlines to the poems, which I think really enhances them.

While I enjoyed some of the poems, I never truly felt connected to any of them. The poems, especially the short ones, almost just felt like regular, non-poetical sentences that were split into stanzas. I know a lot of people do enjoy Lovelace's poetry, but I just don't think it is the kind of poetry that I enjoy to read unfortunately. That being said, I can appreciate this poetry and the messages behind it. I have read some of Lovelace's other collections, and this is my favorite from the bunch.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛
𝑈𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛
𝑁𝑜 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡 "!

Thank you netgalley & Andrew's McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC.

Having read some of her other poetry collections when i saw this book i knew i had to read this! Just look at the cover, How beautiful it is! And the title? It's soo punchy!

But To be honest, i didn't like this poetry collection THAT much. i had more expectations from this but unfortunately it didn't work out. I felt the author was trying to put more intensity in it but i didn’t feel connected. Nonetheless, I liked some poems in between. I loved the way she described to be soft and fierce when it's needed. To be Strong and to feel Strong. And the two illustration represents the whole meaning of this book. The fire on flower ; To be Soft and to be fierce!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for making this available..

Wow...

Amanda Lovelace has really stepped up her game. I didn't enjoy her first few books as much, I didn't feel like she had a direction in which her written was going. After reading this book, I think she has finally found her voice and I love how far her writing and poetry have come! I can't wait to see more from her!

Another beautiful, empowering collection of poems from one of my favorite poets. Full of affirmations about body positivity, not letting men put you down, standing up for yourself and learning to move on from abusive relationships. There's something for everyone in this lovely collection. Also included are gorgeous illustrations. LOVED this one and can't wait to buy my own copy to add to my shelves. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this title! This was my first experience with reading Amanda’s work and I truly enjoyed it so much. I found her writing to be very on point with the theme they chose to have throughout this collection and was eager to see what she was going to bring across in the next piece. I found a few favorites where I went back to reread them and I don’t know, I think when you’re going back to see what someone’s words have to say you’re going to hold on to them and I love experiencing that!

One more book from Amanda Lovelace, always bringing feminism perspective (which i love so much). Some of the poems were just not for me (like in the "The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One"), but some poems were like: "man, what's going on here?".

I had only one more problem with this book especifically, that made me take back one star from the rating, that was: exist some poems in this one, that seems so weak and predictable, that i was being sad during the reading :(

But the book is a 3 out of 5 stars, which means is a good and quick read :)