As poetry is very personal, I didn't expect myself to like all of the poems in this collection. I don't normally enjoy books that focus on toxic relationships but it doesn't mean this one is bad. Actually I did enjoy some of the poems, particularly those in the "forest" section.

Some of my favorites are:
“loving yourself
shouldn't be a whisper

love yourself so loud
that the universe has no other choice
but to listen”

“my mind
is a wonder see
how it turned the pain of having lost
into gratefulness for having known”

I recommend this book to anybody who enjoys works of Rupi Kaur or Michaela Angemeer.

Absolutely adored this collection and often find myself going back to the words every now and then. Poignant, beautiful and heartwarming in all the right places :)

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book!
I enjoyed these poems and some of them I loved but some I just wasn't feeling. That's not to say this book isn't amazing because it is. It's structured amazingly - it goes from heartbreak to love and heartbreak to self love. It goes through all different versions of love and the consequences of this love and with lots of these poems I felt really connected to what the poet was saying.
Bit random but I would love to read this book after finishing It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - i feel like i would feel more connected to the story that way! I just felt this poem book really resembled Lily's story through loving and losing and figuring out how to love herself despite everything going against her.
I think the more i read these poems the more i'm going to fall in love with the book as well as the poet!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc! I'm not the biggest fan of poetry, so I'm not sure if I'm the correct audience for this, but the collection sadly wasn't for me. I didn't find many of the poems to be noteworthy, but if you enjoy poetry you may enjoy it more!

I am a huge fan of poetry collections, I love how the poet take words and weave them together to make beautiful and personal poems. This was no different but, this collection didn't completely click with me. I don't know if it was me or if the poems just wasn't for me. So even if this wasn't for me I still appreciate this collection for what it is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for letting me read this in advance!

Personally, these poems did not connect with me. If you're looking for a poetry collection, I would recommend looking into this one to see if you'd be interested though.

Well, one more book that i DNFed, what is terrible, since i don't like to DNF none of the books that i like to read.

Poetry books always seemed hard for me to post a review, because is totally personal to the author. One of the points that didn't worked with me, was the way that the poems didn't had a connection, between them, and even with the reader.

Some of the poems are kinda of weak, and the organization of them was made in a way that, was not confortable for me, to read. And i really wished that i liked this book, but unfortunately, i didn't 🥺

Its just my opinion, okay? If you want to read the book, go ahead, maybe you have a different vision and experience than me, and that's okay ❤️

There is nothing objectively wrong with this poetry collection that focuses on toxic romantic relationships and the ways in which women can feel abused without physical harm being involved. This is just not my type of poetry.
I am someone who wants to be moved by the language and rhythm of poetry just as much as I want to connect to the content. I honestly feel like if you aren't going to do interesting language things, if you aren't going to play with how words feel and sound, then why are you doing poetry? Why not an essay? I found myself asking myself this often as I read through these poems. This should really be an essay collection, because I do think that there was something worth saying in these lines, I just didn't FEEL the impact of the poetry, and so it left me pretty cold.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚-𝘼𝙍𝘾!

Overall, I enjoyed reading this poetry book. The poems are written in a beautiful and raw way, which sometimes are quite hard to read. I didn’t understand the formatting at times, but nevertheless, I think the author did a good job and took me along in her journey.
.
The book consists of 5 parts:
Wild - about tonic relationships;
Peaches - learning to trust again;
Ghost - about loss and mourning;
Forest – finding strength in positive relationships;
Bloom – about self-growth and self-love.
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Wow… that is the word that comes to mind. Beautiful, but painfully vivid written poems that made me want to hug the author and say ‘I’m sorry this happened’. That’s what I felt for most of the first part of the book. Slowly it went into more positive feelings. I really connected with ‘Ghost’. Even though it’s been ages since my heart got shattered to pieces, these poems hit me like a rock. They reminded me of how I felt back then. She writes in a beautiful, yet easy to understand way. I thought it was very unique how she thought of the formatting with spaces between words and using different font styles. However, for me personally it made it all just too much. By that I mean, I felt some of the most beautiful poems got lost a little. If the poems were more spaced out from each other, or on a single page they would’ve had more strength. Nevertheless, I did love this book and will definitely get a physical copy!
.
If you’re into more modern poetry (which I am) you’ll love this book! Plus the cover is so pretty!

Favorite poem:
‘’loving yourself
shouldn’t be a whisper

love yourself so loud
that the universe has no other choice
but to listen

love yourself so loud
that it becomes a blueprint
for how to treat you

love yourself so loud
that even in your darkest moments
self-infatuation still makes
your ears ring’’

♪ Soundtrack:
Maria Mena - Growing Pains

This collection of poetry was absolutely stunning! Every word was emotional, profound and thought-provoking. I think everyone could find something to relate to inside. I would highly recommend!

“The Sun Always Knows Where to Find Me” is a beautiful collection of poetry that I found myself relating too more often than not. The first chapter (or section) “wild” was about being in a toxic relationship and all of the feelings you have during, and after. It covers the lasting affects of an emotionally/verbally/mentally abusive relationship and how they seep into the relationships that follow it. I found myself loving this chapter because of the emotion and descriptions written throughout.


The next chapter “Peaches” really touches on new love and the feeling of pure ecstasy with someone who truly appreciates and values you for who you are, but also being scared to let them in.

“Ghost” touches on losing a good love. How their memory is always there in everything you do after the relationship is over. The love we all have that we sit around waiting for it to come back.

The last two chapters, “forest” and “bloom” are filled with positive affirmations and self-love poems. Greta reminders of realizing your worth and never settling for less than what you truly deserve. It was almost like following the author on a journey through love just to learn that she finally found the kind of love most don’t - self-love. Overall, a wonderful book.

*ARC copy provided by the author via NetGalley *

I received an eARC copy from the author and IBPA via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewing poetry is always a task, a complicated one at that. Poetry is very personal; it comes from deep within and colours each experience and expression differently, depending on who is reading it, when, how it is interpreted.

This poetry collection is no different, with one tiny but important detail; it just didn't make the cut. Very few poems stood out, and even fewer I would write down in my notebook for safekeeping and possible quoting if/when needed. The rest of them are like a sea of words without any order, any meaning to them, unmemorable.

The poems are a collection of thoughts about love, a quest for self-love, loss, grief, heartbreak, all the delicate emotions that shake us from top to bottom. But the overall impression is too much of Instagram style of poetry, too shallow, and too simple; no complexity and no coherence to touch the true depths of these feelings.

This collection really resonated with me and I loved that it formed a kind of story of abuse, trust, love, acceptance, and self-love. It flowed really well not only from one poem to another but from one section to the next. It get very personal yet I found a lot of myself in these poems. I think it gives a voice to so many people that have experienced unhealthy relationships and struggle to love themselves afterwards. While it was personal, I get it was also broad enough to speak to a wide variety of people.

I loved the overall message of taking up space and recognising that you are incredible and worthy of your own love and I can see myself going back to this collection whenever I find myself questioning my worth. I will be buying a physical copy of this as soon as I can!

I loved getting a glimpse into this author’s growth and seeing her bloom through each chapter of this poetry collection.

Poetry can be hit or miss, and even in this there were plenty of poems that were stronger than others. But as an overall picture, I think it flowed nicely and gave a good sense of healing and light by the end.

"Bear with me, I'm learning to take up space again."
I absolutely adored this collection. It is one of the most cohesive and raw poetry books I have read, and I truly feel that it came into my life at the perfect time. If you have ever felt lost, heartbreak, or just need a pick me up in general, this is the title for you. Encouraging growth through beautiful poetry, this was an amazing read from start to finish.

Parthenay has such a unique and flawless way of writing and this book is the perfect example to show this. There were so many lines where I felt understood and thought 'finally, words to describe how I'm feeling'. Overall a beautiful read and I would definitely recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this poetry collection. I could connect with most of them, but I especially enjoyed the ones that discussed loving others through the extension of having/showing/displaying/believing in love for yourself.

I definitely look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Wow. I started writing this review before I had even finished the book. This collection of poetry is broken up into five parts: wild, peaches, ghost, forest, bloom, and together they weave a story of abuse, love, trust, healing, loss, and finally a love of self. I have never read a poetry collection that resonated so deeply. It felt like Elodie Parthenay took the words out of my brain and turned them into something devastating and beautiful.

There's a thread of anger that runs throughout this whole book, not the explosive kind but rather the soft kind that keeps people moving while occasionally stopping to say "what the fuck, why can't I just be done with this already?" It's barely detectable in some poems and in your face in others. This thread is what kept me connected to the poet.

I will be buying the physical copy of this, it's too beautiful to leave on my kindle. These are the poems that I wanted from all those other poetry books, you know the ones. These felt real; like I was reading her personal journal filled with the mess of her thoughts. I want my partner to read this book so that he can understand the ways in which I've processed my path and how messy it was to get to where I am now, I don't think I can articulate those sentiments as well as she has.

Good god, I can't stop writing the way I feel about this collection. Anyway, The Sun Always Knows Where To Find Me is beautiful, it's everything I want out of poetry. I feel honored to have had early access to this through Netgalley, so thank you.

"What a confusing blessing to realize you are the person you dreamed about"

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 "i'll choose me every single time" stars

As always, reviewing poetry can be difficult due to the nature of how subjective it is.
There's no denying Elodie Parthenay has a beautiful way with words that are simplistic in nature, yet effective. There were some poems in here that were absolutely standouts, poems that I've highlighted and annotated to death at this point that I know I will return to time and time again. However, I found these standout poems seemed to get lost in a sea of ones I personally could not connect with and were not particularly memorable.

Overall, a beautiful and authentic collection of poetry that has a little something for everyone to enjoy.

Perfect for readers who are:
- just beginning their journey with poetry
- a fan of the tumblr/ig style of poems

One of my favourite stanzas:
"did you know it took
years to build the defences you
disarmed in a smile or two"

What a beautiful collection of poetry. This hit me right in the feels and took me through the emotions.

So beautifully written and highly recommend this to anyone that loves poetry, but also anyone that is new to the genre!