*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from the publisher and Netgalley.*

This will be a short review.

I appreciated the message behind every poem but, unfortunately, not always the way it was delivered. The pages have beautiful illustrations to go along with the words so I enjoyed looking at those. The style is not my cup of tea, however I did like the variety of topics included such as identity, trauma, inclusion, and human rights. When reading a book I look for myself throughout the pages and I just didn’t find much that I could relate to, or feel. I would still recommend this to others who might read poetry for other reasons.

"What makes a compass trustworthy
is not its engraving, but its ability,
to magnetically align itself with the Earth.

The same can be said about our purpose.
It takes an alignment of two elements.
If the heart does not accept what the hand does,
then the head will continue to spin aimlessly,

like a broken compass."

I appreciated the message behind every poem collected here but, unfortunately, not always the way it was delivered. This poet's style might not be for me but the exploration of important social themes - such as identity, trauma, inclusion, and human rights - made this an important collection. I hope others get to enjoy the power of these words.

Thanks to Netgalley & Ashoka Tree Publishing for providing me with a free copy of this book! ♥

5 / 5 Stars

Ah yes, there isn't quite a feeling like finishing a good book, that managed to make you feel both emotional and heartbroken, as well as warm and hopeful at the same time.

What I mean to say by that is, that I felt very understood and seen while reading some of these. They hit you right in the gut, forcing you to fake a smile, because yeah, been there, seen that. Same.

There is also a lot of hopeful, uplifting and inspireing poetry to be found in this. Both sections were sprenkled all over the books and the different parts of the book. And both of them were made up of really strong poetry.

I think I fell in love today. The way these poems were written, the style and the craftmanship, was just really amazing.
So congrats. This didn't just inspire my soul, it also inspired my inner writer.

I don't have anything more to say besides: A really stunning debut-collection!

I really enjoyed this poetry book. It was such a lovely, hopeful one
There were such a good range of poems, so I feel like there will definitely be some for everybody. I definitely had my favourites and ones I loved, and also ones I didn't really relate too but that's why I loved this one because I feel like there will always be some poems in here that you can relate to!!