First off I want to thank the author, @andrewsmcmeel audio & publishing groups and @netgalley for allowing me to read the full collection.

I’ve loved some of Amanda Lovelace’s other collections and was grateful to have all 3 to read at once with her latest, Unlock your storybook heart, coming out this past week.

I really enjoyed how each book built upon each other and how vulnerable Amanda always is with her poems. I appreciate she uses her hard times to teach others self love, development and growth.

I can connect to a lot of her poems from previous times in my life. And the one that I really felt connection to in Unlock your storybook heart was “her cat was always there for her, even when nobody else bothers to be - her soft companion”. It reminded me of harder times in my 20s and even at the start of the pandemic when things were so uncertain and I was living on my own with my 2 girls who brought me so much comfort daily.

I rated all three of these ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
The princess saves herself in this one is always my ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ comparison.

Highly recommend the audio copies as well which the author reads herself!

I loved this collection of poetry. As always, Lovelace brings a strong feminist message of self empowerment. I really enjoyed the section of this book, in particular, of a big sister giving advice to a younger sister. It really showed how we as individuals can overthink things or underestimate ourselves while those around us see us very differently.

The audiobook was fine, but the poems unfortunately did not resonate with me. I felt there were a lot of underdeveloped ideas that could have been expanded upon more. Overall, I found this underwhelming and disappointing.

I received this audiobook free from NetGalley for an honest review. I read Amanda Lovelace‘s early work and really enjoyed it. I think it’s cool she narrated her own work. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish this audiobook. Before each poem it was the same thing, “bid sister say”. After a few poems in it got too repetitive. I’ve never listened to poems on audiobook and maybe that’s why I didn’t care for the poems. It was harder to connect with them.

Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace is a poetry collection part of the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale poetry series. Like other collections in Amanda Lovelace's library, this collection is relatively quick to get through and has a more personal narrative style. At times within the collection, it felt like you were speaking to a sister figure who was bestowing upon you compassionate words, telling a personal story.
The writer was considerate to the readers by including a trigger warning at the beginning of the book, listing the various triggers, and advising the readers to remember to practice self-care. The collection has several rather charming illustrations to accompany various poems.


big sister says
they will try to convince you that you have no right to be
unhappy—that other people have it so much worse than you
do. even if that last statement is true, it doesn’t matter. your
pain is yours, & comparing it to the pain of others doesn’t solve
the problem. do not let their words stop you from reaching out
for the help you need.

----

telling you that i don’t plan on having any children is not an
attack on your choices or your dreams. just as well, it’s not an
opportunity for you to tell me that i’ll change my mind when i
finally meet the right person. maybe i will change my mind, but
it’s just as possible that i won’t.
—my fate is not a forgone conclusion.

3.5 stars.

This was another Lovelace creation that continued on the path of easy-to-read, easy-to-follow poem collection focusing on female empowerment.

Divided into 3 parts, each led with a snippet of Lovelace-style fairytale princess’ journey. The poems that followed oftentimes took on the format of ‘Big Sister says’ which debunked gender-biased, cliche advices. The fairytale itself served as the overarching story tying all the poems together, which I really liked.

The poems had great messages about believing in yourself, challenging the status quo, and practicing compassion to yourself. They were less angry than some previous Lovelace poems, which suited my taste better.

I had the opportunity to both read the book and listen to the audiobook which was narrated by the Author. It was a delight to listen to Amanda Lovelace herself reciting her poems, even though her performance wasn’t Amanda Gorman level. However, since the format of the poems was free flowing without rhymes, it made them a bit harder to digest in the audiobook format, especially as the poem titles were placed at the end rather than at the start, because it wasn’t always obvious when a poem ended and another one started. For this reason, I’d prefer the book format rather than the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Just like the first book in this series, the story was an enjoyable read. I liked the message of sisterly bonding and self love. The book started to feel less of a poetry book and more so a self help book. It felt like the same message was being repeated to me.

Overall, I gave this story three stars and I would recommend it to others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The second installment in the you are your own fairytale series is just as good as the first. I loved the themes of women supporting women, sisterhood, and what true feminism is. Once again, this book just called me out in all the best ways. I will forever keep reading Amanda's poetry and will forever love it.

Lovelace's newest collection of poetry is perfect for this generation of young women. Her second collection in the series was a sharper, edgier and angrier collection. It touched on more relationships and self-harm, and how to be proud of seeing yourself as a feminist icon. It has a number of great takes and inspirational quotes that I expect to be gracing Instagram feeds and people's limbs as tattoos soon! I would definitely purchase this for any literature-minded young woman in my life!

I enjoyed listening to the audio on this one, but I feel like it it more targeted to women in their early 20's. There are a lot of nuggets of wisdom I could have used 15-20 years ago. It spoke to the younger me.

Happy Pub Day to these three Amanda Lovelace audiobooks of poetry. Thank you to @netgalley, @ladybookmad and @andrewsmcmeel for the ARC copies of these audiobooks. The audiobooks are out today but I believe the poetry books themselves have been on shelves for a bit - these are all part of Lovelace's YOU ARE YOUR OWN FAIRYTALE trilogy.

These little feminist gems are all about finding your own story and being the heroin of it. I want to buy these for every teenaged girl I know and set them up for success in life knowing that they can carve their own way.

Here are some of my favorite lines from each book:

👡BREAK YOUR GLASS SLIPPERS
“at first, self-love can feel like you’re trying to catch lightning in a bottle—next to impossible. i didn’t believe i could ever hold that much power in my hands, until the day i did. ever since, i’ve become a terrifying storm of a girl who will never settle for anything less than what she deserves.”

“fairy godmother says you don’t need to look a certain way to deserve someone’s heart. no matter your shape— no matter your size— be proud of all the space your body dares to take up.”

👑SHINE YOUR ICY CROWN
“it is your divine right to heal as messily & as inconsistently & as loudly as possible.”

“you say lonely. i say self-sufficient. i say content dating myself. —your local spinster.”

📕UNLOCK YOUR STORYBOOK HEART

“you deserve to take a break. you are worthy of your own time, even if you’re not being someone else’s idea of productive or useful. you deserve to have fun or to do nothing if that’s what makes you happiest.”

“life is not something that can be experienced on a deadline.”

These books are written like a fairytale and chock full of good advice for folks looking to love themselves and others more. They are not your typical poetry by any means.

Lovelace's message is always on point for me and I really appreciate her writing. It is a little on the side of self-help but I have never shied away from that genre!

The audiobook for “Shine Your Icy Crown” is narrated by the author, and I think that makes such a difference regarding poetry. Amanda Lovelace is able to capture the listener’s attention from the very first second, and transport them into the universe in which those words exist on. The atmosphere the audiobook creates is just so magical and quite reminiscent of the fairy tale theme of the poetry series.

Before reading any installment in this series, I would advise anyone to read through the trigger warnings stated at the beginning of each poetry collection!

Thank you to @netgalley, @andrewsmcmeel and @ladybookmad for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review! I was also kindly given the audiobooks for the first two installments in the series.

I don’t know why it’s always the secret book when it comes to her that I like the least. This one felt even more like just words put together to have a meaning but without sound like poetry. It felt like she just narrated a story and not recited verses. The message again was beautiful, the sisters bond being the main focus, but it didn’t clench my heart. I barely felt anything while listening to it, and it was a little disappointing. There were also parts where I was like “oh i’ve heard this phrase before”. I felt like the first one was little more original and poetic than this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the audio ARC of this! I loved the ebook when I read it and am obsessed with poetry read by the author, so I knew I had to listen before I get to the third one!


Gorgeous, empowering, and relatable, this is my favorite from this poet so far!

Poetry is something I have to convince myself to read more of, it isn’t the format I tend to pick up easiest. Lovelace’s feminist, relatable, easy to pick up poems are some of my favorites, and this installment did not let me down.

This was the most relatable so far, as I’m dealing with anxiety and depression, and I kept pausing to read one aloud or to just sit with one.

And the art...it’s magical and gorgeous and I loved every bit of it.

I loved the narration, it was really well done and added something special to hear how they were meant to be delivered.

⭐️⭐️/5 (2.5 stars)

As the second book in You Are Your Own Fairytale poetry series, this collection was quite similar to the rest, and in my opinion, did not bring anything new. I miss Amanda Lovelace's earlier works, most notably the first two in her very first series, Women Are Some Kind of Magic. In those collections, Lovelace adheres strongly to a theme where she is easily able to utilize imagery, metaphors, etc to her advantage to paint a picture. Ever since then, she has only loosely touched on the theme, and her poems have grown weaker. In fact, I more often than not found myself thinking that Lovelace was preaching overused inspirational quotes rather than creating poetry and beautiful prose. I did find the "big sister" poems a sweet touch, and I appreciated that Lovelace herself narrated this audiobook. Audiobooks are never the format I prefer for poetry, but I appreciated that aspect.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Andrews McMeel Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.<i/>

It repeats the basic cliches of “love yourself” and “ignore what others think of you”. Most of the pages just felt empty and the overall book felt forced into existence. It may be OK for young adults, it did not appeal to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook!

This is the second book of poetry in a series of three. Once again, the messages Amanda Lovelace writes about are imperative for all, especially women to hear, and not just once through this read but on a daily basis. Part 2 resonated with me completely when she spoke of not wasting time on others in order to better yourself. I enjoyed hearing Amanda read the audiobook because it makes the words being read that much more powerful. I would recommend this one to any woman I know that needs a quick but meaningful read.

“Make Them Rue The Day They Underestimated You”

Shine Your Icy Crown is another feminist book of poetry by Amanda Lovelace. The main idea to take away is that you are the QUEEN and do not need a man to shine. It may be because I listened to this one instead of reading it so it lost some in translation so I didn’t like it as much as the others. It felt repetitive and not so much like poetry. Still, I like that she tries to empower and not need someone else to be complete.
Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for the free advanced audiobook copy of this title.

Much like Amanda Lovelace's other poetry collections, Shine Your Icy Crown uses fairy tale elements to explore personal and social issues. The two are tied together through a family metaphor--when Lovelace speaks of a brother who gets away with everything, she could be referring to a real brother or to men in general; when she expresses how she feels estranged and unappreciated by her parents, she could be speaking literally, or she may be talking about society at large. Most important is "big sister," who acts as a guiding star throughout the tale, giving confidence to the speaker when she's at her lowest. Perhaps Lovelace is speaking of her own sister, but it could just as easily be a reference to other women, specifically older generations.

Lovelace is not without talent, and she manages to steer her work towards themes of strength more often than negativity, but Shine Your Icy Crown falls short on originality. It is riddled with tired clichés and ruminations on feminism and gender roles, including I-don't-need-no-man affirmations (such as when she says that she doesn't have time to make a man a sandwich because she's "busy saving the world"), girl bossery (the story ends with her telling her haters to "bow down") or the use of phrases like "patriarchy" and "slut-shaming" (seriously, poets, try to be a bit more poetic). This rhetoric eventually crosses the border from impassioned to preachy, and if there's one thing that we didn't come here to read, it's a sermon. Having previously read Unlock Your Storybook Heart, the final entry in the trilogy (through happenstance, I ended up reading them in reverse order), I would argue that Lovelace's work is best when it's at its most intimate. The wider the berth, the less compelling it becomes.

Reread 2022 (Audiobook): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Andrews McMeel Publishing, for an ARC unabridged audiobook of Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As you can see, I have read this book once before as an e ARC and absolutely loved it! So it is no surprise that I was eager to give the 2022 audiobook release a go, and I was not disappointed! Amanda Lovelace narrates the audiobook which immediately had me excited, as I love when authors narrate their own books. It adds another dimension to the work and, with Amanda's narration, you could really hear her love and passion for the poetry coming through. The music accompaniment os gorgeous and magical, not to mention a wonderful way to enhance the reading experience. Overall an absolutely wonderful listen and 5 stars for both the poetry and the unabridged audiobook version.

Read 2021 (eBook): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"When other people choose not to believe in your magic, you must take it upon yourself to believe in your own magic. There will be no greater satisfaction than proving them wrong." - page 7

I was given an eARC of this book to read from NetGalley and the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Release Date: 26 January 2021

I loved Break Your Glass Slippers, the first installment in this series, so I was incredibly excited to have an eARC of book 2 to read. While I didn't enjoy Shine your Icy Crown as much as I did book 1, it was still an empowering and beautiful collection of poetry. Amanda Lovelace is, in my opinion, an unbelievably talented poet, and I could not put this book down until I had reached the end. Even then, I wished there was more. Combined with the gorgeous illustrations and layout of the book itself, this was an inspiring read! I cannot wait to buy my own copy of this once it is released.

"Make them rue the day they underestimated you." - page 73