Dear @ladybookmad, this particular book had me in tears. I cant express enough of how this hit me so hard. So much of this resonated with me ... in my daily roles as mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, ex-wife, and just... the role of womanhood. It reminded me of things the way they were, the way they are, and the way they should, could, can be..for both me and for the other women in my life. I want so badly for my daughter to hear these mesaages. I want my sister to hear them. There's so much of our sense of self that is tied to a patriarcy in our lives in a way that is.. so complicated, in so many ways. Thank you so much to @andrewsmcmeel audio for approving me to hear and review this book. This and her other books have trigger warnings at the beginning and when I read her other one last week i thought, oh ok but Iiiiiii wont be triggered. Ha! This one triggered such an overwhelming emotional response in me. She urges those that read this to remember to practice self-care during and after reading. Dear Amanda, this IS part of my self-care, it helps me to recognize the need for self-care. Maybe if I can learn to just be so much kinder to myself i will feel so much less inclined to judge those around me, while deep in my own personal struggle to feel that im still relevant and special and worthy of ... everything. Thank you SO much for saying and mainstreaming these important messages that we women of all ages so desperately need to hear. 🙌🏽

I recently got the chance to read Amanda's newest book and instantly fell in love with it. So requesting this one as soon as I saw it was inevitable.
I've to say it didn't disappoint at all. I love the themes, the poems, the narration, everything. It's written with so much care and so many pieces not only hit right home but are also very inspiring.
Thank you for providing me with an arc in exchange for a review!!

Format: audiobook
Author: Amanda Lovelace ~ Title: Shine Your Icy Crown ~ Narrator: Amanda Lovelace
Content: 3 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

I listened to poetry collections by Amanda Lovelace before. The first was Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things, which I think was very good. Shine Your Icy Crown is part of the collection You Are Your Own Fairytale. I listened to all three audiobooks. You can listen to these audiobooks in any order you choose. Or even listen to just one and you will be able to enjoy it without the feeling you are missing something. Make sure you listen to trigger warnings at the beginning of this audiobook.

Shine Your Icy Crown is a collection of mostly short poems inspired by several icy and witchy fairytales. I liked the music at the beginning and the end. I liked the poetry and the general idea. But again, as with the first collection, it sounded too much like a self-help book than poetry. Some things also felt a bit repetitive from the first book.

Amanda Lovelace is also the narrator of her poetry book and I liked that. She did an excellent job, as always.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Audio for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

Beautiful poetry, beautiful voice! It is truly something else when you listen to them! I would surely read something else by this author!

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I loved the first one. I can't wait to read the 3rd book.
(arc from netgalley)

This is a collection of poetry in which two sisters have each other to help cope with life and their unconditional support and love for each other. They don't need a prince or princess to help them rule, they need each other. I love the themes of powerful connections between sisters are stronger than romantic bonds and that you are the only one you need to make happy in your life. This collection is very uplifting and empowering.

I usually love to read poetry on the printed page since I love to match structure with the content (nerdy English teacher that I am). So I requested to read this one on a whim because I wanted to compare the audio version of poetry with the printed version. As always with any audiobook vs printed book/ebook, there are pros and cons:

Pros: Amanda Lovelace was the narrator! Swoon. I love it when the narrator and author match. You get a sense of the lyrical nature of poetry when it's read out loud. This collection in particular read more like a part revised fairy tale and positive affirmations. I feel like I could listen to sections of this collection EVERY morning to brighten my mood and set the tone for my day.

Cons: It's harder to analyze structure, form and poetic devices. So annotating an audio poem is a little out of the realm of my abilities and I kinda longed to pick up a pen and dive into my thoughts on this collection.

I love poetry and this collection made my fairy tale loving heart happy too. I will shine my icy crown and own up to my life's potential.

I LOVE that this is narrated by the author. I do think that poetry should be seen as well as heard, so listening to this in conjunction with the print version would be even more powerful. I appreciate hearing the voice of healthy women helping others understand the strength and power and truth that lies within each woman! This series of poetry collection is one that girls and women searching for the power within themselves would do well to read. I love that there are answers given by a big sister.

This was a quick listen & I enjoyed it. It felt like my big sister or mentor was talking to me & encouraging me to want better for myself. It didn’t read like poems to me so I thought it was pretty easy to follow & understand when I usually have a problem with poetry. Thanks to NetGalley for the alc.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for a review.

First, this book does have some heavy topics so approach it with care. It touches on topics such as self harm, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, and more.
I really enjoyed the second installment in this three book poetry collection. The second book touched on similar themes as the first one. However, this one focused less on toxic relationships and more on the relationship with self. This collection also dives into what it really means to be a feminist. The way Amanda described it really hit home for me. I would definitely recommend this collection.

⭐️4,5

Well this one hit home.

The times I said "PREACH" and "PERIODT" were so many that I lost count.

In this one, we have the girl that grew up chasing after standards that she didn't fit in, not because she couldn't, but because they were limiting her abilities and were profiting by her insecurities. She was putting herself in an endless circle of misery and loneliness, as her uniqueness and shine made her feel like an outcast in this dark world. Her "Big Sister" aka her consciousness, in all her wiseness, kept her hand all the way, gave her courage and the strength to move on. The icy words made her build an armour and for that people called her a b***h. But she didn't mind, because when they thought that they were belittling her, what they did was to give her the ammunition to survive. And through all this pain and sorrow, love came to be, not the romantic type of love, but the love for herself, the one person that will stand beside her till the end of days.

I honestly loved every message it had to offer (there were more but I chose the ones that stood out to me most) and I'm so happy that I decided to pick it up. I 100% recommend it✨

This was disappointing. It felt more like life lessons getting shoved down your throat than actual poetry. Also, the swearing was unnecessary. It brought absolutely nothing to the book and made me cringe.

I continue to enjoy the audiobook versions of Amanda Lovelace’s poetry. There’s just something a little bit extra lovely about hearing her words in her own voice. I particularly enjoyed the element of sisterhood in this collection and the complex relationships between women. Looking forward to more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for the audio ARC of this work.

I've now read AND listened to this one, and can honestly say both have their benefits and both are equally enjoyable albeit in different ways.

Here's my review of the written version:
I'm a long-time fan of Amanda Lovelace. Her ability to relate complex, difficult, emotional issues through prose is phenomenal. I love the truth and depth of her voice and am always impressed at the way she manages to turn horrible experiences into moving lessons with positive messages of hope...

This was another wonderful collection - although I found it to feel a bit more disjointed between parts than her previous works. This one felt like two books put together in one binding, whereas the others (the other in this series and her "Women are Some Kind of Magic" and "Things that H(a)unt" series) felt a little more cohesive to me. I still enjoyed her writings and thoughts immensely, so it didn't matter. But it did feel a little less like a narrative told through prose and more like a series of pieces that moved in complementary directions...

As for the audio, suffice to say that listening to a poet read their own words is always a moving experience to my mind, because you have the added benefit of knowing where the words come from... Lovelace doesn't read like a professional voice actor - she reads like a woman telling you her story. And the decision to use her voice to relate her story(ies) is a powerful and brilliant one because they ring true in a way that no actor could quite manage, no matter how talented.

I will say that I find listening to her books to be easier once I've read one of the books in the series. She has a rhythm and flow to the arrangement of her pieces that I imagine might not be immediately grasped if one only listened, but because I'd read this one first, I knew the difference between the interludes, the story pieces, the "Says" bits and the "cited" descriptions. It's a call-and-response type format that I found helpful to visualize before I listened.

Not as good as the others but I still enjoyed it. I felt like this one was just thrown in but I still love her writing and I highly recommend

This was really awesome. I really loved the focus on sisters. The pace was good. It was a little bit repetitive.

Shine your icy crown
I fully understand a poet reading her own poetry, but I didn’t feel this was a particularly strong choice for this book. it was so slow and monotonous it genuinely put me to sleep, which is not something you want when listening to poetry. It was too slow at regular speed and too fast at a higher setting. I guess as a theater major who knows a lot of talented actors and voiceover professionals, I just expect a little bit more enthusiasm and emotion. It made it so hard for my brain to listen. It was also super hard to tell when one poem stopped and the next began. Was that a title or the first line of the next poem? I think this book would have really benefitted from a different narrator.


As for an audio book of poetry, it was good, but mildly uncomfortable to listen instead of read. I’ll definitely stick to reading my poetry instead.


Some had decent themes of beauty, womanhood, and family. Others… “why doesn’t anyone want me.. why, why, why”. And here I’m asking myself “why” was this poem included?? There are a few poems here and there that just feel like space fillers for the rest. They don’t feel like they even fit to the flow of others and are just randomly stuck in there. A couple poems later was one of my favorite poems in the whole book, “you are a diamond”, but I’m not sure why it’s surrounded by the two other poems before and after it. I feel like this book could have been really trimmed down to a few less poems with stronger messages. It almost felt like reading her unedited journal.


Overall, I don’t think I would read another one of these books. It just seems a little bit like it’s trying too hard. The messages were hit or miss, and I really wasn’t crazy about listening to poetry, or really prose like this was. I have to admit I couldn’t finish this book, it was just too repetitive and fake “deep”.


Thank you NetGalley for providing me my first poetry audiobook!

Another of the gorgeous arcs granted by publishers!

I ended up reading this in bed, long into the night, finding piece after piece I wanted to share with friends and family members. Lovelace continues to march her way through the worst lies the world, as we ourselves, tell us, and to show the way through that darkness in the true light. I am incredibly glad to see this second series of her doing that in every way and cannot wait for the next piece in this series already.

Trigger warnings: child abuse, toxic relationships, sexual assault, eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, sexism, suicide, and trauma

Amanda Lovelace again does a fabulous job narrating her own audiobook for <i>shine your icy crown</i>, the second of the “you are your own fairy tale” trilogy. I didn’t like these poems quite as well as the first installment in the series, but they were still good poetry with important lessons. The music in the background ties in with the fairy tale theme. I’m looking forward to the final installment in the trilogy!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This book was surprising – in a good way!
I don’t generally enjoy modern poetry so I was not expecting much from this book & I’m still not really sure what makes it poetry rather than prose, but I enjoyed it - I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, and perhaps this made it even more personal and poignant? I cannot say how well I would have responded to a written word version, but the audiobook definitely worked for me.
The poetry consists of many statements/questions followed by advice from “big sister” and an overarching message that we need to rewrite the fairy stories so that “marry the handsome prince – the end” is not the end – or that every woman’s ultimate dream is related to a man … It’s about empowerment & not limiting your potential. Difficult topics are touched on, but not in a negative or depressing way. It’s full of uplifting & positive statements like “you say lonely, I say self-sufficient”
It was a book that made me tag sections for future reference – such statements as:
“There will always be a new mascara, there will always be a new lipstick, there will always be a new pair of jeans, there will always be a new ideal body shape. By the time you have caught up, there will already be a new trend. Its meant to be unattainable, because that ensures you’ll have no choice but to keep investing your time, money and energy. Respect yourself enough not to buy into a system whose success depends on making you feel insecure”
And
“She always looked up to strong women protagonists, that is, until the day she finally realised that she is the strong woman protagonist. Determined is she to weave an even better tale”

This was the first book I’d encountered from Amanda Lovelace & I will definitely look for more. I can see me returning to this book & that is as much of a surprise to me as to anyone else!



Disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of this book free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the author & publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars


Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for an ALC of this book.

Combination fairy tale retelling and self-love poetry, this quick audio has gorgeous verse, sisterly love, and themes of self-love and acceptance that are the perfect continuation to break your glass slippers.

I loved this book just as much as the first one. I really liked the parts from "big sister says" and everything that it meant. It is honestly so inspiring and happy to listen to these books!


Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, Addiction, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Self harm