This was good. I do appreciate an Amanda Lovelace book, I appreciate them even more as an audiobook. However, in small doses. Her books tend to be repetitive.

I really enjoyed this collection I honestly think I could have used these when I was much younger not to say they don't have merit as an adult now. This one is about basically not missing out on your life its yours live it.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Amanda Lovelace's poetry has a special place in my heart, and this collection was no exception. I loved the lyrical poems, not to mention the gorgeous narration by Amanda Lovelace. The music scattered throughout the audiobook adds another wonderful dimension of immersion into the story.

I absolutely loved listening to this audiobook, the poetry collection is already beautiful but this adds a whole new layer to the experience and really helps you to feel the emotions behind every word.

Thank you to Amanda Lovelace (ladybookmad), Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Unlock Your Storybook Heart (You Are Your Own Fairy Tale #3) for an honest review.

I can never say it enough: Amanda Lovelace's poetry owns my soul. This last volume in the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale touches lightly on Beauty & the Beast, but the message throughout the poems is not one about a specific fairytale already handed down through the ages -- it's about *yours*. It's about every person's ability to find magic in the world around them, the people with them, and to hold on to it as long as you can. That no matter if you feel the magic went to sleep, you can always wake it back up and let it fill your heart again.

How do I even begin to tell you my utter 'book-mad' delight when I turned the audio on and it was Amanda Lovelace reading her poetry to me. My heart swelled so many times getting to hear her personal inflections and emotions throughout the reading. I will definitely be looking into future purchases of all her volumes in audio's done by her, too.

I, also, remain forever amazed at the very in-depth Trigger Warning/Self-Care reminder at the beginning of every one of her volumes. It makes me always remember that she cares deeply about those reading her books and can openly acknowledge all the topics she speaks about in her writing.

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

This is the final book in the series and it felt very much the same as the others. The same bits of information were told to the reader and they felt very similar to what I had already heard from the other two books. While the themes and storyline of the book were important, they just felt repetitive, especially compared to the other two books. I was expecting more from the conclusion.

Overall, the books is still good which is why I ended up giving it three stars and I do recommend it to others as everybody can benefit from being reminded to love yourself above all others.

This was another fun, whimsical, and feel-good collection of short poems by Amanda Lovelace. I love the fairy tale theme she wove throughout, but as always, I do wish there had been a little more to it. I did enjoy hearing her narrate it in her own voice. It gave so much more power to the words, and in the future, I think that is definitely the way I will be consuming her poetry! My only note on the audio is that it did seem to have an echo throughout. I'm not sure if it was intention or something that needs to be/has been fixed.

This was another great addition to Amanda Lovelace's catalog of poetry. Hearing her recite the poems added another level to the experience of reading her work. The poems touch on friendship and self love and fans of her previous work will not be disappointed!

I think this is my favorite of Amanda Lovelace's poem collections, very powerful and strong collection

Lovelace's newest collection of poetry is perfect for this generation of young women. Her final collection in the series was about familial relationships, particularly those between sisters. I liked her approach to sisters as the biggest supporters and advocates in life. It was a really empowering collection, one of my favourites, especially Part One. I would definitely purchase this for any literature-minded young woman in my life!

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!

As I've already reviewed the poems themselves in my initial review of the collection, I will be focusing on the narrative of the audiobook.

The themes narrated are always personal, lending themselves to the ability for others to empathize with the writer, which I feel is one of the most significant facets of poetry; the ability to relate.

However, these poems always come across as generic, cliched, and full of a lack of thought. It is as if the words were written as a comment and arranged in such a way to come across as poetry, forcing it to have a flow that does not exist.

This issue lends itself to the audiobook where the poems are choppy, the narration lacking flow. The narrator does not help this. It is lovely that the author can narrate her audiobook of poetry. Still, with a lack of tonal variation and the ability to be versatile in her renderings, it is hard to be interested in these pieces.

What I like the most about this last book in the collection is how magical it was. Sent a great message in a beautiful and again - magical - way. I liked this one much much much better than the first and second one, which I haven’t anticipated, so I am giving 4 starsss.

I also related to this way too much, especially the part about punishing myself for not being perfect or enough.

I related to the pressure put on people because they were considered ‘above average’ and extremely smart.

And I related most to the part about an old soul in a young person.

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

Thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC and audio ARC of this! I read them together so I could hear the author reading but also see the beautiful illustrations.

I am such a huge fan of this series, and this one did not let me down. It was beautiful, feminist, queer, and full of fairytale vibes. I really enjoyed especially the first part, with the “her books say” responses. It’s hard to say at this point that this one is my favorite so far, because they all have been! I’ll definitely be returning to some of the authors other works for a reread. The narration was so well done, and I loved hearing how it was “meant” to sound.

Another enjoyable poetry collection from Amanda Lovelace. I didn't love this one as I as loved previous ones but I did enjoy it. It felt a lot more impersonal than previous ones, even from this series. Well, impersonal to me specifically. I couldn't relate to most of the poems, where I've been able to a lot more in the previous ones. Some real gems though!

Amanda Loveless' reading is perfect as usual. This one listened like a story even more than the two previous poetry books in the serie. Loveless' words are hopeful and inspiring, and I enjoyed going on the character's journey through the poems, and two the final part where the character has learnt to love herself and be herself and be happy.

I have thoroughly enjoyed these three audiobooks. Wisdom in a fairytale setting. They are wonderful to listen to. Enlightening and heartbreaking at the same time.

5 honest, heartbreaking, must-read stars~

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio, Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing an audiobook copy for review! I enjoyed hearing the author narrate this collection.

A beautiful and dark collection of poems touching on sensitive and potentially triggering subject matters. This is a collection that is more about how we tend to lose ourselves when deep within relationships. Instead of living our truth, we live someone else's narrative and miss out on what's happening right in front of us.

This collection definitely hit home and also helped me find peace and heal a bit throughout.

Highly recommend any and all works by Lovelace. These can also be read in really any order you'd like; you do not have to go in a certain order to understand and relate.

Another lovely and powerful collection of poetry from this author. Having read all her other poetry in physical form, I really missed out on seeing the words in front of me on the page. While this audiobook was wonderfully done, and narrated by Amanda herself, I will have to go buy the physical copy to fall fully into it, as I like to sit with the words as I read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review and listen to this book!

Unlock your storybook heart is the third and final installment of the You are Your Own Fairytale collection. I enjoyed that Amanda Lovelace went back to the idea of princesses in this one and modeled it after Belle's story. I also loved that part of the repetition in each poem was "Her books say..." For an avid reader and English teacher, this spoke to me since so much of myself is poured into books. As for the messages once again, they are begging to be heard and should be spoken about and discussed by everyone. I didn't connect as personally to this installment, but I was still able to appreciate the sentiments. Amanda Lovelace's poetry speaks to the reader at any age, experience, and time in their life and that's what I've really liked about it. Some parts of it were just a little too cliche for me though.

I wish I could give this a 3.5.