Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace is a collection of poetry, part of the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale series. This collection is relatively quick to get through and gives the feeling that the narrator is speaking to you, the reader, personally.
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.


it may be hard to believe sometimes,
but there is someone out there
who will love you enough to stay after
the pen writes the words the end-
when those wild & passionate nights
inevitably transform into
those quiet & peaceful evenings.
the right one will turn to you & say,
"let's write the sequel, darling."
-even if that person is you.

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

Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace is the third and final installment in her “You Are Your Own Fairy Tale” series. I enjoyed this collection and I like how she makes poetry relatable with fairy tale stories that we’ve all grown up with. Find your Own Story and make it your own! I think most readers would find something in her poetry that they can connect to. I look forward to seeing what Lovelace does next.

Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for the free advanced audiobook copy of this title!

My favorite of the trilogy. I felt so empowered and seen with this one. I truly appreciate their knight in shining armor is a female. Mine is too. Thank you for this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this book. I appreciated this collection. I have read "The Princess Saves Herself in This One," but I have not read Lovelace's other works. I recognize the care and compassion for the reader that went into this. As a reader, I felt like I was being invited into Lovelace's poems. I connected with the motifs in the work. When I read poetry I typically prefer more variety in form and structure. All in all, I thought this was worth the read.

Having previously read Amanda Lovelace's Women are Some Kind of Magic trilogy, I found Unlock Your Storybook Heart to be surprisingly pleasant and uplifting in comparison. I have yet to read the first two installments in this new trilogy, but as Lovelace herself notes in the preface, this is the type of series that can easily be read out of order. Using the motif "her books say," Lovelace crafts bite-sized poems that tie the ordinary to the fantastical, exploring topics such as the loss of a parent, self-worth, mental health, Sapphic love, family, and domestic bliss. The prose is largely unpretentious, although there are some exceptions (much like how the term "rape culture" has yet to be used successfully in a poem, "heteronormativity" remains equally as elusive). It's a rare thing to find a poetry collection that explores joy more than it does misery, and I am glad to have read one of the few that does.

Amanda lovelace has been an auto-buy author for me since I laid hands on her first book. This book was a song of my soul. The beauty of this book is that, everything said in it, is just normal things, nothing extraordinary, but yet more than extraordinary because these are the things that we need to tell ourselves, but never do.

I have so many bookmarks in this one...but my favorite is "She's all self-deprecating jokes with a hint of sarcasm, so it's no wonder that no one realizes how much pain blooms just beneath her perfectly placed cardigan"

I loved the HEA to the series with the princesses finding her knight and them becoming the queens to their own life and kingdom!
Listening to the author herself narrate was the cherry on the top!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Andrew McMeel Audio for the ALC of this book.

I enjoyed this book. The audio was very soothing but I do think this book would be best enjoyed with a hard copy. I love writing in my Amanda Lovelace books because so many pieces of her writing stick with me! Overall, I enjoyed this entire series and would recommend to others.. especially those just getting in to reading poetry!

“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.”

Amanda Lovelace did it again. If you are a girl who doesn’t have someone in your life to give you advice, just grab one of her books and you’ll be golden.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Got an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This didn't connect to me as much as Shine your Icy Crown. Again, relating to my review of the first book of the series, this is more like a post from social media instead of a poem that has depth. The second book has the same element but I enjoyed and related to it which is why I let go of that reason. But in this 3rd book, I can't seem to enjoy the writing of the author. I'm giving this 1.75 stars because the author never fails to know the importance of trigger warnings and the narration of her own book is great.

TW: Eating Disorders, Mental Illness, Self-harm, Sexism, Queerphobia, Death, Grief, Trauma and more.

Another beautiful, fairytale-inspired collection from amanda lovelace.
Like the other books in this series, lovelace pulls from the stories we’ve known wince childhood, but spins them in new and relevant ways. Empowering us, the readers, through the narration.
Highly recommend.

If you love Amanda Lovelace, you will get more of the same from her other books. I enjoy her poetry. This one just didn’t stand out as much as some of her others. I appreciate that she puts trigger warnings in the beginning. I did like the Beauty and the Beast twist and having “her books say” quotes. The audiobook is calm and well narrated. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen in exchange for a review.

A lovely finish and great all-around advice wrapped in a little pretty bow. If you enjoyed the other two, definitely finish the series out!

Unlock Your Storybook Heart has a great collection of poems that made me think about my own life in relation to the subject this novel touches. Though, something fell flat in a way that I couldn't necessarily relate to. Yes, I definitely pondered on certain subjects, however, I think something lacked.

As I mentioned in my previous reviews, I loved Lovelace's narration and have been a fan of hers for years. With that in mind, while these poems were relatable, they came across as a little bit cliche. That isn't necessarily a bad thing (cliches are cliches for a reason), but it did lower my rating a bit.

This collection of words absolutely broke my heart and simultaneously put it back together again. Through the tears and smiles, I will say this is my favourite Amanda Lovelace collection! I've loved every single piece of work that Amanda has published. When I'm feeling down and hurting, I find comfort in the words Amanda strings together to make into the literary art that we can hold in our hands.

This was just another piece of poetry that reminded me how much I loved fairytales as a child and how much I've grown from them as an adult. Amanda touches on topics that every person has felt or experienced in some capacity and yet within each piece of work, there's an element of learning to heal as well.

I think that's what makes unlock your storybook heart so powerful as a reader. There's a constant theme of hope laced in every word that hits harder than anything else I've ever read before.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this audiobook*

que embarrassing que este libro me hizo llorar. pero en mi defensa estoy muy enamorada y cualquier cosa que siquiera NOMBRE la muerte de un novio me destruye tipo nononoinonion!////1???11!! ese unico poema sí me gustó.
no la voy a hacer muy larga porque todo lo que dije en la review del libro anterior de esta trilogía sigue aplicando pero con la diferencia de que este me gustó un poquito más porque por lo menos mantuvo un poquito más el theme de princesa y fairytale.
overall: leelo si tenes muchas ganas y 11 años o menos.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced e-arc

I don't know how I feel about this. I normally am a huge fan of Lovelace's work. This collection just didn't hit the way the others did. Normally I feel like the collection tells an overarching story that flows masterfully. But, this one felt oddly segmented and rushed. But unlike the e-book copy, the audio version was a nice experience. I loved Amanda's narration style and the emotions they put into every poem. I might go back and listen to their other books in audio one day.

I did love the focus on queer/sapphic love. we absolutely love to see it!!!!

Amanda Lovelace, to me, feels like one of the most recognizable modern day poets. Even without knowing it, I guarantee everyone has probably read or heard one of her poems. The best part about these audiobooks is hearing the cadence Amanda means for her poems to be read in, which just adds another layer to their meaning. Absolutely lovely.

I think I need to write Amanda Lovelace a love letter. Her narration of her own collection makes the collection more hitting straight to the heart.

Thank you net gallery for letting me review this book. This is the third book in the series.The series is about empowering yourself. I liked that the author narrated the book. I liked that the book was a nod to beauty and the beast.