Another beautiful book of poetry from Amanda Lovelace. So many important words of wisdom in a small book. This was written beautifully. I have read most of Amanda's poetry, but I think this one might be my favourite, especially since she is reading the audio. I appreciate that she puts content warnings at the beginning of her books. I also read the eARC as I was listening. LOVED!!

LOVE! I can’t get enough. I always recommend Lovelace. I’m so happy I got to read these poems. Run DONT walk!

5 IMPORTANT STARS, A GIFT TO HUMANITY - BECAUSE WE ALL DO THIS ALL THE TIME.. Every human in this world should read Amanda's books to be a BETTER human.

CW: suicide, child abuse, sexual abuse, toxic relationships (friendship and romantic), eating disorder, fatphobia, trauma.

Amanda's books are SO SAD but also so beautiful and SO IMPORTANT.

It is SO IMPORTANT to LEARN TO IDENTIFY AND REMEMBER ALL THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF ABUSE girls and women of the world are constantly subjected to by all of is humans.

Physical abuse and discrimination are often easier to identify than other subtler forms of emotional abuse so ingrained in the fabric of our humanity that we don't even realize we are ALL abusers at a certain moment: unrealistic and unfair expectations, double standards, constant judgment, unwanted attention, neglect, shaming, lack of support and empowerment are just a few of them.

TO LEARN HOW MANY OTHER FORMS AND BECOME BETTER HUMANS EVERYONE SHOULD READ AMANDA'S BOOKS.

As a human, woman, mother, sister, friend, wife, I'm SO GRATEFUL Amanda writes this books!

Amanda Lovelace's series just keep getting better and better. The audiobooks are FANTASTIC! I got goosebumps the entire time I was listening to it. Can't recommend them enough!

I always love reading Amanda Lovelace's poems and was so excited to finish off this trilogy. I love these fairytale-inspired poems, and how she tackles difficult subjects with them. There's just something about the way she writes that I can easily understand and relate to, even if I've never been in her position.
I will always recommend her poetry books to people, especially if poetry is something you want to branch out into.
I did think that the drawings in the book really help tell the story, so without those photos in the audiobook, it loses something.

Much like Lovelace's other collections especially the ones in this trilogy, unlock your storybook heart centers around self-love, self-acceptance, the journey, and feminism. This collection was told through a lens of Beauty and the Beast with touches of Lovelace's own experience. This will hit home for those who were gifted kids, the ones who feel burnt out, and the ones who fight the heteronormative expectations for sexuality.
The poetry was relatable and the narration was well done. The repitition of certain phrases through the collection was impactful, especially since I read it through an audiobook. It takes us back to the oral traditions of poetry. Poetry is an evolving art. This collection felt like a conversation with a friend. Lovelace did a good job taking the fairy tale lens while still being the vulnerable poet readers and listeners have come to know.

Lovelace's words really resonated with me in this installment. I think the phrase that is going to stay with me the most is

"Everyday is a day you decide what legacy you will leave behind."

Experiencing this collection of poetry in an audiobook format was breathtaking. Especially when it is the author themselves who reads their poems to you. This is my new favourite way to consume poetry and I cannot wait to see what else Amanda comes up with. Unlock your storybook heart was a beautiful exploration of not only self-love but the love you can only experience with your best friend.

Trigger warnings: eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, sexism, queerphobia, death, grief, and trauma

Amanda Lovelace again does a great job narrating her own audiobook for <i>unlock your storybook heart</i>, the finale of the “you are your own fairy tale” trilogy. Once again, the poems are full of highly quotable lines. I could relate to this one at times more than I could the poems in the first two, which helped with my enjoyment of the book. This was a satisfying end to the trilogy.

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

4.5 Stars

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

Another amazing self-love poetry/fairy tale retelling narrated by the author.

Lovelace did it again. I absolutely loved all three of these books and am so glad this collection exists in the world. It has so many great lessons and is written so beautifully. Also these books are all supremely quotable! I feel like I could flip to a random page and point and I'd find a quote I love. This was amazing and I can't wait to have a physical copy.

Pub Date: March 15, 2022

Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Self harm

Another great addition. If you like Amanda Lovelace's poems then you'll definitely enjoy this series. It's emotional and relatable. I loved the visibility of the queer relationship, it definitely added to it for me.

#AD #gifted | Thank you very much to net galley and Amanda Lovelace for sending me an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Before I begin, I want to quickly discuss intellectual snobbery. Just because a piece of art is accessible and is intended for a mass, mainstream audience, it does not mean that it is objectively bad. This “criticism” is mainly aimed at contemporary minimalistic poets.

Whilst intellectual snobbery thinly veiled as literary criticism is a MAJOR PROBLEM within the poetry community as a whole, do not fret, as this review is not here to bash Amanda Lovelace’s work because of it’s mass appeal - I am simply here to discuss my thoughts on the book itself. No intellectual snobbery here, just a bookworm!

This collection of poems is only the second collection of Amanda’s I have read, and although I definitely enjoyed it more than I enjoyed her debut, I still did not enjoy it very much.

I tried to come in with no expectations, but I still left feeling rather unsatisfied. Many minimalistic poetry tells a strong story or illustrates a message with few words, painting vivid images - similarly to micro-fiction and flash-fiction.

To me, a lot of the poems in this collection seemed to be lacking in their craft and technique, and although, at times, they conveyed strong messages, most of the time, they fell short of conveying those messages poetically - instead, most of the poem’s in the collection felt like motivational quotes, or instagram captions, or prose with line gaps.

If you were to read this collection, I would advise listening to the audiobook version, narrated by the author, rather than the ebook or hard copy edition, as although I found the poems themselves to be.

Every book of poetry by Amanda Lovelace just resonates with me, some are hard to hear and others uplifting but nothing could tear me away from it. I liked the beauty and the best aspect and the queer relationship taking precedence

As with the other two books in the series, you can't argue with the good advice for young women, but the poetry is better when the poems stick closer to the fairy tales and are less straightforward. The themes of this one were good (claiming your own identity and not conforming to others' expectations), but the advice chorus of books didn't work as well as the fairy godmother in the first volume.

Honestly I hate that this is the last in the fairytale series. I have loved every single one of these. I have been so emotional during them. This one just gives me such inspiration. It’s so honest and real. The narration was awesome! I love that the author does it! Thank you to Netgalley for providing this Audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the third and final instalment in Lovelace's "you are your own fairy tale". This is my least favourite in the trilogy, and it just fell flat for me. This reads like a self help book, which I didn't like, I was hoping for more lyrical writing which was seen in the first collection. I am still interested to read her other work in the future.

This was the first time I have listened to poetry on audiobook and I loved it. I think I will listen to more poetry on audiobooks. I love Amanda Lovelace's work and hearing it in my ears was amazing.

*I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and I’m leaving an honest review.*

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. It’s narrated by the author, which I always find helpful with poetry in particular. I didn’t relate to as many poems as I have in the author’s previous works, but the story was interesting and the writing and narration were well done.

This is the third installment in the series and my least favorite of the three, likely because I found it to be the least relatable of the three. I still respect the author’s vulnerability and the overall readability for readers less naturally inclined towards poetry.

This was definitely the best in the collection for me. The writing was a little more powerful, and a little more substantial than the rest of the collection.
As with all of Lovelace's poetry, it is still minimalist, making it great for beginners, and it addresses many important issues.
The poetry was read nicely in the audiobook, and so was an easy listen.
'You Are Your Own Fairltale' overall hasn't been my favourite from Lovelace, but it is certainly a strong collection, and a good listen.
3.5 stars

I will reread this when I'm in a better mental place. Because when I get there, I will feel this, I'm far too broken right now for this to resonate. That being said, I hope one day this will be my battle cry. 3.5 stars