This was my first Courtney Peppernell book and I now understand the hype! The concept of this book was flawless and the poetry executed it in a way that made you feel safe in your own skin. I appreciated how Peppernell took various experiences and emotions such as resilience and love to show how we can build upon ourselves. The artwork was amazing and added to the reading experience. All in all, this book serves to be a map for us to use to come back home to ourselves.

I chose to read this book for a multitude of reason, the main ones being the cover and the fact it is released on my birthday. I know that that isn't the best reason for reading a book but, I am always open to new genres and I was excited to see that this was a book of poems.

The poems tend to be about issues surrounding the pandemic and some about other issues - such as the LGBTQ+ struggles. As much as I love this idea, I really didn't find myself enjoying the poems. It all seemed like something I had read on instagram and twitter in 2020. There were a few enjoyable poems scattered throughout but I ended up DNFing this story.

Unfortunately, it was just not my style of book and the lack of interest in the rest of the poems made me unable to read the remaining pages (around 40% of the book). I tried to power on through and finish this for the review but it was impossible.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC of this!

I listened to some of the author’s other collections earlier this month, so I was excited to see this one. I’m unsure if it was the fact that I read it myself, instead of hearing how she intended it to be read, or if this collection was wildly different, but I didn’t enjoy it near as much, unfortunately. It read a little self-help-y, which is totally fine, with a focus on getting through the pandemic and heartbreak. I loved the art work though, I kinda wish there had been more! I’d be interested to hear this one and see if that would change my feelings, because I don’t read a ton of poetry and maybe I’m just not good at it.

I need to stop judging books by their covers; it rarely works out for me. What a cover though, right? Unfortunately, the poetry did not live up to the cover for me.

The book itself focuses on healing following the pandemic, grief, and heartbreak; however, the ideas in this book weren't novel, and could be found on Twitter back in 2020. There were definitely some good lines in this book and a couple poems I enjoyed, but the collection as a whole felt clichéd.

Unfortunately, this felt like a self-help poetry book that can be easily swallowed by the masses without any real substance to it. I struggled to get through it and it really was just not my cup of tea.

Although some of the poems from this title seem a little forced and surface-level, I have found that a lot of the works in it are beautifully written and very much relatable to the average person. This collection is really focused on the "live, laugh, love" aspect of life (finding courage, strength and building resilience). Though not my favourite collection of poems, I can truly say that it was an enjoyable read, and sometimes even brought happy and warming tears to my eyes. The cartoons included between the sections in the book seem very thought out and really immerse the reader.