////ARC RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR HONEST REVIEW////

Thank you Netgallley for the ARC.

"Depression became my partner, it became a friend I never asked for. But through all the times I've been hurt, it stayed. It was the only consistent thing I knew. So I learned to care for it, and eventual, live with it."

While the subject matter is dark, this was a beautiful collection of poetry by Christabelle Marbum. It was and especially mature collection of poems for someone so young. I am eager to watch her grow as a writer and poet. I didn't connect to all her poems but there were many pieces that spoke to me and my experiences struggling with depression.

First of all, Trigger Warnings should be considered before reading this poetry collection.I found some of the poems really relatable as there are times I've felt lost and depressed. This collection really connected to that darkness and anger inside me. While there were poems that just went straight out of my head but I still applaud christabelle for being able to write something like this even at this young age. I loved the annotations personally it makes me really enthusiastic about the physical book.
Thank you Netgally and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this beautiful ARC.

This was a poetry collection I related to a lot and they were definitely moments that I felt seen. The writing throughout most of it was beautiful and I loved the metaphors used throughout. I think this is a collection that anyone who has struggled with identity or depression could appreciate but please be sure to check trigger warnings before reading.

My one quip is that I think that some poems should have been either completely scrapped or been reworked. Some of them felt very much like “tumblr poetry” without being evolved enough to for me to take it more seriously.

Overall I think this is definitely worth the read I just had some minor issues.

a soft, grim poetry collection about life, love and the alluring nature of death and darkness. as a fellow death-obsessed angst-ridden teenager, i felt this collection would be right up my alley (i mean LOOK at that cover). while i adored the little illustrations throughout, the various forms the pieces take on and (specifically) the line "i envy the daughters who had the chance to hold their father's hand without the fear that he might never let go," i felt the entire collection was lacking. the "poems" were simply a bunch of strung-together lines that barely had any connection to one another and the language overall was vague, repetitive and shallow, causing the story to suffer as a result. there's definitely some potential here for a story about a lost and lonely girl on a path to forgiveness and recovery who falls in and out of love with Death. unfortunately, for the time being, this is one of the weaker poetry collections i've read so far.

“the breaking of skin followed by the sting of childhood memories is often the kind of euphoric pain that cannot be defeated”

firstly thank you to netgalley and christabelle for a copy of this arc. pub date: 11 Oct 22

there were few pieces I didn’t connect too. everything is so full of emotion, I can’t seem to find appropriate words to describe how this book has made me feel; sad, hurt, full, empty, hollow. reading these poems made me feel seen, understood. i was inspired. inspired to start writing poetry again, painful as that has been. i have saved many passages and have continued to go back to them. i really don’t know how to write how I feel but I want everyone to buy this when it’s released, I know I will be!

After I found out how young the author is I now can appreciate how mature this peotry collection is. The author has a huge potential and I'm interested to see what she will write next.
What stopped me from giving a higher rating was how depressing majority of poems were. First chapter especially, felt like it even romanticised the subject that is discussed in it (please read the trigger warning, before starting this book).
As a person who struggles with a mental health services issues, I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone. I think the person must be in a good place mentally, before picking this collection up.

Definitely worth noting the warnings and reading in a good state. I loved the annotations in this collection! This was incredibly moving!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review!

The story of her plight and full of emotions, in some point may be disturbing depending where you are coming from. Each segment of the collection has its tone of feelings. But definitely some trigger warnings.


Thank you Netgally and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC.


3.6/5 stars

You should definitely look up the Trigger Warnings before reading this poetry collection!

The order of the chapters felt a little like "the stages of grief" first comes hurt, then anger and finally Healing.
I liked the "formatting" with the annotations within the poems.

Sadly Poetry is either a hit or a miss for me. This was mostly a miss. But there were still some poems I liked. I think I just wasn't the target audience for this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!
Remember to read the trigger warnings that are so kindly provided in the beginning of the book.

I felt like the order of the chapters depicted a kind of “stages of grief” with the hurt, anger and finally the healing.

Like with most poetry collections some poems stood out and some didn’t. One I liked in particular was:
“I hope you know that your soul is so beautiful to me that I consider it to be art.”
Also the little “;” at the last page huuurt!

3,5*

I really enjoyed this poetry collection. I felt moved by a lot of the poems, and I think it's incredible how young Marbun is and how successful she's already become, and the beauty of her writing. Her perspective throughout the collection is refreshing, and takes things that could be so dark but making them beautiful in her writing while not taking away from the power of her statements.

This was a solid poetry collection about death, suicide ideation, and one’s darkness. It was good but I didn’t fall in love with it. A few poems resonated with me, but the rest just seemed to fall flat. I found the first quarter of the collection (under the theme of ‘death’) to be somewhat redundant, overdone, and repetitive. That being said, I still enjoyed the poems in that section but not enough to want to reread them. When the Dark Spoke to Me was a valiantly good effort, the poems were simple and straight to the point and filled with pain and experience yet not overly dramatic. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for the chance to read and review this ARC!

The concept behind Christabelle Marbun's poetry collection is pretty good, and the book started off on a promising note! So it was rather disappointing to see that it wasn't s carried through properly. The first part of the book was easily the best. The idea of slowly falling in love with Death was pretty cool. Of course, it is slightly dark because Death wins over life in the end. Please remember to keep the trigger warnings in mind when reading this book.

The rest of the book was unmemorable; this review would be a half-star higher if it had never been there.

I can see many of these poems doing well on Tumblr or Instagram, but as a book, the author should have edited out her pieces and kept ones that fit better.

Such a young author to have such a profound way with words. The way this book was written really spoke to me and I know I will be reading this book again, as well as recommending it to anyone who is going through a difficult period in their life. How else will everyone else learn that Death's favorite tea is chamomile. (why wouldn't it be?).

Trigger warnings for themes of death and suicidal ideation.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book, which will be released on October 11, 2022.

Beautiful! This was a very nice change after all the doom and gloom things I have been reading lately.

Marbun's voice is very soft and comforting, even she tackles topics far bigger than what the tone indicates.

Thank you, Net Galley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for an ARC.

"Stories, they end all the time right? The end"

This book deals with really heavy topics, but does this in a beautiful way. Definitely check tw. Writing style is very good, couldn't stop reading. 4/5⭐

"So tell me, how does one unalign the stars?"

Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

cw: suicide, suicidal ideations

This book made me cry in the middle of the night and I didn't expect it! As someone who grew up in an unstable family situation and is a former suicidal, this book unexpectedly resonated with me and I don't know if I hated it for that or I commend the author for articulating it so well. This book called me out, called my parents out, called everyone that hurt me out, and I just don't know what to feel. The writing style is so direct to the point that it feels like it is a slap or a hug, at least to me. This is the first in a long time where a poetry book made me feel so much. I highly recommended this one, but please take note of the content warning because this one is very heavy on that subject matter.