The author has a big social media presence (mainly TikTok and Instagram, I believe), with videos of her reading her poetry, and that, presumably, has led to this book of her poems being published. Diener is still a young woman but her poems, she says in an introduction, were written “to remember how it felt to be 17 and 23 - heartbroken and in love and in between.”

I really enjoyed this peek into her mind over the years. It made me think back to my own late teens and 20s, and the insecurity we all probably felt at those ages. Her poems touch on romantic relationships, mental health, body image, and other subjects. They are easy to read. Some are very short and some are much longer, but they are all very readable and reveal deep emotions that I could relate to.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

From the moment I first heard Sophie recite the poem "Be Kind to Yourself" on her TikTok, I knew I wanted to read her poetry collection if she ever published it. Fortunately for us all, she did and "Someone Somewhere Maybe" is a lovely collection of her work.

What I love about poetry is that it is subjective and there's no right or wrong way to do it. Sophie notes that her poems are inspired by song lyrics she has written and that shows in the many poems that have a more lyrical feel to them. Personally, I love more lyrical poetry and the musical tones in invokes when spoken aloud. I may be in the minority, but I love a good rhyme scheme and there is a little of that in this collection.

The poetry ranges from first love and heartbreak to mental health and self-image. On one hand, I loved the mental health and self-image poems as they ring true no matter your age. On the other, I did find the collection to lean more juvenile regarding the first love and heartbreak-inspired entries as they take you back to being a teen. There is a general storyline to follow and I really liked that, but I did have hopes for a little more emotional maturity as the story progressed.

What I really liked about this collection are the variety of poems that can appeal to just about everyone. There are many thought provoking lines that hit your soul hard and I think this collection is best spoken aloud and I think an audiobook version done by Sophie herself would be the cherry on top as these poems have a more profound impact when she recites them. And that's coming from someone who never listens to audiobooks, but would definitely make the exception here. Overall a great collection that I really enjoyed and I look forward to reading and listening to more of her work!

I am a fan of Sophie Diener on tik tok and this collection does not disappoint! I loved everything about it, even if it was a true journey through all the emotions. Do not pass this up!
5 stars

Loved it on tiktok and I loved it even more in written form. Somehow made those words feel more permanent in my life.

I was not familiar with the author, and did not know what to expect. I found her poetry one-dimensional, lacking imagery, and just generally lack-luster. Nothing surprised me or made me think, and the lack of form was disappointing. Nothing about this book made me think Diener is a trained poet or writer in general. Being a TikTok star does not make for a great poet! If you're a poet or love poetry, this book is NOT for you.

Did not read as book was archived before I was able to download on NetGalley. Look forward to reading this book in another fashion in the future.

What a wonderful debut collection of poetry Sophie Diener has given us! This book (I'm sure more will follow) deals with the pain of first love lost, and her attempts as a young woman to find her own identity and feeling of self-worth. Diener's writing is both beautiful and poignant.

I am of an age where I'm not on Tik Tok, so I had no previous exposure to Ms. Diener's poems. I found them very insightful, honest, and highly relatable. I really enjoyed this collection and read it in two sittings. I look forward to reading more from this poet and highly recommend it to others.

My thanks to St. Martin's Griffin for letting me read a DRC of this collection of poems via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given. The book is scheduled for publication on 9/26/23.

Massive thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance e-copy. These are my honest thoughts.

"Someone Somewhere Maybe" is the poetry collection I needed when I experienced my first heartbreak. What I could not put into words, Diener did. And those words sometimes came off as song lyrics, which I was not too upset about. However, I do not believe I am the target audience of this collection and thus, had a rough time relating to the whole collection.

Diener's words are delicate and sensitive. Covering topics ranging from mental health, love, loneliness, heartbreak, and body image, each poem attempts to offer a sort of moral lesson, but it does not always meet that goal. Nevertheless, at times, it did feel like I was reading a self-help book for teenagers.

The first half of the collection definitely seemed more cohesive and put together, while the last few poems felt like they were just thrown in as a secondary thought. Diener's poems lacked the imagery and flow that I enjoy in most poetry collections, however, this unique straightforward style of hers can also be admired.

I am interested in future works of Diener and am intrigued to see her grow as a poet.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! What a beautifully written debut collection of poetry by Sophie Dinner! The fact that this author was being compared to Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur made reading this a no brainer for me. I am delighted to say that it exceeded my expectations! The author uses her own experiences of first love, heartbreak, loss, loneliness, mental health and body image to create these exquisite poems. This lyrical collection is so raw and real that it evokes emotions that everyone can relate to on some level. I will definitely be buying the hard copy to add to my collection of poetry! 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

This collection of poetry is so reminiscent of first love and first loss. It sets me deeply in my first true heartbreak with the person I thought was forever. I still wish them happy days and a happy life, but there is something to be said about unlearning a person you knew so well. The beauty in these poems is the emotion that rings true and clear and without cliche. Oftentimes rhyming can cheapen the meaning, but the way Sophie Diener has done it in Someone Somewhere Maybe is haunting.

This collection is great for those who love Rupi Kaur or relate to being a young woman. This book is filled with honesty and warmth. I would recommend young women read this and might even suggest to my future daughter if/when she loses her first true love.

I loved this so much. The characters were flawed and wonderful and I felt captivated by every page. I can't wait to read what's next from this author.

I really wanted to like this, I love poetry and this seemed like something right up my alley. But unfortunately, this really really was not for me. The poetry wasn't really in a format that I enjoy, and felt a lot more personal than I liked. The poetry was clearly a life reflection, which is fine but just didn't really work for me.

Thank you to Sophie Diener, St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy of "Someone Somewhere Maybe" for an honest review.

"Things do not have to last forever to have been meant to be."

There's a glorious paralleling of an early, first, deep falling in love being mined and reflected on within this volume of poems. We see the glorious structure of falling in love, being in love, and then how that love fell apart, which on its own could have filled this whole chapbook and has filled dozens of the modern wave of confessional poetry books. What makes this volume stand out is that the first half of the story is that, and the second is the much later present-day voice & paired poems reflecting on that time.

There's such an importance weaving through, about how love (and the lessons we learn falling in love, being in love, falling out of love, having out hearts broken by love) is just as important at every step of its life, and in the far rearview mirror. That all those things can still be cherished for exactly what they were, how, and why, no matter what the ending of them might have been. This book felt far less like looking back on a painful time and mourning it, as celebrating that a great love had happened, a swelling of the deepest gratitude for it having graced the poet's life.

I'm definitely looking forward to more ot Diener's work in the future.

📖 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦: modern 𝘱oetry
⭐️ 𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: 3/5 ⭐️
🗓️ 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦: 9/26/23

This book seemed a little cliche. I definitely think the target audience is more in the teen-mid twenties range.

Thank you to Sophie and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"Things do not have to last forever to have been meant to be." This is one of those reads that you go into hoping for one or two things to be good, but then you are completely surprised by how raw and real everything is. This collection of poetry perfectly encapsulates the emotions surrounding being a human. It is vulnerable, it is simultaneously heavy and light but most importantly it is amazing.

5/5 🌟

Thank you to Sophie and NetGalley for this ARC 💕

I love poetry that makes me feel things I didn’t realize I had hid from myself. I saw myself and my mind reflected in Sophie Diener’s writing.

I can’t wait to see what she writes next. I know it will make me feel just as much if not more than Someone Somewhere Maybe did.

Honorable mentions to my favorite poems:
Eighteen
Feelings
Between The Lines
Seasons
Expectations
Highs and Lows
I Hope You’re Happy
Birthdays
Homebody
Idyllic


Ones that I want included in my wedding vows:
Patient Love
I Do Not Need You
Vows
Home
How Do You Know?

I would gift this to someone even if they didn’t typically read poetry. You will still connect to it.

Childlike but full of wisdom, Shel Silverstein meets a Taylor Swift album. Many I hear in my head as a song. Some are so earnest and almost saccharine sweet, but then the next makes my eyes well up. It's more in the style of a Rupi Kaur which isn't my preference and the stakes feel low, but this would be a lovely collection to buy for a teenager.

I first found Sophie on tiktok and I was SO excited when I saw her book on NetGalley. I love her poems and how real and relatable they are. The last poem is my absolute favorite and I can’t wait to hear/read more of what she writes in the future.

**Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this collection!**

While Sophie Diener is compared to Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace I find her to be WAY closer to Amanda Lovelace but with a little more depth.

I'm not a tik-tokker so I hadn't heard of Diener before seeing this collection on NetGalley - I'm so glad I checked it out. This collection made me nostalgic for the way things felt when I was a teenager, but not even just the good parts. It almost made me miss heartbreak and feeling big emotions that felt like the end of the world but ended up just being Friday.

Being from a small town, a lot of these poems resonated with me in specific ways as well. Going home after years of being away and running into old high school friends, and the ebbs and flows of the neighborhood over time where everyone knows everyone.

Definitely check this one out if you like feeling big things from poems, and not just the happy stuff! Hit that preorder button to support a debut poetry collection!

This book is far outside of my preferred genre to read. I only picked this up because our blog was doing a prompt challenge and one of the prompts was, “A book outside of your normal genre”. So I saw this book and decided to try it out.

I thought the poems were well-written and I could tell that there was a lot of emotion behind them. My only problem was that I felt like this book was for a younger audience. So in reality, I shouldn’t have picked it up in the first place. The poems were about an angst teenage girl who got broken up with and how her life will never be the same. I really couldn’t handle some of the poems because they just wanted to make me cringe.

Despite all that, I still gave it 3 stars because I feel like 15 to 18-year-olds would really like this book. There wasn’t anything wrong with the poems, I just couldn’t relate to them and just felt like I wasn’t the intended audience.