I think I would have appreciated this collection more if I were younger. There were a few poems that made little Melissa very happy. Students and young women/older girls will probably enjoy this a lot. Basically right book, wrong time for me.

This collection of poetry is not just beautiful; it’s a deeply moving exploration of sentiments and emotions girlhood and womanhood. It resonated with me deeply.

While it does lack some depth and the arrangement of lines occasionally feels disjointed, the overall imagery is stunning, and it tackles the theme of coming of age in a uniquely captivating way, with a strong presence of witchy and natural elements throughout.

Loved it.

Of Elderberry, Fire, & Fables by Bridgette Valentine is a spellbinding journey through the delicate balance of life and death. This modern fairytale weaves together themes of tragedy, change, and the inexorable passage of time, all while pushing the boundaries of human nature. Valentine’s prose is entrancing, creating a world where the lines between reality and fable blur, leaving readers both enchanted and introspective.

Dear Author,

thank you for writing about coming of age in late twenties/thirties in such magical, natural way.

***

Some books can see through me, but I didn't expect this time comes from this one. When I reached the age this book is talking about, it's as if everything is behind and in front of me. I feel the whole universe happens at the same time, yet I can behold clearly what's ahead and what's left. It's a peculiar novel feeling that people rarely discuss or adapt it in media (at least what I can reach and afford) because I feel it—it's hard to properly and fully describe how it is.

But this is as if these poems speak for me.

There are times when I feel really young, when I can go back easily to where I grew up. There are times I know I'm getting older and enjoy it, this is what it's like to be wiser, to be content. There are times when I find routine a comfortable space, there are times when old passions burn even wilder.

On top of that, I am amazed at how the words spew out effortlessly. Earthy, mossy scent mingles with airy imagery; Thick, deep desire pairs with mundane activities. It is people (especially women) who live at the same period of time as me. It is me. How? We have definitely different lives and we are connected. Line by line resonates like radio signals. My thoughts and heart are on air.

"Crows begin to rest in the corner of our eyes. Our laughs leave residue like stardust in the creases of
our cheeks. Silver strikes strands of hair like lightning in
a rain storm, leaving us forever changed. Age leaves its mark.

But we are fables. We are legends. We are in our girlhood, forevermore in
our little corner of the
cosmos."

If you want to know how it is to be me, to be you, read the poem above and more.

***

Many thanks to NetGalley and Querencia Press for this lovely ARC of poetry collection.

This is the first poetry book I have read in a couple of months and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere was ethereal and the poems followed a similar tone throughout which flowed well. I enjoyed that the poems were short but still packed a punch. The descriptions were beautiful with every word feeling like it was crafted and chosen carefully. The grief and longing undertones were strong and led to a peaceful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Querencia Press for this Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This collection earned its affiliation with folklore. With a focus on the human experience and reflection on her younger self, Valentine carves an image of her young-adult experience that resonates beyond the subject matter at hand.

"Not a Thought in My Mind" stood out quite early in the collection. It casts an image of regret that feels universal. Valentine captures a sentiment, perhaps shared among all metacognitive beings, that we regret the faults we develop throughout life. This poem captured the author's awareness that in another universe, she may not be too much for even herself, that she may be a better version of what she is. The second to last sentence resonated: "in another universe, I've never crossed paths with someone like me."

Above all, Valentine's collection is a brief treatise on the multifaceted nature of longing: how we hunger for passion, to change the past without changing how we have grown, to become delicate without being fragile. For those of us who carry the experience of life on the tips of our tongues, it's satisfying to find a poet who captured it in words.

Much like abstract art the poems in "Of Elderberry, Fire & Fables" is definitely out there. I would love nothing more than to write a positive review but I truly have nothing positive to say about this book. I do not recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this In return for an honest review.

This was a beautiful collection of poems using floral language covering themes like nature and love. I think it would pair really nicely with illustrations or as a prompt for an art piece. My personal favourites are: Olive, Saturn return and For Eve.

This was a quick and pleasant read. It's not my favourite, but it had some poems that hit close to home. I still will recommend it because I know to some people it will be a better fit.

"But we are fables. We are legends. We are in our girlhood, forevermore in our little corner of the cosmos."

Finding an author whose writing resonates with you is a surrealistic feeling and I just found Bridgette Valentine. I am grateful to #netgalley for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I started reading this book and I felt the beauty of it.

I love poetry. I love the rhythm that poetry brings, I love the beauty that poetry shows, I acknowledge the pain that poetry offers. This book has most of the things that I search in a poetry book. I love it when poem feels like poem. When verses are verses and nothing else.

'Of Elderberry, Fire, & Fables' is a short collection of poems and verses: about nature and beauty, hopes and dreams, love and life, fables and fairytales.

The word choices, the sentences and everything are so beautifully put together. I read this book and now I know I want to read more from this author.

There is this poem called 'Crowing'. This poem is stunning. It's my favourite. There is another poem that I loved. 'Tuesdays belong to us.'

"And if there's a chance of a forever someday, it looks a lot like your freckles and feels a lot like a Tuesday."

The poem called 'Wiser' made me awestruck. Because,

"We are grave dirt, we are hand picked wildflower bouquets resting on the mounds of fresh earth. We are wise when we know to be."

Dear author, I appreciate your hard work. I see the beauty that you put here in the book. A book that makes me think is a book that gets my love.

"I wonder in how many life times I've made time for the stars. That I've looked to the heavens for fellowship. Our bones hold traces of stardust. The very structures that hold us up are molded in folklore and creation.
I think I am homesick."

- these lines! these lines! oh my god! so poetic, so beautiful. I don't mind living my days thinking about some verses that I read in a book. After a long time, I read such good modern poetry.

These days, some regrets visit my door. And do you know why is that? I didn’t have enough words to describe it. I am no author. So I couldn’t talk about it. Then I read this book and I read,

"Life felt so long until late. Girlhood was a millennium and my early twenties was a decade. Only now, at the peak of my happiness, is every year a blink. Nearly thirty and I see fifty peering from between the slants of the blinds."

Nothing resonated with me the way these lines did. I will go back to this book again, to read the lines that I highlighted. Because,

"I feel nothing and everything. Words and feelings drip out in agonizingly slow motion. Stretched out like a yawn."

4.75 stars!

I really enjoyed this book of poetry that gave me feelings of deep longing. I enjoyed the writing style and the themes of most of the poetry. Overall I felt it worked together as a whole nicely.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This is the book of poetry that you read on one of those hot summer's day with a slight breeze in the air that offers no relief.
Of Elderberry brings the longing, the heartbreak, and the yearning of love on pages that will haunt you and wrench out your own heartbreak.

This is honestly one of my new favorite poetry collections. The themes align perfectly with my interests and I love the writing style. My only issue is that it seemed to jump around between themes. I found that the language was very lovely without being overly flowery. My personal favorite is “Not a Thought in My Mind.” Overall, I deeply resonated with this collection and would love to read more from this author.

Publishing date: 05.07.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and Querencia Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: I am foraging in the forest with my lifelong partner, eating a few berries as I pick them
The book left me: Smelling petrichor

Negatives:
Lacks depth
The way the lines were arranged felt a little broken

Positives:
Beautiful imagery
Deals coming of age in a very unique way

Features:
Witchy and natural imagery, would fit well with the Tumblr girlies (affectionate), themes like coming of age and grief of who you used to be

Why did I choose this one?
More poems. And I judged the book by its cover again (it is very pretty). This just seemed like something I would like

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. The poems are very short and there are very few of them. It could be devoured in one sitting or scattered over a period of time. I decided to finish it in one day.

What was the vibe and mood?
Witchy, foresty, I can smell berries and petrichor, I am crying because I wish I could comfort the girl I used to be, but I am also happy for the woman I became

Final ranking and star rating?
3 stars, C tier. Although this is a beautiful collection, it is a little disjointed and shallow. This is more vibes than anything else. It touches upon a lot of themes that would hit home, but it just barely scraped me instead. I think it might work for newer readers of poetry.

Favorite poems:
Tuesdays belong to us
Saturn Return
Crop Circle
Telephone Poles
Taurus

"in another universe, my words are always wrapped in lavender and a gentleness that spreads like kudzu. in another universe, i've never crossed paths with someone like me."

i'm not generally too picky with poetry but this one fell flat for me. something about it felt incomplete and lacking depth, like it was more of a compilation of tropes and styles the author likes than something uniquely personal. i did enjoy a few of them, namely "not a thought in my mind" and "alice". but overall, it was pretty bland.

A beautifully evocative collection of poems that brought me painfully back to my early 20s. The repeated imagery of bones and fire and berries all wove together and will linger in my mind for a while.

Beautiful imagery though it all felt a bit... shallow? And sometimes a bit too broken with the way lines were arranged (didn't make any sense to me).

There were a few lines that stuck with me but especially the following: " I have planted roses in every pore of my body just to pluck them and put them on the graves of all the girls I used to be." 💜

I love how the author shows that she has so much pain and hurt in her, but there's still those itty bitty glimmers of hope speckled in between that make it worth it. Truly mesmerizing. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. I feel like I could pick this up at a later time, and still get that emotional pull this had on me the first time I read it.
I received an advance reader copy and want to thank the publisher for the opportunity to read this prose.

I really did not like this. It's too dark and in a way that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and an unsatisfying one.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐨𝐟-𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲. 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫!

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒 𝒱𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑒, 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒾𝒶 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.