This slim poetry collection reads like a strange dream. That's a compliment.
it is technically a story-in-verse, a tale of a young man and his patron of the arts and the complicated relationship between the two. Or it can be read as a collection of standalone poems about love and obsession.
I was primarily drawn in by the language and imagery, and must say, the author has a lovely way with words. That's another compliment. Two for review is plenty.
Well worth checking out. Thanks Netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this short ARC. I don't generally read poetry, but I was drawn to the cover and said why not. The only words that I have are hauntingly beautiful. The poetry tells a story of Isabella and her patron. The relationship is violently tragic in a beautiful way.

To me, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed how it's between two people in a relationship. This book is created by poems and each one switched perspectives between the two. In the afterward, the author, Antonia Rachel Ward, explains how she first was writing this as a book but then was motivated by Querencia Press and Emily Perkovich for bringing it to life and was inspired by Alexander McQueen:Savage Beauty to write it. Each poem is descriptive and as amazingly done with the wording. I rate it a 4/5 stars. I'm not a huge reader when it comes to poems but this one makes me want to get into reading more. I'm grateful to have found NetGalley so I'm able to find a book like this and more. I'm hoping soon I can find another amazing find.

I'm not really a poetry person and to be perfectly honest I didn't realize this was poetry. That being said, it was pretty interesting. There was a lot of strong emotions. I think it's worth a read

3.5

I am not a huge poetry reader so I can never quite grasp the prose and sometimes find myself getting a little bit confused... but this was beautifully written and it was dark and I enjoyed it.

A short but impactful collection of poetry that explores the toxic relationship between muse and artist. Told with unsettling dark imagery, this was a unique collection.

A small collection of poetry inspired by the work and creations of the late and great Lee McQueen. A poignant reminder of how is creations exuded life in its rawest form. Certain parts of the poems reminded me of very specific creations of his, and in the end the author matches her poems to his collections, giving us a visual representation of her own creation. Loved every minute.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this book

This is a small book of poetry that comes together to tell a story and some of the poems I did like but in all it did not capture me as much as others but still found it a good read

The Patron is a sensual and shadowy collection of poems depicting the toxic relationship between artist & patron, where each gets exactly what they thought they wanted - destroying each other in the process. This could be a quick read, but I enjoyed taking my time to explore the "nooks and crannies" of these poems and dive into the various relationships - between artist & muse, art & artist, artist & audience. In the Afterword, the author notes that this originally started as a novelette. I wish there had been a bit more to this story, whether in a larger poetry collection or the originally planned novelette. As a reader, I feel a bit left out of some of the story.

A teeny-tiny collection of poems compiled in a way that reads as a story of a sexual? romantic? relationship between two individuals of different tax brackets.

I really liked this format—made it easier to understand the flow of the prose!

(Thank you, Querencia Press and NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC.

I don't normally read poetry: however, I was intrigued by the premise of this collection of work. While reading, I found myself entranced by how decisive each word choice was. I was enthralled by the continuation of the story line as well. I previously had not read a collection of poetry that flowed that way.

The thing that kept this from being a 5 star read for me was how I got lost in a few of the poems and couldn't pinpoint the spot on the timeline. With my lack of experience reading poetry, it is a fair assumption that it could just be me.

Overall, I thought this was a raw and poignant collection of poetry.

Quick and beautiful. It was my first time reading a collection of poems like this, where they tell a story, and I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that the dynamic between the artist and the patron was a little difficult to follow (or maybe I'm just dumb).

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was fine? I think the overarching concept and themes, particularly the power dynamic between patron and artist are really interesting, but it falls apart at the level of craft. The author doesn’t seem to use actual line breaks but just breaks up sentences into clauses on different lines, the images are often pretty trite and unexciting, and the exploration of the themes is very surface level.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a quick read of insightful prose.
Thoroughly enjoy over Marionette.

The Patron by Antonia Rachel Ward
A book of verses / poems. Very talented and thought provoking writings. I enjoyed reading this advanced copy that I received from Net Galley.