the princess saves herself in this one

Sometimes the formatting didn't work for me, but overall this collection made me feel and left me very emotional.

Had this idea in my mind I was not a "poetry guy" but just a few pages into this and have to reexamine this (mis)conception. Lovelace's writing oozes empathy for herself, her reader, and humanity at large.

Poems are very simple to understand. These are just a few words put out on paper, arranged in a way to convey the direct message. The poet often talks in terms of 'I' and 'You', directly addressing the readers. There is no escaping from the truth and the pain that you have caused her. The poems seem to reach you till your bone, there is no hiding from what you have done.
Even though at times I felt like the book was treated as a channel to let out the angst, I still enjoyed most of the poems inside. They are to the point and scream for attention.

I have so many contradicting feelings about this poetry collection!

At first I was irritated by the poems. The form felt lazy, the writing—although there was an occasional poignant thought—seemed obnoxiously pretentious. It’s a super fast read, so I didn’t feel like I was wasting any time in finishing it.

And I’m happy I kept reading, because somewhere along the halfway mark I really started to enjoy the poems. The form, while still annoying, irritated me less the more I read, and I began to identify with Lovelace. A couple of times I nodded my head in agreement, and once my eyes welled up just because I could relate so perfectly to Lovelace’s words.

This book is not perfect by any means, but I think Lovelace is off to a very strong start, and I look forward to seeing her grow her talent in her future works. I’ll definitely read them.

The edition I read is released on Valentine’s Day and will be an awesome gift for myself! Gotta practice that self-love, you know.

This was a very quick read, the poems were mostly much shorter than I was expecting, sometimes just a handful of words on the page.
I don't think the format always completely worked, it was sometimes hard to tell if the italics at the end of most of the works were the title, or part of the poem, or both and this was wonderful in parts but jarring in others.
I really connected with the Princess section of this a lot, I thought the majority of poems here were heartbreaking and emotional and they brought out a lot of things for me that clearly weren't repressed as deeply as I thought they were. The highlight for me was “that is what abuse is: knowing you are going to get salt but still hoping for sugar for nineteen years.”
Sadly though, my enthusiasm waned through the three other sections. I found that quite a few of the poems about how wonderful her new partner is were directly at odds with the title of the book, so I didn't enjoy these as much.
It's by no means a bad collection though, just that I think it would have worked better as a shorter book with only the standout works, because when it's good, it's really great.
Honest, refreshing and a nicely constructed narrative.

The best thing about this collection is the raw emotion, mostly in the first quarter. With some of the poems it's difficult to tell who the subject is or what the meaning behind the poem is. Overall it's a decent book.

BEWARE, THIS BOOK MAY CHANGE YOUR LIFE <3

"The princess saves herself in this one" is a very personal and powerful poetry collection in which the author shares with the reader some pieces of her soul. This way, you can read a compilation of raw, heart-wrenching poems, and also lots of empowering words to encourage everyone to slay their own dragons.

In the first pieces of the book, Amanda Lovelace faces difficult topics such as abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, death, self-harm, and toxic friends. On the other hand, in the last section the poet talks about love, self-esteem, recovering, feminism, and social justice. And here lies the value of the book, because it teaches you that you can save yourself, that you deserve your happy ending.

I thought the self-published edition of "The princess saves herself in this one" was good (much more than good, actually), but this new edition is even better and I can't recommend it enough. The new poems the author added are amazing and I think they complement the other ones perfectly. Me myself can't wait to hold a copy of this book in my hands..

I loved this book completely! Beautiful and from the heart and soul.

I have reread the princess saves herself in this one about 5 times now, and I can't get over how much I love it. It's absolutely amazing, and has made me feel many things.

I'm not normally a poetry reader but something about these poems really hits you in the feels. They're about all sorts of things from family to body image that I think any women and probably some men would relate too. I'm seeing a lot of complaints that these aren't "real" poems but I disagree. The author really has a gift not only with words but with choosing the best ones to really hit her points home. I loved every page.

These poems are deceptively simplistic, and at first I faulted them for this, but as I read further into the collection I was more and more impacted by the emotional weight of the simple phrases. I believe that everyone will be able to relate to something in this book, and the brevity and simplicity lends itself to fans of Tumblr and Instagram poetry. Overall, this is a really heartfelt collection.

Empowering. A lovely read for someone who wants to learn to believe in themselves as a mere mortal and non-mermaid. I think it'll continue to give a lot of comfort and hope to many people.

Often, I struggle to immerse myself in poetry books, However, this book really drew me in. The changing format of how the poems were arranged kept me engaged with what I was reading and made each poem seem new and refreshing. "Forever a collector of words" grabbed me straightaway at the very start of the collection. It might be just because I definitely related which is one aspect of poetry that doesn't always happen with me. On the other hand, the sophisticated language drew me in, especially the line "i hoped my books would spill their exquisite words". This collection of poems is also great covering topics such as mental illness, fat shaming and women's empowerment. All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy poetry but also to people looking to try something new.

This is my first time reading this poet.

I thought The Princess Saves Herself In This One was an astonishing collection of poems. This collection contains the type of poems I love; intense, personal, full of dark and light, words and images that speak to the deepest, darkest part of me. The Princess Saves Herself In This One is full of beauty and pain and things that hurt and make you ache know you’re really alive. The poems in this remarkable collection are clearly and deeply personal and at time I felt like I was invading the poet’s privacy. I would have devoured this in one sitting but I had to force myself to put it aside to do other things but as soon as I had some spare time I had to keep reading. Poetry is very personal and what a thousand people will love another fifteen hundred more will hate. I read a lot of poetry and write it as well so know what I like and what speaks to me. The Princess Saves Herself In This One spoke volumes to me. I loved it and would highly recommend it. These poems are raw and emotional and rather astonishing.

the princess saves herself in this one is everything I want in poetry. Lovely and raw, heart-wrenching and hopeful, these poems boldly range in topic from loss and abuse to love and strength. They made me think. They made me feel. Some broke me apart with their honesty. Others were so relatable that I want to ink them on my skin.

I admit I was a little skeptical, but this is well-deserving of the hype. The structure of this poetry in these pages took my emotions on a journey from heartache to redemption in a truly cathartic way. Amanda Lovelace is an incredible talent, and I really look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

This was very short and quick to read. Took maybe 30 minutes to read.

I requested this from NetGalley because I've heard a lot of people on Goodreads talking about it, as well as seeing it nominated for the Goodreads Choice awards. I went through a phase of reading (and writing) a lot of poetry a short while ago, but have drifted a bit away from it in recent months, so this was the first poetry I'd read in a little while.

I have to admit, I'm not as blown away as people led me to believe I would be. I really appreciate the *message* of the collection, and the ideology of it. It's powerfully feminist and it's about reclaiming a sense of self that people have tried to take from you, and finding your own strength. It's also very relatable, as I'll discuss in a moment. There were some individual poems and lines that I really liked, enough to wish I was on my Kindle and could highlight them. (I've only just got a tablet capable of running Adobe Digital Editions, and I haven't entirely figured out how to use it.)

However, I felt it was more successful as a collection than as a set of individual poems. Like I said, some of them were gorgeous, but some of them didn't feel that... sophisticated, I guess? I'm not saying that all poems need to be deeply complicated and full of imagery and literary techniques, but I do feel like there's more to poetry than just linebreaks, and in a few poems it was hard to see what else there was to it.

Moreover, I wasn't convinced of its originality in places. I guess this goes back to the idea of it being relatable. Some experiences are all too common, and being able to write about them in a way that feels universally relevant *is* a gift. But there were poems in here that felt exactly like poems I wrote when I was 17/18 and going through some of the same things. Perhaps they used slightly different metaphors (thorns instead of shipwrecks, for example), but some of them could have been mirror images. I'm not saying mine were better or anything -- I'm just saying it's sad when you think you're original only to find that other people have had the same feelings and thoughts and written them down in essentially the same way. When reading poetry, I guess I'm looking for something a little bit more *surprising*; something that makes me perceive the same feelings from a totally different angle, instead of something that feels like it came from my notebook.

That said, the fact that some parts of it so painfully mirrored my own experiences did help me to relate to the poems and allowed me a way in to the collection, as I could bring my own experiences to it. I don't have experience of the grief that is explored later on, so I found that less directly emotional, but the parts that seemed to mimic my own life did have an emotional impact.

(As for the idea of healing / saving yourself... well, I'm torn between thinking I managed that, in my own way, and thinking I haven't got nearly as far as Lovelace in that process because mine looked so different. But that's not really a book review, that's a journal entry.)

One thing I liked was how formatting was used to construct meaning in the poems. I remember being taught about shape poetry in school, but only in a very surface-level way, without exploring its potential for emotional impact. Lovelace uses line-breaks and alignment effectively to add to the meaning of poems, and that also helps vary the collection, as does the contrast between the longer poems and those that are only a line or two long. Once or twice, the effect is created by placing related poems on what I assume are facing pages in the paperback (I read an eARC), mirroring each other's alignment on the page. I was also struck by the way that many of the poems appear to have their 'title' at the end in italics, which I found a little bit strange and distracting in places, although in some instances it was incredibly effective.

I'm a little torn about how to review this, in the end, because I really wanted to like it more than I did. I liked the message. I felt it was realistic, even if that also meant it wasn't as unique a perspective as I might have enjoyed. As I've already said, I liked certain individual poems a lot, and will probably revisit them. However, there were others that felt too simplistic to me, perhaps because my tastes run to the more esoteric imagery some poets use, and overall, I didn't particularly feel like the collection said anything *new* or innovative.

Poetry's incredibly subjective, though, and I can see this being an effective read for those who prefer poems that are easier to understand than the weird stuff I usually prefer (even when I have no idea what they're talking about).

This is my review from Goodreads, which will be cross-posted to my blog in the near future. (I'll update with links.)

I wish I could give this 5 stars. But hitting Enter after each word (or Space after each letter) does not make for poetry. It simply doesn't.

Other than that, I love The Princess Saves Herself in this One! Amanda, I understand your feelings completely. I know all about the sugar and the salt. My fingers were never slender enough. Nor were my ankles. Then I was too skinny. Then I became too fat. I was always told when getting a bad grade that I would never even get a job at sweeping floors. Then I was admonished for lacking self-confidence, for finding joy in the roles of wife and mother. I'll never please them, and no matter what anybody says, the hurt always follows you.

Thank you for the courage to speak up your mind. I'll always treasure your book.

I'm not usually a fan of poetry, I'll admit. There's something about it that makes me feel as though the form is the equivalent of modern art - interpretation is the point. As an avowed rule-follower, I'm always afraid I'm doing something wrong if I don't understand it.

The refreshing thing, for me, about this collection was that there were ones I didn't get, but could still appreciate. I requested this on the advice of a Book Riot podcast and I'm glad I did. Thanks for expanding my horizons, NetGalley!

This was such an emotional read. I don't think I've openly cried so much while reading this year. The author's words were heart-wrenching and brutally honest. My heart was smashed into tiny pieces and then carefully pieced back together again. It was beautiful, stunning, gorgeous...it's impossible to find the words that can accurately describe how I felt about this book.

I've written, erased and rewritten this review so many times. Why is it so difficult to write a review for a book that you loved? What I can say is that I'm extremely happy that I finally downloaded The Princess Saves Herself in this One. It's been all over social media this past year and was named best poetry book in the Goodreads Choice Awards. I saw it but never actually took the leap and bought it. What was I thinking? It lives up to all of the hype and more. I wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel.

I've read more poetry this past year than I ever have in the past. The Princess Saves Herself in this One reinforced why I need to read more of this genre. I may not have identified with all of the topics discussed in the book, but all of the words hit me hard. That's what's wonderful about poetry. It has a way of making you feel so many emotions, even when only a few words are used. The poems may be short but here less is definitely more!
I cannot recommend this book enough. If you haven't read The Princess Saves Herself in this One you need to pick it up. You don't even need to be a reader of poetry. You'll be hooked and so emotionally invested after the first page...it's life changing. Trust me. Just read it.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for a review!

Cover: I like the simplicity of this cover. The black and white is easy to read, the font clear, and the format gives an insight as to what is going to be shown in the book itself.

I adore Lovelace's poetry. It plucks the heartstrings and takes us on a journey of a woman that starts out as a sad, scared little girl to a queen of her own destiny. We see heartbreak (so much) and feel so deeply for the narrator.
There is such beautiful and vivid imagery in this book that I find myself dreaming of my own poems, and am inspired to write them down, due to the author's own urging to write your own story, and that poetry can be whatever you want it to be.

I've never really been a massive fan of poetry, it's just never been my kind of thing...until this book that is! I decided to request it on here and give it a try, and it was utterly beautiful. The poems ranging from heart wrenching, to inspiring are something else. I found myself screenshotting and saving a lot of them to look at in the future, because I just loved them. If you're looking for a beautiful and inspiring poetry book then this is definitely it. Thank you Amanda for creating such a masterpiece.

I am not a poetry reader. I can't remember the last time I read a poem that wasn't a mandatory Shakespeare sonnet which I was forced to decipher. So I was a bit hesitant to read this collection of poems but I had see so much love for it I thought I should give it a chance.

I have to say I am just blown away. To begin with I wasn't that impressed the poems were short and some not even 10 words long. However, I kept on reading and I started seeing it less as individual poems and more of a story. A story which has an amazing powerful message which pulls on so many strong emotions. I soon got lost in this collection of poems and got swept away in a whorl wind of emotions, and here I am on the other side, and I can now understand everyone's love for this book. It is defiantly something I will be going back to in the future to re-read and re-live these powerful words.

I absolutely loved this book of short poems. Sometimes it's difficult to put into words how you're feeling on any given day, and this book shows the light and the dark. It shows self-hatred and loathing, but it also shows growth and renewal. So many works center around just the bad or just the good. This book was a wonderful tale and journey of understanding yourself, flaws and all. I can't wait to see what else Amanda Lovelace has in store for us.

Amanda Lovelace dedicates this collection to "the boy who lived", which is extremely relatable for anyone in their 20's right now. A huge chunk of millennials grew up with Harry Potter; I'm sure he has inspired plenty of currently published work.

Lovelace isn't trying to be Plath or Keats in this collection; she isn't pretending to be anyone but herself, which is very refreshing in poetry when it seems like everyone is just trying to copy other people's styles. She lays herself bare: covering the pains of growing up, an eating disorder, an abusive situation with her mother, her relationship with her sister, and falling in love.
My favorite sections of the work were definitely parts I and IV, 'the princess' and 'you', respectively. Part I is all about looking back: looking at the childhood that scarred her, the mother that didn't love her in the right way all children deserve. Part IV is about us: the author and the reader. She is talking about us and about herself at the same time.

There will be a lot of critics of this work - people saying that 'hitting the enter key' doesn't make poetry, that the author is pretentious, that she is self-absorbed. To all of that I say: good. Let girls be pretentious. Let girls write poetry in a way that suits them the best. Allow girls to be obsessed with their own personal growth.

I'm in love with the idea of girls writing their own stories with them as the main character; they are the princess, the damsel in distress, the queen, their own knight in shining armor. They don't need negative reviews from cynical people on the internet who will never take them seriously no matter their skill level.

I hope a little princess - scared, confused, lonely, hopeless - will pick up this book someday and realize that she can also be the dragon.

Amanda Lovelace's Goodreads-choice-award-winning poetry collection is a difficult one to avoid. For the past few months it has been all over the internet, being praised and categorized as one of the best reads of 2016. 'the princess saves herself in this one' is a very, very emotional collection. Hate or love the writing style, there's no shying away from the emotions pouring out of every page.

At first, I was a bit hesitant about the writing style; it was too Tumblr-inspired, too focused on the aesthetic, and , to be honest, it felt a bit lazy however authentic. When I got closer to the end of the book, I realized that this way of writing was the only way this book would ever work. Short, emotional sentences, a lyrical flow and words carefully chosen keep you bound to its pages. Again, hate it or love it, you just can't look away.

the princess

jumped from

the tower

& she

learned

that she

could fly

all along.

This book is personal as well as emotional, with its raw, unsugarcoated, unfiltered version of life striking chords deep inside you. In less than 200 pages, Lovelace manages to include a tale of abuse, love, death, self-discovery and self-love. And it takes a genius to do so, especially in such a poetic and beautiful way.

Make no mistake: this is not an easy read. The emotions, the "events" described in its pages are hard to swallow; we are talking about rage, and self-hatred and loathing, difficult, complicated relationships and journeys, mourning of lost loved ones. The catharsis that comes at the end, however, the self-love and empowerment, are worth every single tear, every single skipped heartbeat.

This book of poetry was so emotionally connected and relatable. Lovelace talks about death and grief and abuse and mental illness and love in ways that make your stomach flip. Her ability to wield emotion in such few words is truly incredible. Please read this.

I absolutely LOVED this book and it has completely turned me back on to poetry. It helped that I really related to the themes of most of the poems but also that they were so beautifully written.

I absolutely loved this poem collection! Great for empowering and encouraging women of all ages!

Gorgeous writing! Beautifully crafted...Raw, inspired, honest... painful to read but such truth and soul! EVERY young woman MUST read. Moms and daughters need to have honest open dialogue. Read through NetGalley but will absolutely be buying my own copy. I cried tears of sadness and joy. My first real connection and appreciation of poetry!

I have been hearing “The Princess Saves Herself in this One” for some time now, never quite knowing what it was exactly and honestly never had the time to do even the quickest of Google searches to find out. When I saw it on NetGalley and found out it was poetry I decided to give it a try. I’m not very experienced in poetry, it was never a focus in my English class (which I’m sad to admit) so I’ll only be reviewing what I thought of it and not critiquing the writing or anything somebody more adept in these things could do a better job of critiquing.

The book is divided in four sections: “the princess, the damsel, the queen and you”, and while you could easily read each section separately I found each section flowed smoothly together. There was a clear progression of emotion and there were many sections that brought tears to my eyes, resonating deeply in my heart.

"where
do all the
memories go,
the ones we
hide away
with
lock &
key yet
continue
to shape
us all the
s a m e

– did it really happen if I can’t remember it?"

Most, actually almost all, of this book was in my opinion written as a catharsis for Amanda herself. But she thankfully decided to share her beautiful words and all of her deepest emotions with the world. My favourite part of the entire book was the part for “you” the reader, it had many of my favourite (and admittedly less sad) pieces.

"if you ever
look at
your reflection
& feel the desire
to tell yourself

you’re not
good enough,
beautiful enough,
skinny enough,
curvy enough,

then I think
its about time
you smashed
that mirrior
to bits,

don’t you?

– use those fragments to make stepping-stones to your own self-love."

Disclaimer: the format of the above quotes is not exact as
it may be in ARCs or in the final published pages.

For my first foray in the world of poetry I’d say it was a success and I’ll definitely be interested in reading more pieces of poetry in the future.

so so so so so so beautiful!
if you like Rupi Kaur, you'll love this collection by Amanda Lovelace

This is exactly how poetry should be. Every word chosen with such care to best evoke emotion in the reader. This collection cut me to the bone, and then I convinced everyone I know to read it in order to make them share my suffering. This book is so important. I have already ordered in copies for our bookshop, and recommended it far and wide.

This is an emotionally charged poetry collection that explores the life of the poet and deals with love, loss, grief, abuse, and finding and being true to yourself.

My thoughts:
This book was a little hard for me to rate. I loved the poetry in this book and I zoomed through it very quickly because I couldn’t get enough. But this poetry was also personal. It was so personal and so raw and true and vivid that at times I felt a little uncomfortable. I felt I was stepping into a personal zone that I ought not be. But at the same time, I liked that about the author. I love how true and personal and how “real” her poetry is. I like how she doesn’t mince words, how she uses metaphor, and how the author finds hope, inspiration and some empowerment through her journey. I also liked how this poetry wasn’t cliché, because I feel like anymore nowadays, things fall into that realm much to easily.

This book is such a heartfelt and empathetic collection of poetry that I couldn't stop reading it. I cried, at least, twice, feeling the author's struggle and pain and I cheered for her when she was happy. The poems though simple and the book though short, are deep and even long after finishing The Princess Saves Herself in this One, I recall poems and think about them and Amanda Lovelace's journey.

5 out 5 stars because I cried and smiled and wished for more. I would definitely recommend it.

The poems are absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. I can't wait to buy a copy for rereading over and over again.

This was such a beautiful book. I loved the writing and it almost felt like I could FEEL what the author felt when she wrote those words. Absolutely magnificent!

The Princess Saves Herself in this One is a poetry collection written by Amanda Lovelace. We follow her through four sections named:

I the princess
II the damsel
III the queen
IV you

Each section describes her growing up and the evolution of her feelings towards the people in her life, especially her mother and her first love, a man she calls the Dragon.

The Princess Saves Herself in this One made my eyes fill with tears. I really felt everything that was happening in almost all the poems. I loved that because, I rarely connect so well with poems. Do not get me wrong, I adore poetry, it is just that I am very picky with the poetry that makes me tremble - at moments I trembled when I read this.
The section I liked the most are II the damsel and III the queen. I connected most to those two sections. The section I slightly disliked the last one, IV you. I feel a bit disconnected from it. It was quite different from the previous ones and even a bit political. I hate when art suggests politics so strongly. It loses its beauty.


"...i am
far too
young
to be so
goddamn
broken...

~ what was the point?"

This is a part of a poem in the second section, II the damsel. It is so beautiful, and the whole poem was so strong, in meaning and in the sound of it.

One other poem I really liked is from the third section, III the queen. It made me feel so much in one fleeting moment.

"i am so glad
we were born
during the same
lifetime.

~ i may not believe in fate, but i believe in you"



There is some controversy concerning the fact that many people believe that the poems inside The Princess Saves Herself in this One are not really poems, merely words written by pressing enter after each one. I cannot completely agree, nor I agree. I think what is more important than the fact that the author Amanda Lovelace does not have the same genius in writing poetry as William Shakespeare, Francesco Petrarca Petrarch or Robert Frost, is the strong message she sends through her poems. The writing perhaps was not mind-blowing, but my heart felt every word.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Amanda Lovelace's debut book of poetry is both painful and cathartic as she takes us through the stages of her life, from an abusive mother and bad boyfriend to self-acceptance and a healthy relationship. Some of her poems are on point (see her poem about beibg an English major, and the one about growing up surrounded by books) while others are too descriptive, too much showing. I think this would bw the perfect book of poetry to give to a 16 year old girl that has an interest in writing. Thinking of myself at that age, I'd have enjoyed it much more. Lovelace gives a "Happy ending" spoiler in the beginning, and I think as a teenager, I'd have appreciated that-knowing that it does get better.

This collection worked in that I didn't put it down and enjoyed the style and organization, did not work in some of the poems themselves. However, poetry is certainly in the eyes of the beholdet, and I can see how it would be healthy for her to write then and others to read them.

I received a copy of this ebook on Netgalley in return for an honest review.

And it couldn't get more honest.

So I've only just got back into the realm of poetry after compulsory education ruined it for me. Yes, forcing teenagers to sit and analyse classical poetry in silence is one way to make you never touch the stuff again, but the princess saves herself in this one is a must read for anyone, but could well be the savior for forced poetry reading teenagers everywhere.

Not only is it raw and heartbreaking, each poem tells a short story with an over-arching theme; life will try to ruin you, but only you can fight to survive it. Each poem feels more and more relatable, hitting you in the heart with a pen shaped spear. Amanda Lovelace's voice is truly one to not ignore.

This was much better than I expected, if I'm being honest. Short bursts of poetry tell a running narrative over the course of the pages, covering loss, grief, love and more. Don't let the snobbery in other reviews put you off. Writing, like all art, is subjective and the meaning of poetry covers a wide range, despite some reviewers wanting to keep it within a very narrow category. Overall, the work was raw at times, poignant at others and a really satisfying emotional read.

What a beautiful book. The vision of the words on every page drew me in to your tale, and brought tears to my eyes. I hope to continue to see more of your writing. I've been following you on tumblr and was thrilled to get a chance to read your book. Fantastic!

THIS. I haven't read poetry in years and then comes THIS and it sweeps me off my feet.

It is so emotional, real and raw while tackling a whole bunch of important issues but most importantly and what impacted me the most is the self-love message that it conveys. Most poems revolve around that.
What is striking as well is that the poems have a kind of chronology to them so while they each are independent, they are part of a bigger story, a story of loss, love, grief and getting back up after a hard fall.

Some of them were so relatable that it got overwhelming, I cried reading some and reflecting on my own experiences and how perfectly the poems sum them up. Everyone should read this collection of poems, it is so beautiful. I personally think that the bast way to read it is to savour it, I read it over the course of a few days while I know I could've finished it in an hour or two.

READ IT.

Amanda Lovelace somehow did the impossible…she made me fall in love with poetry. I really enjoyed reading into her life, and silently rooting for her the whole way. Her story is a life that starts out hopeless and very, very sad, but it later blossoms and grows into a life worth living – a happy one, all about YOUR(her)SELF. Her story is so relatable, and can reach so many people who struggle with similar issues. All you have to do is read this book, and you’ll know that, despite everything, you will eventually be okay.

I love her style – she writes a poem that is then followed by a short sentence, either summarizing the above poem or driving home a hard point. I think this is so creative and inventive, and I was blown away by how she used this structure.

This poetry book is phenomenal. I'm not usually a fan on poetry, however I follow Amanda Lovelace on a lot of social media and had scene a lot of her poetry before so I decided to give it a chance. Let me tell you, this book honestly changed me. The raw emotion that I could feel is something so rare. Amanda is so brave for sharing this part of her life with everyone and I have so much respect. Even though I could not personally relate to every poem in this book, I still felt like I could understand them and felt a strong emotional connection to the author and each individual poem. I would 100% recommend this book to EVERYONE, in fact I have recommended it to many people in my life. You can connect to this at any age and any point in your life. Truly a masterpiece.

This was such an empowering collection of poems. It was brutal, honest and deeply personal.

I'm starting to read more poetry. This was a good choice. What a title, by the way!

This book is a heart wrenching insight into the authors life. And I'm sure, will feel like an arrow to the heart to the many readers that can relate to it. A modern take on the poetic form, I thoroughly devoured these poems and will happily purchase a hardcopy so for me to truly get the most out of these words.
Each poem that resonated me felt both like a relief and a sucker-punch all at once. A truly great read.

This poetry is so gut-wrenching and emotional. I laughed and cried. I was inspired and moved. I felt Amanda's pain and power through the words. I adored the majority of the poems in here and I loved how they were interconnected. I read this all in one sitting.. This is what poetry is all about.

The poetry in this book is incredibly personal and important. I think everyone needs to read this in order to understand that even if people are against us we need to stand up and fight. And we'll continue to do so until people realize that we're all equals and every single one of us matter.

Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a free copy for review,
and to Goodreads, who put this on my radar when it won the top book in the poetry genre for 2016.


This book blew me away -- socks, hair, heart and soul -- from nearly the very first words dedicating it to The Boy Who Lived from The Girl Who Survived. I was hooked. I cried and choked, and saw myself in almost all of her poems. I saw the relationships with my mother, and my sisters, and food, and smoking and cancer. I saw the complicated way love and hurt are twined forever in a dance that exists both during the lives of those people and long after the parting from them.

I saw my own relationships with my dragons -- boys who loved me, but not enough or well enough, and girl friends who did not understand the friend part of that word the way I thought I did, or we did. I loved the discovery of self. Confused and faltering, fledging and demanding. The whole of love for the self, claimed slowly, and always with the ghosts of yesterday's which never leave entirely.

I nearly wept when she turned to the last chapter, the 'you', and she spoke out to all the people who have been hurt, marginalized and told so many things that are not true. I want to buy five hundred copies of this book and give it out to all my girlfriends on Galentines Day. I want to keep handing it out forever. This was gorgeous and it deserved every accolade laid at its feet and a million more on top of it. My heart now rests on that pile, with no regrets.

I can't begin to say how much i enjoyed reading this. For poems with a few words they packed a mighty emotional punch. I felt each carefully chosen word to such a point i knew they'd got under my skin and i found myself thinking about them days later. I didn't know if i was a poetry person but after reading this i can definitely say i am.

This is a collection of poetry by Amanda Lovelace. The theme of this book is resilience and the poems deal with everything from life and love and grief and vulnerability. Amanda puts herself out there and shares her heart in her selection of quirky yet fun line breaks. An empowering and inspiring read.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

This was one good read. Though I didn't feel like it can be called poetry by standard definition, I still loved reading it. After all, a poem doesn't have to rhyme; a poem doesn't have to not rhyme. I was more focused on the contents than the structure and it was awesome. The imagery was beautiful.

This was incredible. It was so relatable and powerful. I barely have words that can fully describe how amazing this book is.
It both broke my heart and mended it...

The writing was excellentè!

The writing was so different and yet so gorgeous. Although- I suppose it is technically poetry, but this is where the conflict comes in. It is classified as poetry, but I saw it more like just writing in verse, because that’s what I’m used to and this would be quite informal for poetry. However, it was still quite interesting, and I feel like the writing being all lowercase added to the… Ambiance, I suppose?
The story was heartbreaking.

I was in a public place the whole time I was reading this book. I was struggling very hard to not cry. It was incredibly difficult. I’m rather astonished I didn’t.
Whoosh! Wait, where did the book go?
Into the never-ending depths of Amy’s crazy pit of a mind, that’s where.

The whole book just went so fast. It was like- Oh, look at this sweet little book of poetry!

…

Dear Lord, I’m going to cry. Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. *fans face*

…

Wait, what? That’s the end? It wasn’t a good thing or a bad thing, it just really surprised me. I probably read this book over the course of a couple hours? Ish? In any case, it was extremely fast, and I almost felt like I had to read it again because of how quickly it went.
I was vastly confused for a rather large chunk of the book.

I didn’t actually understand that all of them were the same person until I got to the third portion of the book. I didn’t connect a lot of the dots. And then I felt like I had to reread that part because of how confused and disconnected I was.
Even though I didn’t really feel like it was poetry, it really wasn’t a story.

There wasn’t really a plot, and although there are some characters, there is a ton of feeling and not necessarily a lot of explaining. So it was a book of poetry, not a story, even though it was written like one. Confused? Me too.
In any case, I enjoyed it and I might just need to reread it.

For all of the quickness/confusion faults of this book, it was still very sweet and very emotional. I totally felt for the author as I was reading it, and I think it was very brave and wonderful of her to be able to publish this book.

I read the original edition when it first came out and I thought it was breathtakingly amazing and relevant. Although it didn't let me read this new edition of this title, I already know that the new pub'd version with new poems will be even better. Now that it has released, I'm going over to B&N to buy it. :)

I loved this collection. I actually recommended it to a student today. I hope this collection sells a ton and gets many accolades because I think it's well deserved.

I saw this one on NetGalley & decided to reread it - I bought it last year when Amanda Lovelace initially self-published it, but I thought this would be a good excuse for a reread & wanted to check out her new poems as well.

While this might be the type of poetry for everyone, (however, just saying that brings me back to my countless English lit classes as we read & observed how one generation after another would take a form & manipulate it to their will - so I think while one say say a certain type of poetry isn't for them, I think it is harder to define what poetry is or is not based on what one person expects from a form -- anyway), I really enjoyed reading it. I have a few favourite pages / poems, but what I really liked about this one is seeing the growth of the narrator/amanda from someone who doesn't believe she is worth anything to someone who learns to save herself.

Seriously - this book has changed my LIFE.

I will forever recommend this to anyone who listens or asks me for a recommendation. From what I've seen, it's impact is far reaching and inspiring to so many. I am incredibly lucky to have been able to read this one and cannot wait to continue to see the worlds reaction to this amazing poetry book.

I don't do poetry. Most of the time, I don't understand what I'm reading. The other half of the time, I think I get the story and it's completely different than what I thought. So because of that, I tend to stay away. I've read so many amazing reviews about this poetry collection specifically, so I felt like I needed to see what the fuss was about. It definitely left me feeling emotional. The poetry was so simple, yet the words hit you hard. I'm really glad that I went out of my comfort zone to read this. It definitely was what I needed at the time.

So as bit of a disclaimer, I would like to admit I’m not the biggest fan of poetry. In part, I believe this is because of how it was forced down my throat in school. As a result, I never really explored all it had to offer and I’m just now starting to slowly see what else is out there.

I first started hearing great things about the princess saves herself in this one when Amanda Lovelace self-published this book of poetry last year. Even though I do not read poetry often, I put this poetry collection in my TBR pile right away because of the messages and themes presented in it.

I picked up the princess saves herself in this one and could not put it down. The great thing about poetry is how short it actually is. Due to the length of the poems, I flew through the book. The poems were short but powerful, and I couldn’t help but feel a connection, even though I personally had not gone through what the author has. It was a very emotional and empowering read, and there were even some parts were I had tears in my eyes.

The collection is spilt into four parts: the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you. The first three parts all focus on the author and her own life journey and struggle while the last part is addressed to the reader. The last part is so universal that many will be able to connect to the different poems woven into this last section.

Overall, the princess saves herself in this one is a powerful read that even non-fans of poetry will enjoy. Definitely a must read for teenage girls!

My Rating: 4.5 stars

This poetry book was just mesmerizing. I saw a lot of people raving about this book and I decided to give it a try as well. And oh, my, God! I thought this book would take some time to read but once I started, it was impossible to stop. I finished it in less than half an hour.

This collection of poems is divided into four parts- the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you. Each of the parts was unique and beautiful. I especially teared up during the damsel part.

The complaints I saw from a few people on Goodreads was about the writing style. But for me, that completely worked! I liked how the writing easily flowed and kept me captivated throughout the book. Whereas I could relate to some of them, the others melted my heart.

Overall, The Princess Saves Herself in this One is a beautiful collection of poems that I would love to read over and over again. I loved the writing style and every little thing about this book! For me, this book was definitely an ideal start to reading poetry. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

Recommend it?

Yes!

I don't read much poetry but I've seen a lot of people talking about this book so I decided to give it a go. It's quite unlike the poetry I've read before, lots of short poems as well as some longer ones and all merging into one story. The storytelling element made it feel like a cross between a short story and poetry and made it very interesting to read. I liked the layout splitting it into princess/damsel/queen, though given the title I would have liked a bit less of the Prince Charming comes along and helps the princess to save herself and a bit more of a princess saves herself and is happy without a prince. But other than that I liked the fairytale analogy. I also liked that some of the poems were shaped on the page, for example a poem about locking away memories in the shape of a keyhole. Overall I really enjoyed this book and it was nice to read something different for a change, it's definitely convinced me to try more poetry in the future too!

Deeply impressed with the
content,
message,
strength,
courage.
Love how it’s broken into different parts and the whole is an empowering story.
Connected and understood a lot of the pain as I’ve been in similar situations throughout my life.


It’s not going to be for everyone, and that’s okay. I’m no fan of certain overhyped classics. It is what it is.

However, complaining it’s “Tumblr poetry” is insulting, dismissive, and frankly, stupid.

“It’s so angsty and emo, lol. We used these for MSN statuses!!”

yeahhhh, right, sure. Did you have justifiable reasons for being hurt, angry, upset, and are scarred from those reasons? Has it altered your life?

As an abusive victim, fuck you all for being so dismissive as if abuse is just emo bullshit crying for attention from a crush. I just...what is wrong with ya’ll?

Poets have played with the formatting since forever. It’s constantly changing, ffs.

If CAPS, makes you read it as shouting. If italics, bolding, periods.between.words, ellipses...between...words, if allthewordstogether, makes you read it differently, then how can you argue against page formatting?

How many of you complain about indie books and LACK of formatting, saying it’s unreadable? Of course formatting makes a difference!

It’s not just “pressing enter after a couple of words”, it’s deliberate breaks, white space, and word choice.

If you don’t like it, can’t relate, whatever. Fine. But how fucking dare you dismiss someone’s heart and soul on the page as “not art” and “not real poetry” because of line breaks.

I think complaining the title gives it away is also stupid. And let’s face it, most of those people are going to be hypocritical jackass who don’t call out other books doing the same thing, like Whatshisface Dies at the End. Were you hoping the princess died or got saved by someone else? If so, fuck you again with that bullshit. Why assume the princess cannot save herself and it’s such a surprise she did? Stupid sexism.

I’m so, so tired of bullshit. I’m done.

4.5

Wow. This book. It was intense.
To be honest, I really didn't know how to review this book. I cried a lot, I felt identified with many of the things that the author said in this book and I really understand her. I really felt what she felt and I do really understand that going through all those problems is really difficult, but she did, and that is really encouraging.
There has been a debate about whether this book is poetry or not. I think that it's not, just as many people said these book has verses more than poems, but overall these "verses" were absolutely amazing and made feel emotional. I feel sad, happy, angry, all at the same time. And that is what I appreciate about this book and made me love it so much.
I can't write more about this book because words can't do it justice. It's a powerful book that I recommend to everyone that has gone through difficult problems, been rejected, been bullied, been told that they are no good; because it really doesn't matter if you've been told horrible things, you are going to overcome them no matter what.

I do not read a lot of poetry, but I really liked it.

I loved it. Long after I've finished I'll still go and reread it. I have recommended it to so many people to read this book!

The poems in this book gave me life!!! I cannot thank Amanda Lovelace enough for writing such beautiful poetry that I think is needed in a time like now... Absolutely beautiful

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. They were thought provoking and made one examine the world around them.