You Are Here

This is an accessible and very relatable collection of poems. Some of them were truly heartbreaking, showing how reminiscing on love - while sometimes brutal - can also remind you of why you fell in love with the other person in the first place. I especially loved the transition of the poems from slightly longer ones that let you get used to the author's voice to really short poems that packed an emotional punch and left you reeling for a while.
All in all, a beautiful collection I'd recommend to anyone out there looking for a new, fresh voice in poetry.

I couldn't wait to read this book and as soon as I got an eARC off Netgalley and read those first lines, I knew I would enjoy it. This is a collection of poems that explore, love, self-love, relationships and awareness. There are an array of poems that explore feelings of joy, uncertainty, fear, love, loss, hope -and the fragility of life. Some of my favorite poems are "Only if you must," "Staying is your choice," and "The tale of the girl."
Love the simple black and white illustrations at the beginning of each section of the book.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC. It's just sad that I cannot quote a line or two of the book given that it's just an advance copy that I read.

"These lives we could have lived?
Let us live them."

The first section of You Are Here has a deep longing sadness running through every word that transitions into a sort of melancholy healing in the second and third sections. This book explores self-love and relationships with very elegant writing.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC!

This is my second book by Dawn Lanuza. I love her writing style!

Her poems are so beautiful. I can definitely relate to these feelings.
Some poems were so sad, but others gave me peace and hope.
It made me feel less alone in this crazy world. Thank you.

This is my second Dawn Lanuza collection, and I loved it just as much as the first one I read! I loved the essence of healing and loving yourself that exists throughout this collection. The poems are all really lovely and wonderful <3

Wow, goodness. I knew this would be good after I read and loved The Last Time I'll Write About You. This book doesn't have a content warning, but I'll list some of the things that I noticed in any case:

Mental health issues
Eating disorder references
Suicidal ideation
Rocky past relationships

These themes are common enough in contemporary feminist poetry, and specifically common to Dawn's body of work, but I think there is a clear development of skill in writing craft between this and the last thing I read of hers. Also, I want to note how clever I thought it was that Dawn seemed to self reference the title of her last collection in this one with a poem that read simply,

I still
write about
you
sometimes

There was not a slow point within these poems. Individual lines were punchy but also worked well within the larger poems they were set within.

I very much felt the flowing of hope and change that life throws at everyone, even though I don't feel as though there was a solid scope of actual time given within this collection. The tone of the words did all of that without the need for it.

One thing I particularly liked was how Dawn's words made it clear how important another person's autonomy is, even if you disagree with them choosing to leave your life. This is true all the way through, but a particular poem titled, "it is not mine," really rammed this point home for me.

You Are Here was a good read.

My partner and I recently broke up and some of the poems were definitely relatable. It was really heartbreaking, sad, but at the same time, it reminds me of how much I love him despite what happened.

I loved that this collection promotes self-love/self-care cause that's what I'm doing now, focusing on my self -- healing.

One of my favorites is "staying is your choice".

Honest, sad, true, and kind. This poetry collection is accessible and completely relatable.

This collection reminds you that you are not the only one - that we've all been through some version of this, but we've all made it though just fine.

First, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this gorgeous poetry collection.

This is the second poetry collection written by Dawn Lanuza. And I have to say that some of them resonated with my so much.
Growth and change were the main subjects in this collection. And this was exactly what I needed right now.

Now, there was a thing that I didn't quite understood. There was a blank page after every poetry, but despite the fact they each had a title, there were some who didn't. And I didn't understood if they weren't complete yet or maybe that was the point.

But beside that, this book was gorgeous in its own way, and I want to show you some paragraphs:

No one knows how to love me when I'm sad
and I can't blame them for that
I don't even know how to love me
when the voices come at night
I hate and hate and hate
even when I fight.

(This one is from "how to love in the dark")

You don't feel safe in yourself anymore
terrified of doing something
uttering a single thing
you can't recover from
{...}
You're the darkness,
desperately seeking moonlight

(from "true nightmare")

Being strapped in a roller coaster of your emotions
and you just want to get out
but your seat belt's tucked tight
and the ride just won't stop.

(from "roller coaster")

If you found yourself lost
and can't seem to turn back
consider that -
you're not supposed to turn around.

(from "maps")

And there are many more that I bookmarked and loved.
This collection comes out on 12 February 2019. So, if you like these paragraphs and are curious of the other poetry, make sure to buy this.

I wish that I would have had this book years ago when I was in college. Lanuza’s direct and lovely lines speak right to the heart. Her words remind me of the lyrics to a song and many of these poems would work well as song lyrics.
I signed up to receive a free advanced reader copy of this book from Net Galley because I am particularly interested in the work of female poets, especially if they are of minority descent. This was my first time reading any of Lanuza’s work and I will say that I was not disappointed.
You Are Here takes the reader on a hopeful journey from heartbreak to healing. Lanuza’s straightforward writing includes many clever turns of phrase to delight the reader. I found this book to be a quick and enjoyable read.
Lanuza’s work is deeply heartfelt. She manages ot capture in verse huge and complex emotions. Her words transported me back to my college years- a tumultuous time in my life when emotions were larger than life and everything seemed to have such lasting importance.
The second part of this collection, “How it Bends,” really captures the depths of sorrow one can feel when love is lost. Although it has been many years, I can still remember the pain of losing my first love.
Lanuza’s poems explore the complexity of womanhood. She grapples with important issues that impact many girls and women, such as: appearance, body size, skin color, and what it means to grow into adulthood. Thoughts on the complexity of womanhood
One of my favorite aspects of this book was the recurring theme of the beauty of words. I can very much empathize with Lanuza’s longing for a bookish love.
My favorite piece in this collection was the poem in which the author wrestles with the question of when would be the appropriate time to tell her new significant other that she struggles with depression. Although my situation is different, I experienced a similar internal struggle when I needed to decide when it would be the appropriate time to reveal my own complex medical history and my inability to have children to my fiancé.
Although the collection ends with a feeling of hopefulness, Lanuza refuses to end her book with a trite “happily ever.” She explains in a letter to the reader that some of these poems were taken from her chapbook, This is How It Starts. She tells the reader that although her chapbook had a happy ending, she realizes that life is far more complex than that. “You define what happily ever after means. It might change as you go about your way, and that’s okay.”
It was refreshing to remember just how big and life changing it can feel to fall in love. I would recommend this book to fans of Young Adult and New Adult Literature. I know that Lanuza has written some YA romance novels as well and I am interested to read them.
Note: I received a free digital advanced reader copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for anhonest review.
(Trigger warning: depression, suicidal ideations, disordered eating

This collection of poems only grew stronger the more I read it.  These are highly relatable poems about heartbreak and loss and healing and depression.  Many of these poems are empathetic, and some are extremely, extremely poignant.  Lanuza understands what it's like to sleep too much, to sleep not enough, to grasp for control and comfort and affection and not obtain it.  

My favorite poems from this collection include "Plans," "A Silent Prayer," "Honey Sweet," and my absolute favorite, "Off With Your Head."  She understands the need to write, the need to heal, the need to recuperate.  So much of this collection is based off of understanding (if you couldn't tell!), and that makes it all the more accessible.

Design-wise--look at that cover!  It's cute, fresh, and absolutely contemporary.

Allow this book to fall into your hands.  Allow yourself to read it and to love it and to heal.  You'll thank yourself for it.

you were my first draft

You accused me of holding back

even when
you had
all of my
unedited
parts

This is my second book by Dawn Lanuza and I can say that I enjoyed this more than the The Last Time I’ll Write About You. While there are some I’m already familiar with, there are entries I related with and really loved!

You Are Here tells us things about love, relationships, heartbreaks, acceptance and etc. Some of the entries are empowering, some hurt and some will make you realize things. I love how these words tug at my heart and how these feelings relate to me.

Thank you for your words once again, Dawn Lanuza.
You Are Here is a beautiful collection of poems about everything that comes from relationships. The love you share, heartbreak and loss that may come, the loneliness, and depression as well. Most importantly, the poems explore the relationship many of us grasp to truly have.. the one with ourselves. These were my favorite pieces.

"It is through this-the simple act of eating alone-that I am learning how to be my own."

Definitely recommend this one. <3

Lanuza is a talented writer and I enjoyed her ability to share her feelings in such an artistic and thoughtful way. She shared deeply powerful messages in poetry format and although there was a lot of sadness there was also a lot of self-love and hope. This book covered a wide array of issues including rocky past relationships, loss, body image and suicide ideations which may be triggering for some.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for giving me an opportunity to read this. All opinions are my own.

Enjoyed this so much! Lovelier stories, stronger emotions, better version. There's breaking through and moving forward ad hoping and guiding light and aaahhh! Just wonderful things full of growth. And yes, I know the author and got this from Net Galley, but facts only here, guys. So GET EXCITED FOR THIS!

This is the poetry book for every college broken heart. It made me remember those feelings so clearly, and the message of moving forward was well aimed.

You Are Here
by Dawn Lanuza
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Poetry
Pub Date 12 Feb 2019


I am reviewing a copy of You Are Here through Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley:


This book deals with two intertwined themes growth and change. The poems and prose in this book remind us too that it is important that we give ourselves second chances.


The poems and prose in this collection are self healing poems that draw on the central themes of loving oneself as well as self discovery and empowerment. In order to survive the difficulties we face in life.


I give You Are Here four out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This is my first time reading the poet. I thought You Are Here was a great collection. I loved every poem. Lanuza tackles universal themes; love, self-love, self-discovery, relationships and empowerment. The poems are person and feel like Lanuza is showing me the secret chambers of her heart and soul. Those are the type of poems I love to read and write. There are a few stories in You Are Here but mostly poetry. My favourites were How to Love in the Dark, All This Wanting, Sad Girl, Crash and Burn, All I Had Was White Space and The Tourist.

This was just such a beautiful collection of poetry. I was a little iffy at first through the first few poems, but then I really began to enjoy and identify with them. Dawn Lanuza has crafted poems here about romance, heartbreak, depression, eating disorders, and chronic pain (that last one I was super happy to see since you don't see that a lot). I'm so happy that I chose to read this and I can't wait to read more by her!

This would be a book that I would maybe recommend to older high school students, not something I would suggest for younger students. I think I read this collection of poetry in a time that this book really hit home. I have a feeling this will be a book that I pick up as a physical book once it is released and pick it up whenever I need to feel like I am not alone.
I only recently started reading poetry, and there have been some poems and poem collections that I have read that I just do not understand, but this book was written in a way that almost seemed like it was written for me. I think that most people that pick this book up will also have a similar feeling. Even if you do not directly relate to the stories or events that are being explained or described, I think that people will still be able to make connections.
I highly recommend this book for people that are starting to read poetry and are struggling to understand it. I will be anticipating this book release so that I can have a copy for my sheld. The cover also has beautiful illustrations.

So this is a poetry anthology about growth, change and one-self. Almost like a how-to guide to living- I really enjoyed some of the poems in here. However, some were fairly meh so I did skip them- still, enjoyable and great to read when sitting at a café!

You are here is an honest book about growth, self love and caring. You can’t avoid feeling identified with many, many poems, because we all had been there at some point.

This is the first poetry collection that I read for this year and I am very impressed with Miss Dawn.

My favorites are Staying is Your Choice, Travelers (I remembered someone with this!), The Ideal, Imagine, To My Younger Self (Most heartwarming for me), A Message, A Prelude, Double-Edged Swords (Ouch!), Welcomed Distractions, Waking Up to A Dream and Seasons.

I love how the author divided her poems and prose into three parts. There are about love, music, relationship, heartbreak, moving on and human beings. I was inspired that I actually wrote a poem after reading the book.

Thank you for the ARC and congratulations to Miss Dawn, I hope to meet you in person!

Dawn Lanuza yet again has made me fall in love with her writing. This book is so luscious and beautiful. I found myself in awe and in love with everything that Dawn puts into words even if sometimes those feelings aren't nice ones or are heartbroken ones.

Dawn is the poet you want to be reading right now and supporting. She is spectacular and what she does and she proves it in You Are Here, an anthology of poems that look inside your soul and whisper to it. It's marvelous and cannot wait to see more from her!

Whew, where to start with this review. First off I've never connected with so much of a poetry book before, there were times when I had to stop for a few minutes and recompose myself before continuing on. So many things in You Are Here are things that resonated with me.
This poetry book didn't just focus on romance for a change which I appreciated. While that is present, it also deals with working on yourself and realizing that it's okay not to always be okay. That's something that I'm working on and it was nice to see that represented in another form and not just in my head. The mental health and chronic pain mentioned in this book were things I haven't seen often talked about so openly. That's a big thing to me as someone who has both of those things and doesn't seem them mentioned ever together openly. I'm grateful for this book and I can't wait to read more of Dawn's work and support her writing.

I have so many quotes from this book I love. One of them is this:
"Let yourself go through all of this,
without guilt and shame."

I  received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

The cover of this book grabbed me in before I realized I'd read this authors work before. I was so excited to find another piece from her. I liked her last book better, but this one is still good.

A great poetry collection about self forgiveness and second chances. These are very important things for anyone to learn!

This was a super cute collection! Highly recommend. After personally dealing with depression and anxiety, these poems really resonated with me, being able to heal and just accept where I am in life.

WOW I loved this book!!! I was looking forward to this read since I enjoyed "The Last Time I'll Write About You" and "You Are Here" exceeded my high expectations!

Some of my favorites:
"sad girl"
"this is our cosmos"
"this is your lullaby"
"role-playing"
"stop over"
"sylvia"
"3x5"
"it is not mine"

Thank you for sharing your heart, Dawn.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley!

And the boy who wanted her to stay
was one of the first ones who went away

You Are Here is a beautiful poetry collection about love, relationships, self-reflection, … This is the second poetry collection I’ve read by Dawn Lanuza.

You’re the only one missing out,
not them.

I think that You Are Here is such a good poetry collection and I really liked reading about different topics. I think that these poems are really well written and some of them are really beautiful and relatable.

And isn’t it sad
to be sad
and not be able to say it

Favourite poems:

how to love in the dark
all this wanting
sad girl
the mechanic
bad kisser
passing through
self-medicate
falling in love with your words
she wins
this is your lullaby
true nightmare
role-playing
you’ve got standards, so what?
vessel
grow
rise
y/n

"You are Here" is a poetry collection that focuses on love and especially the aftermath of breakups. The first thing I noticed about this book is how pleasant it is just to look at it and I'm not talking just about the cover. The font and the way the poems sat on the page, the way the words were organized and placed in a certain place made me feel peaceful and content. Even before you read them, Dawn Lanuza's poems are just comforting to look at. I was reading this in a digital medium through NetGalley and I could almost feel the scratchy feeling at the tip of yr fingers that you associate with old notebooks and love poems.
One other thing that I really liked were the illustrations that seemed to complement the book effortlessly marking a division between the themes. While the first part seemed more focused on romantic attachments and their failures, the second and third parts seem to focus more on womanhood, adulthood and how it feels to be human, with all its flaws and miracles. My favourite part of this book were the short poems. Every time I saw three simple lines on a page I knew I would have to pause at the end with a smile and take a minute to digest it.

You Are Here by Dawn Lanuza is a poetry collection about self-love, vulnerability, identity, relationships, growth and change. As I began to read this collection, I knew I was going to love it. I was instantly transported to my younger self in high school and beginning of college. It brought me back to my first love and the heart break once it had ended.

There were several parts of the collection that dealt with certain topics. Along with relationships and breakups, identity was another topic that was expressed in the poetry collection. The two that stood out the most were Vessel and Grow. As a young adult I remember facing challenges of self-identity and acceptance for who I was. Society plays a huge role in one's identity and I loved the poems that related to body image because society sometimes is a harsh critique and tells many young individuals who are still finding themselves what they have to be in order to be accepted. This is one of my favorite poetry collections. One that is very relatable and discusses topics that are important.

I was first attracted to this book by its pretty cover. I was so glad to see it’s written by Dawn Lanuza, because I’ve been wanting to read her works for some time now.

This collection of modern poetry is meant to be read slowly and savored. These are little vignettes reflecting on love and loss. It can be heartwarming at one moment and heartbreaking the next. It’s all about healing and letting go. I also felt like a trusted friend is talking to me. I was comforted by the messages of body positivity and self love. I can compare this reading experience to drinking hot brewed coffee during a rainy night, surrounded by soft pillows and a warm blanket.

As the title promises, the reader is compelled to look at oneself, and recognize where you are right now in your life. It reminds us that we should all learn to love and accept ourselves during our own journeys, no matter where we intend to go.

I really liked this collection and found that I could resonate with a lot of them. It's well written and heartfelt.

Poetry is something so often overlooked in my library. I try to promote other than just National Poetry Month and this title makes it easy. It's wonderfully written and so poignant in the feelings it evokes. We have all been there in one way or another and I will enjoy sharing this title with my patrons.

I thought the poems were beautifully written. I could relate to a lot of the poems. I really enjoyed this poetry book.

Dawn Lanuza does it again! I really enjoyed reading this beautiful collection of perfectly written anecdotes! Though I do prefer her previous work, the poem titled “the museum of unfinished things” made me pause. And I read that page again. And again. And again.

Thank you Dawn Lanuza, and thank you Netgalley for this eARC.

I would like to thank the publisher for giving me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this!

I was pleasantly surprised by this collection of poems. This book did a great job of talking about difficult topics like heartbreak. I think this book would be perfect for someone who is going through a rough time, it gives a good perspective to look towards the future. Reminding the reader that they can make their future and their life whatever they want it to be. Their lives belong to themselves, not to anyone else.