*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I found Natasha T. Miller's poetry collectio*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I found Natasha T. Miller's poetry collection to be so refreshing and powerful! Heartwarming poems about family, very touching and heartbreaking poems about loss and grief that hit really hard. Deeply humaine and moving! The poems I enjoyed the most, however, were the ones talking about the experiences of black women, and all black people in general. The racism, the homophobia, the police violence, the problematic and toxic way white people react. Some lyrics are so necessarily raw and hard-hitting and I adored the way the author expressed herself both in terms of language and theme! A really great collection!
Merged review:
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I found Natasha T. Miller's poetry collection to be so refreshing and powerful! Heartwarming poems about family, very touching and heartbreaking poems about loss and grief that hit really hard. Deeply humaine and moving! The poems I enjoyed the most, however, were the ones talking about the experiences of black women, and all black people in general. The racism, the homophobia, the police violence, the problematic and toxic way white people react. Some lyrics are so necessarily raw and hard-hitting and I adored the way the author expressed herself both in terms of language and theme! A really great collection!...more
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for offering me the chance to read this book! As an archaeology student with knowledge on Greek mythology but verThanks to NetGalley and the publisher for offering me the chance to read this book! As an archaeology student with knowledge on Greek mythology but very limited study of Roman mythology, I found this book to be a great introduction to it! Easy and enjoyable to read, but still providing quite a few facts and referencing the different versions of myths. Also, providing a good understanding on the connection of mythology and history, as well as its effect on the structure of the society! The pictures apart from making the book very beautiful, perfectly matched the provided text and were both helpful and aesthetic! All in all, a great introduction to Roman mythology!...more
*Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is a story of mirrors, or what happens when you bring the mirro*Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is a story of mirrors, or what happens when you bring the mirror back from the dead and when you look in it, you see yourself eating yourself
Alright, so I can't possibly explain to you how much I adored the heck of a wild ride that is this book and how much the crazy of these poems vibed with my crazy! I mean, just WOW! This felt like a fever dream, a roller-coaster ride, a lyrical feast, a surreal theatrical performance, a series of thoughts that moved my synaesthesia in extremely unpredictable ways, all of those things in the best way possible!
What do I even talk about first? The way the author perfectly connects her past and her heritage with modern themes? The absolutely needed queerness that warmed my heart and made my soul so happy? How incredibly innovative and unlikely anything one could ever read or perceive the idea of the zombie-Selena was? How real and personal even the most absent-minded of descriptions felt?
One of my favorite poetry collections I read in 2021 and definitely one of the most underrated poetry collections that came out in 2021 as well!
God, I can't even put into words how original and cool this felt! Just... WOW! ...more
*Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“a crucified man condemned us all”
An absolutely gorgeous poetry collection about*Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“a crucified man condemned us all”
An absolutely gorgeous poetry collection about the way western "civilization" messed up the world, but also about desire, hurt, lust, the need to love and the wish to be loved back, through some really outstanding lyrics. Feel like this is one of the poetry collection that came out in 2021 that really stood out to me!
“abandoning the living knowing it's the dead that teach us how to count”...more
*Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Definitely a heart-warming, wholesome collection of thoughts around self-love an*Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Definitely a heart-warming, wholesome collection of thoughts around self-love and acceptance, that could certainly cheer you up if you are in need of a boost of self-confidence. I really appreciated the distinction between thinkers and feelers, as well! As poetry, though, it didn't particularly blow me away or impress me!...more
The main thematic of "My Greenhouse" is the author's first love and heartbreak. Even though, I completely respect the nature of that theme and take inThe main thematic of "My Greenhouse" is the author's first love and heartbreak. Even though, I completely respect the nature of that theme and take into account how young the author is and the fact that this is her debut collection, I found the poems to be way too simple. I didn't find anything memorable or unique in them and felt like the themes were explored a bit superficially and just way too simplistically! This really wasn't my kind of poetry but I know a lot of people really enjoyed it and I can definitely say that if you enjoy simple, Rupi-Kaur-like poetry, you should pick this book up!...more
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Oof, I feel really bad about how thThank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Oof, I feel really bad about how this book turned out! The first few pages started off really well, being very empowering and validating about how you don't have to have everything figured out, how you're still bi even if you have a preference, even if you have never been in a relationship, how you're always valid as a bi person in general... and then this went on to throw pansexuality under the bus, and by throwing pansexuality under the bus I mean making some very panphobic and just wrong comments that I really hated seeing! Had to DNF...more
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
I know I'm not supposed to tell youThank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
I know I'm not supposed to tell you what I wished for but I will say It looks a lot like your hand in mine It looks a lot like you staying
A poetry collection about lost love, heartbreak, missing a romantic partner but also, anxiety, trying to restore faith in youself, dealing with dark thoughts! Even though I tend to not like this type of modern, more simplistic poetry, I ended up really really enjoying this one, mostly because I was in an unexpected romantic mood and thought the lyrics about heartbreak were beautiful, even though they were definitely very simple! Something else that made me very happy was the fact that a couple of poems mentioned attraction to more than one gender which I absolutely needed to see and found so, so amazing!...more
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
But what poetry is, I don't know, nThank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
But what poetry is, I don't know, nor can I speak of it. It is simply an emotion that leaps or drowns. It comes in the guise of a patriotic pose when the soul summons it. It is just a cane for one who staggers in a swaying mortal world
Reading Yu Xiuhua's poems and essays in this collection (by the way, what a beautiful title for a collection: "moonlight rests on my left palm", aw, such a nice image) was a very enjoyable experience! You learn a few things about the author's life, her way of thinking and what she considers important through the intriguing essays and she seemed like a genuine, true person! The poetry has very strong feelings of longing, passion and a beautiful love of nature which is definitely very powerfully expressed through images and metaphors of nature throughout the lyrics! The themes, however, since poetical themes are such a personal and unique experience for each reader, weren't exactly my cup of tea, even though I found them very beautiful!...more
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review! God, this hit me right in my damn hThank you to the publisher for providing me with a review e-arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review! God, this hit me right in my damn heart-shaped box! I never expected to find a book about a teen girl in 1994 going on a road trip with the hope to end up meeting Kurt Cobain and when I bumped into this on netgalley I was absolutely mind-blown! Running away from home with a plan to go knock on Kurt Cobain's door sounds either like something no one would think of doing or like something only my absolutely Nirvana-obsessed mind would think of doing! I was super excited to dive into a book with such a heavy 90s punk-rock atmosphere and I was so rewarded! I absolutely adored the fact that the "grunge"/punk-rock Seattle 90s scene was depicted so well in this! The atmosphere seemed to be conveyed beautifully! All the pop culture references were so on-point and so was the fan-girling! As someone's whose favorite bands are Nirvana and Hole it was so incredible for me to see all these correct facts and references to not only these bands, but the whole music scene of that place and time, in general! I could relate to the main character's love for Kurt, Nirvana and the whole punk movement so hard and it was magical for me to be submerged in this setting! Especially, (view spoiler)[(this isn't really a spoiler, we all know Kurt died), the part when the protagonist received the news of Kurt's death and the memorial which they attented, with Courtney Love's speech being included in the chapter was a very emotional and intense moment, that I cried my eyes with and loved to read about (hide spoiler)]. In that sense, I think this was of the most "special" books I've ever read, considering the fact that the 'targeted audience' of it seemed to be me, as well as everyone else with a huge passion for the 90s punk scene, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana! It just felt so good to be able to get every reference, knowing exactly what the characters were talking about without needing any explanations, and having the facts ready in my head for every story told that related to that music scene! I wish there were more fiction books with that kind of setting which felt so comfortingly familiar for me! I also loved how the title of every chapter was a song, and listening to each designated song while reading each chapter made it an even more enjoyable experience! However, I would like to note that if you aren't a big fan of the grunge scene, it's quite possible that you'll find it difficult to enjoy this book; as a YA story it's not that gripping or special. The story of the runaway teen trying to cope with her family and personal problems was quite the cliché, told in a not that unique way and the protagonist was really hard to like and had quite an annoying behaviour throughout the whole book! Therefore, just as a YA story it didn't really excite me, but it was the special setting and the successful references and descriptions of the era that made the whole difference and offered me a very enjoyable "personalised" book!...more
When a man writes something, he's judged for what he writes. When a woman does the same, she's judged for who she is.
Such a lovely graphic novel! HelWhen a man writes something, he's judged for what he writes. When a woman does the same, she's judged for who she is.
Such a lovely graphic novel! Helped me learn a lot of things about the Brontë sisters that I didn't know, while being a really fun, quick read! Really appreciated that it was strong on the feminism and felt really badass. I think it's a great gift for young girls that are into writing to encourage them to embrace their skills and work on them! Plus, the art style was super pretty and created a nice, simultaneously dark and cute atmosphere to accompany the story of the siblings! Lovely!...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
"Pastel Pink" is a very interesting start t*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
"Pastel Pink" is a very interesting start to a new sci-fi series that definitely sounds very promising! I enjoyed this book quite a lot and thought it was fun to read. The pace was great since it was moving fast and kept me turning the pages with anticipation to see what would happen next!
The plot was very intriguing following a cast of characters from different races in a sci-fi society filled with descrimination pretty much like our society today but also the human world where our protagonist, Harlow, returned to in her sleep as the ghost of her past human self. Therefore we do have different settings and points of view changing quite often, which made it even more interesting for me!
Loved how action-packed the end was and how it left us at quite the cliffhanger, making me really excited to pick up the second book in the series, "Ruby Red" soon!
However, I had a couple of problems with the book that I'd like to mention! First of all, it seemed really bad to me how in the story a lot of white characters had hairstyles like dreadlocks and cornrows, which are linked to the black community! Also, schizophrenia is attributed to a character and even though I'm no expert to the matter I wasn't at all sure about whether the state of the person represented schizophrenia in a correct way. Lastly, some comments the protagonists made about the boys around her got cheesy and annoyed me a bit!...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
Oof, I was so disappointed by this book! Th*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
Oof, I was so disappointed by this book! The poems felt quite pretentious for some reason and they gave me a boomer-ish vibe! Apart from motherhood, they focused a lot on religion, and not just on faith, in a way that made them feel like they were pressuring me, a reader who isn't so much into religion. Also, the lyrics were mostly too simple and didn't blow me away neither did they feel super original! ...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
4.5 stars to be more precise
I found this po*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
4.5 stars to be more precise
I found this poetry collection to be quite beautiful! Most of the poetry focused on love (sapphic one, YAS) and the inability to forget about a past love after it's over! Therefore they were quite sad and some lyrics were pretty wow! However, they got a bit repetitive and too similar at times!...more
*I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
To live flawlessly is like try*I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
To live flawlessly is like trying to extract the salt from a single tear
"Maps for the Modern World'' is a book that can be appreciated by a specific audience in a specific mood. For people who tend to not like the form of modern poetry this much - and, partially, I'm one of them - this might not be the poetry collection for you. Personally, I'm not sure I'd categorize this entire book as poetry. Some of it definitely was, but a lot of this was two-line quotes that, however beautiful, I don't think qualify as poetry to me. Also there was a lot of "space bar poetry", aka sentences separated by space bars so they look like poems.
However, even though I wouldn't consider a big part of this book as poetry, I still found this collection of gorgeous quotes very nice. The essence of it emphasized on self-empowerment, self-love and trying to take control over how you look at the sadness around you in order to enjoy life more. It was very spiritual, positive and optimistic and it felt like a self-help book with all the empowering quotes! I'd recommend it if you want to read something that will make you feel happy!
Also, the book comes with gorgeous little sketches/drawings that I thought were super cute and aesthetic.
Listening to this on audiobook as well, the author is narrating it herself, which made it super special! She narrates it with so much passion and love, you could tell from her voice and that made it even better! ...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
Oh my, I just finished the best poetry colle*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
Oh my, I just finished the best poetry collection I've read in a while and my heart is so happy! It's been a while since I've appreciated a collection of modern poetry so much!
I don't even know how to put it into words; it waa gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed some poems more than others, of course, my favourites being: Once in a Lifetime, Sisters Under The Pink Moon, Small Ships, The Silver Lining of Suffering, Regarding Nostalgia, Prisoner of Her Time, Resilience, Saying Goodbye, Nantucket Midnight Storm, Cure for Apathy and If You're Lucky! (I know that's a lot of them, but I couldn't pick any less, all these are the ones with the most enchanting lyrics for me).
I loved the emotions of bittersweet nostalgia, consoling melancholy, appreciation of childhood, the dive into memories! So beautiful! I especially adored how vividly these poems shaped images in my head, familiar ones. How it presented simple, everyday moments and showed the need to cherish them by putting them in beautiful lyrics. I felt very touched!
This poetry collection truly made me feel so calm inside and put a spell on me! Very beautiful!...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
Now this book was a weird journey! It start*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much!) in exchange for an honest review*
Now this book was a weird journey! It started off as a 3-star read, then as it progressed I was like "ok, I'm giving this 2 stars" and somehow the ending made me want to give it 4 stars! Point is, we better get to the bottom of this! First of all, I don't normally read that much romance, actually I choose YA books that are just romance very rarely, but this one caught my interest, since it labeled itself as "inspired by the 80s film Weird Science" and oh well no matter how silly those 80s teen rom-coms are they still got that vibe to them that's kinda nice, you know! So, I had to read this! But since I'm not a big romance fan, please note that some things that I found cheesy or too-much might be things romance lovers enjoy!
So, at first, even though I was very much enjoying myself with this funny lil story, some things got to my nerves a bit! Like, the two protagonists had just created a living, breathing human and the only thing our main protagonist seemed to care about was how cute that new life looked and wanted to date him immediately. Like, girl, aren't you interested to know how that sci-fi event suddenly occured in your life? I get that wasn't the point of the book and how it was supposed to be focused of the romance and not explaining it, but still it felt weird how the protagonist didn't seem to care at all. Also, all she ever talked about or thought of was when she'd kiss the guy and the whole "not-like-popular-girls-I-haven't-been-kissed" trope was a bit annoying and got quite repetitive. Plus, all she started to care about was Guy (the guy) and she was ignoring her friends or getting mad at them for no reason, just because they couldn't stand listening to her talking about Guy all the time. And ignoring her friends over romance was so annoying! Yeah, as you can understand I didn't exactly adore the main character!
However, after a few more annoying things happened, it got so much more enjoyable towards the ending with all the drama that went down. And the very ending was definitely what won my 4 stars! It was so cute! I was waiting for it to happen the entire book and it was so cuuute! I actually let my phone down and smiled like an idiot to the point where I had an existential-reader crisis thinking whether I should actually start reading more romance. So that means the ending was very good and satisfying! Plus (I don't consider this a spoiler but some people might so I'll hide this anyway even though I don't want to) the (view spoiler)[unexpected ace rep (hide spoiler)] made my heart so happy!...more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
"Everybody Don Kolomental" is a very interes*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
"Everybody Don Kolomental" is a very interesting poetry collection focusing on themes of mental health issues, desperation, seeking meaning and the social circumstances that can cause people inmense problems and sadness!
I really enjoyed the bitterness the poems about mental health expressed, as well as the feeling of need to get out of this horrible psychological place we sink in!
The reason why I had to take a star out of my rating was a specific poem, "Guilty as Charged" which perhaps had a statement to make but made me feel very uncomfortable since it adressed the delicate subject of r*pe in a convicted-centric and not victim-centric manner. I just felt like it was a very bad example to use to comment on the issue of false and targeted accusations against innocent people for any crime.
Also, in a few poems I felt like the poetry aspect, however modern - I don't mind that, got lost and it was more the author expressing thoughts in beautiful sentences rather than poetry....more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I started this book with so much hype, consi*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I started this book with so much hype, considering how interesting the premise of this book sounded. Asa, a girl facing hardships in her everyday family life, seeks escape at the intriguing "Dirt Circus League", a group living secluded from the rest of the town, warshipping Gaia and having a very unique lifestyle. Oh and there's a high chance they're a dangerous cult and Asa is in trouble! I mean sounds great and the good kind of weird, right? Plus, such a cool cover!
However, I ended up feeling very disappointed with the execution. The whole structure of the Dirt Circus League was explained quite well, but, apart from that, I felt like things were happening very hastily and the actions of the characters were very chaotic and left without explanation. Like, Asa kept mentioning how she feels like she belongs with the warshippers of Gaia, without actually giving any reason or giving an example of her enjoying her time at the League. It's almost as if I'm left to think that it was only because of (view spoiler)[her crushing over the League's leader, Quarter, considering how boycrazy she's being over him throughout the story even though she knows nothing about him and they never really communicate. (hide spoiler)] Also, a lot of other things also seem to be quite contradicting each other. Like, the protagonist either being able to sense a bunch of things (view spoiler)[because of her gift, as we later learn, which is also left with no explanation (hide spoiler)] but being too naive to understand the creepy things happening at the League, which didn't make sense in character.
All in all, I feel like this book was trying to do a lot of different things at once, hastily and without much cohesion and didn't offer such a good execution....more
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I tend to be very reluctant when it comes to*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley (thank you so much) in exchange for an honest review*
I tend to be very reluctant when it comes to modern poetry that follows unconventional forms and patterns of writing and expression, since it's usually not my cup of tea, but I really appreciated this one. The poems about sexual assault were very sincere, bold and needed, even though they were definitely hard-hitting and I'd say trigger warning for this subject is required. Loved the own voices poems of the author's experiences as non-binary, which made a loud statement to society and I was very impressed about how smart and original the concepts of the poems were (one my favorite examples being "Trigger/"!) Very well-executed collection that I'd highly recommend even to readers reluctant to pick up modern poetry!...more
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