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belle2022's review
5.0
It’s not always I connect with poetry, I feel like the ‘modern’ poetry I have read just doesn’t hit my emotions in the way I want it to.
But this? This was amazing. Paris looked into our souls and deep into hers to give us all of these incredible poems. Poems about life, loss, terrorism, fear and societal issues.
I think my favourite poem is either ‘I don’t know’ or ‘Pain is Gain’. Those two poems really spoke to me. ‘I don’t know’ talks about how increasingly depressing this world is and how easy people feel it is to give up :(. “Nine out of ten people who are my friends, are waiting impatiently until their life ends”...”I love myself and I love each friend, but my love is not what they need to mend.” As someone who has gone through depression and still struggles with it, I really felt and connected with that one quote alone.
‘Pain is Gain’ was the ending poem and it was an amazing pick. This I felt really touched on the subject that success only comes through a sad/depressed/unhappy way. “You hear of those famous stars, who write well because of their scars...I feel if I’m not sad then I will fail, as I’m have no inspiration and no prevail.” Paris talks about how she reopens new wounds to create her writing. This highlights the fact that can someone ever move on when they need their sadness and pain to be a success? We’ve seen this often in the media of stars that have sad backstories because people don’t want the happy stuff. This shouldn’t be so! But it’s so common.
Overall I love this. So thrilled to have been given an ARC and would have bought I copy regardless to support my friend. I think everyone needs to read this. Especially if those certain topics/quotes spoke to you like it did to me.
But this? This was amazing. Paris looked into our souls and deep into hers to give us all of these incredible poems. Poems about life, loss, terrorism, fear and societal issues.
I think my favourite poem is either ‘I don’t know’ or ‘Pain is Gain’. Those two poems really spoke to me. ‘I don’t know’ talks about how increasingly depressing this world is and how easy people feel it is to give up :(. “Nine out of ten people who are my friends, are waiting impatiently until their life ends”...”I love myself and I love each friend, but my love is not what they need to mend.” As someone who has gone through depression and still struggles with it, I really felt and connected with that one quote alone.
‘Pain is Gain’ was the ending poem and it was an amazing pick. This I felt really touched on the subject that success only comes through a sad/depressed/unhappy way. “You hear of those famous stars, who write well because of their scars...I feel if I’m not sad then I will fail, as I’m have no inspiration and no prevail.” Paris talks about how she reopens new wounds to create her writing. This highlights the fact that can someone ever move on when they need their sadness and pain to be a success? We’ve seen this often in the media of stars that have sad backstories because people don’t want the happy stuff. This shouldn’t be so! But it’s so common.
Overall I love this. So thrilled to have been given an ARC and would have bought I copy regardless to support my friend. I think everyone needs to read this. Especially if those certain topics/quotes spoke to you like it did to me.
paz_books's review
5.0
UHM. This is mine? Isn't that kind of insane? These meant so much to me as I sat there late at night writing these, barely of age. Just reading them brings back so many memories of when I was younger; both good and bad. I'm so excited to publish the rest. I love you guys
eviegibbon's review
5.0
I loved this! Every one of the poems are so passionate and raw, an unfiltered look into how many of us feel when we look at the world around us. I particularly loved ‘I don’t know’ , it captured the feeling of hopelessness and loss in such a beautiful way, and you could really feel the emotion behind every word. There was some beautiful imagery in the poems, the metaphor of a toy ,and the innocent girl in ‘Extinct’ were really effective in expressing the depth of the issues the anthology explores. The final poem: ‘Pain is Gain’ was a poignant ending and gave me so much to think about; I loved the line ‘But without pain there’s no stories’. You can tell this anthology draws from personal experience and it was fascinating to see their writing style change and develop across the poems.
awkwardreader13's review
5.0
I was kindly sent an arc of this by the author
Reading these made me remember all the poems I wrote myself as a teenager, trying to put words to all my strong and often confusing emotions. It also made me want to write! My favorite poem in here I think was "Extinct".
This is going to be part of an anthology, I believe, and I'm looking forward to reading more!
Reading these made me remember all the poems I wrote myself as a teenager, trying to put words to all my strong and often confusing emotions. It also made me want to write! My favorite poem in here I think was "Extinct".
This is going to be part of an anthology, I believe, and I'm looking forward to reading more!
thisbeereads's review
4.0
Thank you so much to the author for sending an eARC my way in exchange for an honest review. I shall certainly try my best!
This is a series of poems written when the author was between the ages of 11 and 16, and its intended for an audience roughly in the 12-18 age range. As somebody who is... definitely not there, this is certainly something that I aimed to keep in mind while I was reading. It could be cleaned up a bit more in editing as far as some spelling and grammar errors, but that’s alright. I also want to make sure to note that I am a casual enjoyer of poetry at best, I am certainly no expert in the technicalities of it, I simply know what I like or don’t like when I see it.
You can definitely tell that the author was young when they wrote this, it’s written with the broad and dramatic strokes of emotion that all teenagers are prone to viewing the world in. The way we often were sure that we were the only ones feeling the way we did or the way we could angrily question God. I’m no longer quite in that place, which in many spots left me a bit on the outside looking in, just being able to connect in the sense of “yeah, I was there once” but there were still so many lines that made me pause, made me reread, made me say them slowly out loud, made me just FEEL because there was so much power in them or so much relatability that managed to transcend a generation.
Some poems I needed to take a double take on to grasp their meaning (Dismissed) while others felt a little out of place, more an exercise in imagination encouraging the reader to build a story behind it to explain just what in the world is going on. (Extinct)
The second poem in this little book, I Don’t Know, is probably the one that I related to the least for a lot of reasons - and yet was somehow the one that I highlighted the most. There are some amazingly home-hitting lines in here.
The opening to Man was a beat. And the whole message of Don’t Fear The Monster, Fear The Cause is a theme that I overall love in all aspects.
Overall, I found this collection to be a great foundation. I think it absolutely will hit with its intended audience, while it still offers potential for those beyond it. I absolutely look forward to seeing how the author has developed since this point and how they might tackle these sensitive topics these days with a more matured mindset.
This is a series of poems written when the author was between the ages of 11 and 16, and its intended for an audience roughly in the 12-18 age range. As somebody who is... definitely not there, this is certainly something that I aimed to keep in mind while I was reading. It could be cleaned up a bit more in editing as far as some spelling and grammar errors, but that’s alright. I also want to make sure to note that I am a casual enjoyer of poetry at best, I am certainly no expert in the technicalities of it, I simply know what I like or don’t like when I see it.
You can definitely tell that the author was young when they wrote this, it’s written with the broad and dramatic strokes of emotion that all teenagers are prone to viewing the world in. The way we often were sure that we were the only ones feeling the way we did or the way we could angrily question God. I’m no longer quite in that place, which in many spots left me a bit on the outside looking in, just being able to connect in the sense of “yeah, I was there once” but there were still so many lines that made me pause, made me reread, made me say them slowly out loud, made me just FEEL because there was so much power in them or so much relatability that managed to transcend a generation.
Some poems I needed to take a double take on to grasp their meaning (Dismissed) while others felt a little out of place, more an exercise in imagination encouraging the reader to build a story behind it to explain just what in the world is going on. (Extinct)
The second poem in this little book, I Don’t Know, is probably the one that I related to the least for a lot of reasons - and yet was somehow the one that I highlighted the most. There are some amazingly home-hitting lines in here.
The opening to Man was a beat. And the whole message of Don’t Fear The Monster, Fear The Cause is a theme that I overall love in all aspects.
Overall, I found this collection to be a great foundation. I think it absolutely will hit with its intended audience, while it still offers potential for those beyond it. I absolutely look forward to seeing how the author has developed since this point and how they might tackle these sensitive topics these days with a more matured mindset.
eviegibb0n's review
5.0
I loved this! Every one of the poems are so passionate and raw, an unfiltered look into how many of us feel when we look at the world around us. I particularly loved ‘I don’t know’ , it captured the feeling of hopelessness and loss in such a beautiful way, and you could really feel the emotion behind every word. There was some beautiful imagery in the poems, the metaphor of a toy ,and the innocent girl in ‘Extinct’ were really effective in expressing the depth of the issues the anthology explores. The final poem: ‘Pain is Gain’ was a poignant ending and gave me so much to think about; I loved the line ‘But without pain there’s no stories’. You can tell this anthology draws from personal experience and it was fascinating to see their writing style change and develop across the poems.
blithesquesttoread's review
5.0
I am SO glad that I got to read this collection by [a:Paris Cunningham|18311287|Paris Cunningham|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1613228581p2/18311287.jpg]! Thank you so much for providing me a review copy!
In general I really love to read poetry books and this one was no different! Poetry itself is so personal that I don't think I'll ever be able to rate it in terms of writing style or anything. It is generally through emotions and honestly? I went through a lot of emotions while reading this collection and the accounts and everything were so damn relatable! I'll mention few of the titles I really liked to read. Also, I love how the author made sure to have content warning in the starting on the collection. I was really happy for it!
The first title is Then Wake Me Up which was like an ode to people in general to try to maintain peace. The second title, I Don't Know seemed very personal to me, about the struggles and unhappiness that is usually found in people these days and no one knows what to do, how to be there for everyone. Here is few lines I really loved:
I just want answers and I want them soon,
I want to give their dark nights a moon,
It is hard for me to deal or find the seed,
When all I can give is not what they need
The third title, Extinct was very unique indeed. An imagination where humans are extinct or they are not. It was a title that actually made me think a lot! The fourth title, Social Media was actually really relevant to present times. It was like a general summarization of what happens on social media and how people fret about creating content there. The next title, Don't Fear The Monster, Fear the Cause' was small but conveyed such an amazing message! Okay, I kind of want to mention all the titles but I don't want to give everything away. The last poem 'Pain is Gain' felt the most personal to me, it was about creating content and getting appreciation for that content only where there is some level of pain involved. I mean whenever I sit down to write or think about reading, these are the same thoughts I have, Like whether I have to be sad in order to connect to people, if people will be able to connect as much to my content if it is happy.
The collection, together was really beautiful to read through. The poems weren't directly connected anywhere, they were surrounding on various social issues that we see going around these days. And what I loved the most was how I was able to connect to every piece in some or the other way. Really loved it!
Trigger Warnings: Self-harm, Suicide, Religion, Terrorism, Bombs, Toxic Relationships
In general I really love to read poetry books and this one was no different! Poetry itself is so personal that I don't think I'll ever be able to rate it in terms of writing style or anything. It is generally through emotions and honestly? I went through a lot of emotions while reading this collection and the accounts and everything were so damn relatable! I'll mention few of the titles I really liked to read. Also, I love how the author made sure to have content warning in the starting on the collection. I was really happy for it!
The first title is Then Wake Me Up which was like an ode to people in general to try to maintain peace. The second title, I Don't Know seemed very personal to me, about the struggles and unhappiness that is usually found in people these days and no one knows what to do, how to be there for everyone. Here is few lines I really loved:
I just want answers and I want them soon,
I want to give their dark nights a moon,
It is hard for me to deal or find the seed,
When all I can give is not what they need
The third title, Extinct was very unique indeed. An imagination where humans are extinct or they are not. It was a title that actually made me think a lot! The fourth title, Social Media was actually really relevant to present times. It was like a general summarization of what happens on social media and how people fret about creating content there. The next title, Don't Fear The Monster, Fear the Cause' was small but conveyed such an amazing message! Okay, I kind of want to mention all the titles but I don't want to give everything away. The last poem 'Pain is Gain' felt the most personal to me, it was about creating content and getting appreciation for that content only where there is some level of pain involved. I mean whenever I sit down to write or think about reading, these are the same thoughts I have, Like whether I have to be sad in order to connect to people, if people will be able to connect as much to my content if it is happy.
The collection, together was really beautiful to read through. The poems weren't directly connected anywhere, they were surrounding on various social issues that we see going around these days. And what I loved the most was how I was able to connect to every piece in some or the other way. Really loved it!
Trigger Warnings: Self-harm, Suicide, Religion, Terrorism, Bombs, Toxic Relationships
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