lay_kone's review

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dark reflective fast-paced

3.0


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inkdrinkers's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

3.0

"blood / runs / wherever / his / fingertips / graze / me." (my steel & thorns)

The first in Amanda Lovelace's (they/them) "Women are some kind of Magic" series tackles the fairytale ideals of princes saving princesses and being locked in ivory towers. It also covers grief, assault, and various other heavy topics, with warnings in the front pages.

I first read this collection when it was released in 2016, and it really, really blew me away. This was one of those poetry collections that got me into poetry and made me want to devour all the collections I could get my hands on. I decided to revisit it since it's been a few years, and while I do still see the charm in a lot of these poems, a lot of them don't carry the weight that I wish they did.

In revisiting it, I find that a lot of the poems lean heavily on formatting, with plain language. My favorites are the ones that establish a setting/create visuals, as they're easily Lovelace's strongest writing. I also really enjoy Lovelace's poems about grief/parental loss, though I feel like there could be more there. (To Drink Coffee With a Ghost is on my plans to revisit!) Conceptually, I still really enjoy the collection as a whole, but I'll probably be letting go of my shelf copy. It's a little muddled, the poems themselves aren't as connected to the theme as I wish they would be, and the formatting is no longer my favorite. I still think it's a very friendly collection to poetry newcomers, but I don't feel the need to revisit it time and time again.

Content warnings: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Cancer, Suicide, Rape

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booksawyer's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace is (I think) the first poetry collection I’ve ever read, and I absolutely loved it! 

I was hooked from the first poem I read this collection. The author eloquently tackles challenging themes with beautiful language. She uses a lot of metaphors, with the concept of being a “Princess” being a reoccurring theme. I think it is evident that a lot of care went into creating these poems. 

From reading other reviews, I gathered that Lovelace’s style of writing is polarizing, as it is a non-traditional poetry style. I’m not that familiar with this art form, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I can absolutely say that I loved the author’s writing style. I found it to be very unique, and the poems to be expertly written.

I can’t wait to check out Amanda Lovelace’s other collections, and I’m excited to keep reading more poetry in general! 

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daphnemarie's review

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hopeful sad fast-paced

2.0

i did not like this but i read it because i like my friend who likes it

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anothersun's review

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emotional hopeful sad

3.0


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alon_nmc's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

You can really feel all the pain and despair the voice has gone through. But even through all that, she still manages to bring herself up. 
She becomes her own savior as she realizes that nobody will bring her happiness for her. And even though she has suffered a lot, she comes to the conclusion that living life to the fullest is her best option. 
Solid book, read it quite fast. I actually found a lot of poems that I quite loved, so that’s that. Would recommend for anyone that’s going through hard times.

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2busyreading's review

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emotional fast-paced

3.75


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lucyisabella's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0


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namenotimportant's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

4.25


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potsandpans22's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

My goodness where do I even start with this book. The journey I went through when reading this is definitely a reflective one. It ripped me to shreds, grinded me to a pulp, stomped me into the ground, covered me with dirt, watered me, let flowers grow from where the remnants of myself were buried in an unmarked grave and then let a blissful life come from all of that. 

It is a very heavy anthology but I highly recommend it. Just check the content warnings first, as it covers some very heavy, triggering topics. 

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