Tried to read this. A little hard to read due to the content. It was very, very dark. It was written well but I just couldn't read it.

Triggers: References to abuse

I got this book as a freebie on Amazon due to an author event. While I am new to reading poetry and analyzing still. This book really did speak to me, and there were a lot of the poems that just spoke to me on a soul level, which I think it was supposed to. And for the poems that I didn't necessarily relate to, there was still understanding and being to relate and really feel what the writer was trying to say and get across. 

This book does play with sexuality, and while most mentions of it are subtle, I did like that. (i.e., not all of the relationships are necessarily to be interpreted as heterosexual, at least not IMO). I also like the fact that familial interactions were investigated and displayed. And while I couldn't necessarily relate to each poem due to personal experience, I still did get a raw response from what the author wrote.

Not all of the poems are short, which didn't really hurt the book but it was something that I did not expect to see.  

All in all, I did like this, and I'm glad I read it. It really is a great book of poetry.

Triggers: abuse; dosmestic violence; verbal abuse

So, I heard a lot about this author, mostly through GoodReads. She's considered one of those authors you read if you like Dorothy Koomson, which I do, and has/is becoming a big name in the Women's Fiction(or Chick-Lit) genre. So, when I managed to find one of her books, I was excited.

This book follows three different women--Jane (a younger, single mother), Madeline (a woman who has three children, one with her former husband/sig. other, and two with her current husband), and Celeste (a woman who is going through a difficult/abusive relationship with her spouse).

I did like a lot about this book. It kept me interested and it kept reading, trying to figure out each little mystery or tale that was going on. So, that was going on. It was well written. I did, for the most part, like a lot of the characters.

I would say that I did have a few problems with this book. One, there was the use of the racial slur g**sy. It was used to describe the entire one of the character's was wearing (Bonnie, Madeline's ex-husband's new wife) and it was used to imply that she looked tacky and was gaudy. Yeah, did not like that.

Bonnie kind of came across as the stereotypical White Feminist, and at first, I was thinking that was why Madeline didn't like her. Bonnie constantly talked about yoga and just kind of had the presence of someone who claimed to be Feminist but wasn't looking at forms of Feminism, if that makes sense. However, you found later that Madeline just kind of hates Bonnie due to her personality. And while there is a mention of whiteness and privilege, it's not done in a way to say "Hey, this isn't right; here's why.". It was more so to talk about Bonnie briefly and then used to describe Madeline's eldest daughter who believed that she was the "only voice for these young girls". (The young girls beings girls of color. So...yeah). That also didn't sit right with me. 

I also kind of felt like the stuff with a certain character was queer-baiting. Basically, it's the whole "one of the characters falls in love with someone or is attracted to someone but it's not to because they're gay. But surprise! They're straight". While I DO find the couple in question cute together, I think that could've been handled better. That character could've just have been bisexual or pansexual. Or there could have been some explanation for him dating a man/having a boyfriend and wanting to be with the one of the female characters without having to do the "he's gay; wait, no he isn't" tactic.

Those were the things that kind of messed with me a lot with and were the main problems I had with it. Other than that, while I wouldn't necessarily say it was a "fun" book to read due to some of the issues, I will say that it was enjoyable. The characters were interesting and did seem real to me. I do like the way it was told and how it was written. The chapters were relatively short but there were a lot of them. So, that was something I did like.

I don't know what else to really say about this book honestly. It kept me interested and wanting to keep reading. I really did like it, and I do want to read more from this author when I can.

So, I'm not sure if I've really talked about it on here but if you follow me on Twitter you've probably seen it, but basically I love poetry. I'm a huge poetry lover. Anyway, I found out about this author through Tumblr, and by extension Twitter, and even on those sites, a lot of the words that this author wrote spoke to be deeply--as a person of color, as a woman, as a woman of color, pain and loss, love. A lot of the poems I read I found myself nodding furiously and just agreeing with. 

While this book does contain a lot of her work from online, there are still that are new and weren't posted online. And even if it was just a compilation of her online work, I'd still consider reading it because of just how lovely and deep her words went for me personally. 

This was a quick read; most of the poems are kind of short and don't go on for too long. This is not a bad thing, and I love how the author is able to get the point across with the lines/words that are used. 

I could go on and on why I like this book of poetry. I really could. I seriously recommend reading. 

Gotten a bit farther in this. Love it. Love Alice Walker's talk about relationships(or relationship conventions), love, sexuality, race and et. al. I could go on and on the topics she brings up in this book. This just feels truly expansive on the characters she created and made in The Color Purple. I feel like this really is one of those books that does kind of show the generational gap within families while the members of that family are still facing the same issues. Basically, her characters have their own voices, goals, how they like their romantic relationships, how they don't, parental relationships, they are truly individual. And she was able to have the characters from The Color Purple keep their voices while creating new ones for the characters that either weren't expanded upon or are completely new to the "series". 

The characters are honest in they wanted in a way, basically it's plainly stated eventually. And I like that. Really enjoying this. Can't wait to finish it. Wish I had some more time to sit down and read some more of it.