ARC review: The witch doesn’t burn in this one by Amanda Lovelace

I was sent this book as an advanced copy by the publisher via NetGalley for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own. 

Summary: The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now—indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn’t burn in this one.

Release date: March 6th

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★★★★★

This was amazingly powerful and empowering. It was emotionally hard to read at times, like all good thought-prokoving literature is.

Full disclosure, I still haven’t read Lovelace’s first poem collection fully, but I have read many of her poems (I follow her on twitter and she often RTs people sharing their favorite poems of her, so that way I got to read a few) and I feel like I have at least some understanding of what The Princess Saves Herself in This One is about.

From what I understand, this second collection is much less personal than the first one and it focuses more on women experiences as a whole. I think it does a great job at embracing women of all kinds and from all times, however I found that a few poems that tried to be “true” in a timeless way instead focused more on things that are historically only true in modern times and in western society. This is just a minor detail and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book.

The poems were powerful and evoked vivid images of the witches, the match-boys and of fire. I think everyone should read it, and especially the people who complain about modern poetry, because it will prove to them that this is Poetry under every definition.

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