Line breaks
    mean something
and shouldn't be used
for artistic appeal.
         -Bib With a Blog

thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the eARC I received of Amanda Lovelace's Break Your Glass Slippers in exchange for a fair and honest review.

amanda lovelace (Amanda Lovelace?) is very popular and I get why.

Typical poetry is not the easiest to read. You know there is hidden meaning there and it's hard to get at. It makes readers feel frustrated and stupid. It is hard to know when to turn the page because you are battling over whether you have sat with the poem long enough to fully get it.

amanda lovelace's poems don't have that effect. they are bite sized and easy to digest. They contain little bits of self-help that teach you how to love yourself in a patriarchal world that seeks to destroy women. The titles of her books are lovely and the poems themselves are easily quotable. They fit perfectly on an Instagram page.

If I sound scornful, I know that's petty. There is nothing wrong with lovelace's poetry and, as a mom, I have to say that when my teen daughter begged for lovelace's last volume, I was thrilled. Poetry that actually speaks to people. That people actually want to buy. That is genuinely exciting.

Follow that up with the fact that these particular poems are inspired by fairy tales and I so, so want to like them! I think lovelace is doing something fun and cool here and I don;t want to be the Debbie Downer that pees on her parade. Besides, I am not a poet. Who am I to be down on her writing?

But I just don't love it. It reads like Hallmark cards: shallow. Easy. Cheap. there's not much below the surface. While it speaks to people and addresses issues that I think are very relate-able, it does it with little in the way of artistry. Her line breaks read as particularly shallow, like she literally breaks just to turn little snippets of advice into poetry. As I so often am, I am torn on this work because I always want to be kind to works of writing that I wish I liked, even when I don't. this is one of those. It's a work where I feel like if she would just push a little more, add a bit more depth, I could like it, but as it stands, it's just too simple. By her third collection, I think lovelace could be doing more.