| Title | : | Unlock Your Storybook Heart (You Are Your Own Fairy Tale, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1524851957 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781524851958 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published March 15, 2022 |
| Awards | : | Goodreads Choice Award Poetry (2022) |
amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents unlock your storybook heart, the third & final installment in her feminist poetry series, “you are your own fairy tale.” this is a collection about being so caught up in the fable that is perfectionism that you miss out on your own life. be honest: when was the last time you stopped to take in the everyday enchantment all around you?
Unlock Your Storybook Heart (You Are Your Own Fairy Tale, #3) Reviews
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I’m so sorry to have to give this one star, but I really didn’t like this. I’ve enjoyed this authors poetry in the past, but it’s all starting to feel so repetitive and very self-help ish. This doesn’t really feel like poetry to me, it’s just small pieces of advice that read more like an Instagram post. I love the message in this collection, and I 100% support the ideas behind everything and I think there’s some strong feminist themes throughout the collection, but there isn’t a single poem in this whole collection that moved me or made me feel anything, it all feels like something I’ve read before.
As an example, these are actually some of the poems:
“her cat is always there for her,
even when nobody else bothers to be.
-her soft companion”
“I don’t care if you’re eight, twenty eight, or eighty, embrace the unicorn that exists inside of you”
“hey you, yes, you. the very person reading this right now. you deserve a happiness brighter than every firefly in the entire world lit up at the exact same time.
-your forever reminder”
There are sooo many poems like this that feel so generic, and basic, and uninspired. -
First of all, pick up any of the author's work when you really want to and if you have loved their previous collections.
And please go through the trigger warnings given at the beginning of each collection.
I am seeing how much the writing has evolved with each successive collection. And I can use any quote for any day anytime when I would face hard times and difficult people. Most importantly I will need this collection when I lose my confidence and need some affirmations to push through.
And yes, I am sure the physical copy of the book will be much better.
Let's forget the cover and the repetitive illustrations for now.
Other than that I enjoyed this collection.
Thank you, Andrews McMeel, for the advance reading copy. -
“no one had ever called her their best friend, had they?
- no; no, of course they had not.”
i’m genuinely mad that i haven’t connected to any of these poems. the subjects are very relatable, but this feels more like something i would read on one of those self-help pages on instagram. that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but i maybe had higher expectations.
the collection follows the same “feminist”, “you’re your own saviour” pattern all lovelace’s previous works featured as well. i wish we finally saw something new, something fresh, but nope – it’s repetitive. i have to give credits where credits are due – this one has a lot more paragraphs than the rest, which was nice to see. however, it didn’t really work for me as a lot of these written parts weren’t that impressive. truthfully, it read like advice rather than poetry.
the art pieces featured in this one were really pretty – they fit the book very nicely. i truthfully didn’t really get why the collection started with this princess as a main character and ended as a love letter from amanda to her partner. maybe i just don’t understand what this book was trying to do, but it seems like it wanted to do a bit too much and it didn’t quite land on any of those things. every subject covered was only touched on a surface level and then we quickly moved on to something else – which makes this collection severely underdeveloped.
thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review! -
Unlock Your Storybook Heart is another beguiling poetry collection by
Amanda Lovelace (aka
ladybookmad). It's the third and final instalment in her
You Are Your Own Fairy Tale trilogy.
Lovelace states in her introduction that the poems are inspired by a few classic tales, "most notably
Beauty and the Beast", but also clearly contain a great deal of autobiographical content.disenchanted is she by the idea
The poems are reflective, yet simultaneously illuminating, exploring themes including finding one's life purpose in spite of external pressures, body image (in particular the poet's relationship with food and eating), finding love outside the heteronormative mould and her ongoing grief at the loss of her mother, who died prematurely. There is less emphasis on misogyny and male-female relations than in previous collections, although these do occasionally feature, and are as insightful as Lovelace's readers have come to expect. Interspersed between poems written in Lovelace's signature style of free verse are paragraphs of prose, which generally exhibit a more advisory / instructional style.
of living her life the way
she thought it had to be. (-finally, she gets it, p.71)
A greater sense of contentment and self-fulfilment pervades
Unlock Your Storybook Heart than some of Lovelace's previous published collections. The neuroses that resonate with so many of her readers are still present, but seem less raw than in several of her earlier publications. The poems that I found particularly appealing were "let me tell you a bittersweet story", "her books say" (p.70), "nothing is so definitive that you need to decide it's doomed" and "no simile can capture the pain". As a fellow cat lover, I also appreciated the two pieces relating to her pets.
Reading
Unlock Your Storybook Heart also led me to the discovery of what a "moonbow" is.
I'd recommend
Unlock Your Storybook Heart both to existing devotées of contemporary poetry and newcomers to the style. It's a though-provoking, entertaining and moving collection.
My thanks to the poet-author
Amanda Lovelace, publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this collection. -
"it's a curious thing, isn't it,
how an artist can turn their hurt into
something so stunning that
it has the power to save strangers,
but it doesn't have the power
to save the artist themselves?"
This is the third instalment in the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale series.
I love these feminist, inspiring, raw, and real anthologies! Modern poetry may not be for all but I find such beauty in the often sparse pages and the clever placement of the limited wording. Lovelace gives voice to my own heart throughout this collection and uses popular imagery and well-known cultural references to further evoke and provoke.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Amanda Lovelace, and the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, for this opportunity. -
I received an advance reader copy of this book to listen to in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.
***AUDIO BOOK VERSION***
Trigger warnings: self harm, mental illness, death, grief, eating disorders, grief, trauma and queerphobia.
Unlock Your Storybook Heart is a collection of poems written and narrated by the poet herself - Amanda Lovelace.
This collection is unique and relatable and certainly packs a punch. I relistened to some of these poems twice as they resonated with me so much. This collection is based upon beauty and the beasts fairytale which also happens to be my favourite fairytale story.
These poems are great to listen to or read to remind you of being worthy and important too, especially stressful times, hard times and when dealing with difficult situations and people. This gives you words you need to hear to pick yourself up and carry on forwards and I loved how it did that. I really want to get this in paperback and can't wait to listen to the previous two audio books in the series. -
okay this one might be my favourite ! it really really got to me and almost had me in tears was i not on my way to work ! but omg i love amanda lovelace so so much <333
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.
This wasn't my favorite from Lovelace and I was a tad disappointed. This felt a little like a self-help book which is fine but I came into this wanting poetry and not advice about how to love myself. The advice was great but still, this just felt so different from Lovelace's usual style. Overall I would still recommend it because I did enjoy it but fair warning that it's definitely different from her previous works. -
First, it is evident through the writing of Ms. Lovelace, that one see’s the various emotions of struggle, caring, love, and healing - not only with and about herself, but those words are shared at times as advice. For that, I applaud Lovelace’s overall message.
A minor criticism, the book’s cover is rather plain. A more captivating cover design would work better to showcase the content. When I read title of this work I wanted to hear it - the cover unfortunately played no factor.
Although Ms. Lovelace has a pleasant voice to listen to, her speaking narrative was extremely slow and monotone - devoid of all emotion. If the storybook heart is to be unlocked, shouldn’t it be with enthusiasm and relatable expressions of gratitude and freedom? Unfortunately, the narration was disappointing leaving me unconvinced of the author’s own feelings.
2 Stars
My thanks to NetGalley, Andrews McMeel Audio, and Amanda Lovelace for an AAC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. -
"i wonder what my life would have been like if there had been girls like me in the fairy tales i read growing up"
I'm actually really disappointed by the fact that I didn't like this book. I've read some of Amanda Lovelace's books before and I enjoyed them, so I expected I would enjoy this one too. I wouldn't say this book is bad, and poetry is always subjective - but it really didn't work for me.
tw: eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, sexism, queerphobia, death, grief, trauma (these are included in the book)
This book takes a format of a fairy tale, and in the usual Amanda Lovelace style, it is divided into parts. The themes of the book are the ones I extremely relate to - but I failed to connect with the subject at hand. I've read some of Amanda's books before, and the previous books I read felt very raw and very personal, and I think that intense emotion is what I related to. Not to say that this book lacks emotion - but the format feels more like self-help, or like reading advice and affirmations. Again, not bad, but also not something I was hoping for.
The book touches on a lot of topics, maybe too many - it felt like this collection wasn't very cohesive. I wouldn't usually be the one to point this out, but with a lot of these poems, I felt like I read them before. And I haven't, obviously, but the way these themes were explored felt slightly repetitive (especially when you consider their other poetry collections). A lot of poems felt more like filler content and wouldn't stand very well on their own, which I think is a shame.
Overall, this book wasn't for me, but I think a lot of people will enjoy it. If you are someone who loves affirmative poetry and enjoys Amanda Lovelace's work, you might enjoy this more than I did.
I received an arc of the book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
4.5*
I loved it! I know I’m biased because I definitely love all Amanda’s books and I’ve read everything she wrote so far, definitely she’s my favourite at this type of poetry. In this one you can find longer narrative than the others, but it follows her writing style on the same topics. But I loved it, the art was precious as always, the writting style is gorgeous and I endlessly recommend Amanda’s books.
Thank you NetGalley for sending me this ARC in change of my honest opinion -
This has to be my favorite in this series! I felt so heard by this book and cannot wait to read more from this author.
(arc from netgalley) -
A swell departure from their previous work, I would say that this poetry collection is one of Amanda Lovelace's finest works of poetry. In this riveting, adventurous new poetry collection, we are met with new and refreshing stories that follow the same pathway as their other poetry collections based on fairy tales.
This collection is a swell evolution from their work prior to this, with works that feel like actual poetry. I read her most famous works, The Princess Saves Herself in This One. I felt that in that there was nothing special about it, nothing fresh and exciting that I'd never heard before. It felt like an aspiring poet wishing to get work out and in order to do that they needed to aggressively hit the enter tab. There were no major themes or plotlines that were interesting.
However, in this new collection, Lovelace presents us with a plethora of new topics and themes to discuss in her poems. Their poems weren't five words each with their own line break, but actual poems with similes and metaphors and hyperbole and genuine meaning.
They brought us with things we can think about and sit with. They made poems about things you can connect to your own life and take as advice.
Although I did enjoy this, it felt quite bland. This is quite contradictory to what I previously said, and everything I said was true. Yet the topics discussed in this were overly discussed. Now I understand if that was the intention when writing this and if it is I take back what I said. But if it isn't, I wish to have seen more topics discussed. I wished to have seen more connections to their mother, more relationship happenings. It kind of felt like they were giving very vague situations when I was expecting something much more subjective.
All in all: this was alright. Not the best but much better than Lovelace's other works.
Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest opinion. -
Beautiful & uplifting as always! Amanda leaves me with such a warm feeling after every book.
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(Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review)
I have never read any of Amanda Lovelace's poetry before but I decided to try the final book from her series (also because it could be read as a stand-alone). It was a comfortable and quick read.
The poetry was told in the form of the main character inspired by some of the famous fairy tales we know and the feelings and thoughts of the main character (which are mostly Amanda's thoughts). I liked the illustrations, especially that they are with colours. Thought they were repetitive I did find them cute. As for the writings, I also found some to be repetitive.
I also like that she included a trigger warning page at the start so please be sure to read the themes. -
another incredible heart wrenching poetry book by Lovelace. One of my absolute favourite poets - my friend introduced me to them and i am indebted to her forever now. As always, impeccable imagery and detail and as magic as ever. such amazing, relatable feelings and emotions that i just adore. amazing x
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Not my favorite of Lovelace��s collections. This collection of poems borderline in self-help advice. And my thought have always been, don’t take advice from someone who’s ________ you don’t want. Well considering I don’t know anything about her personally (nothing against her per se, just don’t know), these self help-ish poems make it a little difficult to know whether or not I’m enjoying the collection as I read. “Hmm that sounds lovely but it also sounds like advice I don’t know that I would take.” Kinda like a Taylor Swift song, ya know…(but not quite as good).
But of course, anytime an author puts their heart out there in writing and poetry, I am in awe. I just think this one was a miss for me.
**received an arc galley for my honest review -
Will there ever be a more magical phenomenon than a case of Right Book, Right Time? I don't think so.
I've been along for the ride for all of lovelace's releases, with a couple of them having reached far into my soul to rearrange a few things. This last installment of You Are Your Own Fairy Tale has firmly joined those titles than I feel the most connected to.
I had to pause multiple times to put this down and walk it out. I find so much kinship and sisterhood in lovelace's words, and this one didn't pull it's punches.
It is so magical to feel seen and heard in a perfect stranger's words. To feel validated and respected and understood.
I can't wait to add this one to my shelves and to see what else Lovelace brings to the table. -
2/5 ★★☆☆☆
“let no book collect dust. you never know which one will heal wounds you never knew you had.”
I didn't connect that much with these poems. There were some cute ones, but overall, I don't feel like they were enough to make this book memorable. -
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this collection at all. This is my second book by Lovelace and definitely feel that her poems are not for me. If this were 2014 when Tumblr poetry was on the rage, maybe. But I've moved far beyond that.
What Lovelace really lacks is originality. Her poems have no depth, nuance, use of literary devices... I just feel like it's sentences written down with the hopes of making someone feel. But it just doesn't translate. I have an appreciation for simplicity, even in poetry, but these totally miss the mark. If you're going to make a poem with 2 lines, they better hit.
When I think about short poems, I think of something like Margaret Atwood's "[you fit into me]" which goes:
you fit into me
like a hook into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
Perfection.
Now I obviously don't expect work even remotely close to someone as esteemed as Atwood. I know not to expect that. But I expect something!!!
Not:
her cat is always there for her
even when nobody else bothers to be.
- her soft companion
Give me a break.
The collection continues like this. Just banal lines that are supposed to pass as poetic, when they rather just made me baffled at how Lovelace continues to fill a page with 2 lines and call it a piece of work. Even the longer poems are lacklustre, all reiterating the same cliches we've heard time and time again - even in her other works.
Some examples:
no longer will i be the quiet girl who
softens her secretly-strong opinions
to avoid making people uneasy
secretly strong opinions???
hey, you. yes, you. the very person reading this right now. you deserve happiness brighter than every firefly in the entire world lit up at the exact same time.
- your forever reminder
im sorry what??? how is this poetry!!
"clever and attractive?"
that's certainly not allowed.
either you're hideous
underneath all of that makeup
or you aren't nearly as intelligent
as you pretend to be
- a boy she didn't ask.
my god that's cringe. Lovelace constantly imbeds ideas like that are supposed to inspire women and scream "feminism" but it's entirely cheesy, cliche, and cringe.
This is exemplified again in:
"why are you so serious?" they all ask her.
"because otherwise, who would
bother to take me seriously? she replies.
- so-called resting bitch face.
stop. this doesnt mean anything. this doesnt evoke anything or make any new points. just read "ode to my bitch face" by olivia gatwood, who is one of the most talented poets i've ever read.
Anyway, if people connect with this, I'm glad. It's definitely not for me. -
i really missed amanda’s poetry. the last few books weren’t giving enough imo, but this! this really hit home, amazing!
-
✨
Break Your Glass Slippers ★★★★
✨
Shine Your Icy Crown ★★★
ARC was given by NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Content/Trigger Warnings: Loss of a parent (in the past), grief, sexism, depression, talk of death, queerphobia, talk of fatphobia, talk of eating disorders, sexual harassment, self-harm, suicide, mentions of intrusive thoughts, mentions of toxic and abusive relationships
Wow. What can I say fellow readers other than wow. What a way for me to end this poetry collection. It’s been a while since a poetry collection left me completely… underwhelmed. Honestly, I’m a little salty I didn’t connect with any piece of this collection other than the two-three pages talking about cats. As always, I say literature comes into our life when we need it the most and maybe that’s why I’m so underwhelmed. Maybe this wasn’t my time of needing this collection because I already know all the things that this collection has to offer or perhaps, it was something else.
This collection is the third and final installment in the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale trilogy. Like the rest of the books in this series, this collection is broken into three parts and beautiful illustrations that divide the sections. Lovelace went above and beyond to make sure the readers of this collection has access to content/trigger warnings in advance so you know what to expect going into the collection. Lovelace does this with every collection which is a nice little touch to show the author cares about their reading audience and their mental health.“Let no book collect dust. You never know which one will heal wounds you never knew you had.”
I would say that my favorite parts of this book had to be the illustrations. I always enjoy when authors add their own artwork into their books and Lovelace is no exception. If I remember correctly, each illustration is drawn by the author themselves and in a way, you can almost get a feel for the things this author enjoys, what they love to draw the most, and the full colored panels were a fantastic touch. There’s a lot of coziness to the full colored panels and there’s little details in them that make me wonder if the author actually has a little corner like that in their own home. The full illustrated panels are also a nice break from a lot of the themes in this collection. Those panels are there to say, “Hey, take a break. Take a moment to come down and breathe.”
I mentioned before that I really enjoyed the few pages we had about cats, but I also enjoyed the few passages we received about books. Now, I know the parts are titled in reference to books, but more so the pages that talk about books healing wounds or helping you to escape reality for a little while. As a consumer of books, and for you too book lovers, I think these sections will touch your soul and remind you how important books are. I think it was a great way for the author to nod at their readers and the book community.“Some change happens gradually, some changes happens in the blink of an eye, & some change manages to do both at the same time.”
Despite the good things I found within this book, there was a lot of issues with this book that I just couldn’t look past. The biggest things for me that made it really hard to enjoy this book was the constant whiplash and jumping around. In past books, the author had some solid organization and structure to help with the flow of the book, but with this book in particular it felt like there was no consistent flow. You would constantly have these moments where it would be talking about good things and then it would thrown in a page or two that was talking about something negative like toxic relationships or self-harm. If anything, the one consistent thing this book does is give you the choppy flow of giving you large doses of feel good, uplifting passages and then smack you in the face with dark, negative passages. This made it really hard to focus on the content within the book and had a desire of wanting to skip pages build up inside of me. Also, just for reference, ever book up until this particular book had a good steady flow of working through the bad into the good. That’s the kind of writing style the author normal put into their books and we just don’t get that in this book. This would have probably stood stronger if the author had kept that structure to this book.
My other issue and struggle with this book was the repetitiveness throughout this books. I think I talked about this in my last review for this series, for the second book, as well. The things being written in this book literally feels like passages from previous books just being rewritten in a different manner. There were a lot of times where I was reading this book and I’d sit here, asking myself, “Have I read this before? This feels familiar.” Usually, I don’t mind a little repetitiveness, but consistent repetitiveness just doesn’t work for me.
The most minor issue I had was the fact that this collection felt like there were passages just thrown in there that had nothing to do with the overall theme of this book. Honestly, I was expecting this trilogy to consist of them not only coping with the loss of their mother, but also their relationship with their partner. And while we get bits and pieces of that, there were passages thrown in that had nothing to do with these themes. It’s not a huge issue, but this does circle back to how the pacing of this book felt so off and had that choppy flow to it, making it hard to focus to read this book.“& if she had a choice, things would be different.”
Overall, this isn’t a bad read, but it definitely wasn’t for me. Again, maybe it wasn’t my time to have this piece of literature come into my life or maybe it’s something else. I think there are a lot of stand out passages that surround finding love, loving oneself, passages that deal in grief – many passages I think many readers may potentially connect with. However, the reading pace/flow of this book was really rough and choppy, and I think I would have enjoyed a little more structure when it came to the pacing. I still recommend this collection because I know that even though I haven’t connected with this book, I know someone out there will. So if you enjoy poetry, I still want to encourage you to pick it up.
The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
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First off, I would like to thank Netgalley, the publishers, and amanda lovelace for gifting me a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
unlock your storybook heart is the third and final book in her feminist poetry series "you are your own fairy tale." This collection of poems is about being so lost in the idea of being perfect that you miss out on life and forget to find your true self.
This is only my second book I've read by this author. I don't typically read poetry, but I really enjoy that about this book. Poetry is a very personal style of writing, and unlock your storybook heart almost reads like a self-help manual by throwing in the author's thoughts and experiences.I didn't personally agree with all the insights/lessons that were being talked about, but I was able to connect with some of it. The art work is absolutely beautiful, simplistic, and fits with what is happening throughout the book. Overall, I thought the book was okay. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.
❗Check the trigger warnings -
"She's all self-deprecating jokes with a hint of sarcasm. So it's no wonder that no one realizes how much pain blooms just beneath her perfectly placed cardigan."
Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is my favorite book out of the series. It's perfect. I feel Amanda wrote this book specifically just for me. I feel seen and understood in her well-written poems, powerful. They hit home. There are so many poems I had to pause and think deeply of them before I move to the others. -
Amanda strikes again! I love Amanda’s writing it’s simply so soul touching I feel like I finally have words to express the things that happen in my head after reading her work.
-
it's a curious thing, isn't it,
how an artist can turn their hurt into
something so stunning that
it has the power to save strangers,
but it doesn't have the power
to save the artist themselves?
Even though I really enjoyed this collection, I have to admit, it's the weakest one so far. This is the final installment in Amanda Lovelace's You Are Your Own Fairy Tale series, inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and focusing on topics of perfectionism, self-love, and living outside of expectations placed by society. It was highly anticipated, but still a bit disappointing for me.
I appreciated the themes, but I couldn't help but feeling that something was missing here. Amanda covers familiar topics in a fresh and original way, which was always the case with her previous collections, but I felt a bit detached from her writing in this one. Maybe it's something about the topic, because this felt like a self-love manifesto instead of a careful character study.
All in all, I would still highly recommend first two parts of this series. And I'll be patiently waiting for Amanda's next release, hoping that I'll like it way more than this one.
what's that one thing you would do for yourself
if only you could muster up the confidence?
- now go do it anyway.
Thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. -
Digital ARC provided by Netgalley
A fan of Amanda’s Lovelace poem books, this was a must on the TBR pile. It has the same style with which the author accustomed us to and for sure every reader will find at least one or two poems they can relate with.
I find her writing having different meaning each time I read the same poem. It is such a nice exercise to provide to those searching personal development and those who are familiar with the Therapy Cards. It can be related as well with the NLP exercise when a quote can give you the answer you were searching for but never took the time to listen and see that the answer was there all along while you were searching for it in other persons. -
ARC Provided through NetGalley.
3/5 STARS
I’m kind of sad over the fact that I didn’t really enjoy this poetry collection. I’ve read and loved all of Lovelace’s previous works, but for some reason the poems in this one fell short and flat for me.
Regardless of this, “Unlock your storybook heart” is such a beautifully crafted book and I found it very aesthetically pleasing. Nonetheless, I will continue to read Lovelace’s future work and I keep the hope that I will continue to enjoy those. -
It would be incredibly foolish to call this book poetry. This book reads as a required writing poem one would turn into their English teacher in middle school in hopes of a pity grade. It is an absolute disgrace to modern poetry. The “poems” are more like mantras (and not even good ones) indented in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Calling this book poetry is absolutely ridiculous and laughable.
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I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Amanda Lovelace's poetry gives voice to the things and feelings that I can't bring myself to express.
