Poetry Review: The Mermaid's Voice Returns In This One

Title: The Mermaid's Voice Returns In This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic #3)
Arthur: Amanda Lovelace
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Genre: poetry
Page Count: 210
Publication date: March 5th, 2019

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Goodreads Choice Award-winning poet and USA TODAY bestselling author Amanda Lovelace presents the mermaid’s voice returns in this one — the third and final installment in her “women are some kind of magic” series, featuring a foreword from Lang Leav and 13 guest poems from leading voices in poetry such as Nikita Gill, KY Robinson, and Orion Carloto.

The mermaid is known for her siren song, luring bedroom-eyed sailors to their demise. However, beneath these misguided myths are tales of escapism and healing, which Lovelace weaves throughout this empowering collection of poetry, taking you on a journey from the sea to the stars. They tried to silence her once and for all, but the mermaid’s voice returns in this one.

Review:

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher from an honest review through NetGalley.

Trigger warnings (taken from the beginning of the book): child abuse, gun violence, intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, alcohol, trauma, death, violence, fire, and possibly more.

As you can see I've rated this 3.5/5 stars. I've read all three of Amanda's poetry collections and, first off: I cannot get over how hard it had to of been to put these out, considering what they contain. I cannot say enough how much respect I have for that, and I felt weird giving this (and her others) a rating less then 5 stars for that.

However, I just didn't super connect to the text, her poetry style in general. Even the poems that I could personally relate to, I didn't feel it super hard? I'm not quite sure what didn't click with me, but all three volumes of poetry were a little just alright for me. Though, I did like the feminist undertones to everything, because we can't have enough of that.

Saying that, though, I did read all three volumes, and I requested this one on NetGalley, so there was something that was pushing me to keep reading.

I'd definitely recommend these, though if you don't think you can without triggering yourself, then please do not. If you can, though, I did enjoy this book, which also feels weird to say considering the content.

Anyway - I would definitely recommend you give them a try, I think the real reason I didn't click with this collection as much was because I enjoy my poetry to be slightly more... flowery I guess? Reviewing poetry is hard.  However, 3.5 isn't a bad rating, either, I enjoyed the collection and such.

If you you've read any of Amanda Lovelace's collections, let me know, and if you end up picking up this collection, or any others.