I normally don't read poetry, it mades me sad and, somehow, poetry books always finds me in bad moments in my life. But I like the cover of this one and, by chance, life is being great right now, so I decided to give it a try... and I really like it. Probably, the fact that I love greek mythology has something to do with it... but I think, more than anything, it's the fact that it felt real. Please, keep writing like this.

4 stars

I did love the pomegranate themes, but some of the art integrated was cheesy and was a CHOICE. I love the story of Hades and Persephone, but this poetry collection focuses more on the themes of parents and the abandonment they sometimes leave children feeling when their children need them the most. I did enjoy this collection quite a bit, but it wasn't life-changing. I need to go back and read the second book in the series, but I appreciate Mateer's poetry and creative eye.

This was not as strong for me as the rest of her collections and as always had a few poems and writings that really spoke to me

I loved this, beautiful prose and hard hitting truths about womanhood. Also the cover is beautiful and gives a haunted side to poetry that is not so common.

A collection of beautiful and powerful poems relating to themes connected with the goddess Persephone.

What a stunning collection of poetry. If I was still in college, I would have photocopied so many of these and hung them up on my dorm room walls (this is a huge compliment). I love the conceit of the POV of Persephone, but it allows for such a sharing of universal experience that (unfortunately) so many women and girls face. Highly recommended.

Persephone Made Me Do It was such a beautifully written collection of poetry. I read it in one sitting and found myself going through all of the emotions, I was crying at one point, and smiling at the next. I am very excited to read her backlist of poetry!

I would like to thank the Publishers for providing me a copy of this book for my honest review.

I went into this poetry book with little expectation. I have read the first two books which I purchased with my own money, and I found that those books were just average. I would like to look at two aspects of this book.

The format and the Art:
I found that the art in this book gave off the vibes that it was a dairy that Persephone was keeping like a teenage girl which is good if you are into that type of feeling. Personally, I would like for it to feel a tad more mature since Persephone is a goddess and has been known for eons.

The Poetry
I enjoyed the poems a lot more than I thought I would. I can tell the Poet has done her research and has grown into her style. There were lots of typos in which made it different to want to keep pushing through. the journey the poetry took me on was different and unique. I loved the difference between Kore and Persephone which is able to portray that Kore was naive and childlike while Persephone is in her goth girl era. The poems were well written and easy to understand the layers underneath it. As you read on the angrier and the more intense the poems get. As someone who was raised by a single mother and have had traumatic experiences with men, I understand the anger that has been portrayed.

I enjoyed this book the most out of her series. Would recommend it if you want a poetry book that has a depth of the parental trauma and feminine rage.

‘Persephone made me do it,’ was my first poetry collection by Mateer and I couldn’t put it down. She creates a beautiful balance between vulnerability and power within the feminine experience. I love the way she draws upon Greek mythology and tarot cards to not only structure this collection but also to draw strength from the women who came before us.
Mateer draws inspiration from the complications between mothers and daughters and for me she juxtaposes these relationships with the infamy of goddesses who forged their own paths. There are some themes of abuse within ‘Persephone’ and although Mateer focuses on female empowerment she does write with gut wrenching emotion, providing moments of safety within darker themes.
I enjoyed the arc within this collection and how the poems are interspersed with collage illustrations and verses; Mateer’s style feels very current and I’m intrigued to look into her previous works. A brilliant collection which celebrates the power that we can harness from our worst days; a celebration of the full scope of feminine strength from legendary goddesses to the modern woman.

This whole series is such a great collection of poetry. It ignites something deep within and intertwines the myths of the paths with the reality of our present. It evokes big emotions and is so eloquently done. I really enjoyed this.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this gifted copy.

Loved the first couple of poems, then it kinda lost me. Overall it was okay, but it started so good that I got hyped up and when the following poems didn't live up to that hype it was a little diappointing.

I really like the idea of these poetry collections incrporating greek goddesses, I think it works really well. And like I said, some poems I really enjoyed and could relate to and other were just meh.

wow.
Every single line of this book touched my soul.
I read it in one sitting and the only word I can use to describe this is beautiful.

Every single one of her collections speaks to a different part of us. This one was no different. It caressed our flaws and told us to still keep trying. She beautifully takes us through a journey of how to still walk through life even with people there to make us cower. It was a fantastic read!

Beautifully written, insightful, emotional, and empowering.

Written in the prospective of Persephone, highlighting her thoughts and feelings as a victim of kidnapping, betrayal, and assault. Gathering strength, being smart, and obtaining power over her circumstance. It was masterfully done.

I felt empathy, anger, and peace.

I read this in one sitting and I will definitely read it again. It felt empowering and beautiful yet brutal (but in a good way). I could have highlighted the whole book.

I’ve read Mateer’s previous two poetry collections them being Aphrodite and Artemis and enjoyed them a lot so finding out she had another one coming out connected to Persephone was something to look forward to.

I’m always going to be a sucker for poets that connect folklore and mythology to their feminist writings and this collection is no different. Themes of girlhood are always going to be appreciated and something I always connect with and this collection had plenty to choose from. Something different than her previous collections in this series is ideas relating to god and religion which I found refreshing.

The only reason I lowered my rating is because this collection felt like it repeated a lot of the same ideas from her other work without making it entirely new, which made some of the writing come off as stale.

I think any fans of Mateer’s previous works in this series will not be disappointed by this installment. Fans of Nikita Gill and Amanda Lovelace would also enjoy this one.

I really loved this. I loved the way it was written, and how it went back and forth between persephone’s point of view and the poets. I also appreciated that it didn’t romanticize persephone’s story.
And the way the book is multimedia is really interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very quick read.

3.75 stars
[TBA: I received an ARC of the book from Central Avenue via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

In this collection, Mateer explores her own feelings and experiences of femininity, sexism, and sexual abuse alongside those of Greek goddess Persephone. As a die-hard Persephone devotee, I was intrigued by this concept and couldn’t wait to pick it up.

It’s extremely aesthetically pleasing: Not only will you find poetry and prose between those pages, but also Mateer’s own art, which really brings it all to life.

I devoured this book and had a great time reading it - although in my opinion the beginning was much stronger than the rest of the collection. It first heightened my expectations and then led to a bit of disappointment as I read on. Some poems really spoke to me and were incredibly beautiful, others I could quickly skim and move on from without much further thought. The occasional incredible insight was followed by too much filler content. It reminded me of Rupi Kaur’s poetry, with which I’ve had similar experiences.

However, my usual caution that poetry is highly subjective also applies here. Having read my fair share of them, I believe that the perfect poetry collection does not exist. And while it’s not perfect, *****Persephone Made Me Do It***** is definitely a book I will be coming back to -not only because of my Persephone obsession, but also to revisit my favourite poems and of course the art. Empowering and inspiring - I recommend!

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with an eArc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"I wasn't ready to become what I had to become."

After previously reading Mateer's other poetry collections, I was very excited to hear of this one coming out! Persephone is an absolutely fascinating character in Greek mythology, one I adore. I knew that the poems that were inspired and influenced by her would be brilliant, and I was right!

The imagery used within the poetry collection really stood out and offered another interesting way to look at the collection as a whole. There were a variety of pictures in many different forms; from drawings to edited photos, to ones that looked like scrapbook pages, almost all with powerful words that enriched the collection,

I genuinely adored this book so much, and it is actually so hard to narrow down one or two that I enjoyed over the others. They were all equally really wonderful to read and spoke true and hard-hitting words about what women have to endure in this world due to the patriarchy, but of course, with a greek mythological twist!

This book and Trista Mateer’s poetry was everything I needed right now!!!

The poems are so light, yet meaningful. They explore such difficult themes but they are empowering at the same time.

I really enjoyed the idea to place a Greek goddess (the other collections in this series also do this with Artemis and Aphrodite) as the main character and to write the poems from her point of view and through her experiences, which are often those of other people all around the world.

Also, the artwork in this book is stunning and I felt really inspired to make more collages myself and mix them with poetry 😍

Definitely give this one a chance and while you’re at it discover the lovely poetry of the other collections in this series, just like I did!!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @centavebooks for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!