The Witch Doesn’t Burn In This One by Amanda Lovelace on Netgalley and holy shit. I am in love with it. I read it in one sitting. And plan to read it again tomorrow, I am not gonna lie. This is a picture of me after a heartbreak, a heartbreak that left me feeling shattered and alone. This is the first time after that, that I actually felt empowered and this was because of Amanda Lovelace’s first poetry collection that I read, The Princess Saves Herself in this one. 
The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace was amazing. I absolutely loved it, so much. I really connected with the poems, they were so raw and emotional and it seemed as if Amanda was talking right to me. As if she understood all the struggles I have been through and am still struggling with. It’s like she personally gave me a kick in the ass to become a badass and to overcome all my struggles and remind me of my worth. And remind me that my life is a gift. That being female is a gift and if other can’t see that it is on them and not me. I do not fail because somebody is unable to appreciate me. And I should never allow people to walk all over me. 
I can’t wait for this poetry collection to be released because honestly Amanda Lovelace’s poems are my absolute favourites. They are the poems I turn to to give myself motivation and remind me of my worth. I am picking this collection up as soon as it is out of shelves. I highly recommend you do the same :)

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My second foray into contemporary free verse poetry went much better than my last, if my high rating is any indication. The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One is my first read from Amanda Lovelace, covering topics ranging from historic female oppression to the 2017 Women’s March.

And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

At first I didn’t know what to expect and my hopes weren’t super high, but both Lovelace’s dedication and trigger warning at the very beginning made me sit up straighter. This is a woman who both knows and respects her audience, and the more I read, the more I realized that, yeah, I am getting feminist poetry from a female perspective. How novel! (You may think I’m being facetious, but I’ve had a lot of Male Feminism™ thrown in my face lately that has not been great, so this was a breath of fresh air in a room full of Axe body spray.)

Unlike my last poetry book, this one had structure. Glorious, beautiful structure. Not just with the poems themselves (and many of them were structured in interesting and unique ways) but the book as a whole. Lovelace splits her poetry into four parts: the trial, the burning, the firestorm, and the ashes, and within each of these parts, her poems build in ferocity, passion, and content. You really feel like each part is taking you somewhere, building you towards something.

With symbolism largely revolving around witch burnings, imagery of fire and ashes and the rage they come from abound, but I never got bored with it. It never devolves into the raging feminist stereotype for me. So much of it is about women taking back our power, expressing our anger, getting back at our oppressors, but the endgame is one of action, dedicated to leaving the world better than when we found it. There’s a lot of healing taking place.

That isn’t to say the poems pull their punches. Many deal with topics such as sexual assault, insecurity, eating disorders, fear, powerlessness, violence, and the venom that comes with them. They call out the patriarchy, the laughable “Not All Men” saying, and the 2016 US election. All the while, Lovelace pays tribute to women, both fictional and real, by name and by identity, regardless of race, religion, or gender. There are poems dedicated to Eliza Hamilton, Hillary Clinton, Diana Prince, Emma Sulkowicz, and many more that had me sitting there, stunned, when I realized who and what they were about.

So would I call this form of free verse real poetry? Well, poetry is about making you feel something. It’s about making you think and keeping you company. There were so many times I was nodding along, going, “Yeah. Yeah! YEAH!” in my head because the words and lessons in Lovelace’s work were so relevant to me. I have lived so much of this female experience, and I have seen other women go through the more terrible consequences that come with the crime of being born women.

I felt angry and heartbroken at times, but also hopeful and empowered AF. I felt called to action, both for societal change and for personal change, namely to always treat other women like family because they are. We’re all going through a lot of the same stuff and our differences can only enrich and teach us, not divide us. We are united in more ways than those who seek to oppress us want us to know.

Is this real poetry? You bet it is. Mission accomplished, Amanda Lovelace!

the witch doesn't burn in this one is really excellent prose and poetry. The poems here inspire readers to fight the patriarchy and demand more than what women have been given in the past. It's a quick read with excellent structure and formatting.

I definitely liked the first book in this series, The Princess Saves Herself in this One, more than this second installment. There are a few poems in this collection that I really liked, but most of them were  just ok for me.

I do think Amanda Lovelace writes about some important topics. I’m glad this type of poetry collection exists that deals with feminist issues, body positivity, sexual assault, self-love, etc. But I feel like the way these topics were explored in this collection became repetitive.  Also, the poems in this one didn’t evoke any emotion from me, which was weird because I feel like I usually relate to poetry that deals with these topics.

I feel like overall themes of the book, witches, witchcraft and witch hunts were interesting and they were present in all the poems. There was a lot of consistency in the collection, both in terms of the overall theme and the different topics it explored. But,  as I was saying before, my main problem with this book is that I didn’t feel touched or connected to a lot of the poems and most of them didn’t provoke any emotion in me.

I haven't read the first poetry book from Amanda Lovelace (the princess saves herself in this one) and I have never read any poetry collection before. So I really don't know why I decided to download the ARC for this book, But I'm glad I did. 
A powerful, empowering story. It will leave you full of rage, and will make you want to fight.

I fell in love with Amanda Lovelace's writing after reading "The Princess Saves Herself in This One" That book helped me to learn love and forgiveness. "The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One" was the complete opposite. It taught me to embrace my reopened wounds, and harness my pain. It caused an eruption in my soul, and gave me a healthy way to feel anger and rage that I had bottle up. Amanda is an incredible writer, one who can elicit the most visceral response I've ever felt towards a poem. She thankfully does include a trigger warning, which is not to be ignored! Reading "Witch" was a surreal experience, many of the poems felt like they had come from my own mind, as they pinpointed my emotions so accurately. An emotional roller coaster, but worth it.

"The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One" is the feminist answer to centuries of male dominated poetry that relegate women to nothing more than fragile flowers and damsels in distress. Amanda Lovelace turns that narrative on it's head, a poetic Call-To-Arms of powerful women to embrace our flaws, and take our rightful place in the world. This is a book that will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I hope it helps other people as much as it helped me.

Amanda did it again. Wow. I think I loved this more than Princess. It was the fire I needed to keep going and keep standing up for my sisters. I absolutely adored the red font. Red is the color of fire and blood, both of which we do. I loved the little nods toward witchy language and I'm calling my group of close friends my coven now, for sure. 

I loved how she played with form more in this one and actually made symbols or pictures out of the words of her poems. I think there's a certain delight in reading an copy of this book purely for the lists of poems who start out with the same sentence or initial stanza. It was really cool to watch the transition on the computer and watch the bottom change. The sections were on point and I loved the story that introduced each section and continued as the over arching theme of the collection. I loved the small collections of poems within the overarching collection. Gosh, I can't wait for Mermaid and I really need it now.

"red lipstick:
an external sign
of internal
fire.
- we tried to warn you."

Amanda Lovelace knows how to make words beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free ebook copy of The Witch Doesn't Burn In This One By: Amanda Lovelace in exchange for an honest review.

I LOOOOOVED The Witch Doesn't Burn In This One! The poems in this book are feminist, moving, and very powerful. I am glad that she covered so many important topics. As a woman, I am grateful for poetry like this. Poetry that says a lot of the things that I think most of us women are thinking. Honestly, these are the kind of things that need to be said more and more. I find Amanda Lovelace's poetry inspirational and a must read for everyone. Words can't describe just how much I loved this book!

#PowerfulAndInspirational

Amanda always has the most beautiful writing styles, and her writing leaves me in tears in the best way!

It is hard to find the words to convey exactly how this book makes me feel, but I will try my best. I cried while reading this book from beginning to end. This book is a love letter to women and everything that we are. It is drowning in emotion and it is taking me with it. I think every woman should read this.

"get up, you are nobody's doormat"

Amanda Lovelace has done it again. ... She cast a spell that made me cry and rage. Thank you so much for the beautiful and true spellbinding craft that is your writing.

This book, omg this book! I felt so fierce and empowered and “Hell yeah!” while reading it.  There were also a few poems that caught me off guard and made me realize there are some things in my past that I still need to deal with. I want to buy every women who has ever felt broken their very own copy so they can wield it like an anthem.

Surprisingly, I have to say - there were actual poems. Lately, I've been seeing these books that claimed to be poetry but really were just weirdly
spaced-out
sentences.
However, while this book was beautifully written and I did connect with some of the poems on a personal level, some just came through as plainly hateful towards men. Poetry is very much like a living, breathing organism. It is so incredibly subjective that I find it hard to say if I'd recommend it or not.
The witch doesn't burn in this one is raw, true and bites you right where it hurts the most.

I picked this up because I was curious and wanted to jump into poetry a bit more after taking a class on it in school. The writing style is really beautiful and has a such a powerful message to it. I haven't read Amanda Lovelace's first collection The Princess Saves Herself in This One but I'm definitely intrigued after reading this sequel collection!

This is the sequel to the first book and it was just as great or even better then the first. 
It goes into the loving of yourself, feminism, and many other topics that go deep into many things and truly move your heart. 
I give this 5/5 stars

Amanda Lovelace always has the greatest poetry. I love all of her stuff, and if I had to choose only one poet to keep books of, I would choose her, because I relate to her poetry so much.

The real rating is 3,5.

Last year I've read The Princess Saves Herself in this One. As soon as I finished that I knew that I HAD to read her next one! 
The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One is written in the same short sentence modern poetry style, which makes for a very fast read.
This is kind of sequel to her first book, but it isn't required to have read her first book before reading this one. It will, however, give you some more insight in where she came from and her views on stuff. This book is written in the same 
Where she focused more on her own personal growth in The Princess Saves Herself in this One, she focusses more on women power in general in this one.

First, I was so, so, so pleasantly surprised that finally a book like this states a trigger warning in the front of the book! YES! This is so important and I'm so glad they finally started doing this!

In any book dealing with outspoken political views, not everyone will agree with the author. I loved how she is trying to empower women, but in my eyes, she did it in a way that was problematic and only sheds more bad light on the feminist movement. 
She generalized men, stating that all men are bad, rapists and try to stop you from growing. A lot of her poems, mostly the ones in the first two chapters, are aimed towards "the men" or "they".

In one of her poems (expectations vs reality pg. 56-57) she explains a bit where this view came from. In this poem, she explains how she doesn't trust any men and how you can never change her opinion on that, probably because of past very bad experiences.
I understand how she doesn't feel like she can trust men and I'm sad for her, but I don't think that spreading this message is the way to handle it.

Later in the book, she has two poems (page 134 and 135) explaining the words misogyny (the power-driven hatred of women) and misandry (the reactionary, self-preserving hatred of men.)
She states that misogyny is just the way things are and that misandry somehow is going too far.
This opened my eyes to how she viewed things and confirmed that I don't agree with her at all. You want people to stop the misogyny, but that doesn't mean that you should get to that goal with doing what they did to you. That is not how you are going to get equality. 

Somewhere in the end of the book, she won me back, a bit, with this poem:
(I can't get a picture in the review, so I will type it out)

"here's
the tricky thing
about fire:

it stays soft
even while it destroys

everything
in its
path,

but
it's up
to you

to
make sure
that

it doesn't
burn the
good

with
the rot.

- we can't lose our empathy"


"But Dorine you don't agree with her at all, but somehow you still give this book 3,5 stars?"
Yes. Because even though I didn't agree with most of this book, I did love how it opened my eyes to the topic and made me form my own opinion on this topic. And in the end, I think that is what she was trying to make you do! So I would recommend everyone to read this book as it deals with important topics that might open your eyes or empower you in some way.

I loved her first collection of poetry, but this was even better. Not only does lovelace capture the anger/fire metaphor well, but there are excellent references to current political and pop culture that make it timely. I loved the Hamilton/Game of Thrones/Handmaid's Tale shout-outs, but I know there are more. Plus, she actually says what they're from, so no inside jokes. Already pre-ordered.