Unquestionably, this is one of the best poetry books I have read this year. The prose and poems included in this anthology narrate the author's experiences since her traumatic experience when she was still young in Beirut until she got older. Readers could feel Semaan's anxiety and melancholy when she was still in her lowest; the times she was crying and seeking for help, and her long process on moving forward to self-healing.

Child of the Moon is sort of a diary of Jessica Semaan when she took a time off and try to search for answers for all the problems, sadness, and desperation she had. Most probably, a lot of readers could be able to relate to one or more of the writings in this astonishing book that reflects the current state they are in. The book is divided into four sections that is related to the moon's phases and phenomena: Blood Moon, Half Moon, New Moon, and Flower Moon. The first two remarks the anguish and sorrowful part while the last two, which I like best, is about optimism and giving hope to all readers.

This is an outstanding book that will make you feel an assortment of emotions and is truly remarkable for its beautiful content. A highly recommended to anyone who are fond of reading poetry books or who also loves to write poems on their own.

This collection of poetry was so raw and honest and the journey through healing was so beautiful and well-written.

Child of the Moon by Jessica Semaan is an openly raw, honest and touching poetry collection filled with grief, loss and hope.
A deeply moving collection whereby the Author strips bare to the intimate parts of her life's journey through grief, forgiveness, and healing.
The notion embedded by the author to embrace ones pain felt through loss and trauma to work past it and learn to heal is prominent and profound.
Notably the authors courage to share her experience of loss, war, difficult parents and an internal turmoil of being someone else and the journey to find herself is truly humbling and relatable.
A thought provoking and honest collection that I deeply resonated with and enjoyed imensly.
4.5 stars

Thanks to Jessica Semaan, Netgalley & Andrew McMeels Publishing for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.
(All opinions are my own and are unbiased)

Child of the Moon captures the journey of grief, trauma, and probably most profoundly- healing- and the many, nonlinear forms it comes in. Jessica Semaan's diverse range of poetry will inspire a connection with anyone who is lost, lonely, or suffers from self doubt.

I was moved by Semaan's ability to open herself in such a raw and relatable way to all of us fellow children of the moon, and I appreciate her hard hitting honesty in areas we need to hear it most. I also loved her poetic devices, such as rhyme, which I feel a lot of poets I've read recently have done away with. I enjoyed how some verses were fun and clever, while others resonated on a deeper emotional level, and that everything was different.

Besides the genuine, heartfelt, and resonating writing- the illustrations between the sections are simply beautiful. I think I will be purchasing a physical copy if just for the illustrations.

I read this book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down, bookmarked half of "New Moon," and already know I will be returning to it again soon. Thank you Jessica Semaan for sharing your empowering story with us and thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for the free copy of this book.

Child of the Moon by Jessica Semman is a raw, heartfelt poetry collection that takes the reader on a powerful journey. Some of the poems were short, while some were long. Some dark, while others had a lighter feel to them.
There were a couple poems that I could relate to, others I couldn't honestly feel. While I enjoyed the collection and poems, I had trouble with it for personal reasons.

Incredibly raw and honest poetry collection about the journey through the darkest moments and into forgiveness and healing. I appreciate and admire the author for sharing these parts of herself so openly and bravely.

"Child of the Moon" is a beautiful book. It is raw, relatable, and emotional. It inspires the reader to embrace the pain or trauma they have experienced to be able to move on and heal. It is blunt and thought-provoking. The author deals with narcissistic parents, war, activism, pain, being someone else, finding your true self, and so much more. A reader might relate and have more use for this book than 20 self-help books combined. This is a good book for anyone at any stage in life as it also describes generational healing and growing up and becoming a parent. I truly loved it and is probably one of my favorite modern poetry books.

A lovely little book filled with beautiful poetry, some of which I related to on a deeply personal level. The illustrations were a delight, too.

First of all I’m not big on poetry. I don’t feel like I quite understand it but some of this collection really hit me. I felt really connected with the feelings and growth the author had. She didn’t just focus on the trauma she experienced but the recovery side also which I feel is very lacking when it comes to mental illness.

Some of my favorites are Shame #1, the things I wish she told me growing up, how did we come to disintegrate?, Healing is a long process, I numbed, what they called you, and to become the woman I am.

I received an ARC in exchange of honest review.

Jessica Semaan's Child of the Moon is nothing like any poetry book I've ever read before. Each page is full of surprises and I love the freestyle writing of her. It's dynamic. Some only consist of one single sentence, some feels like a short essay but I'm all in for it. This book is one wild ride. Aside from Semaan's childhood experiences, traumas and pains, she also complemented it with sweet verses of self-love and recoveries.

Healing <3

In this debut poetry, author Jessica Semaan brings us on a journey of walking from darkness into light. With her childhood traumas caused by the Lebanese Civil War and broken family background, she writes her honest experience of fear, shame and despair that is slowly healing through the touch of unconditional love.

Focusing on self love and the struggles she faces, I found comfort and, through that, courage to face the challenges in my daily life. It is a very powerful book with so much honesty and truth. And hence, I would recommend it to everyone.

Thank you Jessica for sharing your life and turning your experiences into art and empowerment.

I want to thank Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to review a copy of this book through NetGalley.

Beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking but still other times witty, this book is for all of us with personal trauma and darkness as well as everyone who sees the darkness in their societies.

I got Child of the Moon from NetGalley and researching the book a little bit, I got very excited by the author's predictions and promise for the book. I read her website and liked what I saw, so obviously, I got myself a cup of tea and started reading it that very minute.
Now, poetry is personal, of course, but this book did nothing for me. Maybe I am spoilt because of Salt by nayyirah waheed that makes me feel so much with every verse, that rarely does another poetry book match up to that. While there were sparks of brilliance, however, the rest seemed a lot like incomplete verses or prose. I really wanted to like the book because the poet's story is such an incredible account of love, loss, courage, and resilience that I had hoped would be translated into words. For me, it fell short.

I really enjoyed this book of poems. I was in tears for some because of how moved I was. Jessica Semaan gave us some really raw feelings in her words. I also have to say that with a poem I always thought that you had to have them set up away, but thanks to this I have seen different ways used and give just as much meaning as the more traditional ways.

I loved the illustrations and the cover of this book. As someone who has anxiety a lot of the time, i felt as my own words were on the page. That someone finally got it and that they were able to get it on paper for me.

Title caught my attention at first. I loved the illustrations. Poems are good too. But i couldn't find what i was expecting. I liked her writing. I know a lot of person connected to poems but i couldn't. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review

BLOG: nexttoabook.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/review-child-of-the-moon-by-jessica-semaan/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2579282213?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

This is a copy provided by the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them!

This is a precious book, that I will give to anyone who had been through rough situations or are currently struggling with something in their lives. Jessica shines so bright with a simple and honest way to write about her feelings. She is the kind of writer who doesn´t have a filter, therefore she delights us with her true colors.

I liked so much the idea that Jessica has to highlight in her poems the pain, sadness, impotence as feelings that are ok. It´s normal to feel like that sometimes, it´s NATURAL and we AREN´T ALONE!

She opens up her heart, through dark times, where fear, shame, and sadness broke her in million pieces and through that she had attention to tells us that we have potential, we are the child of the moon who have shadows and dark places, but we have the power to heal ourselves.

“To have a narcisissistic parent
Is to become parent of your parent
Because all you see is a child throwing tantrums, so you adult up”

I felt the painful journey through her childhood: the war, her family and then the pressure of the internet, her depression and finally to reborn a strong woman healing all of her traumas.

Happy readings,

Next to a Book.

As a note, a copy of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

Child of the Moon is one of the best collections of poetry I've read in years. Hands down, it truly is. The first thing you should know about Child of the Moon is, it's crackling with energy and despair and hope and shame and fear. We seek comfort in connection in our poetry, and this is one of those collections that is so gripping--you, too, will have whitened knuckles from holding it so tightly. From the very start, I felt as though I'd already seen a glimpse of Jessica Semaan's soul and that was a feeling that I could never shake.

You see, every line of Child of the Moon is so potent that, at times, it becomes a little overwhelming to the reader. This is not a bad thing. In fact, it's remarkable. I think that, while I felt truly connected to the prose even within the first page, it truly clicked with me whilst reading the passages from "Top 10 Self-Doubt Tracks (On Repeat)" and in every moment after that, I just knew, with a jolt of electricity, just how special this collection was. Semaan has a gift in exploring the darkness of ones self and it's just... incredible to read. And impossible to put down.

There's this aching quality to many lines in this book that I can't bring myself to describe. Perhaps it goes back to how potent the writing, the sheer emotion, is within Child of the Moon. But, I physically ached throughout this collection. There are far too many emotions and moments to acknowledge with it, but that merely tells you of the quality--that at its core, Child of the Moon reflects Semaan's soul and you cannot, and should not, look away.

This book is best reserved for the night-time. It's not unlike looking to the moon at the same moment many others do--you look into the sky and you just know there's someone on the other side, and you are suddenly... not so alone. There's this tone of understanding in so many of these poems, towards the end, and the way it ties into the themes and Semaan's prose is beautifully done. "Crater" is one of the most perfect, and simplistic, examples of this fact.

Semaan hits readers with a blunt honesty in poems like "When Nothing Can Take Away the Pain" or "The Many Ways I Suppress Myself" or asks the questions on the tip of our tongues via "How Did We Come to Disintegrate?" and then picks you back up, trying to piece her own self back together, with added commentary in "Paris, 2017", "Standing Rock, 2016" and "Healing #3"--the truth is, there is an abundance of poems to cite as must-read in Child of the Moon.

Which is just proof that you should read the collection.

Overall, Child of the Moon is a piece of art that demands to be heard. I loved it from start to finish. Told in a compelling prose, armed with stunning illustrations, Child of the Moon is something you won't soon forget.

Child of the Moon will be available January 8th, 2019. Just in time to start a new years journey.

This title is unfortunately only available in pdf form which is not compatible with any of my reading devices. Thank you for the opportunity.

This poetry book was really good. I liked how each poem was nice and short and didn't use to many metaphors. The fact that each poem was free verse really let you relate and it was nice to see everything just flowing instead of having to stick to a strict poetry format. Through each person's situation is different I found all the poems were written so that everyone could see something in it that related to their own life. I liked how all of the poems were written using normal English instead of old English which makes it hard to understand. Really good book, I found it really touching. Even though the poems were short and some were really simple I did find that they had very powerful messages attached to them if you look deep enough. Great read and I'm glad I got the chance to check it out. I found that these poems while simple were very powerful, and the flow to them was beautiful. The best thing about them was that even the shortest poems that were only like three lines were still just as powerful as all of the longer poems.

Poetic words and images combine for a delightful reading experience. Recommended for readers who love verse.