Poetry is something so often overlooked in my library. I try to promote other than just National Poetry Month and this title makes it easy. It's wonderfully written and so poignant in the feelings it evokes. We have all been there in one way or another and I will enjoy sharing this title with my patrons.

I really liked this collection and found that I could resonate with a lot of them. It's well written and heartfelt.

“Isn’t it sad, to be sad, and not able to say it”

You Are Here addresses themes like depression, chronic pain, healing, second love and second chances. A lot of these themes resonated with me and a lot of what the author was trying to say is important, but the execution took away from the message behind the poems. The writing style isn’t strong enough, is too simple and it doesn’t allow the poems to feel as powerful and touching as they could have been.

“No one knows how to love me when I’m sad

And I can’t blame them for that

I don’t even know how to love me

When the voices come at night

I hate and hate and hate

Even when I fight”

Nonetheless, I feel like this collection could help a lot of people dealing with depression (or mental illness in general) to feel seen and understood. There’s this poem that talks about Lanuza’s struggles to decide when it’s the appropriate time to tell a new romantic partner that she has depression, and I think that poem in particular will resonate with a lot of people, even if the writing isn’t the best. That’s one of the many poems that talk about mental health in this collection, which to me, represent the best of Lanuza’s work.

Overall, I would say that even if this is not the best written poetry collection, it deals with some important subjects in a relatable way and I would still recommend it.

Rating: 3,4 stars

I rather enjoyed this. It evokes a lot of thought and emotion from me and I really connected with this collection of poetry. I found it largely relatable and as such I would definitely recommend it to anyone who finds the idea of this appealing as a whole. It’s really well written, and thoroughly drew me in. I felt a power of emotion behind the words and tilt felt like it served its purpose. I also really enjoyed the formatting of this! This is definitely an all round good contender for current modern poetry books on the market.

Poetry collections are largely subjective and massively depend on your own thoughts, personal experiences and feelings; I find that no two people experience poetry the same way. As a result I can’t help but recommend this to absolutely everyone to whom it appeals to.

I simply can’t rate this five stars because I didn’t enjoy every single one of the poems/related to all of them, but I really enjoyed it. Don’t take my rating as an enjoyment scale — it’s simply the quality of the book!

Also: the cover really lives up to the quality of the book itself!

While I was reading this latest book of Dawn Lanuza, in the back of my mind, I thought that several of the poems and prose are really meant for me because of how I could easily relate myself to them. I felt that this anthology was written or dedicated to me by the author because I could connect to over half of the content. There are a lot of notable and relatable poems included in this collection, and I know that a lot of women, especially those who have the same age as I am, will love this second poetry book of Lanuza.

I was first attracted to this book by its pretty cover. I was so glad to see it’s written by Dawn Lanuza, because I’ve been wanting to read her works for some time now.

This collection of modern poetry is meant to be read slowly and savored. These are little vignettes reflecting on love and loss. It can be heartwarming at one moment and heartbreaking the next. It’s all about healing and letting go. I also felt like a trusted friend is talking to me. I was comforted by the messages of body positivity and self love. I can compare this reading experience to drinking hot brewed coffee during a rainy night, surrounded by soft pillows and a warm blanket.

As the title promises, the reader is compelled to look at oneself, and recognize where you are right now in your life. It reminds us that we should all learn to love and accept ourselves during our own journeys, no matter where we intend to go.

I received an ARC from Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley in exchange of honest review.

I want to like this book so badly. Aside because of its gorgeous cover, I've read a few disappointing poetry books since 2019 started. So, now I have a stronger urge to discover a really good one, you know? Yet, I'm afraid to say this book is not the one for me. None of the poems connects or speaks to me. Most of the lines are bland and dull. Good thing it ends pretty quick.

You Are Here by Dawn Lanuza is a poetry collection about self-love, vulnerability, identity, relationships, growth and change. As I began to read this collection, I knew I was going to love it. I was instantly transported to my younger self in high school and beginning of college. It brought me back to my first love and the heart break once it had ended.

There were several parts of the collection that dealt with certain topics. Along with relationships and breakups, identity was another topic that was expressed in the poetry collection. The two that stood out the most were Vessel and Grow. As a young adult I remember facing challenges of self-identity and acceptance for who I was. Society plays a huge role in one's identity and I loved the poems that related to body image because society sometimes is a harsh critique and tells many young individuals who are still finding themselves what they have to be in order to be accepted. This is one of my favorite poetry collections. One that is very relatable and discusses topics that are important.

"You are Here" is a poetry collection that focuses on love and especially the aftermath of breakups. The first thing I noticed about this book is how pleasant it is just to look at it and I'm not talking just about the cover. The font and the way the poems sat on the page, the way the words were organized and placed in a certain place made me feel peaceful and content. Even before you read them, Dawn Lanuza's poems are just comforting to look at. I was reading this in a digital medium through NetGalley and I could almost feel the scratchy feeling at the tip of yr fingers that you associate with old notebooks and love poems.
One other thing that I really liked were the illustrations that seemed to complement the book effortlessly marking a division between the themes. While the first part seemed more focused on romantic attachments and their failures, the second and third parts seem to focus more on womanhood, adulthood and how it feels to be human, with all its flaws and miracles. My favourite part of this book were the short poems. Every time I saw three simple lines on a page I knew I would have to pause at the end with a smile and take a minute to digest it.

Dawn Lanuza's poetry collection focuses on a varying number of topics that intertwine to give us a view of different experiences ranging from self-worth to body positivity, womanhood to self-image.
Reading poetry for me goes either of two ways: 1) The poet delves into my heart and exposes all of my saddest secrets and darkest days or 2) The poet focuses on their life experience which I find relate to my own journey. You Are Here was the latter. Dawn Lanuza's words made me feel like I was reading about my own expereinces. Regardless I found this to be an okay type of poetry. Nothing fresh or new but definitely worth the read. It isn't the type of poetry that makes you feel something but the type of poetry that makes you think.

There is no easy way to say this: Your are Here is not for me. I tried, I sticked to it until the very ending, and I just couldn't swallow it. However, there are good points to it: it is a short and fast paced read (I read it in a sitting), and there is some wisdom and nice sentences in there.

Nevertheless, I felt that the book heavily needed editing. A lot of editing. There were some major mistakes in the use of certain words, because the real meaning they have didn't correspond to what the author wanted to say, they didn't fit in the situation and context (for instance, using "solitude" when she meant "silence"); and I felt really confused at times by how she constructed the situations in the poems. There was situational and contextual inconsistency, contradiction and incoherence throughout individual poems that would've been easily mended by an editor. Also, this really felt like someone's first attempt at writing poetry. I think Dawn Lanuza has to write and rewrite and find better mentors and people who help her grow in her writing. Many of the poems felt like rewritings of poems I have already read by other people. In all the book I only found four sentences worth highlighting, which genuinely felt fresh and new. Moreover, her style doesn't fit what I like reading in poetry: the rhyme in some poems felt forced and superfluous, not adding any value to the poem.

All in all, this was definitely not the right poetry book for me, although it can be a good read for people who are new to poetry and want something light and quick.

This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley!

And the boy who wanted her to stay
was one of the first ones who went away

You Are Here is a beautiful poetry collection about love, relationships, self-reflection, … This is the second poetry collection I’ve read by Dawn Lanuza.

You’re the only one missing out,
not them.

I think that You Are Here is such a good poetry collection and I really liked reading about different topics. I think that these poems are really well written and some of them are really beautiful and relatable.

And isn’t it sad
to be sad
and not be able to say it

Favourite poems:

how to love in the dark
all this wanting
sad girl
the mechanic
bad kisser
passing through
self-medicate
falling in love with your words
she wins
this is your lullaby
true nightmare
role-playing
you’ve got standards, so what?
vessel
grow
rise
y/n

You are here is a collection of poems by Dawn Lanuza that cover the themes of love and healing and most of all second chances. This is my first time reviewing a book of poetry but I have been a long time reader and while the poems are well written I couldn’t connect with the poems. I find with poetry you have to connect with the words otherwise the beauty of the poem is lost. This book will certainly appeal to poetry lovers it just wasn’t a book for me.
I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

WOW I loved this book!!! I was looking forward to this read since I enjoyed "The Last Time I'll Write About You" and "You Are Here" exceeded my high expectations!

Some of my favorites:
"sad girl"
"this is our cosmos"
"this is your lullaby"
"role-playing"
"stop over"
"sylvia"
"3x5"
"it is not mine"

Thank you for sharing your heart, Dawn.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super cute collection! Highly recommend. After personally dealing with depression and anxiety, these poems really resonated with me, being able to heal and just accept where I am in life.

DNF AT 110

So, I wouldn't say that I hated this book but most of the poems meant nothing for me. I liked the cover and I liked that the poems were short because that made me read more, but I didn't find them interesting. I couldn't relate to them and felt that they were something that I have already read.
Overall, the poems "were okay". As I said, I did not hate the poems, they just did not impress me and I couldn't continue reading something that I couldn't relate to.

I wanted to like this because the cover is so cute/pretty, but... The writing is just so dull and depressing.

You Are Here is a poetry collection. I did enjoy reading these, but I'm more a fan of poetry of the natural world. If this is your favorite type of poetry you should enjoy this collection. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Besides it is written by a Filipina author and I adore poems, I really loved this! I never thought I could relate much to a poem. I can really feel the emotions of the author as she writes this. This has so much pain, love, and self realizations. Thank you for making this book.

This was not my favorite, quite honestly. Compared to the more popular poetry writers, I felt that Dawn Lanuza wrote far less creatively and introspectively. As a Creative Writing major myself, I remember taking Introduction to Poetry, and her work very much resembled that of my classmates, and did not feel as though it was high-level writing. She followed a lot of traditional poetic structure, and did not "think outside of the box". I would not recommend this to anyone.