While I know I should have picked up the other two before this one, I noticed it was available for me to read via Netgalley (Thank you♡), so I decided to try out poetry.
I loved it.
Not the best poetry I've read but still impacting and beautiful.
I liked how Amanda let other people put a poem in The Mermaid's Voice Returns In This One, such as Jenna Clare and many others.

"can't
a prince
a princess
a n y o n e

just
come along
& gaze
upon me
with such
adoration
it's
as if i'm
the gem
of the deep,
not the rubble
of pompeii?"

This book was so powerful. Keep in mind of the trigger warnings and practice self care when involved with any of her books. They are moving, powerful, and thought provoking. 5/5 every time!

I received an e-ARC of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I already heard a lot about amanda lovelace and her poetry, so I was really excited when I received an e-ARC of this beautiful book - and it didn't disappoint me. Instead, lovelace's poetry left me speechless. I especially liked the fairytale metaphors! But be careful: please read the trigger warning before starting this book. Some of the poems are very dark and emotional, but I liked that a lot.

I really want to buy amanda lovelace's other books now, and I'm looking forward to reading them!

I received an e-ARC of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I give this book 3.5 stars which rounds up to 4.

This book is really similar to the other two books in this series. So if you liked those, then you’ll probably like this one. That being said, I still think her first book is the strongest.

The subject matter of the book is very timely. A large majority of the poems center on the Me Too movement.

The theme of this book is mermaids/The Little Mermaid story. However, there wasn’t a lot of actual mermaid inspired poems. She seemed to revert back to princesses/queens and fairy tales in general. Given the focus on Me Too/sexual assault, there could have been a lot done with The Little Mermaid theme. To me it felt like a missed opportunity.

This collection also contains some guest poems from other poets and I loved that addition. It added some variety and it worked well with the Me Too message because it showed strength in numbers.

I did enjoy a lot of the poems. There were some that really spoke to me. I did love that one of her poems was an homage to The Chronicles of Narnia, which is one of my favorite book series of all time.

Overall, this collection is perfect for fans of Amanda Lovelace. If you’re looking for something different from her, you may want to skip this one.

The conclusion of this poetry series did not disappoint! I found myself bookmarking a lot of the poems, specifically the ones with fairytale metaphors and the ones about books. I will admit, I was not a fan of the last part of the book where a bunch of other poets contributed, but other than that, I enjoyed this collection.

(please please PLEASE Read the trigger warning before starting this book)
The Women Are Some Kind of Magic poetry series is one ofmy absolute favorite collections. This was probably my least favorite of the three. It's a very good collection however it's VERY dark. This was not the empowering and uplifting collections I was used too. The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One deals with child abuse, violence and self-harm. It's a hauntingly beautiful collection of poetry that will stay with you for a long time.

This was one of the many anticipated reads I had for this year. It wasn't until early last year that I've come across this authors poetry and has been devouring her work as well as her opening my eyes to poetry. I will admit I was never into poetry until this author reading her captivating words and getting that feeling of being understood.

This is the final book the Women are some kind of magic trilogy (Not even sure if that's the right word for it?) If you loved the first two books you'll love this book as well as much as I did. But there is the bonus feature of getting a couple of other authors which surprised me and I was pretty pleasantly surprised how seamlessly all the poetry worked together from different artists. It even now got me wanting to know more and branching out to see whats out there. I was already becoming a fan of Nikita Gills work but there was a couple of other names I was unfamiliar with that I'm now going to look out for. Back to the book I just loved it not much to say without spoiling it but it is in connection with the previous books but could be read as a standalone if you are new to this series or author. But I do recommend reading this book but even more so pick up the first book to it. This series is heart breaking, uplifting, and empowering an your not going to want to miss it.

This is a collection of modern poems and quotes by Amanda Lovelace, the last part in the series of her books that started with "the princess saves herself in this one". This book have writings about everything from sexual abuse to self love mostly derived from her personal experiences. There are some fillers in between by other writers or maybe friend of hers. Overall it was a decent read, had some amazing powerful quotes but as many people have stated before, hitting enter after every word does not make it a poem. It might look good layout wise but if the reader cannot connect with it, it sounds bland. There are more than two or three such kind of "poems" & quotes where I wondered how and why it got there. The fillers however were fitted well and had some amazing write ups.
Overall I feel neutral about this book, as much as I absolutely adore some quotes and poems in there, there are some which made me want to not read the book anymore or too cheesy to be there, hence a 3.5 to stay neutral but bending on the good side. The .5 addition is mostly because of the 1/3rd of the book, it starts with a bang with every quote hitting you right in the feels where you can relate it to your present self or even teenage self. I like how she related everything to a fictional stories or character in the write ups, I thought this would continue given the theme but it kept on changing which was ....lets say not what I was hoping. One thing was clear, the author is a nerd when it comes to fictional books, it reflected in her writing.
One thing I'd like to add is, if you're looking for something simple yet old school like Kahlil Gibran or Sylvia Plath or anything which has a lot of figure of speeches involved with or without a rhyming scheme, this book is not for you. It is a contemporary style and may or may not be your cup of tea

The final chapter to Lovelace's poetry anthology and this one just gets deeper and darker than before. A great set of poems dealing with various personal issues that are relatable to many of its readers. I will definitely be on the look out for a box set of this anthology to purchase for my home library!

"she didn't kiss frogs.
she kissed great white sharks."

Thanks to Netgalley I am voluntarily reviewing this book after receiving a free copy.

When I first saw that this book was coming out I was excited but sceptical because I really enjoyed the first book in this series but I didn't enjoy the second book. I am really happy that this book was as good as the first one. It flowed so well as we read through an Amanda we haven't read before. She expresses each emotion flawlessly and has such a tactful way of writing about dreadful topics.
I love how as I read through I could see that different poems related to other books and films, such as Othello, Tangled, Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet etc. It really showed me how well read the author is and to use such great authors in her own work just showed how much she appreciates good writing.

"will i have to spend the afterlife
finding ways to hide from you?"

On page 53 she writes a poem relating to Tangled the Disney film. I have a special place in my heart for this film and to see poetry about it really made my day.
I also enjoyed the fact that to last chapter was filled with other poets' poetry as well as Amanda's. All the pieces were brilliantly written and related to the topic of the book exactly.


"i'm deciding my firsts from now on."

Overall, I found this book incredibly engaging and one that I will probably read again. Amanda Lovelace has done a brilliant job on this trilogy and I wish her every success when this book is released in a couple of months.


"you are sad now.
you are not sad forever."

I’ll be brief. Lovelace’s ‘poetry’ is not for me. I am a poetry enthusiast, from the very classical to the more experimental. The sheer discipline of encapsulating a huge concept or emotion in very few words has fascinated me since I was seven years old. So it’s not that I have massively conservative taste or don’t like anything after the 1800s. But I do subscribe to the opinion that merely hitting the return key after every other word doesn’t make it poetry. I read Lovelace’s first collection and while I didn’t love that, I did see flashes of something that might, with maturity, blossom into real skill. This is the third book in this poetry series and I’m still waiting for that to happen. The author’s willingness to speak about horrific events such as sexual abuse and eating disorders is laudable and I can see how it might help someone wrestling with similar problems, but it’s expressed in so trite a manner as to be almost disingenuous. I don’t feel any real emotion behind these poems which at least the first collection had going for it. Instead Lovelace seems to be now harping on one theme like a minstrel who knows but one tune. Not for me, as I said.

3.5/5 stars
As always, amanada lovelace’s poetry brings vivid imagery to the page, and continues to tell a similar story to Princess and Witch. Some of the major themes were harder to relate to than others because of my experiences in life, but that can be found in most poetry. This book is about staying strong and healing after trauma; that is okay to let yourself feel the pain and grow through it. Unlike the other two books in this collection, didn’t develop a strong connection to many of the poems. I did like that she had other authors cameo in Mermaid, but I just wished that they had been better spread out. It seemed like 85% of the cameo poems were in the last of the four sections, which threw off the flow of the writing for me. Overall, I think this is a good conclusion to a collection that has helped so many people acknowledge their trauma and heal from it.

I don't normally rate poetry because it doesn't feel right to rate a person's soul spilling onto paper. However, I had the opportunity to read an advanced reading copy and always take the time to rate and review. This book is broken up into sections and the poetry within the section is themed. The first few sections started off strongly but I struggled 'getting' the poetry in the last section. Sometimes I wasn't sure what was being written about, maybe I wasn't understanding because I wasn't relating to what was being said, which doesn't make it bad, it just makes it unrelatable to me (and I wish more women couldn't relate). I enjoyed the letter from the author at the end. It made me go back and flip through and skim parts of the book again. I appreciated it more the second time through. 3.5 stars.

Lovelace's work feels a little redundant by her third installment. Though lovely and easily digestible, her poetry lacks the luster of a her more formidable peers--Jenny Xie, A. E. Stallings--and her message gets lost in too many lacy aphorisms. It seems unfair to relegate her to the strictly Tumblr poetry corner, but if the glass shoe fits.

"will I have to spend the afterlife
finding ways to hide from you? "

I have recently started reading poetry and I can't seem to stop. I was able to relate to this book and couldn't stop reading (I read it and then reread it in one sitting...yes it's that good).

Amanda Lovelace seems to capture my innermost thoughts without me knowing they were there. She was able to put words to feelings I didn't know how to describe. It is unfortunate the number of people that will be able to relate to this book, but none the less they will be able to relate.

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

#TheMermaidsVoiceReturnsInThisOne #NetGalley

Another great collection of poetry by Amanda Lovelace. The poems are accessible and reads with ease without losing their impact.

Amanda Lovelace will forever be apart of my favorite poets list. Her words are always gripping, raw, and powerful--and this poetry collection is no exception. Unlike previous collections in the series, this one felt more...everywhere--like their wasn't a set direction we were heading but rather it was jumbled and all over the place. I am not sure if this was intentional and a way to imitate how life can be jumbled and messy; but I don't think I was a huge fan of this aspect. Lovelace also incorporated poetry from other poets within this collection which is also a new aspect within the series. I didn't mind this integration of other's works as it brought a fresh and different perspective to the heavy topics that Lovelace tackles in her poetry. Overall though I really did enjoy this one and found several of her poems that spoke to me on a deeper level than others.

CW: child abuse, gun violence, intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, alcohol, trauma, death, violence, fire.

the mermaid's voice returns in this one by Amanda Lovelace is the third and final poetry book in the "women are some kind of magic series."

I enjoyed reading the mermaid's voice returns in this one. This was my first foray into Amanda Lovelace's poetry! Unfortunately, while I liked the poems, I can't say they blew me away. 

I did appreciate the emotion behind the poems and the cadence and rhythm that some of them had while reading them out loud. My favorites:

"hooks encrusted in sand." 
"shrinking violets"
"flight."
"not in any life, lovely."
"the good kind of drowning."

The five poems above sounded awesome while reading them out loud, and they had a fantastic amount of depth!

Now I'm not a poetry expert, and I know poetry is a very personal form of writing, so take my critiques with a grain of salt. There were two things I didn't love about this poetry book.

First, everything is written in lowercase script. I found this really hard to read, and somewhat cringeworthy. The topics covered within the poems are serious and very real, but because the poems were written in a fluffy script, I really struggled with them! I know this is the author's style, but this was such a turn off for me as a reader.

Second, and this one is probably because I don't read a ton of poetry, but some of the poems were simply a single sentence broken up into multiple lines. Some of them were pretty and flowed nicely, but some were ordinary sentences that could have been pulled from anywhere. The depth wasn't there, and I crave depth in poetry.

Critiques aside, I would still recommend this book to others! In short, if you already love Amanda Lovelace's books or love poetry, give this book a read! Poetry is such a personal thing, and while it was a 3-star read for me, it might be your next 5-star book!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Generally a solid collection of poetry, but the reason that I didn't rate this higher mostly comes down to the fact that I don't feel like the poems in this collection really say or add much to the ideas Lovelace dug into in the previous Women Are Some Kind of Magic collections. The strongest of the three volumes, The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One, could honestly stand on its own without the other two books, so a third return to these kinds of themes, though certainly valid, just loses some of the impact already experienced. With that said, I did like that there were other poets who contributed to the final section of the book, allowing Lovelace's voice to be supplemented by others without being overpowered. That was a smart move.

[Review will be posted on Reader Voracious Blog on February 21, 2019.]

"you are sad now
you are not sad forever"

There are some books that take you by complete surprise. That make you feel a wide array of emotions, make you feel seen. They seem to find you when you need them the most. the mermaid's voice returns in this one was that book for me.

I honestly feel like I went through an emotional purge through reading this collection of poems and feel a sense of peace that I realize now has been missing for months of my life. While the poems were written as amanda's way to process and regain her voice following sexual assault, I found comfort and power in her words as I struggle with depression and my own trauma.

"the
only way
i can
foresee
surviving
you
is by
finding
that place
between
forgiving
& forgetting,
if it even
exists.

- this is how i choose to douse my fire"

Friends, I honestly cannot recommend this collection enough. I feel like it found me when I needed it the most, and I am so incredibly thankful for it. This was my first time reading anything by the author, and I look forward to reading the prior two books in this "trilogy." If you have ever been made to feel powerless, this collection will speak to you. What does it mean to be a victim and a survivor, and what lessons can we learn from princesses?

I, too, believe in endless worlds.

<i>Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an eARC via NetGalley for review. Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon publication.</i>