BLEED LIKE ME: POEMS FOR THE BROKEN

by Azzurra Nox



TWISTED WINGS PRODUCTIONS




Poetry , Teens & YA

Pub Date 12 Feb 2019





I am reviewing a copy of Bleed Like Me: Poems For the Broken through Twisted Wings Productions and Netgalley:





Despite poetry being one of the hardest genre’s to review I often find myself drawn to poetry:





In Bleed Like Me the Poems included deal with first love, as well as the heartbreak first love can bring. It deals with the exhilaration as well as the damage unrequited love can cause. The poems in this book read like memories coming alive. The poems become a journey between reality and fantasy often coming together as one.





The poems in Bleed Like Me can be both cruel and sweet.







I give Bleed Like Me Four out of five Stars!





Happy Reading!

Bleed Like Me: Poems For The Broken is a selection of gothic poems. I DNF as they became repetitive.

A collection of very dark, melancholic and slightly twisted poems about first love, unrequited love and love lost. A little too dark and self-indulgent for me; I read all of the poems but didn't find that many resonated with me. There was some familiar moments in the authors word, vague recollections of teenage concerns and frustrations, but they were few and far between.

Like me, you may be tempted to read this if you are a fan of Lang Leav. This is a very different collection of poetry.

I’m aware that rhyming is a really popular thing in poetry but I personally really hate it. The poems in this collection were really try hard and it showed. I just didn’t like it at all.

I love Gothic literature and the premise of these poems drew me in. Unfortunately, after a few times of trying I just couldn’t connect with the poems. I appreciate they are meant to be dark and personal but they were incredibly repetative. Not one for me! Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for review.

I really loved the cover and the synopsis so that's why I wanted to give this book a try but it just wasn't something for me.

I usually love dark poetry or just dark stories in general, but I couldn't get into the poems. They were weird and I didn't really like the writing.

Bleed Like Me is a book of poems confronting romance, lust, abuse, suicide and general dark emotions.

I was immediately attracted to this book because of gorgeous cover art. It looks effectively moody and Gothic.
I feel that the poems however swerve from the original form of the Gothic straight to the 15 year old goth kid, which was both expected and a little bit disappointing.
However, that negative point is also what I liked best about this book - many of the poems gave me a very nostalgic feeling, of being a teenager again and feeling every emotion so intensely, and wanting a way to express it. I feel that these poems could almost be printed on pages that look like Myspace, to complete the sentiment.
Overall, I am pleased that the author found this route to self expression, but I also think the final product is far too long.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me access to this pre-publication book.

Bleed Like Me: Poems for the Broken by Azzurra Nox

1 star- DNF @40%

This is a poetry collection that focuses more on darker content and themes. I love dark poetry. I'm always down for a good Poe-wannabe, but note I said good. This one is not good. I cringed inwardly so many times at the vulgar, grotesque, and obscenity. I like weird and dark things. This poetry collection was the Endless Night of horror for me. It's so overtly dark that it becomes campy and questionable. I just was not a fan and I tried to read this all the way through because it's a short poetry collection, but I just couldn't force myself to continue. It was too painful.


Here are the questionable things I encountered:
"Inject me with anti-depressants, / They are my only companions. / Allow the worms to crawl on over me, / Possess me. / Eat me. / Until I rot. / Until I'm blot, out of my existence."
Questionable
"Rip my eyes from their sockets. / A queer fetish in your pocket."
Weird, but not the worst thing I've read.
"Look no further- / For I'd be your geisha. / I'd be [your] lover. / I'd be your prostitute, / I'd be your humble servant, / I'd be your slave."
IS THIS REAL? I can't.
Don't even get me started on the Mephistopheles with Scabbed Wings poem because it was revolting and just plain over-the-top.
The real-kicker is my personal favorite for why I can't continue with this flaming garbage:
"Because I've raped all your lovers. / You'll need to beg me before I'll shoot you up."


Whimsical Writing Scale: 1

Plotastic Scale: 1

Cover Thoughts: It's weird and I thought I was going to get something on the horror-side because of it.

Thank you, Netgalley and Twisted Wings Production, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"Insomnia is my trusty companion, for it knows of my suicidal tendencies"

DNF @31.7%

Bleed Like Me: Poems for the Broken by Azzurra Nox is a collection of dark poems. It talks about love, lust, depression, abuse, and self-harm.

I didn't enjoy the writing style and some of the poems are repetitive. I really wanted to love this collection but I just couldn't get into it

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

I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First thing I need to say is that I did not like this book. I thought I would enjoy it much more than I actually did. Some of the poems were very childish and some of them were very confusing.

In some parts I was not sure what I was reading, as the poems did not fit with the theme of the book.
Poems for the broken or Poems for the spoiled?

Not my kind of poetry unfortunately. I read the first dozen poems and didnt feel any connrction to the words or the story. I prefer shorter form poems generally

[ I received an e-ARC of this book in an exchange for an honest review.]

I was very excited for this book when I saw the beautiful cover and read the blurb, but unfortunately I couldn't really get into the poetry. The author's writing style is very interesting, but I personally didn't like it that much.

I tried to like this collection, but I'm just not the target audience I think. If I was still an emo high school girl, maybe, but as a middle-aged woman, I just not feeling it. Nox's poetry has potential; with a little more life experience and maturity, I think she'll write some great things. For now, she gets repetitive at times, like she's writing song lyrics with a repeating chorus instead of poems. She has some strong moments, and is getting there, but she's not quite there yet.

‘Bleed Like Me: Poems for the Broken’ is an anthology of poems exploring the theme of love and the wounds that it can bring. From the exhilaration of first love, to the damage of unrequited love, this book takes you on a journey of little memories as they come alive across the pages.

I was first introduced to this book by Netgalley, the gorgeous cover immediately sparking my interest. Everything about this book appealed to me, from the title to the themes, and I was desperately hoping it would live up to my high expectations. Thankfully, it did.

I’d not heard of Azzurra Nox prior to this anthology, but her work immediately drew me in. The brutality and honesty across the pages was breathtaking, each poem tearing you apart as you feel the emotions depicted within the poems. I was in constant awe of the author’s way with words as she described each emotion perfectly. Although, many of the poems were tormented and violent, there are also those that were the opposite, causing you to experience a whirlwind of emotions as you progress through the collection. The themes are dark and painful, yet they’re spread across the pages in digestible chunks, making for an incredibly elegant read.

Some of my personal favourites are:
Last Wish
Ice Princess
Pain Inflictor
Restless
The Enchanted Forest
Broken Doll
Girl in the Mirror
Bag of Horrors
Throw Me Out To Sea
A Haiku For All The Boys I’ve Kissed

Overall, I adore this collection. Azzurra Nox’s work is some of the best contemporary poetry I’ve read, and is definitely someone to look out for in the future.

*I received a ebook copy of this poetry collection for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“This is how you draw a broken heart: Dip your fingers in blood and don't Hesitate to botch the final project”.

This poetry collection explores emotion, including abandonment, love, real life and the fantasy.

I was really excited when I first started reading this, I so badly wanted to love it but I couldn’t get into it. The poems are well written and Nox certainly has talent, but this collection just didn’t click for me. I could tell how open and vulnerable Nox was in her writing, pouring her emotions out onto the page for reader after reader to devour.

There are certainly common themes throughout this collection, but that for me made the poems seem overly repetitive. I will admit I skim read a lot of it, there were some good parts and Nox has promise but this just wasn’t for me.

Overall, this was an ok poetry collection, if you like poetry looking at the darker side of life then perhaps give this one a look.

I received this e-book over NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bleed Like Me: Poems for the Broken by Azzurra Nox is a collection of poems. It touches various topics, such as love, lust, depression and self-harm. 

Keep in mind that I love poetry but this book didn't do it for me at all. I know poetry is extremely subjective and that is why I don't feel like I'm in the position to say it is a bad book just because it isn't of my liking.

The writing is quite good and I feel like it could have been a great book. Sadly, overall it felt too melodramatic and sometimes it felt quite depressing and morbid just for the sake of it. Don't get me wrong, I know it is important to talk openly about depression but in this book, I felt like it was being romanticized, which is never a good thing. Besides that, the book didn’t seem to grasp the reality of those feelings, which prevented me from enjoying most part of the poems.

With that being said, if I was still in my teen years, in my emo phase, I would probably have different feelings towards this book. Just because of what it made me feel.

these were all exhausting and repetitive, the type of poetry i don't enjoy. things that are more simple make things more impacting when it comes to poetry for me, and these were long winded and full of dark words that tried too hard. maybe i gave up too early but i couldn't even bring myself to finish this, which makes me feel guilty but it's time i could be reading something i actually like and i know such a short book will only take me too long to try to get through when so many pages in i haven't found a groove i flow into

“On my hands and knees I crawl
Searching for the shreds of my broken heart.” – Azzurra Nox, A Mad Girl’s Love Story

BLEED LIKE ME: POEMS FOR THE BROKEN by Azzurra Nox was a deep and fascinating poetry collection. Each poem contributed to the main theme of heart-break and other strong emotions. As the title promises, these poems are for the broken, or at least for readers that like poetry with a darker edge. Nox manages to capture emotion in each poem by using vivid words and imagery.

I’m completely obsessed with the cover and it was the main reason I picked up the collection. The cover gives a glimpse at the contents inside and what kind of tone to expect. This collection features more than 100 poems and I personally think it could have been divided into two collections. However, it’s nice to have an ample collection of poems with the same gothic undertone. Some of the rhyming also didn’t quite work for me and I think a few poems could have used more editing. I liked the nostalgic feel that the poems left me with.

If you like poetry that explores darker themes, this is for you. Some of the poems read like a modern female perspective equivalent to Edgar Allan Poe. Others like a broken-hearted teenager and other’s like they were written by mythical characters. Grab a copy if you are into gothic poems of love and loss.


* Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The book started off very strong, I was immediately hooked. But my enjoyment began to wax and wane after a while. This is not a poetry book to sit and read in one sitting; I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had spread it out over a couple of days. Regardless, the poems were sooo good, even stand alone!

While I had this as an ARC from NetGalley, this is definitely one I will be adding to my personal collection!

I couldn't connect to as many poems as I would have liked, but the ones I did connect to really spoke to my soul.

I will say that some of the ones I was unable to connect with were still very deep, deeper than some of the poetry books I've read in the last few years so I was able to appreciate that as well.