I've been a fan of Amanda Lovelace's poetry ever since I came across the Women are some kind of Magic series. I love how her simple words weave such inspiring verses.

Break Your Glass Slippers touched on a lot of triggering issues and it also told the tale of a girl who realises that not every fairy tale has to end with a prince charming. That finally realising your own worth, realising that you don't NEED a prince charming can be just as beautiful.

I'm guessing that I finished the book in under 20 minutes, and I know for a fact that I'll be rereading it soon, especially the pieces I loved.

I was very excited to see the ARC on NetGalley; I don’t think I could have waited another month to read this. With that being said there were a lot of poems from this collection that really resonated with me; from start to finish. I loved the illustrations in this, the color scheme most definitely gave me Cinderella vibes. I did however feel that some of the poems were a bit repetitive. I felt like we’ve seen them in her “Women are some kind of magic” series, but were tweaked to fit the Cinderella theme. None the less I still really enjoyed it, and can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has to offer!

TW: There's a significant amount of trigger warnings that's listed at the beginning of this collection.

Amanda Lovelace is one of those "modern poetry" authors I automatically go to every time she publishes a new collection. It's usually hit or miss but out of every single author I've read, she is the one that I love the most. So I couldn't pass an opportunity to read her newest collection, Break Your Glass Slippers. And I am very excited to say I enjoyed this book very much.

The whole premise of this collection is inspiration by Cinderella's story. Amanda recreates classic fairytale into her own retelling, describing how to overcome those, who don't see your worth (including yourself). I was pleasantly surprised. Eventhough I am not a big fan of Cinderella, I really enjoyed story Amanda was trying to tell through her poems. Some were heartwarming, some were a little bit of depressing, but all of them tell one important message: You are the only one that can change everything and you are your own Cinderella, Godmother and Prince, all in once.

I could relate to most of the poems and I can say Break Your Glass Slippers definitely became one of Amanda's favorite collections.

Another fine entry from this author. Literary, full of voice and truth, and vital. I highly recommend Amanda Lovelace’s work.

Special thanks to NetGalley, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'll start by saying I really appreciated the trigger warnings included at the beginning of this book as someone who wishes all too often more books included them. This is the first collection of work I've read by Amanda Lovelace, but it certainly will not be the last.

This collection of poems, broken into three parts, focuses on breaking free of toxic bonds, empowering oneself, and radical self love and acceptance among other things. Along with the beautiful prose is an aesthetic to match with illustrations placed throughout the poems. I wanted the poems following the "princess" character, but I *needed* those alternating "Fairy Godmother Says" poems in which the author gives the reader access to a third party, The Fairy Godmother, forever giving the princess grace and permission to put herself first. Reading those poems in particular felt like being wrapped in a warm hug and I appreciated them.

This book will, I'm confident, resonate with women of many different backgrounds. Most of the poems certainly resonated deeply with me. I am intrigued to see the parts of this series to follow as well as to read other works by this author.

What I love about poetry is that you can read it quickly. You can read it slowly. But regardless of how you read it, it continues to haunt you long after you've finished reading it.

fairy godmother says:

despite what you have heard, being alone is not
this great tragedy everyone makes it out to be.
if nothing else, see it as an opportunity to
reintroduce yourself to yourself. to relearn who
you are today. to dream up all the people you
would like to be for every tomorrow to come.
above all, find the value that lies in becoming
your own best friend.

Amanda's writing is haunting. Her wisdom is simple, and yet I can see where it can also be lifegiving to those who haven't yet learned these things for themselves. And in her retelling of the Cinderella story, she both takes from the fairy tale and gives back to it its power. Also, the art is simply lovely.

I enjoyed a free copy of this book from NetGalley and have reviewed it willingly.

Break Your Glass Slippers was a quick and wonderful poetry read. For all those women who have ever had a man tell them they weren't enough, this book is for you.

First of all, BIG SPECIAL THANK YOU to the Author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read Amanda Lovelace’s previous poetry collections and while I knew there was hype, especially about “The Princess Saves Herself in This One” I admittedly didn’t love the content like I had thought I would.

When reading this book, I’d been intrigued by the whole fairy tale theme and I must admit that I did enjoy how she was able to thread the Cinderella story through these poems.

While I normally feel that today’s modern poetry is typically missing a sense of substance, I found that there were particular lines in this poem which I found endearing, deep, and to be quite honest much more well written than her previous collections.

This collection shows growth in both the authors character and writing style, I would recommend this read over her previous poetry collections for sure.

A good dose of healthy female empowerment. Teaching women that we are worthy of so much more. Everyone should read her books at leather once!

Again I like the poetry she comes out with. Nice collection and theme of the book. Great section imagery and basic images for some poems..

I adore Amanda Lovelace's no holds barred, I'm going to share my grief and my perseverance, point of view in her poetry collections. What was different in this collection was a constant reminder to take the time to care for you, which was summed up in little poems from her very own fairy godmother. The fairy godmother was by far my favorite addition to this collection as she was a constant reminder of your self-worth. I will always gladly read @ladybookmad and would like to personally thank @netgalley for the ARC of this book.

You all know how much I admire Amanda Lovelace's work, but I have never given her a 5-star rating before, until Break Your Glass Slippers. 

This collection, you guys! It finally feels like Lovelace has crawled into my brain and wrote down all the tiny little thoughts that I don't want anyone else to know I think about, put her replies to them on paper, and sent it to her publisher. That sounds dramatic, but what's really extra of me is I probably screen shot about half of her pages just so that when I finally get my hands on a physical copy, I can go back and flag all my favorite poems. 

Lovelace's introductory publication for her You Are Your Own Fairy Tale collection is broken down into three sections, simply titled i, ii, iii. She notes in her preface her customary trigger warning for the entire book, as well as shares that her inspiration comes from the fairy tale, Cinderella (if you couldn't guess by the title). I, like many little kids from the 1990s, loved watching Disney's Cinderella movie, so I was really excited to see how Lovelace would twist the poetry to fit the theme.

What she came up with, and what hit me with the most force, is that there are alternating poems titled "Fairy Godmother Says", followed by a poem that reads like words of advice from... well, a fairy godmother. Mixed with equal measure are poems traditional of Lovelace, in which she contemplates relationships, self worth, body image, family relationships, feminism, and a slew of other current topics that are simple but powerful. I know Lovelace gets slapped around by critics about her poetry, but clearly her readers and those like myself feel something when they read it- and that to me is what poetry is for: to feel some emotional connection to the words. I didn't cry, but I certainly commiserated with a fellow reader about the sucker-punches we each felt while reading the lines.

The conclusion: add this one to your list of auto-buys if you love modern poetry or Lovelace's work, because in my opinion, Break Your Glass Slippers is her best collection yet.

*This review will be posted on my blog on 3/17/2020 (Happy Publication Day!) on www.thelexingtonbookie.com*

[3.5 Stars]
I'm always excited when I get to read a new collection by Amanda Lovelace and this time was no exception. "Break Your Glass Slippers" follows a similar mindset of the "Women Are Some Kind of Magic" series with its lyrical prose and fairytale metaphors. I'm reluctant to say that this is Lovelace's weakest work, because I still enjoyed my read and found it inspiring, but the first half of the book lacked the spark I found in her other works. The second half, however, really picked up and created that light and magical emotion that I'm always feeling reading her works. I find this comes when she writes in first person, I can feel the energy and emotion from her poems better that way.

Definitely a great YA poetry staple for any library and I'm sure that we'll be getting a copy for ours!

This is probably my favorite of Amanda Lovelace's collections that I have read. There are powerful themes of toxic relationships, finding your way out of them and self empowerment, but there are also a ton of trigger warnings that go along with it. If you have been in a toxic relationship I would definitely go into this carefully, I've been in them and this spoke to me, but it may be completely triggering in a negative way to someone else. If you pick it up definitely check the trigger warning note at the front to evaluate if it's something you want to pick up.

As always Lovelace's imagery and the flow of her writing were beautiful. She is able to evoke such powerful messages in small little packages and I loved it. I'm definitely eager to see what else she comes out with in this new series as I completely loved this one.

Hard-hitting and highly relatable! This poetry collection focuses on overcoming toxic relationships and abuse, as well as promoting self-love and female empowerment.

Most of the poems resonated with me and I applaud Amanda Lovelace for encouraging self-love in the most relatable and direct way as possible. I loved that some of the poems related to the Cinderella fairy tale.
However, some poems did not stick to the theme but that did not take away the message the poem is trying to convey.
I also want to add that the illustrations are gorgeous, especially the pages with the night sky. Props to the illustrator!

Overall, I enjoyed this so much! Looking forward to more poetry collections by Lovelace.

Freaking beautiful!!!

I'm just such a big fan of everything I have ever read by Amanda Lovelace. DAMN, she has a way with words that makes me feel everything. Such beautiful poetry. I'm so excited to read more in this "You Are Your Own Fairy Tale" series. GIVE ME ALL OF THEM. NOW!!!!

Something that I just also need to mention is the fact that there are always trigger warnings in the very beginning of her poetry books, I appreciate that A LOT!!!

Author of The Princess Saves Herself in This One, The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One, and The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One, comes another real life account of love, heartbreak, and picking yourself up again.
The Princess Saves Herself in This One was my first introduction to Amanda Lovelace's writing (at the recommendation of The Lexington Bookie!), and I immediately fell in love with her style of writing. The realness, and rawness with which she delivers blow after blow to break through all the lies we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better forced me to take a good look at myself and how I've interacted in relationships, and it hurt, but in the best way possible.
Break Your Glass Slippers isn't a fairytale, it's not a feel-good collection of poetry about love and how it conquers all. It is an in-your-face reality check that we cannot depend on our fairy godmothers to save us when the ugliness of the world comes to call. We are our own fairy godmothers, and while we may not always like it, Prince Charming might just be a loser in tinfoil, and we can be our own knight in beat up armor.
Lovelace's writing is sometimes harsh, but it gets the point across that we are stronger than we sometimes think, and it really reminded me that, for every sucky relationship I previously had, or every lie I fell for, I'm not alone in that. And that's ok, it's part of being human, it's part of growing and living and life.
Break Your Glass Slippers is a rallying cry to women, a reminder that we don't fit in a box, that we can (and should) smash glass ceilings. Who are we to be held back by those around us? To sacrifice what we want to preserve fragile egos? To use the cliche, I am woman, hear me roar.
In today's society of the #MeToo movement, and women's empowerment, Lovelace's writing is so important in reminding us to be strong, to grow and heal, and that sometimes it's ok to not be ok. She reminds us that it's alright to cut poisonous people out of our lives, even if they're family, or lovers, or friends. That we need to look out for ourselves, because it is our time to save ourselves. We are our own greatest champions, and we can smash our glass slippers and not get cut on the pieces.

"repeat after me: there can never be too many sky. there can never be too many dreams. there can never be too much coffee. there can never be too many stars. there can never be too much me."

Am I going to love everything Amanda Lovelace writes? Probably.
But this book felt particularly special to me.
I love a good fairytale retelling, and there is something so universal about cinderella. Who hasn't felt like her sometimes? locked in a place she didn't belong to, wishing for a fairy godmother to come and give her everything she ever wished for?
This is exactly the kind of book I needed right now. It's much lighter and easier to read than her last book series and can be read almost as an advice book, from the fairy godmother to the reader. In her poems, Amanda guides us through the journey of being a young woman in today's world. She holds her reader's hand and teaches her all about self-love and self-care and how to recognize the right (and the wrong) kind of relationships. Encouraging her to let go of self-doubts and take her fate into her own hands. I love everything about this book from the beautiful poems to the empowering message to the stunning illustrations. I believe every woman can find a little piece of herself in it.

I was really excited to see a new poetry book (and the start of a new poetry series) by Lovelace. And especially also one connected to fairytales.

This sadly didn't nail it on the head for me personally, but it is still a breautiful work.
There are pictures in this one, it is all constructed with a lot of beautiful details. The title is a great metaphor that connects the fairytale of Cinderella with the deeper themes of the collection.

But I would have liked an even greater connection to the fairytale it is named after in the poems themselves after the first part. And most of the poems didn't make me feel as much as I had hoped - but that might just be because some of the main subjects and situations (like domestic violence) are nothing I (thankfully) can connect to.

I am still very interested to see how this series will continue.

I have never been much of a poetry reader but I have found Amanda Lovelace to be very accessible for readers like me and she has gotten me to branch out and try more poetry. She hits the nail on the head again (for me) with this one. So much of what she writes resonates for me and she has become a poet I’ll always look forward to (can’t believe I’m saying that!) I think the mark of a great artist is being able to get someone outside their comfort zone and she has succeeded in that with me.