This was an amazing new set of poetry from one of my favorite writers of all time. I tore through this collection so fast and loved it so much!

This poetry collection tells a Cinderella story. This Cinderella gets the Prince Charming, but he turns out to be a bad boyfriend. He lies to her, wants her to change, and cheats on her. He is very critical of her. Her fairy godmother speaks words of wisdom, telling her it’s okay to be alone.

This was a great twist on the fairytale of Cinderella. She is often the character girls aspire to be, because she overcomes her faults and gets the prince she wanted. However, this story shows that her “faults” are not what’s wrong with her. They make up who she is, and she shouldn’t try to change for anyone, even her Prince Charming.

I loved the illustrations that went along with some of the poems. They illustrated some of the imagery in the poems, such as a bird cage and a love potion. They reinforced the idea of the modern fairytale, since they are usually children’s books with illustrations.

This is a great poetry book!

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

19th March 2020
4 Stars

A great collection of poetry once again, of finding ones self-worth in this world and learning to love themselves even if others don’t.
There was a few really good poems that I really like and could really relate to on a personal level.

This was my first book by this author and I will definitely be checkout our her others!

I loved how the poems were so readable and not stuffy or over written. Putting a modern spin on fairytales to speak to the challenges of being a girl/woman was brilliantly done. The accompanying illustrations were beautiful as well.

This is one that I see myself going back to reread.

4/5 stars
Break your glass slippers is another powerful poetry collection from amanda lovelace. I loved the idea of retelling a classic fairytale in a feminist light. This collection features beautiful illustrations paired with empowering poems of self-realization and reflection. I tend to favor lovelace’s more lyrical poems, making the free-verse paragraphs heavily featured in this collection jot my favorite thing.

*Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review*

I thought this was a great poetry book. I love how the verses tell a story. I liked the idea of the pros and cons of everything a girl might be going through. I also thought it was interesting that it was in 3 parts. I also loved the illustrations in the book. I also how she talked about feminism and not in your face way, but in the empowering way.

This was an empowering collection of poems that will provide perspective, strength, and encouragement to the young women trying to find herself. I have preferred some of her other collections, but this is just right for the young woman needing encouragement, finding strength on her own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Synopsis: A collection of poetry with a fairy-tale theme regarding women empowerment.

 

Review: Beautifully written, empowering, and so relatable! I loved the aspect of the fairy godmother, she provides the much-needed support we all deserve. Her poems empower you to love yourself and not rely on anyone else for the comfort you require.

 

5/5

 

Thank you Netgallery and Andrews McMeel Publishing for my advanced reader copy for an honest review. This book was published on March 17, 2020.

I’m not an experienced poetry reader but this year I’m trying to branch out towards other genres, and the theme of Break your glass slippers resonated with me, so I wanted to give it a try. The message of female empowerment is great and it comes across strongly.

I also really liked the aesthetic of the book. Some nice drawings and interesting page settings. The lack of capitals for me took some getting used to. The story of Cinderella is taking as the base of the poems, which had a modern style where everything is discussed directly, which I quite liked.

I guess this was my favorite one:

there is nothing
unfeminist
about the girl
who chooses
the ball gown
& the prince.

there is everything
unfeminist
about those
who try to
shame her for
her choices.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"time + distance + prioritizing yourself
- this is how you move on."

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Break Your Glass Slippers is the first book in the new series of Amanda Lovelace called You Are Your Own Fairy Tale.

The message this book trying to convey is a strong one. Unfortunately, for me, this one lacks magic.

I loved Amanda Lovelace's last series of poetry, Women are Some Kind of Magic. This poetry collection takes a feminist slant on the themes of Cinderella and focuses on modern topics of toxic masculinity and self-care/self-love.

Not as immediately quotable as my favourite Amanda Lovelace poetry collection, The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One but definitely something you should check out if you like modern poetry and Cinderella.

“her precious fairy tales showed her what would happen if she found her prince, but they never prepared her for what she should do if her prince turned out to be her unhappily ever after.”

I hate reviewing poetry, since it’s so subjective—so I’m going to keep this one short and sweet. This is a super quick read that I enjoyed well enough, but that I don’t think is particularly going to stick with me. I just didn’t feel like it ever did much more than scratch the surface of its concept. The illustrations inside were beautiful, though, and there were some passages like the one I quoted above that made me stop and think. Read if you love poetry and/or fairy tales 🏰

Reading Amanda Lovelace's poems is like having coffee with your best friend - supportive, affirming, and while sometimes serious, it is always uplifting. She has written several collections before, and also writes mini poems on Twitter (her handle is @ladybookmad if you want to check them out). I was already a huge fan of her previous work, women are some kind of magic, and after reading her newest book, I must say that break your glass slippers is also some kind of magic.
Check out my review at: https://chloescully01.wixsite.com/thebrokebookblog/post/break-your-glass-slippers-amanda-lovelace

I was unable to get a copy of this to save/ open in a format which I could access on my mobile device— I have kindle but have 2-3 additional options, just in case.

I will still give this a 5-star rating. I would not normally do so, but I am familiar with this author’s work and style.

In the first of her "You Are Your Own Fairytale" series, Amanda Lovelace gives Cinderella's story a new spin, imagining her with body issues and stuck in a toxic relationship with a fuckboy version of Prince Charming. Wracked with self-doubt, our heroine luckily has a Fairy Godmother on hand offering sage advice and words of encouragement that help her turn towards her own path less traveled.
What follows is a lesson in female empowerment, summed up in my favourite line from the book "I went from a single wildflower to a whole fucking meadow", as our protagonist spreads her wings and glows up. Entertaining, inspirational and highly accessible poetry. Highly recommended!

3.25 stars ⭐

So, you know when people say they have mixed feelings about something? Yeah... that's where I'm at.

It started bad, a particularly bad one was: "there are sisters who see each other as lifelong rivals when they should be seeing each other as lifelong allies, which is to say: some sisters are no sisters at all. Like??????? yeah, sis I know IT'S NOT THAT DEEP.

Honestly, I got really offended by that. It was like she thought I was so dumb that she just had to explain something SO simple.

After this I thought I should DNF... but I'm happy I didn't. It got really good, some were too real, my heart couldn't take it lol.
So now I'm quite conflicted, I was so sure that I was never gonna read anything by her again, and by the end of the book, she got me. This woman truly has magic.

This is the collection that I didn't know I needed until now. I have read many of Amanda Lovelace's works, but none of them resonated with me like this one did. I was expecting broad strokes of words upon the page - words that were just written down and broken into stanzas in order to be submitted for quick publication. However, that is not the exact case. Yes, some of the poems were. one or two sentences that the author noticeably pressed the "enter" button in order to create impromptu stanzas out of. No, that did not kill the main theme of the book and the multiple allusions to the original Cinderella fairy tale and atmosphere. In this poetic retelling/reimagining of the tale, Cinderella is portrayed as a woman who has experienced life's real traumas, a woman who is not desperately searching for a "Prince Charming" to complete her. Also, the author blends in her own personal experiences into her poetry - and by extension, my own personal traumas and experiences acquired during my lifetime so far.

It all comes down to personal connection. If you have experienced the same feelings that were laid out within the pages of Amanda Lovelace's "break your glass slippers," then this book is absolutely haunting (in a good way) and the remnants of the words will stick with you as you conquer your daily life for years to come. The words, stanzas, and poems included in this book spoke to me in ways that I did not. anticipate, but I am so glad that they did. I have reserved this at the library so I can read these words in my own hands, and so their magic may soak into my palms to blend with my own unique fingerprint forevermore.

There is so much here to unpack; unhealthy body image, abusive romantic relationships, toxic family relationships, and all of it with an underlying theme of real friendship, self-love, and empowerment. It is a beautiful and sometimes painful read. If I had access to a time machine, I'd go back and seek out fourteen year old me. I would give her a hug and a copy of this book.

I have read and loved Amanda Lovelace’s other collection, Women Are Some Kind of Magic, and when I found out Lovelace was writing another collection based on fairytales I was so excited. The forward by Nikita Gill is a beautiful tribute to Lovelace and her poetry and if you haven’t read Gill’s work, I highly recommend it for fans of Lovelace.
The first thing I noticed about this collection was the artwork within—it is beautiful and adds an extra element to the story of the poems. It feels cohesive. Furthermore, I enjoyed the structure of this collection. We start off with poems focused on a “she,” someone we can related to or even perhaps a “she” focused in the past. This “she” goes back and forth with a section of fairy godmother poems which were some of my favorite poems in the collection. The combination of the two voices reminded me very much of my personal anxiety (the “she” point of view) and the calming words of self-talk (fairy godmother.) While this could just be me throwing myself into the piece, it helped me get into it and I very much enjoyed reading it with that in mind.
It is after a realization that we all are our own fairy godmothers that the viewpoint shifts to an “I” and the voice gets exponentially stronger. In doing so, Lovelace does a fantastic job of tracking the journey of a person in the shifting of voices, tone, and subject matter.
While tone and point of view are all very important, what hits me most about Lovelace’s work and what I think makes it so very important, is the level of emotional vulnerability. There is such a level that any reader could find a bit of themselves in her work. There were quite a few pieces in this collection that resulted in me taking a moment to collect myself because it just hit me. It is that vulnerability that I admire and makes her work feel so authentic and honestly, so magical.
Finishing breaking your glass slippers, I feel as though I have some realization deep within me that has now come to be in my reach. It is why I love Lovelace’s work, and this new collection is no different.

Lowercase title? Check. Instagram-gram worthy cover? Of course. Good? 100%

From the very first poem, 'let me tell you a sad story' I was hooked. As much as I liked other popular poetry collections, notably 'milk and honey', I wanted to see an author breathe new life into this style of poetry. I wanted nuance, a sense that the structure was an important element in conveying the story.

First, the visual shape of the poetry creates an emphasis on the shapely human form, just as the titular character focuses on her own shape in contrast with the expectations around her. This is a collection about body image, about being a female in this day-in-age, in being conscious of your insecurities from a young age, heartbreak, Second, it was well written! I just want to thank the poetry gods for gifting us with some rhythm and shape. As someone drifted away from the poetry styles popularised by Rupi Kaur, I was pleasantly surprised by how this collection exceeded by expectations.

Amanda Lovelace is a poet I am looking forward to seeing a bit more of, and I for one am excited for the future of poetry in 2020!

This ARC has been provided by NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review