I wish I liked this one a lot more, but I felt like it was just kind of meh. There were some poems that hit me, but for the most part, they were nothing special. This makes me so sad because I loved Amanda's first two poetry collections so much.
There isn't much to say about this collection because none of the poems went deep enough.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @andrewsmcmeel for this advanced reading copy. This the first of lovelace’s new series called you are your own fairytale. It focuses on female empowerment, self-worth and self-care. It uses the trope of the “fairy godmother” as a woman’s conscience who knows that she is not treating herself as she should by being in a toxic relationship and being taken advantage of by other people in her life such as family and friends.

I enjoy poetry that focuses on self-worth and female empowerment. I hadn’t read lovelace before but I did like her work. My all time favourite is Rupi Kaur and she still remains on top. I liked the messages behind lovelace’s poetry, but I found she could have used some more figurative language/imagery. I leave you with one of my favourite snippets from her anthology:

“some days,
your body will feel like a cage.

on those days,
Lace flowers through the bars.”

This book carries a beautiful and very important message:

she is her own goddamn fairy tale

All of what is the author saying is so important and should be taped on the walls everywhere, so we would finally start to take care of and love ourselves. The book is divided into two main parts, in the first part, we can see the story of a girl and the advices from her fairy godmother. The second part talks about what happens when the girl breaks her slippers and starts to love herself as she is.

There were some pieces I really loved, as:

"you are limitless.

you can have the lipstick.
you can have the sword."

or

"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".

I absolutely loved the message of this book and find it so important.

But what I didn't love was the execution. The poems sometimes didn't feel like the poems at all, just like the inspirational slogans you can find everywhere on the internet inserted in pretty and deep mystical pictures.

Like:

"so often we are our own true love"

or

"being called fat is not an insult.
being called skinny is not a compliment".

or

"my value doesn't go down when my weight goes up.
- they are just sizes."

I am not saying they are not wise words that everybody needs to hear, just... I expected a bit more from the book of poetry. More depth, more metaphors, more of beautiful writing that makes me feel a lot? And this book did not deliver that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. Opinions stated are completely my own.

Firstly, I would like to thank Amanda Lovelace, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

“My value doesn’t go down when my weight goes up.”

“Withholding forgiveness can be a form of self-care.”

Amanda Lovelace is one of those authors who knows how to dig a spot deep in your soul, settle there, and nourish you. I believe this book should be made a required reading for all women; teens to grown ass women. I’m currently at year 24, and every single page of this beauty resonated with me. I was so sad when I finished it.

I cannot express how important this book is. The illustrations were such a gorgeous surprise! They brought the fairytale to life even more so than just having unadorned pages.

This is a masterpiece that will teach you that it’s okay to want the ballgown and the boy, and it’s okay to want to be left alone. You are the author of your own fairytale, and your own destiny. Nobody else. Practice self-care and always put yourself first. There is nothing wrong with that.

This is most definitely getting 5/5 stars. I’d give it 100/5 if I could. It will definitely be a book I pick up again and again when I forget the wisdom that was imparted in its pages.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me an ARC

I have loved all of Amanda Lovelace's poetry books. This one is no different. Most of her books have a running metaphor throughout the collection that ties everything together. This one focused on Cinderella. The metaphor is a lot more obvious in this collection than her other ones. This one contained such beautiful illustrations. I can't wait to see a finished copy. My ebook probably didn't do the artwork justice. I loved this and can't wait for the next installments in this series.

“you are limitless
you can have the lipstick
you can have the sword”
(pg. 27)

I find it very strange to give a rating to poetry. You either connect with it or it leaves you cold. It either speaks to your soul or it is hollow. Judging by the popularity of Lovelace I think she has tapped into the common female experience in a way that many women can relate to. It certainly resonated strongly with me. As a 40 year old woman I have learned some of these lessons the hard way and I wish that someone had put this book in my hands as a teen. It would be a kindness to get this to every girl in your life and discuss it with them. Fairy Godmothers don’t exist so it’s our duty as women to share our knowledge and words of wisdom with the young. We are the fairy godmothers. So tell the princesses in your life that they are valuable and perfect just how they are and that they don’t need anyone to be their prince. As the author says be your “own goddamn fairy tale.”

I have to note that this book is beautifully illustrated with line drawings and the most gorgeous starry blue sky and moon. It really is a lovely presentation. I’m impressed and I’m reading an e-arc so I can only imagine that the final version will be incredible, especially in print. It’s such a meaningful book which deserves to be as visually beautiful as its message.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

After reading Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace I struggled to write the review. Simply because I cannot begin to put into words the beauty in this book and the power in its minimalist format. This was my first book by Ms. Lovelace and surely not my last. I have not read poetry in what seems like decades, but this collection quickly transformed me into a poetry fan.

Throughout the story, the fairy godmother succinctly and beautifully prescribes adages that I found myself revisiting before even finishing the novel. The themes within this poetry collection of: feminism, self-care, and self-preservation are so timely and necessary in today’s divided society. For this reason and many others, when my daughter is old enough I will add this book to her collection. Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to purchasing a hard copy for my collection on publication day.

it was cute and inspirational, but nothing stood out for me. and we've heard all these poems before. I really appreciate the intention behind this, it's a beautiful message that girls need to hear but I guess reading one of these kinds of poetry books is enough, because I really enjoyed the author's previous works. I guess after a while it loses its power. anyways, it was motivational and i respect that!

“when you spend
all your time
imagining yourself
in other people's shoes,

your own story
goes unwritten,

& there is nothing
more painful
than that.”

I love how Amanda Lovelace is putting a spin on the traditional fairytale of Cinderella and introducing new elements of feminism and banishing toxic masculinity and other social ideas prevalent in society. It's easy to read and yet impactful. The only reason for my 3.5-star rating would be that I've enjoyed Amanda's other works a bit more than this one. I'm literally comparing her work to her past work.

But anyway, I'm super excited to read the other books in this seeries!

I did like this book and the poetry was lovely, however Amanda Lovelace's books are all kind of the same. This one was nothing new and was basically a repeat of the others but with a different cover and name.

Growing up, I never thought that I would be this much into poetry. But thanks to the likes of Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur I'm really starting to enjoy reading more in this genre.

I liked a couple of things about this book:
- The fact that this is a thrilling new way of retelling the Cinderella story
- The poems are an easy read and very accessible
- The poems lingered in my mind and made me think
- The whole story feels empowering
- A lot of things are relatable
- The artwork throughout the book is just lovely

I can't wait to read more and more from Amanda Lovelace.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.
Break Your Glass Slippers marks the beginning of a new poetry collection series, this one in particular plays with the Cinderella fairytale and rewrites it.
Pretty neat idea, however, while reading this I felt like the themes and even the poems were more or less the same as her previous collections.
The artwork in this is absolutely stunning, no doubt it’s my favourite so far.
Much like her previous works, her poems are hit or miss for me, I end up really liking some of them but forgetting about others the second I read them.
My main issue is in general with modern poetry, I really struggle sometimes to call some poems “poems”. A lot of them are basically online phrases printed in a book.
I keep coming back to her books because they still makes me feel something, which I guess is the whole point of writing poetry, and in that, Amanda Lovelace overall succeeds pretty well.

Such a beautiful poetry book, really stuck to the theme of fairy tales and was lovely to read! I will definitely recommend this to customers in my store.

I absorbed all the fairy tales and Disney movies as a child, dreaming of balls and elaborate dresses and princely rescues and happily-ever-afters in ornate castles.

Then I began to return to these same stories as an adult, and then as a mother, and I found them wanting. We are meeting these women who are beautiful and kind and accomplished, and we are watching them fixate on a hero to save them from their circumstances. They are not enough in themselves. There is little depth to these meetings, but the love-at-first-sight and the destiny of it all is never questioned, albeit their interactions are shallow and cursory at best. Why do we hold them up as virtuous and to be emulated? Why don't we find better examples of true friendship and partnership and aspire to such a life?

break your glass slippers is a book of poetry to address this head-on. Amanda Lovelace frames the first section of the book of our modern-day Cinderella as an Everywoman character. Poems alternate from Cinderella's perspective and the Fairy Godmother. The Cinderella character is fixated on her prince, on his attention, on pleasing him, while the Fairy Godmother speaks truth and affirms Cinderella, to counter the judgments and criticisms from the prince. Her adages are a balm to Cinderella, as she comes to her senses to the reality of her relationship.

The rest of the book is Cinderella gaining confidence, discovering her inner strength and her self-worth, whatever the scale may say or whatever society may deem as success. This story is not a literal Cinderella with the magical coach, but it was a useful analogy to navigating worthiness and importance, and the Fairy Godmother being an inner voice speaking truth was a logical step.

I read this in one sitting when looking for some poetry; there are some swears in the book, if you are sensitive to such things, but I thought they didn't detract and worked at emphasizing pivotal changes taking place.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

There were some interesting entries here, and I liked the idea of incorporating work from poet friends and contemporaries along the same themes. But ultimately, Lovelace isn't breaking any new ground here, with either the subject matter or writing style/use of language. These types of books are becoming very repetitive and less creative.

Just about every page in this book could or should be a mantra for any woman who lacks confidence, self-esteem or has uncertainty dealing with a partner. As an example, she says Fat is not an insult and skinny is not a compliment, they are just sizes. The book is a lot of explaining that you are perfect just the way you are! Read this book! You will be glad you did.

I absolutely adore Amanda Lovelace's poetry, and I'm happy to say that this book is as good as all her others. Absolutely amazing!

gods some of that poetry REALLY hurts but like in a good kind of way? yes it hits us hard but it shows us we are NOT alone feeling like this, we are together and we can be so much stronger and i may have tear up at some of the poems but who can blame me? i needed to read that, it felt good, especially the bits from the fairy godmother. more self love thank you very much.

I’m never certain how I feel about this kind of confessional writing, when an author lays themselves bare in an upfront and clear fashion. It would be a lie to say I’ve never drawn on personal experience in writing my own books, but the memory or emotion that I use is hidden beneath layers of worldbuilding and plotline so that it is almost unrecognisable (often, even to myself). Lovelace says in the author’s note of Break Your Glass Slippers—a series of poems that form a story of self-acceptance and self-love—that the drew on her own experiences in crafting this work. And as one traverses the delicate phrasing of each poem, it feels increasingly like trespassing into a private diary.

With that in mind, there is something incredibly brave about being so honest in putting to paper the thoughts that traverse the mind and the, at-times, very ugly relationship one can have with oneself. In recent years, this has become increasingly common, especially for writers of so-called ‘instapoetry’. I would argue that Lovelace’s work is a cut above the strings of words that can be found under the one of the many relevant hashtags on Instagram (I’m won’t list any here because I don’t want to subject you to them). For one, Lovelace takes her personal experience and broadens it into a universalised narrative about women undervaluing themselves and navigating a fraught path to remedying this. Additionally, Break Your Glass Slippers does indeed follow a narrative thread, with each poem offering a piece of this story. That alone made it an enjoyable, easy read, as the poems built upon what came before, interplaying in theme and idea, making this more than a mere collection but a genuine story.

Perhaps one of the things which remains a sticking point for me is the claim that this is a Cinderella retelling. While there are elements that draw upon the essential story elements of the Perrault/Brothers Grimm Cinderella that we know (largely thanks to the Disney adaptations), because I knew this was a derivation, I kept making mental comparisons to the original. This drew me out of the experience of reading through the poems as though they were a piece of work in their own right. While Lovelace’s schtick is retelling and reinterpreting classic fairytales, this one seems to deviate quite far from the very established events of the Cinderella story which was a bit jarring. Nevertheless, there were some pleasing engagements and inversions of aspects which are present in the original fairytale. For one, the idea of a toxic family relationship is interestingly portrayed. Further, the portrayal of ‘Prince Charming’ intersects with relatively recent discussion and critique of the idea that the magic solution to a woman’s disempowerment is the attention of a man. This was one of the fresher depictions I’ve seen thanks in large part to the form and the delicate word choices of Lovelace. The thoughtful deconstruction of the sense of being ‘saved’ from being unnoticed, alone, and unloved by a man seemingly sensitive enough to see what others don’t is done masterfully, pulling tropes that are uncomfortably familiar to too many people in servicing a broader point – that the only person who really needs to see your value is you.

Complimenting the poem-story is a series of beautiful illustrations that force pause and allow the reader to contemplate the words. They’re a lovely touch, and the full page pictures complete the experience of the story.

Ultimately, Break Your Glass Slippers is a thought provoking collection of poems that cohesively tell a story asking us to see our own value and beauty beneath whatever dirt others may have put there. Having read a lot of mediocre poetry within the course of my work, this is definitely not it, and it is a fitting addition to the other work for which Lovelace has been so rightfully praised.

As a HUGE fan of Amanda Lovelace, this did not disappoint one bit. Lovelace’s poetry always leaves me beaten, broken, bruised, and completely reborn with a new love for myself. Perfect for curling up on a rainy day.