ARC was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This review is being published on the release date (March 17th, 2020)

Content/Trigger Warnings: Child abuse, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, sexual harassment, eating disorders, body shaming, fat phobia, suicide, trauma, and more.

“You are limitless. You can have the lipstick. You can have the sword.”

It wasn’t that long ago that I finished To Drink Coffee with A Ghost and when I heard Amanda Lovelace had a new poetry book coming out, it felt like my heart almost stopped. I love Lovelace’s work with my whole heart and soul. Her poetry has a way to see into the deepest layers of my heart and say, “You’re not alone. I see you.” Needless to say, I all but fell in love with this book like I have past works by her’s.

In this poetry collection, the main focus in body positivity and addressing the way we can see ourselves when we don’t fit the mold society or relationships want for us. There’s also a lot of reaffirmation of loving oneself regardless of what others think. Each negative moment highlighted in this book, was countered acted with poems of love, kindness, and caring. This collection is truly a love letter to all those who feel like they are unworthy because of the way they have been treated by toxic influences in their life.

“You don’t need to look a certain way to deserve someone’s heart.

No matter your shape-

No matter your size-

Be proud of all the space your body dares to take up.”

On top of the way the author counteracts the negative poems with love poems, she also structured this poem collection in a clever and that will allow the reader to really appreciate it. Each poem of positive advice or love is from the fairy godmother perspective. She has the fairy godmother set up as an inner voice as a way to remind the reader to love oneself, to cherish the people who love and appreciate you, and really added that element of a loving parent who is trying to guide their child. It was really creative and it was one of the most captivating pieces of this collection.

I also have to say how beautiful the art was in this book, as well! There are these breaks in the book of a night sky with a moon and they are absolutely stunning. Every drawing in this book is beautiful, but I truly loved that the author included these night sky pieces. They are very dreamy and really set the mood for the book. Plus, it’s something to help ease the emotions you may feel while reading this book.

My only issue from this collection was wanting just a little more pull on the emotional side. In past works, the author has a way of really pulling the emotions out of the reader. However, this collection didn’t pull as much of an emotional reaction as I thought it would have. It still stirred a lot of feelings, a lot of memories, and a lot of thoughts with my reading experience, but when it comes to this author, I always anticipate tears and sniffles. Regardless, I still enjoyed my time reading each poem even if there weren’t any tears this time around.

Overall, I love Lovelace’s work. I say it all the time, but she is one of the the few authors who can tear down all my walls and show my scars for the world to see. I think I will always have a soft spot for Lovelace’s work and if someone were to ask me why I enjoy her work so much, I think I would say, “Her work means everything to me.” I can’t wait to pick up a physical copy of this book and add it to my personal poetry collection. And if you’re someone who needs a love letter of body positivity and self-love, then you definitely need to pick up a copy of this book yourself! I truly do recommend this book with my heart, my soul, and my everything because you can really tell that Lovelace understands the reader and what they have endured.

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

This is my favourite poetry collection by Lovelace so far! I've read her Women Are Some Kind of Magic series and really enjoyed reading it, but Break Your Glass Slippers definitely provoked more emotions. I dare say that this collection spoke to me most out of all her work I've read. I loved the self-love and female empowerment themes and how Lovelace used the fairy godmother to teach us all that putting ourselves first should always be our priority. Furthermore, the collection contained some beautiful illustrations that made the collection only more lovely to read. I'll certainly be looking forward to the other books that this new series will bring! I only rated this 4 stars instead of 5 because it just wasn't my favourite poetry collection ever, but that certainly doesn't mean that it wasn't a really really good one that I would absolutely recommend!

I love Amanda Lovelace's writing. It's empowering and magical. I finished it really quickly and as usual her poetry leaves some food for thought

I definitely loved it! Always a fan of Amanda’s style of poetry and break your glass slippers is another collection that did not disappoint!

Thank you #NetGalley for the review copy of #breakyourglassslippers

This is somewhat of a retelling of Cinderella, touching on themes and ideas that most women have experienced firsthand. This doesn't go into quite as much depth as I'd expect out of poetry. This book does have illustrations between some of the poems, and I think this content would be perfect if printed on top of pictures - kind of like a picture book for young adults or adults.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am becoming more of a poetry fan lately and break your glass slippers is my first introduction to Amanda Lovelace. I wasn’t disappointed! A lot of these poems are positive affirmations that I hope to add in my daily life. I felt free and lighthearted while reading this collection even though a lot of the poems touch on serious issues such as self-worth, body shaming (and positivity), relationships, sex, and friendships.

I’d recommend this for most of my millennial and older Gen-Z friends because it felt very current and relevant to young women’s issues.

Inspirational - but is it poetry?

Book Review: break your glass slippers by Amanda Lovelace
Genre: Feminist poetry
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
Release Date: 17th March, 2020

I had to read this twice before writing a review and I'll probably come back to it time and time again. There's a reason my shelves are already stacked with Amanda's books. I love the messages that she promotes in all of her poetry books, but this one specifically is something all women need to hear.

Self-love and realising your worth are the prominent themes of this collection. Amanda juxtaposes the destructive ideals imposed on women by society with constant reminders that YOU are enough.

Every woman will find a part of this book that they can relate to in some way. For me it was, literally the first poem:

"there is a girl who
sings only when
every window
is shut.

like most girls,
she's been learning
the trait of silence
since birth.

everyone
underestimates
how important
her voice is,

& the greatest
tragedy of all is
that she does,
too."

This idea of staying quiet because you don't feel your 'voice' or your opinions/ideas are important is all too real for me. It's something I am currently working on.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and as mentioned, I find myself coming back and reading Amanda's books - like I do with a lot of poetry. However, I personally do not see this book as poetry in the 'traditional' sense. The themes covered are dealt with on a surface level; there is no depth to these 'poems'. I find myself longing for more exploration of the ideas. I searched for metaphor, that most of the time wasn't there, and was disappointed that the title metaphor (break your glass slippers) was not a continued motif. Although, pretty - the structure adds nothing to the meaning of the poem. I just love the complexities of 'traditional' poetry, that I hope this format of modern poetry does not become the norm.

In no way do I want to take away anything from what has been created here. For me, break your glass slippers, is more a book of inspiration, reminders and bursts of powerful prose. It is very quotable and covers important themes and ideas.

A lot of modern poetry seems to be following this 'trend'. What do you think about it? Is it poetry or is it something else?

Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace was truly something special. I’m a big fan of Amanda Lovelace’s poetry and have read her other books. This book was stunning with beautiful imagery that kept readers engaged through the end.

This book was stunning including the illustrations that were throughout the book. The colors, the details, the simplistic of everything made this even better.

This releases on March 17th! Don’t miss it!

Special thanks to Net Galley for the advanced copy and a chance to review!

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC!

I love everything about this book! The poems are so empowering. It's my favorite so far written by this author. This time she really touched my heart. I agree with every page.

And also, thanks for the trigger warning. That's very important. :)

This is the first poetry collection I've read by Amanda Lovelace. I tend to actively avoid mainstream modern poets, which only makes it more surprising that I can say this is now one of my favourite poetry books. The author takes inspiration from the classic fairy tale Cinderella to tell a very real, all-too-relatable story of a girl trapped in a toxic relationship. The girl is infatuated with her boyfriend, who doesn't love her nearly as much, and struggles to find identity and self-worth outside of the relationship. Even for someone like me who's never experienced that, Break Your Glass Slippers was refreshing and sometimes, eye-opening. It discusses mental health and the importance of finding your own "magic" without needing a significant other or any kind of societal approval. Overall, I wish I had read a couple of the poems in Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace years ago, but am happy with buying the book once it releases.


I also review Break Your Glass Slippers on my Youtube channel ('Opalescent').

This was my first Amanda Lovelace book and after reading this, it certainly won't be my last! I'm not a huge fan of poetry/verse type things but I really enjoyed the story and empowerment in this one. I also really connected to this one and loved the emphasis on self-compassion and self-care form the fairy godmother and the latter parts of the book, especially in these uncertain times where stress is high! <3

I love Lovelace's work and this latest collection of poems is no exception to that. Her poems are always such a battle cry for women to rise up and take ownership over their lives. I often feel inspired by her poems and I think she does a wonderful job connecting a younger audience of women to her work.

I recommend this for anyone who's read and loved her past work, but for anyone who's looking for a twist on fairy tales.

I read "the princess saves herself in this one" back in 2016 and I completely fell in love with Amanda Lovelace's style and, if I'm completely honest, I think that book made me change my opinion about poetry books. Even so, I didn't read the rest of "Women Are Some Kind of Magic" books, I don't know why, but I did read "to make monsters out of girls" and it made sense to me perfectly again because I was in a very bad place.

Sadly, I didn't feel any connection with this book. I love the concept, and, for some reason, I love Cinderella (Disney's Cinderella), but I felt nothing. There are a couple of verses I liked but not enough to feel the same way I felt with the previous books.

There are illustrations that fit with the poems, there are illustrations that are repeated several times, but what's worse is that there are some blank pages, which makes the price of the book insane. I think they could've tried more poems or even different illustrations to make it better.

The only reason I'm giving this book an extra star is that I can see a personal evolution in Lovelace. I'm pretty sure that she's transformed from a queen into a fairy godmother whose magic spells are actually these words specially created for broken hearts and desperate souls. Respect!

I fell in love with Amanda Lovelace’s poetry last year when I read the witch doesn’t burn in this one and the princess saves herself in this one. So when I saw that Lovelace was not only coming out with a new collection but that it was available on Netgalley...let’s just say I hit that ‘request’ button faster than Cinderella fled the castle at midnight. 

This collection is similar to the women are some kind of magic series and carries similar themes, but mostly focuses on relationships, as they begin and end and all the messy bits between. 

Unlike Lovelace’s other series, however, these verses are accompanied by gorgeous monochromatic illustrations. Like...tattoo-these-on-my-body-right-now beautiful.

I can’t say I didn’t have high hopes for this collection after loving the other books I’ve read by Lovelace so much.

But I also can’t say that they were all met…

"Break Your Glass Slippers" still had a lot of the elements that I loved so much about Lovelace’s earlier work: her ability to tell a full story from start to finish through verse, her creative use of the different pieces of a poem, and her feminist themes and inspiring moments. 

But it was missing the amount of literary allusion that I thought it would have, especially for a collection that focuses solely on one very well known fairytale that had, in my opinion, presented plenty of opportunities. 

And, more so, I couldn’t help feeling while I read that many poems felt too familiar. Not that they were carbon copies of other parts of Lovelace's work, but they were too similar to feel as fresh and meaningful as I wanted them to, especially considering that this is the start of a whole new series. 

I rated "Break Your Glass Slippers" 3.5 out of 5 stars and would still recommend to fans of Lovelace's other works.

Thank you to Netgalley and Andrew McMeels Publishing for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Much like Lovelace’s other books, this collection of poetry speaks heavily to the female experience. I really valued the comments on fat phobia and loving your body. For fans of her work, this new collection of lovely.

I received a Advanced Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was my first time reading Amanda Lovelace and I'm not sure that it works for me. I'm not sure that I would have classed this as poetry, more aphorisms and pithy quotes, but they seemed quite heavy handed, and without nuance in places. I liked the theme being tied together by the back and forth between the narrator and the fairy godmother, but it read a little bit like a series of facebook quotes on pretty backgrounds.

Amanda Lovelace is one of my favourite poets of all time, and this collection is definitely the best I’ve seen from her yet. The twist on a classic fairytale for those of us who grew up with them and still chase those happy endings was incredibly executed. The pacing is lovely, the messages poignant, and I cheered at the end. Mandatory reading for anyone who feels a little “less than”.

I have been staying away from this collection for almost a month after getting the book because I was trying so hard to calm myself down...and not wanting to lose my sanity while reading it. Because I knew I would freaking love it!!!
And yes, how can I be wrong when it comes to Amanda Lovelace's books!
And....

I absolutely love it!
Her books get me. Too real. Too deep. Too raw. Too freaking liberating. Too damn lively. Too damn empowering as always!

What I totally didn't expect was the amazing colourful illustrations! Bonus point alert!

This collection talks on themes of body shaming, women being rivals of women, what defines a family, love and relationships, acceptance, feeling invisible and unworthy, being alone versus loneliness, standing up for oneself, mixed feelings and overall, as always, it's about hope and getting stronger, more independent as a person and most importantly, being kind to oneself.
And about the illustrations? Oh, it gave me all the magic feels; the fairy tale feels and how I used to see everything during my childhood days and how different the real world actually is from the fairy tale world.
What I do not understand:
It's the trigger warnings given at the beginning of the book (like with all her books!). And there's a whole lot of it there!
I do not see the point of giving such trigger warnings as I do not get to read any of such in any of the lines in the contents.
I feel it is rather unnecessary and it might put some readers from reading this amazing book.

Thank you #NetGalley for the copy of #BreakYourGlassSlippers

I love Amanda Lovelace's books and I wish I were able to read and review this one. I'm sure I'd love it but I can't seem to view the file at all. No app I have will let me open it.

Absolutely a must read - Amanda Lovelace does not disappoint, and I look forward to as many books as she cares to gift us with.