Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately I do not have a capable program to read it in. Thank you.

This is a wonderfully emotive and relatable book of poetry and prose. Taplin is very skilled at capturing the human experience beautifully and clearly. Time and again, it felt like he had looked into my heart and mind and written down what he found there. I bookmarked and highlighted like crazy throughout the book!

This deserves every one of the 5-stars I've given it. I wish I could give it more!

My thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I love reading the opening remarks and this one filled me with love and light. There is truly magic and poetry all around us.

The poems are inspiring and powerful, I liked some better than others, but they all convey a genuine and moving feeling.

The longer pieces were my favorites, because I could truly immerse in the author's world and find warmth.

I highly recommend this to any lovers of poetry and anyone who ever second guessed themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

When prose or a written word feels like the kind of conversation you've had in your head at some point in time, that right there is familiarity. Beau's poems in this collection elicit that.

To some readers, they'd find it 'okay' however I am not in that category, rather I went on a journey with Beau found myself nodding at 'The Lines of Resistance' healing upon reading 'Fragments' and definitely being more cautious with my relation to other people after reading 'Cruel Intentions' and valuing relationships correlating them to 'Hostels and Homes,' before finally being reminded that indeed his wish for every being on earth is that we may rise before dawn, every so often.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC. Love the illustrations herein.

Hm I did not enjoy this book. I’m very picky when it comes to poetry and honestly I think this book is really pushing the boundaries between diary and poetry.

This poetry collection was very inspiring to me. It contains a range of different topics, which I really loved. Most of the poems inspire you to become better and be kind to yourself, which I absolutely loved.
I’ll definitely check out other books by Beau Taplin.

I think the poems have a very genuine voice. The verses were uplifting, sometimes sounding more like mantras or meditations than poems. I enjoyed them, I was expecting more novel use of the language, though.

I struggled to find anything particularly poetic about this collection. There isn't a nice flow to the collection or a clear organization to the poems. The writing really came across as a mixture between an Instagram caption and a self-help/inspirational lesson about relationships. The poems look aesthetically like a "classic" modern poem, but the line breaks don't add emotion or tension; they just seem to be there because that's what a poem "should look like".

Each poem is short and sweet and to the point, so if that's your cup of tea... I will say that every few poems there was a line that made me stop and appreciate it, but they were few and far between. Perhaps if I was going through a breakup or having a rough time and needed motivation, this would hit differently.

The cover of this book really drew me in, but there were random pages (at least in the digital ARC I read) of what I can only describe as Tumblr posts - random half-naked women and inspirational quotes written in calligraphy - that took away from my overall reading experience.

"I plant roots so deeply
in the people I love
that I always lose a piece of myself
when they go."

Uplifting and positive. This little book of poems is very organic and well written, I can really appreciate the beauty of the words and messages. A sweet combination of love and earthy prose.

Cover: 5/5 - can't resist a sun/moon combo.
Audience: adult
Poetry, love, earth, relationships, nature
Overall: 3.5 - my fault really I just have a hard time with poetry.

Inspirational and instructional poetry in the vein of advice from people who have never experienced severe depression, who think that everyone believes in god, and that their own experiences and slight reworkings of cliched phrases are valuable. The prose poem about sex could have been lifted from a bad Cosmo column from the 1980s, the constant "pick yourself up/change you life/embrace joy" maxims are tired and wearying, and the language is pedestrian, with sentiment off in the maudlin woods far too often to entrance.

"as far back as i can remember, i have searched for the hidden magic in things"

that line -one of the first- really reflects what this book holds. this was my first beau taplin book, and i'll sure read his other works after this.

Beau Taplin writes the most inspiring poetry collections and this was no different. There are so many that you find yourself instantly connecting with. I love that his words just resonate with you. I either love a poetry book or I don't and his collections are the only ones I know I'll end up loving. Definitely looking forward to more!

Poetry can be a hit or miss for me and this one was a hit! There were some very lovely poems in this and some of them I had to re-read because of how much I liked them. I will definitely check out some of the authors other work!