This poetry collection packs such a severe punch.

Touching and memorable, Aija Mayrock successfully manages to write about such an array of struggles we women face in so few poems. As with every collection of writing, there will be some sections that resonate more with certain readers. I definitely felt that. Yet, rather than making it fall short for me in a rating sense, it made me want to give it a reread to educate myself on the problems that women who aren't in my position face. This is a collective look at a gender that is often pitted against one another, and yet somehow wraps itself up in a 'we should all be in this together' bow. Beautifully done.

Thank you to Net Galley for this audiobook ARC.

Every girl/woman needs to read this poetry collection. What a beautiful collection of powerful works all about what it is to be a woman and the struggles we face every day. If you are not one for poetry check out the audiobook. It is beautifully spoken with the correct cadence. I would prefer to listen to poetry because you get the true emotion out of the text.

“Dear girl” is more than a poetry collection, is a very relatable journey from girlhood to womanhood. It’s a collection of empowering poems about feminism, sisterhood, healing, and resilience.

Dear Girl is a timely collection of poetry, a love letter to women everywhere. I found the tone to be very refreshing and energizing. Dear Girl imparts hard-learned lessons and generates reflection. This is a meaningful collection, but ultimately this book is a rallying cry to women to be strong and support each other. When the world is exhausting, reading a poem or section from this book would be an excellent respite. I received an audiobook of this poetry collection, which is read by the author herself. Mayrock has plenty of passion and infuses the poetry with the care and emotion that can only be given by the author. The effect is something like going to a spoken-word poetry slam. Dear Girl releases August 25, 2020. Thank you to Aija Mayrock, Andrews McMeel Audio, and Netgalley for a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful little book of poetry, focusing on the strength of women - the women we are, and the women who made us. The content can lean into darkness at some points. Maybe not quite triggering, but definitely alluding to the major challenges of modern womanhood, so be mindful.
I listened to it as an audiobook, so the experience is very much like listening to a spoken word performance. I tend to listen while driving and multitasking, and I didn't think this was a great book for that BUT if it's what you're focusing on, or if it fits into something else you're doing, like gratitude and reflection rituals, it could be a good choice.

"Dear girl,
You ask me what I wish for you.
I simply say -
Never allow any soul to clip your wings
You were not born an ember,
You were born a flame."

☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

[4,5]

☆゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

I Liked so much this book. That goes without saying, but the reasons are the most important and please READ this book. Dear Girl is a book that everyone should read to understand many things about many topics, such as feminism and women in general. How to educate a girl to be self-confident when she grows up, how to teach her that her body is hers and that she must both respect and enjoy it.

Dear Girl is a small collection of poems that I listened on the audiobook format and it is narrated by the same author. That makes it very valuable. I love how the author narrates her own words, with a force and power that not just anyone could do. In fact, the first thing that interested me about this book was the fact that it was narrated by the author.

They are simple poems, but with a lot of power and without a doubt beautiful. I will continue reading the following books by Aija Mayrock, as it is a promise for the poetic literature of the future. You should read Dear Girl if you want to start reading poetry, because they are not very complex poems but full of power, strength and love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Definitely give it a go and take a read. It has interesting content which keeps the reader intrigued. I really found the book a pleasant read.

I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved author's narration. In fact, I don't think I would have liked it as much if I had read the book rather than listen.

I support and appreciate everything that has been discussed. More power to all of us. However, I have to mention that it felt more like motivational speech by a peer and less like a poetry book.

‘Dear Girl’ is a brief, empowering collection of feminist poems that document the life from girlhood to womanhood in contemporary society. Some of the subject matter included aesthetic expectations, double standards, and sexual assault. The poems and narration were strong and inspiring at times. I think it would have resonated more with me if the poems were more autobiographical. They were often more about general experiences. It was a good collection, but I wanted more depth and vulnerability.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

This book of poetry was put into a 44 min powerhouse of a performance audio read by the poet Aija Mayrock. This book is described as, "a journey from girlhood to womanhood in poetry...a love poem to sisterhood," and wow it really left such a deep impression on me. It starts off talking about motherhood and girlhood and how we as mothers should not silence our daughters and reign them in, while we let our boys run wild. We should teach our daughters that their bodies belong to them, that they have all rights to it and should not be shamed by it. It talks about the sisterhood we all share with other women and how we should support one another instead of allowing our insecurities and childhoods to cause us to lash out at one another or bully/shame each other. It speaks of how your wounds can be worn like jewels in a crown, that they make you stronger not weaker, and so much more. I highly recommend every woman hear this as an audiobook because the poet spoke it so poignantly, and there's also music in the audio as well. If you are looking for poems of solidarity, strength, empowerment, resilence, please read this short book of poems. I received the audiobook from Netgalley in return for an honest review. I enjoyed this so much that I just bought the book as well. Its a powerhouse, please read or give it a listen!!

<i>Dear Girl</i> is a poetry collection about feminism and sisterhood. Similar to <i>Milk and Honey</i> by Rupi Kaur and <The Princess Saves Herself in This One</i> by Amanda Lovelace.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Every other poem or so has some classical music playing underneath the narrator which makes it easier to distinguish the poems from each other. I liked that the narrator was the poet herself which really ensures that the poem is delivered as she wants it to. It also helps that Aija Mayrock is a spoken word performer.

I enjoy poetry read like slam poetry. However, there were a few things about the production that I found annoying and distracting: the volume of the music behind the reader and the varying levels of volume throughout the audiobook. I had to keep turning up and down the volume. Overall, I enjoyed the narrator and the overall work.

This is a collection of poems around the central theme of women empowerment.

"I am the woman I am today because my father never clipped my wings. even in disagreement, I hear his voice. all pride and no shame say- "And yes that is my daughter. " "

"Instead of 'How was your day?' messages, we get, 'You up? Wanna come fuck?' "

"Leaving someone you love is like leaving home, and knowing you can never return."

"Heal your wounds, Dear Girl, so your daughter isn't born with the same ones."

"Your boss will tell you to stop giving him eyes "If you want a raise, you gotta compromise. Show me what lies above those thighs." "

This was my first audiobook from NetGalley and was the prefect way to start. It was also my first time listening to poetry read as an audiobook and I am converted.

The narrator( also the author) had a lovely pleasant voice which allowed the poetry to flow. It was also fantastic that the author and narrator were the same as she got to put emphasis on the pieces she wanted to.

The poetry itself was beautiful and it was great to see such topics as LGBTQ+, POC, rape culture and body positivity discussed with such honesty.

Dear Girl very much reflects the contemporary wave of feminism and #MeToo time and will resonate particularly with many young adult listeners, the demographic of the author. Aija Mayrock touches on topics like sexual harassment, rape, body image, misogyny, gender issues, intergenerational trauma, intersectional advocacy, and resilience. The strongest piece in the collection is Dear Boy.

This is not brilliant poetry. There is no shortage of clichés, though there are several strong moments of more original language. The collection is elevated by the young author’s crisp, cadenced, committed spoken-word performance of each short piece. There is an affirmative, inspirational quality to her message and delivery that many will appreciate. And I’m often not fond of music or sound effects added to audiobooks, but it is done quite well in this production.

Fans of Canadian poet Rupi Kaur might also enjoy Dear Girl. And I look forward to hearing more from Aija Mayrock as her work matures. And cheer her on in her advocacy work as well.

I listened to an advanced uncorrected proof of the unabridged audiobook via Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley. My review is unpaid and voluntary.

The narrator/author has a very soothing and pleasant voice. This is my first audiobook for poetry and it’s always strange the way someone will pace their poem is much different than the rhythm I have in my head. My one thing with poetry is I love a poem that invokes some kind of emotion and I didn’t quite get that in this audiobook. Overall, the poems were strong, and had a powerful message.

This audiobook for poetry was okay. The poems reminded me of other poets where their execution was better. I'm not sure why the music was needed between some of the poetry. It was distracting. I think it would be better without the music between each poem. I think these collections of poems may be best for younger readers/listeners or who are just introduced to feminist or women empowerment topics.

Such a great audiobook
Dear girl is a short poetry collection about empowering, wounds healing and the resilience we all share. It’s indeed a journey through poetry.
If you are a mother, a father a brother or a sister, if you are a girl or a boy you should read this novel. Every girl needs to read it. IT was brief yet so empowering and consistent and made me think about a lot of things: about life, about my choices and about myself
I should read more poetry and more about women empowering.

There were a couple of poems in here that I enjoyed but they are quite much of a muchness. Aija Mayrock is very young, which doesn't mean she shouldn't use her life to write poetry, It's just quite obvious that she hasn't got the lived experience to write with much depth or breadth. I also listened to the audio alongside reading this, which is beautifully performed and I will definitely consider picking up poetry collections in this format in future.

I have been falling in love with audiobooks lately, and was beyond thrilled when I saw Netgalley is now offering audiobooks as well. With everything that has been happening in the world this year and the anxiety that comes with it, I have been finding the idea of someone narrating a story to me much more appealing than sitting down and reading for myself. The soothing voice of the narrator, the ability to go on long walks in nature while listening, the occasional background music ~ all of these and more have been making audiobooks a go-to for me. An added plus is always a book narrated by the author, as is the case with "Dear Girl", written and narrated by Aija Mayrock.

"Dear Girl" is a collection of poetry addressed mainly to girls and women. It is a book of feelings, and a book of advice, that calls to girls and women to believe in themselves, to stand up for themselves and each other, to not let their wings be clipped. It touches on a lot of issues, from attitudes towards rape and sexual violence, body positivity, wage gap, to the differences in raising daughters and sons and how those differences ultimately help shape the former issues. The poems are short (the book itself takes about 50 min to listen to) and the narration is full of passion, which makes it all the more empowering and motivational.

My only issue with the book was that I felt that it did not say anything that I haven't heard before. While some poems did, most did not evoke a lot of feelings in me specifically, despite the beautiful narration. Still, perhaps even though these things have been said before, it is worth them being said again and again, until people start to internalize the message.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.