Cover Image: September Love

September Love

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Member Reviews

This was a painstakingly beautiful read. I was enraptured by every word. While I am not usually a poetry lover, I loved this read. Leav eloquently captured universal feelings. Her use of descriptive imagery and figurative language is divine. I highly recommend this book whether or not you usually gravitate toward poetry. In my eyes, these poems are for everybody—poetry lovers and haters alike. I recommend this book to everyone, truly. If you enjoy quick and thought provoking reads filled with heart, you will love this book. I will undoubtedly be reading everything Lang Leav writes from this point forward

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No matter how many times I read/review a poetry collection I still find it a difficult task. Having read all of Lang Leav's poetry collections Love remains a constant theme that runs throughout her writing.

This time around September Love feels, like the changing of the seasons, somewhat transitory. Dealing a lot with the movement of time. There's a feeling of contentment arising from a love that's either long gone (and finally coming to terms with the loss) or one that's long-lasting (and finding peace with someone you know so well).

Beyond the themes of partner love. I felt like there was also self-love. Being, again, content with who you are and who you're growing into from season to season.

I feel like this collection is a bit more soft-spoken, if that makes sense, than her previous releases. The poems are almost, I feel, meant to be savored not rushed through, but ruminated upon. I found myself only maybe reading through a couple of the poems in the collection at a time, putting the book aside, and later coming back instead of taking everything in at once, and I think that's pretty apt for how this book of poems flows.

I like that this collection pairs perfectly with the feeling of hunkering down in a cozy blanket as the weather outside cools. Holding onto these poems and keeping those that you love close.

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I've been a big fan of Lang for a few years, and September Love is a continuation of her amazing use of words. I can read in this book the change in her surrounding and experiences. She could never disappoint.

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I really loved this collection. It was the perfect combination of melancholy and soft. It had poems that made me reminisce in a way that made me feel validated- it’s okay to miss those that left, you loved them once. It was beautifully put together and I never tire of Lang’s metaphors. Her soft spoken poetry always leaves me part heartbroken and part put back together. A wonderful new addition to Lang’s expanding poetry collection.

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Lang Leav never fails to deliver such a lovely poetry book. I enjoyed all the entries and it feels like I am stuck with her previous book, which is the Sea of Strangers. But overall, I love the book, it gives me feels and chills.

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This is the first Lang Leav artwork that I read. I was quite surprised to find a lot of treasure inside. Lang Leav's poetry provides vivid images of life, love and conflict in a subtle and profound way. It is undeniable why so many people out there love Lang Leav. Really it describes my heart in many ways. I can't wait to wait for other poems from Lang Leav.

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I’m quite a fan of the poet. I’ve read most or if not all of her collections now. She’s become a name I look for when in search of new poetry collections to devour. September Love is her best work so far. I really loved it. Leav writes about universal experiences and emotions but in a very personal way, as if granting temporary access into her life. This collection explores themes that come up in her work again and again such as love, relationships and break-up’s but with a new maturity. Some of the poems were quite emotionally raw and painful to read at times. The best poems were Above You, After Thirty, Always Will, Before Love, Every Other Heart, More a Poet, Shame and We Were Loved.

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Perfectly adequate conversational poems centered around relationships starting and ending, poems being written and forgotten. Don't think I'll look for more of Leav's work, but there wasn't much that was off-putting either. Probably my lukewarm favorite of the bunch was 'A Poem Comes':

The was a poem that came to me
the way anything good comes
Like a comet that swings back around
or a recipe you reconstruct from a childhood memory
The lens with which you peer through
all blurred and sentimental

It came to me through the
lifelong wonder I've held
of the way words will unravel
if you let them, as though they
are creating these sentient worlds
entirely on their own

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September Love is collection of poems and prose that focus on love and heart break. There a few poems that I enjoyed thoroughly. However, this book is not my cup of tea.

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This is a very nice poetry collection that seems to draw you in as you read it. I found that there were poems that I connected to more than others, but I thought it was done nicely. Lang Leav isn't my favourite poet that I have read lately, but I did enjoy reading her poems and found it a lovely break in my days to spend some time in her writing

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I was really excited to see this book available as an e-ARC on NetGalley! Lang Leav is one of those authors who I’d heard lots about, but hadn’t had the chance to sit down and actually read anything by her before. So I was thrilled when this opportunity fell into my lap!

“Instapoetry” is a not a novel literary style for me (no pun intended, haha). I’ve read my fair share of it; and I’ve heard my fair share of both it’s praises and criticism. Personally, I can understand both of these seemingly opposite opinions. While I adore Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey, I was less than impressed with Amanda Lovelace’s The Princess Saves Herself in This One. So I had no idea what I would think about Lang Leav’s style of poetry.

In the end, I feel as though September Love is a solid “middle-ground” collection of poems. There were some poems I absolutely adored… And then there were some that I didn’t get at all. Generally, I believe there were more I enjoyed than the ones I didn’t, so I gave this collection a 3.5 star rating overall.

I think a big reason so many of these poems didn’t work for me was that men were used as a focal point a lot, and, as a queer woman, this didn’t resonate very strongly with me. Nevertheless, what personally connects with me is very likely going to be very different than other women who have different experiences than me, so I don’t include this comment to write off the book as a whole.

I think Leav is very talented at composing both long and short verse, freeform poetry. It’s been a while since I read a good collection of poetry, and I really enjoyed getting the chance to read the poems included in September Love. My two absolute favorite poems from this collection were To The Guy Who Claims My Poetry Was the Cause of His Break-up and All the Things.

Thank you to the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

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I adored Lang Leavs’ latest collection. I’ve read every book by Leav and this one is my favourite. This one is especially relevant to these uncertain times and I felt like Leav was speaking to me personally. I appreciate that Leav bares her soul on every page and that will resonate with the reader.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC!

As an avid reader of poetry, I have come across Lang Leav's name on multiple occasions. However, this is the first collection of Leav's that I have actually read. I went in with an open mind and was very pleasantly surprised by her work; much of what she wrote about in regards to identity, self, love, and nature resonated with me. Nearing my late 20s, I related so heavily to the feeling that a clock is hanging over my head, and it was comforting to read something so relevant to where I am at in my life.

Often times, modern minimalist poetry collections like this one can be rather hit or miss for me. Fortunately, the majority of poems in September Love were nuanced and moving. The experience of reading this collection combined the comfort of being wrapped in a cozy blanket and sipping a cup of tea with the catharsis of crying during a shower. I will definitely be picking up Lang Leav's past collections, and looking forward to more in the future!

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Lang Leav never disappoints me! I purposely read this slow and took it one day at a time because I didn’t want to end it.
Her ‘Memories’ collection had been one of my favorites for so long and I always recommended it when people asked for poetry recs. This one takes that place though because wow.
This collection focuses on relationships, past and present and each poem was so raw, powerful and overall beautiful. I was blown away
I think my favorite one was “A Women” and “Like it was”
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC

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I've seen her name and books before and was very intrigued to try them out.
Sadly, this wasn't my thing. None of the poems really connected to me and it felt repetitive and sometimes even boring.

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I really loved this collection of poems.

I read it in one sitting, cozy and warm on a lazy Sunday. It was like I was talking heartache with an old friend, or my mother.

As always, Lang Leav writes in a way that makes you connect, feel not so alone, and bloom like a flower.

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Thank you so much for this review copy. I was familiar with the author from my old school Tumblr days.

This collection truly did not disappoint; it was raw and full of emotions that made me feel nostalgic for my early twenties, and the feeling of easily being in and out of love. Leav's work is relatable, can be applied to many relationship situations that I'm sure many readers will have experienced, and leaves you feeling satisfied and concluded.

It can be a quick read - but I encourage readers to sit with the words, rather than quickly rushing through.

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I've been hearing about Lang Leav for so long. In fact, I can't even scroll through my bookstagram feed without seeing a book from her. I am both happy and sad with that fact. Of course, I am all for success when it comes to authors/poets, they deserve it as long as they're working for it legally and without being problematic. However, I am sad that this is what most of people thinks as "extraordinary" poetry. I understand, poetry CAN BE subjective. So let me stop you right there and inform you now— I am reviewing this poetry book from both aspects which is what I always do when it comes to poems: subjective preference and objective quality.

Of course I am not diminishing any personal experience and feelings of Lang Leav, she has the right to express them. But what I'm saying is, there are certain craft elements to consider that I sadly didn't see here in this book. This whole collection isn't entirely bad, however, there's more "bad" than "good". The theme of the whole collection? Nothing. It's like a bunch of poems saved via bookmark, dumped in one pile and someone decided to make it a "poetry book". What stood out for me is the foreword of Lili Reinhart and probably 2-3 one liners.

I gave this a try because I remember reading her first poetry book and didn't like it. So I was hoping for this collection to change my mind. However, this book gave me a different effect, I just decided to stay away from Lang Leav any works at all. For my recommendations, try Warsan Shire, Sarah Kay and Dawn Lanuza!

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This is the second poetry collection of Lang Leav's that I have read, and I absolutely loved it. Leav's writing is so poignant and emotional, and the rhythm of her words is beautiful. When reading poetry collections, I like to note my favorite poems in the collection, but I marked too many of them to reasonably list them here. A very good poetry collection that I would recommend.

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Lang Leav is a great poet and novelist, international bestselling author, she was the winner of the Goodreads Choice prize for poetry in 2014. I have read some of her works and I must say that her poetry is so exquisite and deep, it makes you feel alive.
Poetry is another language, a deep world where literature makes a mixture of thousand feelings at the same time. Well, this beautiful book is a collection of poems about love, life, relationships, and sensations, makes me want to feel alive, to feel free.

I enjoyed reading this book, easy and fast to read, but I think is specially written for those who love poetry and find in it a world of deep thoughts that will inspire them.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

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