**E-Arc provided by the publishers, through NetGalley. All opinions are my own***

I have been keeping up to date with everything Amanda Lovelace puts out so I was so excited to get an arc of this. I especially loved the first part with the younger sibling saying what they feel and then the big sister responding. It really hit me in the heart as a younger sister and as someone who has dealt with anxiety and depression. And as someone who has been in toxic relationships, something about Amanda's writing has always connected with me. I think that this is one of her best poetry collections. The writing is stunning as well as the artwork. I would recommend this to anyone, but please look at the trigger warnings first.

God I love this book. If I could I'd paint its words all over my walls to remind myself of my power as a woman. The artwork is also beautiful.

I always love ladybookmad poems! This was a beautiful, sisterly read! I loved that there was a big-sister relationship that was consistently referenced.

Amanda Lovelace continues to leave me speechless. In Shine Your Icy Crown, we watch the princess struggle and grow and transform from a timid girl into a turbulent emotional maelstrom and then emerge as a woman who owns her power and commands respect.

I am consistently amazed at how clearly Lovelace captures the cracks in our humanity, the tender places, but in the same breath creates space for healing and wholeness.

Wildly, unapologetically feminist, this collection of poems is a love letter to the little girl inside all of us who just wants to be loved—and it reminds us we can love ourselves wildly and unapologetically.

Having read all of Amanda Lovelace’s previously published works, I eagerly awaited this one. shine your icy crown is another gem of a poetry collection and did not disappoint. Through these poems, Lovelace uses the beloved theme of fairytales to craft empowering messages of hope and encouragement. The accompanying drawings are gorgeous and perfectly fit the whimsical and uplifting (though at times melancholy) mood of the poems. even though some of the poems are quite short, Lovelace does a wonderful job of capturing what it’s like to live with mental illness and trauma, as well as struggle with self doubts/identity and the process of healing, Though I have no sisters myself, this collection conveyed a beautiful and powerful sense of the depth of a sisterly bond. I found comfort and belonging and hope in these words, and I look forward to more of Amanda Lovelace’s work in the future. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

A moving and wonderfully fairly tale like exploration of women and social plights. Would recommend in particular to younger girls who might need a shove in the right motivational direction.

I loved the overall message of this poetry book and I appreciate how it is incorporated into the poems inside. However, I find that the execution and the actual poems and writing aren't that memorable for me. I just think that the poems in this book are too direct and the poet basically giving the readers the message behind it without giving the readers space for their own interpretation.

Amanda Lovelace has done it again. I loved this installment of poetry. The illustrations were perfectly placed and not to mention gorgeous. I have to go back and read the 'prequel' to this poetry book. I overall really enjoyed it. Although much of this is very repetitive and obvious, it was very nice to read and reaffirm the values that this collection illustrates. It is okay to be alone. To have self care and more importantly it is okay to not be okay and move on from it. This was just the think that I needed to clear the pallet and bring enjoyment to what has been a rough year. Highly recommend.

4/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishing for providing this review copy !!

This is like my 2nd/3rd Lovelace book and i must say that i'm slowly appreciating her more. I didn't love every single poem, but there were a few gems. This was sisterhood concentrated and i can't bash the author for such ideas, but i just couldn't relate to it. Despite so, i'd definitely reccomend it especially for people with sisters or if they themselves have issues and would like some reassurance

I really enjoy amanda lovelace's poetry, and the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale series is my favorite of her work. This is a lovely retelling of Cinderella that isn't cliché or predictable at all. It has a lot of good "big sister advice" that I could see being especially useful to younger readers. And the illustrations make the whole thing so much more fun to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to get this one early!

I can’t express how much I love reading Amanda Lovelace! I’d like to say this one is her best so far, but they’re all just always so good.

This collection of poetry is completely relatable and exceedingly empowering for women everywhere. Every women and girl should read these poems, because they hold strong messages that we need to know and be reminded of. This is one that I’ll go back and reread a lot!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early arc of this one! I will be purchasing it to ass to my collection.

A beautiful work as always! Lovelace has a knack for writing words to empower women. Her mix of prose and modern fairytale elements is what every woman needs when they are not feeling like their true warrior self.

This collection of poems, like the others that I have read by Amanda Lovelace, has a message of female empowerment and self-love that comes very close to me.

It speaks to us of loving oneself, of not depending on the affection of others, of not allowing what others think to affect us. It tells us that it is okay to want to have a fairy tale without a prince, that it is okay not to want to reproduce it, that we should not judge each other but support each other regardless of the decisions we make.

I'm dying to keep reading more than Amanda writes and I can only say THANK YOU.

As a huge lover of Amanda's work, I was really happy to learn that she'll release a new collection of poems in 2021!
"Every night she hears
a small, persistent voice
that tries to convince her that

no one has ever felt
as sad or as lonely
or as insignificant

as she does right noc
- snow princess"
I loved as always the construction of shine your icy crown. The messages are. strong and important. Yet, this time, I had issues being really into it. It seems a little too familiar with her previous works and I would've like changes!

It is still a really great book for all my poetry lover!

(3.25) I've never been a huge fan of Amanda Lovelace (see my previous reviews of her works), but this was a clear step up from the first two books in her 'Women Are Some Kind of Magic' series (which is what I have read from her). The poetry in this book is not as repetitive as a lot of its peers, which is a fresh breath of air, and I wouldn't say this book is repetitive in the first place. As always, the messaging is good. There were plenty of ideas that Lovelace brought up, which I appreciated, and I think she was able to explore them, even in such a short book. The only big problems I had with this book were the same problems I have with the rest of this subgenre of poetry, so that's more of a me thing than an authorial mistake. Plus, one thing that surprised me was that I actually related to some of the poems. I practically never relate to "Instagram poetry" (Lovelace might not post on Instagram but either way, she falls into that style), but there were a few poems that hit me a little bit, and that was a massive step forward for my thoughts on Lovelace's writing.

So, overall, this was a book that redefined my relationship with the author. It wasn't my favorite thing ever, but I'm excited to see how she improves down the road!

This is not the first collection I have read by Amanda Lovelace, and it will not be the last. I own previous volumes and enough of the content in this one made me go "oh yeah", or want to write it down as a daily motto, that I may even purchase a physical copy of this collection too.

The structure follows a modern twist on a fairytale, with bits of "big sister" (think female to female) advice and motivation interspersed throughout.

It made me think and made me feel empowered.

Yes, some of it is stating the "obvious" but women often need reminded of things like our independence and worth.

It is also not what you'd maybe consider "classic" poetry, but more in line with the popular instagram poetry movement, and also includes prose. In that sense, it is almost like a collection of micro-essays/letters to uplift and motivate.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my eARC of this latest collection.

I loved this book so much! I loved telling the story through a fairytale and a big sister. I am a big sister and have told my sister so many of these things. I kept sending them so many of these poems because they resonated.

This was such a beautiful book. Rather than ignoring the social political context within which we all exist, it leans into the curve & provides a beautiful argument in favor of body autonomy, inclusive feminism, and unconditional love.

*1.5*

As someone who would generally describe themselves as a "poetry lover" I was interested in dipping my toes into what the contemporary poetry world has to offer and was sorely disappointed by what I found. I have never read any of Amanda Lovelace's other collections, but the other glowing reviews I read across platforms had me excited for what to expect. Let me start here -- if you are a lover of the classics like Plath, Louise Gluck, or even Emily Dickinson, or Robert Frost -- this collection is not for you.

This book is definitely a part of the ongoing and growing ( :( ) trend of what is dubbed "instagram poetry" where the "poems" are short, on-the-nose thoughts that are presented as sentences split into multiple lines to make it look like a poem. While there are a lot of good thoughts and good messages (albeit a bit cliched) that I think could benefit little girls during those painful, confusing stages of growing up, none of it really feels like poetry. And I'm not trying to be a gatekeeper here -- and sorry if I'm coming off that way -- but many of the "poems" in this book felt like the note you would write down when you have an idea for the core message/theme that you want to build you poem around, bolstered with metaphor and wordplay and other literary devices that allow the reader to come to their own conclusions and glean multiple things from it with each successive read.

"the only time
a boy ever
asks her out
is for a laugh.

after so long,
she begins
to see herself
as the joke too.

-punch line."

"'you'd be so much prettier if...'
you'll never get a boyfriend if you don't...'

-what they tell her."

Neither of these poems leave room for personal interpretation. They are simply thoughts that exist that many of us have thought before. Sure, that makes it #relatable, but is it profound? Is it "beautiful" (as many reviewers have described her work)?

As I said before, there are a few great tidbits of wisdom that many of us learn as we grow up and mature, and I appreciate the feminist messaging, but it saddens me a bit that this is what we are calling poetry today. It would be better labelled as a self-help book of positive affirmations for little girls.

I realize now that I am not the intended audience for this book, but these are my honest thoughts while reading. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in return for my review.

This is a beautiful poetry collection highlighting feminist topics and learning to love yourself as you are. The art in this book is beautiful and I think all of the poems flow together really well within the fairytale theme. There is a warning at the beginning that certain sensitive topics will be discussed, which I also appreciated greatly.