Bella Mayo, the actress of Duck Dynasty fame, is releasing her first collection of poetry, entitled My Greenhouse, about romance and heartbreak. The poems are broken up into different chapters like Chapter One, You Hung the Moon, before transitioning into a chapter about heartbreak and loss.

This collection of poetry was not for me for several reasons. I felt like much of it was rather shallow and superficial. Take for instance "My Galaxy Boy" in Chapter 1. "i looked up, i saw the stars, i thought of you. i thought of all the things you said, all the ways you made me feel. all of the stars-i had them. they were mine. you hung the moon. i held the stars." I imagined this poem being typed on top of a starry night photo with some combination of filters, published on Instagram. "My Gift" reads, "to know you is to love you. and to love you is an honor." I imagined this poem on some thick recycled cardstock being sold in the marriage greeting card section of the grocery store. Many of the poems titles began with "My..."and often referenced her love object as a "boy." For example, "my boy who's that all that" reads, "i laugh when people think i have the perfect life, the perfect face, the perfect body with the perfect friendships, and of course, the perfect boy. little do they know it's all so far from perfect." These sentiments remind me of the popular high school cheerleader who had a tough day and feels like no one understands that she's deeper than the persona she projects. The end result was that I felt like the poems were filled with cliches and lacked emotional depth and curiosity. It was very unsatisfying.

I'm sure some folks will enjoy this collection because it's very accessible and straightforward. However, it is not one that I would share with others or recommend.

Anyone who has experienced heartbreak will relate to this book of poetry. It’s beautifully written, and I shared so many emotions with it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I have always struggled to get into poetry. I have followed the Robertson family since they came into the spotlight. Bella’s voice through her poetry is so beautiful! I can’t wait to see what all she accomplishes.

My Greenhouse is a captivating escape into Bella Mayo's loves. Through these poems, a beautiful inner voice shines bright.

Now, I don't normally gravitate towards poetry but as soon as I read the description I was instantly hooked. My Greenhouse is simple yet moving, classic yet fresh, and happy yet heartbreaking. Many of the poems felt like a warm hug or putting glasses on for the first time. It explored young love, heartbreaking love, deceitful love and real love.

The poems spoke and resonated in ways I didn't expect. Many seemed to tell me what I needed to hear. Little details jumped out of the page into my head. It was eye-opening. I felt seen and heard (despite how corny that sounds).

I loved the sections the book was broken into as well as the progression of the poems. A handful had multiple parts that reappeared later in the book. I loved seeing the story continue and the development, particularly in "my shape shifter pt.2."

Some of my favourite poems include my smart one, my indecisive one, my second chance, my great love, my earthquake and my bug. These poems in particular resonated greatly.

Overall, it was a joy to read and was the perfect poetry book to cozy up with.
4 Stars

This is a poetry collection exploring the author’s first romance and heartbreak. It is split into five parts, each explaining different aspects of the relationship.

These poems were very heartfelt and meaningful. I think this will be a great book for young girls who are new to romance to read.

This was a lovely collection of poetry, telling a story of first love to first heartbreak. A quick read that i enjoyed.

The artwork is as captivating and minimalistic as the writer’s words, and rightfully so - emotionally resonant, and stark in their insights, Bella Robertson has hit a bullseye with “My Greenhouse.”

•A four part progression, this collection is so beautifully simple, and captures so many angles of the loves we experience in life.
•I found myself bookmarking almost every poem as one I’d want to revisit again.
•Reading these poems, I found myself thinking “been there” or “ugh yes, same” so many times. That recognition of self is something the author even points to as a goal within part 3, and I think she’s more than accomplished it.
•Love is an onion with many layers, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers how each one felt.

I like how the front cover is very simple snd I loved Bello Mayo writing. She writes about love and heartbreak and as I was reading each poem made be think about my relationships and how they made me feel. Bello has real emotion in her writing and I read the book in one day.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed reading these poems and I like how she related them to flowers , the weather and greenhouse.

Honestly, I regret reading this.
⭐️⭐️
The one extra star is for the cover, which was actually cute
I didn’t feel the emotion in the authors words It felt not as though I was experiencing or even witnessing someone’s fall into and out of love, but that I was just reading an ill formed summary. The technical things that bothered me were things like the author using the phrase ‘meant to be’ four times in a ten line poem. And, to me, it didn’t sound like it was used purposefully, but, instead, like she was trying to rhyme the same word with itself.

Would I need this again: no
Would I recommend: also no

i love poetry books. and i thought this one was fine. i’m not so into the love and heartbreak type of poetry, but i thought going through that journey with poetry was beautiful

The cover of "My Greenhouse" is cute and the blurb is nice, if rather obviously inspired by the blurb of Rupi Kaur's "The Sun and Her Flowers". I find it noteworthy that the blurb and title of the collection takes use of this idea of wilting and blooming love I've seen in several Kaur inspired collections, but does not seem to take use of the flower language in any of the poetry it features, setting up a bit of a false promise.

Unfortunately, I found this collection unoriginal and with little to offer. Metaphors and similes are few and far between, and the ones that are there are cliches: falling in love is like butterflies in your stomach, heartbreak is like glass shattering on the floor, your lover is your sun and moon, with a voice like honey, a masterpiece like art. It reads like most Rupi Kaur inspired poetry collections, full of suns and moons, wildflowers and honey, without anything memorable or unique to make it stand out from the rest.

It feels uninspired and generic, and somehow entirely un-personal: We learn nothing about either the love interest or the narrator that make them seem like actual people. In 160 pages of poetry, I would expect to learn something about the person written about to make it feel like this is inspired by actual feelings, actual experiences, actual people, but there is only generic language "you keep playing your little games," "we are toxic together," "like art, you're a masterpiece" but what does that even mean? It lacks substance or believability. The love interest is left without any recognizable features (everything from eye colour to a hint of a personality), because he or she is to be a stand-in for literally anyone's ex-partner. The result is that the narrator seems incapable of describing anything real. Instead of writing about their unique experience of a unique relationship that actually took place, it feels like the narrator simply borrows this idea of what a crash-and-burn relationship looks like, without reflection or genuine thought.

I really enjoyed this one. I feel that a lot of poetry books aim to be something that they're not. This one set out to describe the feeling of falling in love and then enduring a heartbreak. I think it did so perfectly. I read it in one sitting and had a great time doing so. Rating- 3.5 stars

I read this in one sitting. This really touched me. It felt so real and i loved how it was told from start to finish with all the emotions that one feels when falling in and out of love. So simple but so beautiful written.