This is another lovely, empowering book by Amanda Lovelace.
Though I didn't feel the same connection to this book as I felt with her other works, I adore all the flower metaphors and beautiful illustrations and found some poems that entered my heart.
Some of my favorites are-
-wild violet
-am I resilient enough?
-magic still has to exist somewhere, right?
-hopelessly devoted to myself.

This book of poetry hit me emotionally. There was parts I deeply connected with and made me think of past experiences. I enjoyed this so much! 5* rating from me.

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is a short but right to the point book. This author hits it home every time I read her. This is an empowering and thought provoking piece of work once again from Amanda Lovelace. There is also a list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.

I think the main issue here is that I’m not the target age demographic for Amanda Lovelace’s poetry. Angsty, 15-year-old me probably would’ve been all over this, even if it was wholly unrelatable. This latest book has very loose themes of feminism, abuse, and love but it’s all over the place; one minute she’s in love, the next she’ll never fall for anyone ever again. If you’ve enjoyed their other work, chances are you’ll be a fan of the latest installment, too.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things in exchange for an honest review.

First I must say how excited I was to dive into this book. I read a few of A.L. works before and I really liked it, so when I got a chance to read her new work, before it's even out, I had to grab the opportunity.

I must say Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things was another Amanda's work I liked.

Through short poems the author gives a clear message to the women out there- be unapologetically you, enjoy life and even if there are obstacles, the future is bright and most importantly the future is in you. Let's embrace our gentleness, our fierceness and love ourselves no matter the struggles we face.

I would love to see Amanda's work as a reading material in school's so young women (and men) are reached with the force of a voice so powerful and meaningful.

What also deserves a mention is the artist and her drawings that give the book a special touch. The poems and the images go hand in hand and give a unique reading experience.

My only comment for this book is that I wished it had been longer.

A big thank you to the author Amanda Lovelace, publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for a free copy.

I absolutely loved this collection. It’s so raw, relatable, and powerful. Lovelace captures so many feelings and puts them so beautifully into words.

The lines in Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things are beautifully written. Amanda Lovelace's writing style is gorgeous and exceptional.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½⭐️ (3.5 stars)

As I’ve said before in my previous reviews of her work, but I feel as though Amanda Lovelace’s work just gets better and better with time. Her latest compilation is a force to be reckoned with, and a welcome addition to her expanding repertoire of novels that tote women empowerment.

I’ve really become a fan of the direction her poetry has taken, and even though I don’t always relate to the content, I have really begun to appreciate her voice and the way she expresses her opinions. As always, the artwork in this collection is beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. It alternates between a field of colourful and flowers on a bright spring day and a bush of red roses set aflame at night, just as her poems switch between describing ‘the goddess of spring’ and ‘the queen of the underworld’ – contrastingly sweet and fiery.

While I found some of the poems stronger than others, and a few which felt decidedly similar to other ones I’ve already read by her, overall I enjoyed this poetry collection and flew through it. It did feel somewhat disjointed (and a little jarring) at times when switching between the ‘soft’ and ‘fierce’ sections, however, given that that may have been the intention, I can’t fault it too much there. Overall, I liked the execution and the concept that as women we can be and feel these conflicting things, and still be whole.

If you’re a fan of Amanda Lovelace’s previous works, or other poets with similar styles like Lang Leav and Rupi Kaur, you’ll no doubt enjoy this one just as much.

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.

Me ha resultado mucho más plano que sus anteriores poemarios. Se nota el estilo habitual de Lovelace, pero me ha parecido más superficial. También es cierto que es mucho menos duro que sus primeros poemarios y deja un poso distinto.

By this point I have read every collection Amanda Lovelace has ever published so when I found her newest collection I knew I had to read and review right away. Amanda Lovelace´s collections have become a comfort read for me and I am always able to deeply connect to her writing.

In Flower crowns & fearsome things, Amanda Lovelace explores the complexity of femininity through alternating wildflower & wildfire poems.

Like I said, I am a huge fan of Amanda Lovelace writing, I believe she manages to portray beautiful and heart wrenching images in a few words. The author is starting to become one of my favorites. The poetry isn’t groundbreaking or a masterpiece but it makes me feel things no other poetry has ever been able to do.

Every time I read Lovelace´s work I feel good and this was no exception. This poetry collection makes me feel like I matter and even though this is Lovelance´s story I feel seen and represented. These are words you need to hear no matter at what point in your life you are.

I don’t think I have anything else to say really, poetry is subjective and everyone gets to have their own opinion, I liked it, I connected to some poems and I didn’t with others. It is short, you should read it.

Overall it was an amazing poetry collection, the poems are raw and promote self-love which I think is crucial. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a short, powerful poetry book that is easy to read and will definitely make you love yourself a little bit more.

Finally, please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.

Thanks so much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me read and review this book.

In her last poetry book, Lovelace explores how a woman can be both “soft and fierce” at the same time. Many of the poems leave strong impressions on their reader and certainly give them some food for thought. The poems are read as if two different women are reciting them: In the first poem you start reading the voice of the soft, mellow, full of love woman who is often silenced, humiliated, and used by men, then the second poem switches to the voice of the fierce, formidable, hell-raiser woman, who is not afraid to reject the molds that are forced on her and call the patriarchy, sexism, and double standards out. As you read on and the voices switch in every other poem, you find an opportunity to observe how differently (or sometimes similarly) these two perspectives review the same issues, situations, etc., and realize how you can find a little bit of yourself in both women. Lovelace definitely accomplishes what she wished to accomplish through her poems in this book, leaving the reader satisfied with the results.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I just love this author and all of her other books. When I saw this book I was so excited because I have been waiting for it to come out and have already pre-ordered my copy. I send links and pictures and reviews of all of her books to my friends because I love how real and raw they are. So many of the things she writes about I talk about with my friends or feel and there are times that it's like she took right from my head. I love her books and anyone who loves poetry should read them.

5 Stars (I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Amanda Lovelace's collections are always a joy to read but she really outdid herself with this collection. Not only do her poems alternate between a soft girl and a fierce goddess but after each poem has a picture fitting which point of view. Soft pastels, light sky and fields of flowers contrasted to a black background with red flowers and fireballs. Of course I did prefer the badass poems but near the end they are blended a bit more together. But I am excited to have physical copy if this visually and lyrically gorgeous.

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is Amanda Lovelace's latest poetry collection. It is done in her trademark style and continues to incorporate fairy tale elements. Her voice is authentic and relatable and I always enjoy reading her work. My one criticism is the use of the artwork. While the artwork is beautiful the continuing repetition of the same two pieces between each poem got tiresome after the first 25 pages. I wish the art would have been used more sparingly or that it had been more than just two pieces.

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things by Amanda Lovelace



Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is a beautiful poetry book that explores feminism through wildflower and wildfire poems. The artwork throughout the book is stunning, I can’t wait to see it in print. Most poems were shorter than her other collections but, I found they worked well at getting the point across. Lovelace’s poems are beautifully written, blunt, empowering and clever, and this collection did not disappoint. The trigger warnings mentioned at the beginning of the book was new to me, and I really appreciated it. My favourite poems were “A movie could never murder her” and “at last”.



Thank you to Netgalley, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the Arc in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published October 5, 2021!

I love the writing style of this author. When I read Shine Your Icy Crown at the beginning of this year, I was transfixed by her writing style and immediately went and read every other collection of her poetry that I could get my hands on. Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things delivers her signature style of writing pressed between pages of stunning art to divide the poems. This collection, like her others, does deal with mature and sensitive topics in an honest and open way. Lovelace captures the duality of women being expected to be soft or to burn out their softness to be fierce and suggests that you do not have to choose between the two, you can be soft and fierce. The use of Persephone as the epitome of this duality ties this collection together. The art pages showing flowering fields blooming and burning visually showcases the themes of this collection and how they coexist as two sides of the same situation.

It’s been a while since I last read a poetry collection, and I’ve never read any of Amanda Lovelace’s works before. The primary reason why I chose this book as my next read was that I wanted a change from mix of fantasy and ya novels that I’ve been reading lately, and obviously this was a good choice for that.

There were several things that I loved about this book before I even read the first poem: the gorgeous illustrations, the trigger warnings and that these works were inspired by the Greek goddess of spring and queen of the underworld, Persephone.

I must say that the very first poem “goddess of spring” about Persephone might be my favourite of the whole book, just because it combined the title and its muse, and set a mood for the rest of the book.

I do wish there had been a stronger focus on Persephone. Some of the poems, while fitting the theme by aiming at being encouraging and empowering, seemed random to me. I would have loved for Persephone’s story to be referenced more here.

I liked the style of the poems (I’ve always wondered which kind of authors manage to write in that tumblr kind of style, like Amanda Lovelace did for example in “hope is essential”. Something I’m undecided about are the last lines of every poem. I felt like for some of the pieces, they fit very well ( for example “i can’t stop turning his pages” and “wild violet”) whereas for others (for example “will i get to do all of the things i want to do”, “she’s so done with reality” and “it’s a lonely life, but she doesn’t want to fight anymore”) they restricted my imagination by giving a hint at what the author’s intention behind the poem was instead of leaving the imagination to the reader.

As for the writing style itself, I sadly felt like most of the poems weren’t deep enough, which might have been due to a rather bland choice of words. The pieces were very straightforward (and if there was a doubt remaining, the last line would deal with that, too) and I would just have liked for them to be a bit more mystic and eloquent because that’s what I would associate with Persephone and the “flower crowns” part of the aesthetic.

All in all, I did discover a couple of new favourites, and I enjoyed reading the book overall.

3/5 stars.

I did not expect what I read from this book and I am Pleasantly surprised. I will be buying a physical copy of this I loved it soo much. I couldn't keep track of my favorite quotes and th artwork was beautiful. I don't know if the artwork will stay, but I freaking hope so.
I've been in my own head too much these days and some of what was happening in the book has put me in a new perspective for myself. Instead of looking at myself negatively I can see myself more positively. I recommend this to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC.

I love amanda lovelace's poetry. I'm aware it is not for everyone but every time I read them it feels like self-care. Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is inspired by the Greek goddess Persephone, goddess of spring and Queen of the Underworld. I also liked the two poems related to the pandemic. This poetry collection also includes some very stunning art!

i thought this was definitely an interesting collection. it was wholesome and collective within itself, without shouting "women empowerment" which tends to be the thing in most collections today (and that ruins the experience). The application of the duality of the woman (as Persephone) as a natural thing was definitely something that was executed well. I would definitely recommend it to modern poetry readers. The illustrations included were pretty nice too.