Thank you NetGallery for the early access to this one! I love Amanda Lovelace’s books and this one was no exception. I easily devoured this in a single sitting and found myself smiling the entire time. She has a way of making you feel so empowered while taking such an emotional journey through her words. The illustrations throughout the book were gorgeous and fit perfectly with the theme. I can’t wait to get a physical copy of this one to reread. If you want to feel like the strong, bada** , independent woman that you are, read this collection.

Wow, such beautiful work. Several of these spoke to me. Several of these even hit so close to home currently. I love the feminism flow and the strength and beauty in her words.⁣
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“What’s more painful holding petals or holding prickles -rose”⁣
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The way in which she asks you to love yourself and let go, put yourself first. So inspiring and beautiful.⁣
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Thank you netgalley for an ARC for my honest review.

this just reeked of Not Like Other Girls syndrome. i think the “poems” are supposed to be deep and meaningful, but they read like the tumblr posts i reblogged when i was seventeen. so many trite phrases and clichés. none of this feels original in the slightest.

i think exploring the softness and fierceness of femininity through persephone and wildflower/wildfire imagery is potentially interesting, i just hated the execution. “we’re going to make it, you & i” and “show our complexity” were the best of the bunch, but that’s not really saying much.

Amanda Lovelace has never disappointed me and at this rate never will. All of her collections are honest and this one is especially empowering. If you ever need a reminder of your worth this collection is it.

Amanda Lovelace’s poems are once again beautiful pieces of women’s strength and coming into their own. She wrote them inspired on the Greek goddess, Persephone. There is no question that this was an absolute joy to read and a lovely picture of how all women have power, hope, and fierceness.

I've enjoyed Amanda Lovelace's poetry in the past, so deciding whether to read her newest poetry bundle was easy. There is just something about her poems that makes them very easy to recognize, and while it's true that the structure of the poems itself is quite simplistic and basically mostly seems like hitting the space bar every few words, I personally don't mind at all. Why? I think that this simple style only helps enhancing the power of the words and the message behind the poems; it focuses on the meaning of what is said instead of just how the words are framed. Flower Crowns And Fearsome Things has a slightly different feel as the focus is more on femininity and the duality between a softer and fierce side. Using stunning illustrations, this bundle switches between 'wildflower' poems and poems that set the flowers (and world) on fire; representing both sides and giving a chance for both more gentle and more feminist representations to be in the spotlight. Light and dark are both represented, and heavier topics including abuse, cheating, trauma and body image are incorporated into this bundle. Once again, Amanda Lovelace writes without fear and isn't afraid to incorporate personal experiences into her poems... This only gives the poetry more power and I admire her courage for being able to do this. Flower Crowns And Fearsome Things is both empowering and healing; it is not the style, but the words and emotions behind those words that once again help turning this bundle into a success for me. Another bonus: the absolutely gorgeous illustrations are not only a pleasure to the eye, but they also fit the message of this bundle really well.

Still love Amanda Lovelace - will it ever be different? - and I was even more intrigued when I understood this collection was about Persephone!

I loved how she treated her double identity as goddess of spring and queen of the underworld; how the poems were, as usual, short but impactful; how they broached the female condition, how women are treated, but were also empowering, as always, and full of strength. I loved that she warned her readers beforehand of the topics she was about to deal with, and that some poems describe a healthy relationship, love at its best and not only suffering because of someone who can't really love properly.

This collection might be one of my favourites of her, with Shine your Icy Crown and The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One!

I adore that this book of poetry focuses on contractions in us as humans and on the societal expectations that are frequently placed upon people (specifically AFAB people). Amanda Lovelace (she/they) comes through with her signature poetry style, and some of the poems from this book are ones that I want to print and hang where I can see them every day. The art in this book is also lovely, and compliments the poems well, and I'm looking forward to buying a hard copy so I can enjoy it in a more tangible manner.

I loved seeing the art throughout this book. It was so pretty…I mean gorgeous (like let’s be honest with myself). The poetry was uplifting (definitely geared towards women; but a man could read a learn a few things). I think it was something I needed but didn’t know I needed to read. The poetry was to improve and change how we see things; a more insightful and better way(or that’s how I read it as). I feel the poetry teaches anyone(including me) to let go, love yourself, and be the strong women//person I know I am!! I’m seeing some comedy too, and I’m loving it. And it really adds to it. Why did this book make cry? I wasn’t expecting it to hit so hard for me. This book was so relatable to me, that was liking the author was holding out her hand and being like…I think you need this right now. I’m feel like I’m reading Amanda Lovelace’s diary. Amanda, I would read your grocery lists and be awe and amaze by you, you beautiful creature of a writer.

I received a copy from netgalley for exchange for an honest review!!

I used to hate poetry like this, thinking that because it was short and didn’t rhyme that the authors weren’t putting as much work or talent into them, but over the years I’ve grown and changed my mind to appreciate the simplicity that just a few words on a page can have.

I really enjoyed this poetry book, I hadn’t read anything by this author before but I’ve since out all of her works on hold at my library. Her writing is very much in line with what I like and what connects with me personally, and I love that they included a trigger warning at the beginning.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this one a bit early!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for early access to this wonderful book!

I enjoyed this! I haven't read a Lovelace poetry book since her first book that was published, so I wasn't sure what to expect going into it. I loved the art work for the cover and the inside pages, it's absolutely gorgeous.

The poetry was a hit or miss for me, a lot of it I related to but it just didn't hit that spot in my heart that I wished it would have. I think Amanda Lovelace is an immensely talented poet, but just something about their work just isn't for me. I did enjoy some of the poems though, and I'll probably reread this one at some point.

Amanda Lovelace is fierce! I am fierce! This collection makes me want to conquer life with no apologies. In just a few words she tackles a million obstacles and empowers you to know your worth. “-never shall I fall from my throne.” I definitely will not with authors like this around. The illustrations are a nice bonus and a perfect depiction of the book. There is also great consideration with the trigger warnings.

Thank you to negalley for the e-arc!

As y’all know by now, lovelace is my favorite contemporary poet. Throughout all of their works, I very rarely find myself striking out. Unfortunately for me, this is one of those times.

I think, as a whole, the poems felt a little too redundant. I was expecting something fresh from their work, but it felt more like a “greatest hits” from other works mashed together.

Also, the structure of the collection itself was a little too wonky for my taste. It was like the poems were scooped up and tossed onto the page at random. Their earlier works have more organization and it really tells a story. I didn’t get that with this collection.

Overall, I know poetry is extremely personal, so I will still recommend this collection. It’s just that the topics discussed in this collection really didn’t do it for me like their others have.

Will I still continue to read their works? Abso-fucking-lutely! I will die on this hill!

Amanda Lovelace is one of my favorites. She’s back with another feminist poetry collection that manages to express the soft and fierce duality of women. She focuses this collection on the myth of Persephone. I have been reading Lovelace’s work for years now and it’s a great honor to read her works and see her growth as an author. Her poetry is raw, real, and honest. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything and that’s my favorite thing about her writing. She also reminds us all that we are magical and to hear that from someone else other than the thoughts in our own heads is truly a blessing.
Thank you to Netgalley, Amanda Lovelace, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Since I have recently read The Princess saves herself in this one (loved it) and The witch doesn't burn in this one (highly disliked it) - I really didn't know what to expect from this one. Amanda Lovelace's latest poetry book focuses on the idea of not abandoning any part of you, embracing both the soft and the fearless part of you. "she is equal parts of glitter & hellfire" - I believe every girl has two different sides that live within her and I love how the author expressed that in this one sentence. Also, the two artwork is beautiful and it makes the book so much better. There are two artworks that appear before every poem, one symbolizes the glitter and the other the hellfire. Absolutely a wonderful idea. The poems I especially enjoyed reading are: believe her, no matter what, she's the blueprint, he's never wanted someone so much, make persephone proud and she never needed a weapon to be powerful. My favorite one was will i get to do all the things i want to do. "how tragic it is for someone to die when they had so many more places to fly" - extremely tragic, if you ask me Rating: 4/5 Most of the poems were lovely, but some of them resembled the poems in The witch doesn't burn in this one. As I already mentioned I highly disliked that book, because I think the author could've chosen any other way to empower women, besides bringing men down. Except that, I had no other complaints.

-this review was also posted on goodreads, the link provided below

I don't really have much to say about this besides that it wasn't really my cup of tea. I'm guessing this will be much more important to other women, but I just found this to be very basic and shallow.
I'm all for the empowerment in this book but it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before in an instagram caption. In all fairness, there were occasionally good poems and the themes are certainly relatable and relevant to be discussed, they were just nothing new.
In two ending notes, can I just say it meant a lot to have the author's pronouns at the end, that was very special, thank you, also, "how tragic it is for someone to die when they had so many more places to fly" is an absolutely stunning quote, loved it.

This was such a beautiful collection of work. I haven't read much of Amanda's writing but I bought her oracle deck recently and just loved her writing just in the guide book. I love how it starts out with a few lines dedicated to Persephone and there was a few times where I had to stop and wipe a tear from my eye.

Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is a new poetry collection by Amanda Lovelace. I read almost all of her works in the past and I truly appreciate her writing style and also how some of the themes she touches upon can be found in a lot of her collections. These feminist poems were quick to read, but they had a lot to say and overall I really did enjoy this reading experience.

I am so grateful to have received an advanced reading copy of this title from NetGalley. Amanda Lovelace is one of my favourite poets. Reading her books often gives me the same feeling I get from warm socks and cups of tea on wintery days. However this book wasn’t it. This book felt incredibly rushed. The first thing that drew my attention to this is the unnecessary repetition of the same two page sized pictures after every poem. So there is really half the amount of content in there. Then the small amount of poetry actually in the book just… nothing really stood out to me. Quite disappointing overall.

Amanda Lovelace's popular poetry collections are a consistent body of work commenting upon themes of feminism, body image, motherhood, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and growth. I am hesitant to write them off just because they don't fit my personal preference for poetry, because others have found them so empowering and they are in an extremely accessible form. However, I don't think that these poems have brought anything new to the table that Lovelace hasn't already explored.

In sticking with this form, Lovelace limits herself in the scope of what she conveys and loses the punchiness of the comments by using so few emotive words. It feels like something you might find on pinterest of being tweeted by a bot. It is also a messy amalgamation of poems, there isn't any structure or cohesiveness to the story, the themes jump back and forth in a way that emphasises the repetitive messages.

I think the standout poems from this collection would be A Movie Could Never Murder Her and Hope is Essential. These two were a bit longer, hence better able to immerse the reader in the scene and create more impact. I thought they conveyed emotions a lot better than others in the collection, but a shorter one that made me pause for a second would be Don't Tell Me Sexism Isn't Real.