The cover is gorgeous and the pictures inside are just as beautiful. Unfortunately I just didn’t connect to the poems. They felt very out of order and baseline.

For many years, poetry never really appealed to me. I always had difficulty connecting with poets' feelings, emotions, and allegories.

Serenity is one of the only poetry collections that allowed me to relate to the author and enabled me to feel on my own. Have past, present, and future memories or hopes come to me. Simple yet incredibly powerful, lyrical, and touching, F.S Yousaf's poems transport you to your inner world.

A few of my favourite poems were 'Reasons', 'Hallow', 'Between You And Me', 'Each Journey Looks Different', and 'Entitle'.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This poetry collection is brilliant. I didn't enjoy that much the first part ''acceptance'', but the last two were great. I loved the poems of the second part ''hope'' where you can read about how it is sometimes important to wait in order to find yourself again. You should be patient, but also learn how to put yourself first and start loving yourself more.
My favourite poems are ''Dear: Me'', ''You will find yourself'' and ''Glory of spare moments''.

It's really a good collection, I would recommend it!

I am jealous of the speaker and their undying love for whoever “you” is! *cries in singleness*
I like how there’s a contrast between the honeyed words of being in love and the bitterness of an inability to accept or love one’s own self. I like how both elements balance each other out in the first part aptly titled Acceptance. The first section has a “me and you holding onto a rope, I keep trying to let go but you keep me tethered” sort of vibe.

I really like the second part of Hope too, I think there’s something in everyone that longs for some kind of hope. So it’s cool to see this personified through poetry. I love that there was a longer prose poem (glory of spare moments) and I like how this poetry book does not undermine the importance of talking about both the lovey-dovey parts of life and the equally disastrous despairing side.

(in tow) I love that one. I love how the writer manages to capture emotion in poems that are quite short.

(reasons) is beautiful and inspiring too. Sometimes it is in those who experience what we have before that we can reach out to and show love and care to. I like how this book is representative of what serenity looks like to the poet/author. It’s a really beautiful collection overall. I also love the explanations in italics before each section starts.

The illustrations really suit the poems, and I wish there were more!


I love how expressive these poems were, but also thinking to a wider audience how would they also be able to relate to this book too? Not saying that poetry should be written just to share it with many people, but on the other hand, I do think the appeal of poems, in general, can lessen at times because:

a) boredom
b) lack of comprehension
c) unrelatable content

So it would be great to see how the poet continues to explore and address these concerns. As not everyone relates to having someone to be intimately acquainted with, whether romantically or not, just thinking out loud that maybe instead of one whole section filled with the same tone and theme there could be more variation.

I understand the creative direction of Serenity and want more people to love this book too so I still would give this a 5-star rating! Keep it up and well done to the production team and everyone involved in the making of Serenity.

This is definitely one of my favorite poetry books about love. This is on par with Rupi Kaur in my opinion. Simple yet moving and emotional poems that remind you of first love, feeling secure, hope, and much more. The book is split into three sections. You don't have to read it in order, maybe choose the one that calls to you the most first: acceptance, hope, and tranquility. I want to buy this book to keep it in my collection. Every word just felt so /right/ and the perfect capture of love. I can't get enough of this book!

Thank you, Andrews McMeel and the author, for providing me with an advance reading copy of the poetry collection.

I am a huge fan of Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace. I find this collection in similar veins with their writing and content.

I really needed more of such poetry collections and suddenly I get to read this collection for which I am so grateful!

The book is divided into three main sections (acceptance, hope and tranquility) which I feel we can choose which section to choose on a particular day we pick up the book to read. Which I did today.

Love the expressions used. Love the simple yet personal lines. They are quite relatable.

Another highlight would be the sketches which I find quite refreshing and related to the emotions described in each part.

I will be looking forward to read all the books by the author. A new favourite!