I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Once again, Amanda Lovelace has written a masterpiece.
I love this Author and her works, and this one like all the rest did not disappoint.
You can feel the heart and soul the Author put into this book and these words.
This book is definitely a book you can pick up on a bad day and just feel better.
The positivity and hope within its pages radiates like sunlight.
Whether you are sad, lonely, grieving, angry, Etc. this book has a piece of it to give you to find the light.

This book spoke to me in so many ways and is something I plan to keep on hand.
Thank you to NetGalley, Andrews McMeel publishing, and Amanda Lovelace for allowing me to review a copy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Actual Rating: 2.5

Please read the TW listed at the beginning of the book!

I feel like this series just depreciated as it went on. The “poems” become more and more repetitive and stale. However, I am giving this one a little higher rating than the second because it did have the good lesson of loving yourself (and who you want to love) in spite of the world’s homophobia and heteronormative media.

I think this will be the last of her books that I pick up. I might give Flower Crown and Fearsome Things a try, since I did enjoy her first poetry trilogy and then disliked this one, so maybe that can be the tiebreaker.

While I enjoyed some of the themes of self care in this poetry collection I found that the writing style didn't grip me as much as in her previous instalments.

Would still recommend, however I don't think I had any real stand out favourites from this newest collection.

4 ⭐️ // I’ve read three poetry books by amanda lovelace now, and I think Unlock Your Storybook Heart is my new favorite! I feel so honored to read this book before it hit the shelves.

The author’s words are always inspiring to me, but this book resonated with me more than the others. I would recommend the author’s poetry collections to all young ladies, and this book was full of positive words for perfectionists.

As an enneagram 1W9, I related to numerous poems from the collection, and I cannot choose a favorite. I loved the parts about fairytales and lessons from books, and the illustrations were beautifully tied into the poems.

I would say the poems in this collection were more “feel-good” than the other two books I’ve read by the author. It’s not a bad thing, but I can see how some readers may wish to see more struggles than the encouraging and positive words that filled this book’s pages.

Read this book if …
🧚You enjoy fairytales
🫖You appreciate good cups of tea
🌈You like LGBTQ+ representation
👌You are a perfectionist
💗You’ve lost your mother

TW: death, heartbreak, body shaming, eating disorders

Thank you, NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love amanda lovelace!! I’m so honored I got a chance to read unlock your storybook heart before it hit shelves, especially because this book resonated with me more than any of her others.

This poetry collection is based on the fairy tale of Beauty & The Beast, but of course, with lovelace’s twists. Our main character is a perfectionist, held to high expectations, a reader and an academic. She lost her mother and works through pain by binging. Destined to find her soul mate by finding the match for the keyhole in her heart, she escapes into books to stave off real life until she finds her knight in shining armor…who isn’t who you would expect.

amanda lovelace’s collection of poetry has always been one of my favorites. I’ve loved reading her evolution in attitude toward herself and the world, and how it’s gotten lighter and more hopeful over time. And that’s why I’ve chosen to use this prompt, based on a real person, because there’s a little piece of amanda in every collection – as she states herself in the author’s note.

While the witch doesn’t burn in this one has always been one of my favorites, lighting a fire in me for change and anger with the way things are, unlock your storybook heart spoke to who I am and to the advice I typically get and never heed. It was an artful reinterpretation of who I am and who I could be, and it’ll be amongst my favorites now. Beauty and the beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. I liked the play on our princess’ character as not only a reader and academic but a perfectionist and “gifted”. lovelace has a talent for twisting these tales to show you a new side of things.

Also, these illustrations?? Stunning. The addition of illustrations to her novels has been amazing. I loved in particular when they were fan-created, but these were stunning and cozy all the same. It just adds a touch more magic to her poetry and helps visualize the fantasy element of her art. It’s just the bump the pages need.

I sometimes find myself feeling lovelace to be repetitive; she can drone too much on the same thoughts in her stories. This one wasn’t as bad, but you can still see it in here. All the same, I really like her work and I would highly recommend it, especially to young women – there are a lot of themes in her stories that you can resonate with. However, there’s a trigger warning in just about every book, and be sure to be mindful of those as needed.

Even as not-a-huge-poetry-fan, I love amanda lovelace, and I loved unlock your storybook heart. Thankful to NetGalley and Andrews-McMeel for the advance readers copy! You can get a copy of your very own on March 15th, next Tuesday!

This is the first time I have read any of Amanda Lovelace's poetry. I will now search out more of it. I found this to be a profound and relatable book. Many of the poems evoked familiar emotions and the spare language made the points all the more focused. It gave me a lot to think about and I am looking forward to seeing more of this author's work.


My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

ive been reading amandas books since her tumblr days and even have a copy of her self published version of princess! it has been an honor to watch her writing style grow. always a big fan

This is the third book I’ve read from Amanda Lovelace - I loved the first and really didn’t like the second, so I had no idea what to expect going in to this one…

This one was quite different to the previous 2 in that it read a bit more like a self help book with advice on being your true self rather than just poetry, but even so I did really enjoy it and it has renewed my interest in reading the rest of her works!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the advanced reading copy of Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace.

This poetry collection is different from anything I’ve read from Lovelace. I have read Amanda Lovelace’s previous works (the Women Are Some Kind of Magic trilogy, Things That Haunt duology, and the previous two You Are Your Own Fairytale). The You Are Your Own Fairytale trilogy is my favourite collection of poetry I’ve read so far. I can’t wait to read everything she publishes in the future including her previous work Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things. Out of this trilogy I think this collection is slightly weaker than the previous two. In saying that I still really enjoyed this collection of poetry.

Unlock Your Storybook Heart was inspired by well known Western fairytales, mainly Beauty and the Beast. Sprinkled in was Amanda Lovelace’s personal life experiences.

I highly recommend this and all of Amanda Lovelace’s work to any and all poetry lovers.

3/5 STARS

I’m kind of sad over the fact that I didn’t really enjoy this poetry collection. I’ve read and loved all of Lovelace’s previous works, but for some reason the poems in this one fell short and flat for me.

Regardless of this, “Unlock your storybook heart” is such a beautifully crafted book and I found it very aesthetically pleasing. Nonetheless, I will continue to read Lovelace’s future work and I keep the hope that I will continue to enjoy those.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this early.
Unlock Your Storybook Heart is a magical, lyrical, and all around lovely book by the incredible Amanda Lovelace. I have read all of her books and their writing never ceases to captivate me.
I am looking forward to the release date so I can buy a physical copy!

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of Amanda Lovelace's newest in exchange for an honest review!

To begin, if you enjoy Lovelace's poetry, you'll like this. It can also definitely be read separately from her other collections, which is what I did.

I can see this having strong appeal for a younger reader, or when just starting to read poetry. I ended up reading it in one sitting, which is a testament to its quick pace and immersive ability. Written and arranged accessibly, "unlock your storybook heart" is loosely based off the tale of Beauty and the Beast, with a modern twist. Their poetry has a unique brusque and direct syntax, and one that leaves little to derive. Though I can respect that I may not be the target demographic for this collection, I admire its inclusive messages; there are a lot of poems in here that I wish I could have read when I was younger.

I had a few issues with this collection still. Its disjointed pacing makes me question the quality of some poems. A lot of individual poems just feel like filler, lacking strong emotional precision and making the plot-concentrated moments feel oddly forced. There are a dozen poems creating the main character, and only one poem to fill out the role of the beast; the collection's connection to the original tale is minor at best.

tl;dr, 3/5: some strange pacing choices and it didn't quite resonate, but has strong messages.

Rating: 5 🌟
First and foremost, I'd like to express my gratitude to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this poetry book.

who convinced you that you needed
to be this hard on yourself

treat yourself with gentleness, lovely
even when you feel like your life
is one big mess after another.

you're trying your very best
& you deserve all the credit for that.🤍

From its start to the finish, this poetry book gave me all the feelings and emotions. For me, everything was flawless. Every single word was intertwined into me, and the effect was unimaginable. It is without a doubt one of the author's best works I had read.

I pretty much read every Amanda Lovelace's poetry. Unlock your storybook heart was about self-help and self empowerment. I love that the poems were simple and meaningful at the same time. Also, the illustrations were amazing as well too. I'll keep recommending Amanda Lovelace to anyone who wants to start reading poetry. Thank you for this early copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't my favorite from Lovelace and I was a tad disappointed. This felt a little like a self-help book which is fine but I came into this wanting poetry and not advice about how to love myself. The advice was great but still, this just felt so different from Lovelace's usual style. Overall I would still recommend it because I did enjoy it but fair warning that it's definitely different from her previous works.

This collection feels rather different from the author's previous ones. There were some poems that I liked, but most of it read like Courtney Peppernell's work and Thought Catalog articles instead.

Overall, it lacks Amanda Lovelace's distinct style and punch, and feels more like filler. Not her best for sure.

Unlock your storybook heart by Amanda Lovelace was a wonderful read. This collection has beauty and the beast vibes that draws you into your own story fairy tale. I highly suggest reading the trigger warnings before going into this collection thought.

Some messages spread through this collection were powerful to me. Mainly the poems on self worth and grief. At times the writing felt like it was dragging, which is interesting for a poetry collection with short poems.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetry or needed a reminder of their own value in life.

4 stars!

Unlock your storybook heart is the perfect book of poetry to read at the beginning of the year and even more so if you feel like you're stuck in a battle - work, relationship, self, etc.

I felt like Lovelace was speaking to me with every word, telling me things I wish I had heard years ago, and will keep repeating to myself for years to come.

With love and kindness, she reminds us that we can do anything we want! And she talks about cats and pixie dust. It's a win all around for me!

Could this be one of my favorite books of 2022?
I can always go back and read some of the quotes to put me in a better mood.
I think that’s magical. I need a physical copy so I know it’s there when I need it.

Amanda's poetry is always a pleasure to read.
I'm a sucker for illustrations and short, powerful poetry punches.
When I'm feeling down, when loving myself becomes too difficult, or when my long-standing demons knock on my door, I can count on Amanda's poems to lift me up.
This is probably my favourite of the trilogy, and it's a fantastic way to wrap things up. I enjoyed the storytelling and the emotion that each poem elicited.
If you've been following their work or are curious to know more about it, I highly recommend this one.