Another of the gorgeous arcs granted by publishers!

I ended up reading this in bed, long into the night, finding piece after piece I wanted to share with friends and family members. Lovelace continues to march her way through the worst lies the world, as we ourselves, tell us, and to show the way through that darkness in the true light. I am incredibly glad to see this second series of her doing that in every way and cannot wait for the next piece in this series already.

Trigger warnings: child abuse, toxic relationships, sexual assault, eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, sexism, suicide, and trauma

Amanda Lovelace again does a fabulous job narrating her own audiobook for <i>shine your icy crown</i>, the second of the “you are your own fairy tale” trilogy. I didn’t like these poems quite as well as the first installment in the series, but they were still good poetry with important lessons. The music in the background ties in with the fairy tale theme. I’m looking forward to the final installment in the trilogy!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This book was surprising – in a good way!
I don’t generally enjoy modern poetry so I was not expecting much from this book & I’m still not really sure what makes it poetry rather than prose, but I enjoyed it - I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, and perhaps this made it even more personal and poignant? I cannot say how well I would have responded to a written word version, but the audiobook definitely worked for me.
The poetry consists of many statements/questions followed by advice from “big sister” and an overarching message that we need to rewrite the fairy stories so that “marry the handsome prince – the end” is not the end – or that every woman’s ultimate dream is related to a man … It’s about empowerment & not limiting your potential. Difficult topics are touched on, but not in a negative or depressing way. It’s full of uplifting & positive statements like “you say lonely, I say self-sufficient”
It was a book that made me tag sections for future reference – such statements as:
“There will always be a new mascara, there will always be a new lipstick, there will always be a new pair of jeans, there will always be a new ideal body shape. By the time you have caught up, there will already be a new trend. Its meant to be unattainable, because that ensures you’ll have no choice but to keep investing your time, money and energy. Respect yourself enough not to buy into a system whose success depends on making you feel insecure”
And
“She always looked up to strong women protagonists, that is, until the day she finally realised that she is the strong woman protagonist. Determined is she to weave an even better tale”

This was the first book I’d encountered from Amanda Lovelace & I will definitely look for more. I can see me returning to this book & that is as much of a surprise to me as to anyone else!



Disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of this book free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the author & publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars


Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for an ALC of this book.

Combination fairy tale retelling and self-love poetry, this quick audio has gorgeous verse, sisterly love, and themes of self-love and acceptance that are the perfect continuation to break your glass slippers.

I loved this book just as much as the first one. I really liked the parts from "big sister says" and everything that it meant. It is honestly so inspiring and happy to listen to these books!


Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, Addiction, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

I loved this one. I think I enjoyed the poems more than in the first one. There's a great message and I'm able to connect with them. You could feel the emotion in the narration. I liked listening and reading at the same time

If you've enjoyed Amanda Lovelace's other poetry book series you'll enjoy this one as well! It's nice with the audiobook to hear the poet read her own work, the cadence with which she speaks and emphasis behind the words. Thanks NetGalley for the eAudio in exchange for honest opinion!

“as painful as it may be,
it is always easier to
walk away from the villain

than it is to try to
convince them of their villany.
- a hard pill to swallow”

Out today, Amanda Lovelace returns with a new poetry collection that focuses on empowerment, feminism and knowing your self-worth. Lovelace explores the idea of valuing yourself even if you don’t have a romantic partner and the complexities of family relationships.

This poetry collection was just alright for me. I loved some of the themes explored (feminism - yay!!). It had some cool imagery incorporated and I loved the illustrations. That being said, there is one trope that is woven throughout that is referred to as the Big Sister. The Big Sister seems to know everything and her parts are frequent and seemed almost preachy to me in parts. Big Sister was an all knowing being and those parts almost seemed like a self-help portion to me - which is not my favourite. It’s for this reason I settled on 3 stars as I just couldn’t connect with a lot of the content. For others this poetry collection may be a totally different experience. Thank you to @netgalley and @andrewsmcmeel for this arc.

I LOVED THE AUDIOBOOK EVEN MORE THAN I LOVED THE BOOK!

FACT: THE WORLD WOULD BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE IF EVERYONE READ THIS BOOK.

This book is a “MUST GIFT”. I preordered one for my daughter (and I really can’t remember EVER preordering a book!).

This is everything the world needs to hear about how to raise decent human beings.

BUT, especially, this is everything the world needs to hear about how to (and how to NEVER) raise or treat women.

This is what every woman in the world should hear and (should NEVER hear) from the day she’s born.

A reminder of why we should all be feminists.

Also... I was so pleasantly surprised to discover this book was illustrated. The illustrations are adorable.

Awwww... this was as magical and poignant as I expected... and much more!

I'm a fan of Lovelace's work and narration - I listened to the first collection in the series (Break Your Glass Slippers) earlier this week, and I think this one resonated with me more. I've been a fan of her work since I discovered her in 2017 and this series has definitely reinforced that. I'm excited to listen to the third.

Shine Your Icy Crown is book #2 in Amanda Lovelace’s You Are Your Own Fairytale series. It could totally be read as a stand-alone. I gave this book 5 stars and would totally give it more if I could. Never have I ever related to a book like I have with this book of poetry. It was magically and beautifully written. This book left me all in my feels. It’s been like two weeks since I read this one and I can’t stop thinking about it. Can’t wait to gift a physical copy of this one to my daughter.

I highly recommend this one. I was given an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I’ve now had the opportunity to read and listen now to this book and I loved it each time!! The narration truly brought these words to life!! I highly recommend both!

Huge thank you for a review copy of this audiobook.
Anything created by Amanda's pen is something I will love and adore and this one was no different. This poetry collection is absolutely beautiful and empowering guide to self love. I loved rereading it as audiobook with Amanda narrating, especially with the music, and I so recommend.

This second installment in a series focuses on the themes of sisterhood and choosing your own happy ending. I still enjoyed it but not as much as the first in the series. While there were no quotes that made me stop what I was doing to jot it down, a few still gave me pause, and I still respect the vulnerability shown.

I'm a big fan of Amanda Lovelace's work. I've read several titles by her the last few years. This is my first audiobook title from her. It was very interesting to be able to hear Lovelace's words in her own voice. It did add another element to the storytelling and you could really feel the emotion she puts into her words.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love the author's poetry. She has a way with words, like no one else has. There hasn't been a book, yet I couldn't find at least a couple poems I could relate to. It is truly astounding how she can put things I have thought about countless times, but could never express into beautiful sentences. She is an auto-buy author for me and I think the audiobook is definitely a great way to experience her poetry, since the author narrates it herself.

This is by far my favorite Lovelace collection.
This collection struck home for me. I love how it all fit into a fairytale narrative. It made the poetry come to life the way I needed it. It felt like the words were holding my hand and telling me it would be okay. I want to quote pretty much everything Lovelace wrote, so I imagine I will revisit this collection quite often.
Major props to her narration as well. As an audiobook the repitition of certain phrases was more effective at drawing me back in.

I think this hit a bit too close to the bone for me, because I've never cried reading poetry before and now I'm in tears, but not in the good way. Like I'm in pain.

Yes! Finally!

I didn't connect with the other two books in this trilogy, but I did relate to this one and really liked it. Definitely my favorite of the three.

This is the third Amanda Lovelace poetry collection I have read this week. It should tell you something that I immediately sought out more works by this author, once I read the first one.

Like the previous two, this is a short book of very personal poetry, read by the author. The works are short, to the point, presented in a conversational fashion, and linked in an inverted fairy tale format.

I enjoyed this book. It made me think, it made me pause in recognition, it made me ache in sympathy.

Highly recommended.

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

"fearless is she. to them, this means she is a dangerous thing, because they have no hope of ever taming her." -From shine your icy crown

4 stars

This second collection in the series, especially the first part, is really dedicated to the magic and love between sisters. This book would make a beautiful gift from an older sister to a younger one. That said, it was hard for me to connect as much to the first part. I felt more connected to the second part, and I enjoyed hearing Lovelace breathe life into her own words listening to the audio. Readers should read the content warnings, as I feel a few poems are a bit darker than some of her other collections I've read.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Not as good as break your glass slippers, this volume seemed to play up the sister aspect of Frozen, but the "older sister" really had the same role as the fairy godmother in volume one, and I really didn't get much of a sisterly theme from the poems. And the poems were loess abstract, less connected to the fairy tale, and more didactic. Have hope for volume three.