A big thank you to Netgalley, publisher, and author for the ARC!

This was a quick read. The poetry was well-written and I enjoyed my time listening to the audiobook!

These poems were really good, they touch on your emotions! The narrator was wonderful and really shaped the essence of the poems.
I hope to read more by this author in the future!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher and the author for an ARC!!

This one took me a little while to read, and honestly, it's not the poet's fault. I've been dealing with a lot of things that take up my time, and I haven't been able to give this book it's due attention. It was a good effort, that is all I can say. I'm sure it means a lot to the poet, but it didn't mean much to me. And that is no slight to the author, but rather a reflection of the fact that I am not in the same place in life that the author is. But I definitely appreciate the hard work and beautiful thoughts put into this.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the ARC!

A sweet poetry book by Bella Mayo! I don't think I've ever listened to a poetry audiobook so it was nice to hear this poet's voice. She seemed a bit hesitant at moments and a bit unsure and I felt like most of it went over my head so there wasn't any part that really stood out to me. I also do better with poetry that is about loss and heartbreak so it could also be me!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I don't really have much to say about this collection of poetry. Many others are praising this as an adult reflection on the teenage feelings of first love and first heartbreak. However, I see it as a juvenile and melodramatic retelling of emotions better left in the past. I didn't find them to be particularly well-written in general, but there were a few lines that I did enjoy.

Bella narrates the audiobook herself and her narration was just average. Nothing special, but nothing horribly egregious.

I'm sure that I am just not the right audience for this title since it seems to be well-received by many others on this site! Maybe I am just not bright enough for flowery writing and overly metaphorical prose.

<i>My Greenhouse</i> is a poetry collection about Bella Mayo’s first love. I believe Mayo wrote these poems when she was 15, which is quite impressive. I don’t quite feel that the emotions flowing through the poems were well expressed by the author reading the audiobook, so I might recommend the physical copy of this book. I think teenagers would be the best audience for this poetry collection, as they will relate with the author’s writings.

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

I loved the framing of the book through the idea of the greenhouse and the structure of the poetry throughout the book. The poems lacked depth and relatability, which the author described as one of her goals in the book, for me, but I enjoyed hearing her story and how her experiences and approaches to love and life evolved over time.

These poems has a good emotional range that, I think, I would have enjoyed more if I were younger. It feels like a good collection of poems that a teen could connect to and enjoy. The poems are short and have easy language.

The author narrated the audio, which I usually really enjoy with poems as they can truly convey the emotion they were writing. However, this was really flat and monotone.

Overall, i'd recommend it for teens or young young adults. I'd also recommend the book over the audio version.

I think books and poetry about love are something the world can never have enough of: it's a universal feeling, yet there are so many types of love, and they all deserve their story told. I picked up this book of poems without much context, and had I researched the book, may have realized prior to reading that these poems were not written for me, at this life stage. As Bella shares, the book was compiled when she was a teen, experiencing a type of love that feels all-consuming and crushing at that age. While this is a story many can relate to, I think these poems may hit differently with a younger audience; for me, the poems used a few too many common metaphors that started to be repetitive, instead of a more lyrical prose or word play that challenged and inspired (what I hope to take away when I read poetry). Because love is so often written about, some of the turns of phrase felt generic rather than the 'personal diary' style that was promised. I did listen to the audiobook version, and think reading the poems may have been more successful, as the narration was a bit flat, lacking the emotional components of the poems. For a reader of the same age as the author when this was written, I think it might be more successful.

I didn’t finish this book. I think I did kind of enjoy the poetry but the narration was so boring and monotonous I just felt like I was listening to a really long speech at a wedding where you don’t know either of the people getting married but you’re there for a friend’s distant cousin or something.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
This was my first collection from the author and it included some really relatable passages. I love that it was the author narrating which made it feel a lot more personal. I have never listened to poetry on audio before, and it was interesting to hear the pace and pauses where they were intended instead of figuring it out on my own in my head.

Five stars it is!! This was a refreshing book I didn’t know I needed! Such awesome pieces, totally loved it. It took me a while to warm up to the narration but by the end, I was in awe! Thank you so so much for the ARC. I will be ordering a physical copy too because I need this in my collection.

When I read that this was Bella Mayo's debut poetry book, I was astonished. I could honestly believe that this was a book from an accomplished poet. The poems were heartfelt and I could feel the emotion from each of them even if I had not personally experienced the type of love that was the subject.

The titling of each piece was something that really provided a new depth to the work. Starting each title off with the word 'my' already invokes a feeling of it being very personal to the reader.

Bella Mayo does an excellent job with her words to talk about what feels like every type of love possible. Selfless love, selfish love, hurtful love, love that is better off gone and love that you miss every day. She does not shy away from the idea that love people have for each other can be amazing, it can also turn out to be hurtful and toxic to each other.

Poems like 'my secret heartbreaker', 'my master of manipulation' and 'my wildflower' are poems about loving someone that you know is not good for you and what that feels like. Bella Mayo talks about the choice of love where one already knows that the love will not end the way they want it too, but they can have it for a little while.

Other poems like 'my young love', 'my right person, wrong time', 'my forgetful one' are poems about love that simply grows and fades between people, be it good or bad. Even when people love each other, sometimes its not enough to make it last forever.

I absolutely recommend this book and I will be purchasing it myself as well as soon as it publishes. The Audiobook is also a format that you would be remiss to overlook as Bella Mayo narrates it in a beautifully touching way.

Nothing about this poetry felt true or heartfelt. It is the same narrative that has been done time and time again, with nothing new. I went in with an open mind, and I wanted to like it, but I just don't.

A debut collection of poetry about love and relationships. The poems are short and sweet, using simple language to reflect on the ups and downs of young love. The audio version is narrated by the author and I felt it lacked emotion. Overall, I found the poems lacked literary depth but I suspect heartbroken young adult readers will find this collection particularly relatable. If you’re intrigued, I would recommend picking up a print copy instead of the audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McNell Radio, Andrews McNell Publishing, for the opportunity to review a free e-ARC audiobook of My Greenhouse in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As a poetry collection, it lacks something. Or a lot of things. Depth, creativity, something unique to say. As and audiobook it doesn’t read as poetry, but as something you’d write in an Instagram caption. Also, is nice that the author narrates the audiobook, but her voice wasn’t very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book at ~40%. I knew the author was only 19 at the time of publishing, but I was hoping I’d still be able to appreciate her poetry, whether because she’s wise beyond her years or so vulnerable that it takes me back to my own youth. However, I didn’t experience either of those, and as a woman in my late 20s, I found the book to feel very immature and written more like daydreaming wedding vows in a diary than a published book. Despite that, I think this book would be successful with a YA audience.

I received this audiobook thanks to NetGalley. I will admit that this was not for me. I love poetry & I may have enjoyed this more if I had read it myself, but the author is not an enjoyable narrator to listen to.

I appreciate the author’s passion & her words, but it fell a little flat to me. I couldn’t really connect with any of it. It felt like her own personal diary & very juvenile. I may not be the target audience for this, but the audio made it even harder to connect.

I am not the biggest fan of poetry, but this was a pretty good one to listen to. It is a little emotional to listen to (and probably to read) because it is so relatable. A compilation of poetry about past lovers and how they impacted who you are. I was not prepared to listen to this book and I don't know that I would listen to it again. Mayo does a great job of putting real and raw emotion into her writing and I couldn't help but relate to the emotions she put into words. After listening to this book I feel a little down, but also hopeful because not all loves are disappointing. For anyone who has had a time of it before finding their forever love, this book puts those emotions into words and feels a little cathartic to hear them (or read them).

A collection of poetry that brings you back to your first love - the sweet beginning, the love that's supposed to last forever, the breakup and end of your dream, then eventually moving forward. It will bring you back to that time in your life.

It may be helpful to someone going through a breakup to know they are not alone. The ink drawings and simple short poems come together in a charming book.

The audio, narrated by the author, did not have the delivery that I had hoped. This was a chance to bring life to her poetry in voice.

I would recommend that you read the poems on your own and bring your own feelings & voice to them.