This collection was vibrant and heartfelt. The way the author describes her partner is so intimate and passionate, I could truly feel the love through the words. I also loved all of the references and allusions to nature. For example, I really loved when the author compared herself to a three headed baby bird when reflecting on their ambition and greed. Another connection I loved was when the author related pruning a garden to personal growth and self discovery. There was a jarring tone switch about 3/4 of the way through where the focus shifted to societal treatment of victims, and though this was an important examination of a topical subject, I was not expecting this divergence from the themes of love and nature that had been developed so far. However, I loved the ending, and the way the title tied in to the final few lines.

I enjoyed parts of this poetry book wholeheartedly, going so far as to share some of the poems with friends, but other poems from this collection simply didn't engage me. It felt like the poems in this book were very hit or miss.

A solidly enjoyable read. I liked the ocean theme and how well it was incorporated into the collection. While the language here was good, most of the poems didn’t strike me emotionally. Definitely worth reading but not a collection I think will stick with me in the long run.

Each poem hit me like an ocean wave. All of them had their own way, their own intensity of approach.

In gentle words and powerful metaphors, the poems took me through many moving tales - about loving and being loved, about loss and grieving and about taking your power back.

At times, the poems reminded me of watching the sunset by the sea as a medley of emotions took over me. It was beautiful and I could not help but drown in them.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book of poetry. Love the cover though! I also love the ocean so was looking forward to the book before opening it. That being said, I didn't connect with the poetry and found the one line in italics at the end of each poem to be off-putting.

On an Ebbing Seafoam Tide is a collection of poetry that explores love and human connection through the lens of nature and the sea. Most of the poems are short, like fragments of thought, and I liked how concise they could be. The opening poems really focus on love, particularly queer love, and I found them the most engaging poems in the collection (I thought the whole collection was going to be on similar themes, but later poems bring in different things). The main thing I didn't get along with in this collection was the choice to have the final line of each poem separated and in italics, which could've worked for specific poems, but for every single one felt unnecessary and really wasn't to my taste. I also found the style of the poems very repetitive, which I'm sure other people will like if they enjoy the style, but I prefer more variation and experimentation in poetic style typically. I can see how many people who enjoy modern nature-inspired poetry that is short and relatable will enjoy this collection, but stylistically it wasn't really my thing.

"leaving isn’t easy, but rather
a necessary, drenching gift.
when was the last time you gifted yourself freedom?"

A beautiful poetry exploring loves, feelings, heartbreak, mother nature, and tidbits of social cause. I enjoy this. It's perfect for one relax sitting on the beach 😌

The illustration is SO SOOOO EYE PLEASING 😭🫶🏽

One minor inconvenient for me is the lack of capital letter. I know poetry format might differ but the lack of them for the whole book? I found it weird 😭🙏

Another favorite lines to encourage you to read this book:

"your touch was rendered empty as the eyes
that once wandered out the window,
wordless no more"

"you’re the whole damn sky."

"to know her mundane is to be gifted her intimacy."

Girls love is love 🫶🏽

Received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley

This collection was just okay. I love the cover art.

What I like about this collection is that it is not simply poetry. It is also prose and it is filled with infinite stories with its detailed descriptions. Most of the time, it felt like I was reading short stories, they felt very whimsical.

I also felt that the collection didn’t go anywhere. It nearly did, then it just didn’t. I like love poetry, but this all felt like I had read it before.

There were also some darker subjects discussed in the book like sexual harassment and rape culture, but there weren’t any content warnings and they just kinda popped up of nowhere?

Some of the shorter poems were much more interesting, they left more of an impact on me.

Overall, the collection feels just like a collection of stories, moments captured in snapshots, but you never really get to see the full picture? It kinda left me wanting more? Maybe it’s just a personal preference.

I have mixed thoughts about this collection.

It started very strong, with beautiful and powerful imagery and themes of love, relationship, home and finding one's place. The pieces feel connected together by a thread.

Unfortunately, it seems like the second part of the book took a turn and the selection of works starts to feel a bit random or, at least, detached from one another.
There are poems at the end that I think should have been grouped with the beginning of the collection, and the texts about abuse and gun violence do not fit the rest of the book at all. They would have benefited from either being in a closed section at the end or in a separate collection, as they are quite jarring against the rest of the works. (Not that they aren't important poems, but it felt like they were apart from everything else, came as quite a shock, and then diminish the impact of the following poems as all your mind can think about is the brutality of those themes.)

That said, there are so many poems I loved in this collection and I have highlighted amazing lines throughout the collection. Here are just a few of my favourite ones.

you gift me your laughter
and it is wrapped in sunlight

branches whisper in the language of the wind

to know her mundane is to be
gifted her intimacy

i saw a leaf drift past the window
and wondered where it was off to

no one will make a song-less bird of me again


Also, the illustrations on the cover and the section pages are beautiful.

Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a pretty nice collection of poems. I didn't love the style/length of the poems but that's a personal preference and they were emotional and well-written. It is a pretty quick read and easy to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve read poetry before, but never a poetry book. This makes me want to start reading more. What an excellent book. The feeling, the imagery, the sorrow, the happiness, the passion, the love. It flowed so nicely into a beautiful peace of media. She took me through a journey in such a short amount of time.

I love the ocean and everything that has to do with it, so this was a perfect poem book for me to read. But it was so much more than that. Radburn said so much with such few words. It was such an impactful read. I bookmarked so many of the poems. Each one touched me and was written so well.

Ocean Blues was such a sad and heartbreaking section of the book. The words were so beautifully said, but hurt me so deeply. I can’t imagine what she went through and the pain she had to endure. It is not right and makes me sick.

Also the cover of this book and the pages within were so stunning! Everything about this book from cover to cover was wonderful.

I absolutely want to read more of her works! I cannot recommend this book enough!

I enjoyed this collection of poetry as a whole but I felt like the first section of the book was the weakest part and it made it harder for me to get sucked in. The rest is so beautiful though.

Thank you NetGalley for this copy!

Thank you, NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing, for the chance to read and review this book.

On an Ebbing Seafoam Tide by Alannah Radburn is a collection of poetry that explores themes of love, loss, and the natural world. The poems are well-written, and the author's voice is clear and distinct. However, I found the use of italics in every last line to be jarring and distracting. It detracted from the overall impact of the poems. Additionally, most of those last lines were overly sentimental and cliché. While I enjoyed this poetry collection, I believe it would have been stronger had the writer made some harder decisions before publishing and looked at those last lines more critically.

I must admit that I had a little trouble getting into the collection at the very beginning. I couldn't perceive the author's emotions, nor what she wanted to say.
And then, little by little I began to see a little more of her. The poems became more personal, I started to understand what she wanted to convey and to appreciate her writing and her style.
I was touched to the core by her poems about queer love, loss and feminism.

I look forward to reading her future work!

3.5 rounded up. I really enjoyed this book! There were parts that didn't resonate as much with me, but other parts I wanted to write down and save to remember later.

I feel wholly incapable of describing the beauty of this poem collection. But I will try to voice my thoughts coherently.

Alannah's poems in this collection follow the ebb and flow of the tides, explaining different stories and experiences of her life through symbolism, references to divinity and myths, through words we all feel but can't quite put together ourselves.

She explains female rage, struggling with being silenced, reclaiming your sexuality, loving a woman in only a way a woman could, and so much more. I found myself lost as she voiced the thoughts I keep to myself.

This was lovely, ethereal, with a touch of magic. I thought this stood out from the bunch in terms of similar collections and I didn’t find myself reading quickly. I found myself absorbing the words slowly which was a nice change from reading similar works to this.

I have come to enjoy reading poetry every now and then and I think I enjoy it because I dont just connect to the book, I connect with the author behind the words. We get a glimpse into their feelings and relate it to our lives in some way.

I really enjoyed these collections being based around the ocean. It gave me summer vibes and a sort of light-heartedness while I was reading. Even with that though, this book has a lot of deeper meaning and focuses on topics within our society that dont always get the right recognition like relationships within the LGBTQ+ community or aspects of feminism, and other issues within our society.

Some poems were kind of hard for me to decipher, but again, I dont normally read poetry, so this is 100% a me problem lol but that is why I continue to read them! Thank you so much @alannahradburn.poetry @centralavenuepublishing and @Netgalley for this gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review! This book comes out in July, so keep your eyes peeled! I totally recommend!

There were so many poems that stuck out to me, but this one really got me as its an ongoing issue within our society that just wont stop.

It doesn’t even have time to become history
Before it repeats itself
All of the lawmakers and pocket-liners
Slide on their sunglasses
And try to sneak out the exit wounds
In the back.
But the rest of the world sees you;
And the rest of the world will plant flowers
And mourn for the children.

While America loads another gun.

This book is so full of beautiful poems. It's incredible how much queer love shines through the words, and how real the emotions are. Alannah Radburn is a gorgeous writer and this book is absolutely proof of that.

Thank you to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to read and review this ARC.

“I’m on a train, landscapes of my inner worlds sweeping by at great speed”

Alannah Radburn’s ‘On An Ebbing Seafoam Tide’ is a very introspective collection of poems that explores themes of love, passion, abuse and a haunting past.

This collection perfectly combines poetry and prose which makes for a very interesting and inspiring read. Radburn’s words are so artistic that you cannot help but feel completely absorbed by both her writing and the images it evokes in your mind’s eye.

Themes of LGBTQ+ are present and Radburn portrays how she can now write about herself, a girl, holding another girls hand without feeling shame. This is very poignant and demonstrates to readers the oppression this community faced throughout history, even for such a small action.

Her poems depict feelings we may all be familiar with, such as the thrill of taking a chance on love and how right and at home love can feel if you find it with the right person. I particularly like how she portrays that real love goes beyond passion and how it’s the mundane things you are witness to that end up feeling like the real treasures.

She also touches on themes of abuse and draws attention to the “your word against theirs” issue that victims of abuse face which can restrict them from speaking out. She also uses paper imagery to show how an experience like this can scar people to the point where it creates a new version of themselves.

Radburn’s imagery is captivating throughout and I highly recommend this read.

Release date: 11th July 2023