Introspective, powerful and thought-provoking.

"Coffee Stains On My Books" is a beautifully written collection of poems focusing on the complexity and fluidity of human emotions. These poems cover a broad range of themes including relationships, heartbreak, motherhood, artistic expression, grief, and re-discovering oneself.

My favourite poems from this collection were the ones that focused on the realities of relationships with others and oneself; the hard work needed to maintain a loving bond, and the brutal realisation that sometimes life doesn't work out the way you had planned.

Some of my personal favourites were:
⁀જ⁀➴ Second Class Train Ticket
⁀જ⁀➴ The Aftermath
⁀જ⁀➴ Coffee Stains On My Books
⁀જ⁀➴ Banalities

Poetry is so incredibly personal, and even though I didn't resonate with some of the poems in this book and found a few a little bit repetitive, I was able to appreciate the beauty and emotion poured into each and every page.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Stefania Lucchetti for gifting this eBook in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Nothing hits harder than life, and this poetry collection does exactly that.

"The soul does not have a storyline, and neither does poetry, which serves as its language".

This collection of poems, compiled in the midst of life's disorder and events, does not follow a logical order, but evokes the fragility of life and words, how much our thoughts corrupt us, and how mythology, although sometimes unknown, intertwines mysticism and reality as evenly as poetry and life itself.
The presence of simultaneous translation takes us much deeper into the fact that, despite linguistic barriers, experiences are not so different.
Just as it is sometimes difficult to see ourselves reflected in other people's thoughts, words unite us, intertwine us, making us seem more similar than ever before.

"The meaning of life is life itself".

Thank you, NetGalley and Stefania Lucchetti, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully powerful collection of poetry that focus on introspection, learning about oneself, and emotion. The poems use the poet's life, literature, and oftentimes Greek Mythology to help the messages resonate with the reader. There were many different poems which stood out to me. I highly enjoyed this collection and would love to read more of Stefania Lucchetti's poetry in the future. It was great that this is a bilingual collection with both English and Italian used side-by-side. The illustrations by Gianluca Biscalchin went along perfectly with the poems.

My favorites were:
- "Aphrodite"- I particularly love the last verse of this poem.
"But know, dear mortal, you cannot possess me
for I am wild, bold, and freedom obsessive.
I’ll vanish when your heart ceases to sing
with the authenticity true creation brings."

- "Second Class Ticket"- An absolutely beautiful poem and one of the best.

- "Coffee Stains On My Books"- The poem that the collection is named after is definitely one of my favorites. It's funny how much a stain on something so precious can tell a whole story. One that will make the owner remember something from the past.

- "Ariadne's Yarn"- Probably my favorite of the Greek Mythology poems. I love Ariadne's story from mythology and this was such a great poem.

- "Hades"- This is one of the most interesting pieces from the collection. Greek Mythology will always draw me into a story or poem. I like how she draws upon the mythology in all of these poems to write her lines of verse. Stunning!

- "Athena"- This has so many powerful lines. I love the last 6 lines of the final verse.
"Will they love the woman inside me,
or will I remain
a fallen goddess
watching my armour,
now useless,
rusting away in a corner?"

- "Penelope's Web"- Penelope is one of my favorite characters in Greek Mythology and I enjoyed this poem.

- "Blue Notebook"- I love how the last poem in the collection used the notebook she talked about at the beginning. Such a beautiful way to end this collection. As a poet/writer myself, I have many notebooks from my past that hold such significance to me.

This is a collection that I know I will read from in years to come and I highly recommend it.

I absolutely love the juxtaposition of the italian on one side and the english on the other. Also all the references to the greek godesses were beautiful.

This was a super interesting collection of poetry with a mythological slant. I really liked seeing the poems in Italian along side the English translated poems. I liked seeing how the words worked together and didn’t. I liked seeing the patterns in one language vs the other. I also liked seeing the comparison with Italian and Spanish. I liked the titles of the poems and all the Greek myths.

I enjoyed this poetry collection. I loved that all the poems were in both English and Italian, as well as the consistent connection to Greek mythology. I thought the writing was really beautiful.

I've been looking for a new poetry book and this one hit the spot! I really enjoyed the mythology weaved in into modern life. I also enjoyed the translations side by side, I haven't read a book like that before so it was very fun. I tried to narrow down my favorite poems but in the end each one offered something so different and distinct that if I waited on my review till I picked one I would not have gotten this review done in time!!

Thank you, Net Galley and Stefania Lucchettie for this ARC opportunity!

Thank you to Netgalley, and Stefania Lucchetti for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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Coffee Stains on My Books by Stefania Lucchetti is a thoughtful and elegantly crafted bilingual poetry collection that blends everyday emotion with literary and philosophical depth. Each poem appears first in Italian and then in English, a structure that adds a unique rhythm to the reading experience. As someone who speaks some Italian, I especially enjoyed pausing to decipher the titles and meanings in Italian before reading the English versions as it made the book feel interactive and personal. Lucchetti’s writing style is graceful and expressive, weaving vivid imagery with introspective themes about memory, relationships, imagination, and the quiet moments that shape our inner lives. Many of the poems feel relatable and emotionally grounded, while the accompanying illustrations add a gentle visual layer that complements the reflective tone.

Overall, the collection earns a strong 4 stars. The writing is consistently beautiful, and the bilingual presentation enriches the experience in a way that feels both artistic and intimate. A few poems lean more abstract, which may distance some readers, but the majority resonate with clarity and emotional honesty. Coffee Stains on My Books is a warm, intelligent, and engaging collection that is especially rewarding for readers who appreciate poetry that invites them to slow down, reflect, and savor language in two forms.