Be sure to visit Bantering Books to read all my latest reviews.4.5 starsI never knew I liked poetry.I’ve never been drawn to it. I have only ever read it in school, where it often left me bewildered. I would stretch my brain to search for the meaning behind the words of Dickinson, Whitman, and Frost. It was such a struggle. And not a very enjoyable one, at that. I would silently hope that the teacher would not call on me, knowing that I didn’t have many, or any, thoughts to contribute to the cla...

4.25/5 ⭐I was honestly ready for some truth to be spoken in my face and this is exactly what happened. Thank you.I was somehow pleasantly surprised by how this book turned out to be. I mean, I didn't really know what to expect from it, I just went for it to have a moment of "Amen, sister!". And I did have several.I liked the fact that the poet presented the Dominican culture as it is, seen through the eyes of a girl who was not appalled by her culture, but she still wanted to experience it in a ...

✨How do you describe something PERFECT?The verse. The story. The characterization. The biographical narration.It's so damn powerful and unforgettable.It's about being born as a woman, not being appreciated, not being taken seriously and being taken as 'just a girl'; being forced upon the so called societal norms by the so called adults, what to believe and what to follow, leaving no place for individuality; making 'her' feel like a second choice; being treated differently from the other when bor...

“And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.” 4½ stars. Wow, this was so good.I recently read Acevedo's With the Fire on High and I found it to be sweet and enjoyable, but I felt like a little something was held back. Like the book played it too safe and didn't really excite me. It was feel-good, and that's just fine, but if I'm being honest I'm a bit of a drama llama. 🦙This book, though. This book is heart-wrenching and powerful. A...

Contemporary YA and poetry are usually a miss for me, so I am pleasantly surprised at the near-perfection of this coming-of-age story. The verse formats feel purposeful instead of gimmicky and the writing is so good without compensating with flowery language. It's simple yet effective and does a wonderful job at portraying the complexities of a teenager finding her voice within a culture that often suppresses young women. Even though our upbringings are not the same, I greatly enjoyed reading ab...

Poetry usually isn't my jam but this book was part of my "Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2018" so here we are...I ended up really connecting with the main character, her story, her relationship with her family, her struggles with religion and the abuse she went through.There was a lot of Spanish in the book but everything was translated right after so don't worry.I did feel like the ending of the book put a little bow on the whole thing which kinda brought it down for me. Overall an interesting...

This was a surprising read for me!! I do not read poetry, nor do I typically like it, therefore I have avoided reading books in verse for years. I decided to pick up the audiobook from my library just because it was so short, but I’m so pleased I gave it a chance. This is a story absolutely everyone should experience.CW: sexism/misogyny, homophobia, slut-shaming, abuse, sexual assault/harassmentI would HIGHLY recommend the audio version of this novel. I don’t have an experience with the physical...

This was INCREDIBLE. I very rarely enjoy poetry but I listened to the audiobook of this one and it absolutely blew me away. I can't wait to buy my own physical copy so I can tab up all my favorite parts. SO. DAMN. GOOD.

“Burn it! Burn it. This is where the poems are,” I say, thumping a fist against my chest. “Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?” I’ve always been fond of stories told through verse, and I love Elizabeth’s poetry, so when I learned that she was writing her first YA novel, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I never once doubted that I would love it, but I didn’t know it could mean so much to me. I didn’t have a clue that I was in for such a raw, honest ride about how religion impacts child...

#ThePoetX was so beautiful that I didn’t want to highlight it or dog ear pages, so I just took pictures basically every pageThis was the type of book where “I’ll just do 50 pages” turned into finishing it in 2 readsI felt very emotional reading this book, not just because the story and the words themselves were so beautiful, but because I knew it was going to make so many teens who felt like no one cares about them or listens to them feel seen. I also knew that if I had had books like this or Lo...