Cover Reveal | Guided by Moonlight: Poetry and Photography by Amanda Leigh (Musings of a Bibliophile, book four)

 

 

Title: Guided by Moonlight

Subtitle: Poetry and Photography

Author: Amanda Leigh

Series: Musings of a Bibliophile, book four

Release Date: April 26th 

Blurb:

For five years Amanda Leigh has been writing and gathering poems, and now, she finally shares them in her newest poetry collection, Guided by Moonlight. Where she further delves into topics she touched on in her last poetry collection, as well as experiments with the way she writes poetry. A few poems are humorous, some are serious, some are hopeful, but all are heartfelt. Amanda Leigh explores life, love, discrimination, emotional abuse, mental health, sexuality and more with raw emotion, vulnerability, and honesty.

GoodReads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60801799-guided-by-moonlight 

Author Bio: 

Amanda Leigh is the multi-genre author of numerous titles, including the Mature YA Paranormal Romance, the Beauty of the Dark series. She’s made up stories all her life, and written them down since she was eight. In college she got her degree in English and Communications, and worked as the Assistant Managing Editor on the literary magazine. Amanda advocates for mental health, cystinosis/rare disease awareness, and literacy. Strength: Lives Touched by Cystinosis is an anthology to raise awareness and money for cystinosis. She has a cat she adores and loves cooking, music, art, Psychology, Marvel, Harry Potter, and Elvis Presley. Not necessarily in that order. Find her online at www.authoramandaleigh.com and feel free to get in touch with her.

Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/j96zclw

Blog: http://girlwithapenandadream.blogspot…

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/amandaleighonceuponastory 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaleighya/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmanda...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmandaLeighYA

Tumblr: http://authoramandaleigh.tumblr.com

Book Review | Poetry From A Young Life: Volume 1 by Tanya Davis

Title: Poetry from a Young Life: Volume 1

Author: Tanya Davis

Release Date: March 25th 2016

Page Amount: 47 pages, Kindle edition

GoodReads Link

GoodReads Blurb:

This is a short collection of verse written from the author's youth and throughout her adulthood.

Review:

I love poetry and I've been reading a lot more of it this year. I like to see poetry that was written when a person was in their younger years. I feel that sometimes, poetry from younger people is dismissed. If I'm correct, this person waited until she was older to publish this collection but some of the poems were from her youth. Poetry can sometimes be a difficult thing to get into and I believe this would be among some food books to start with to get into it. I enjoyed the poetry in this collection and would read more from this poet. Poetry often grows as the writer does and I would love to see how the writer grows as a poet. I would give this 3.5 quills.

Book Review | Like A Child by Jessica VanderWerff

 

Title: Like A Child 

Author: Jessica VanderWerff

Release Date: March 21st 2016

Published By: CreateSpace Publishing

Page Amount: 128 pages, Paperback

Blurb:

I allow the words to present themselves as they wish: often in a rush, only to tire in the end, and lie down slowly, like a child drifting off during a lullaby. In this collection of wonderfully ethereal poems, written by Jessica VanderWerff, you will always find something to lift your spirits, often with just the memory of childhood. Like a Child is a fabulous creation of 77 works, mainly about our early memories, nature, and dreams. When reading this collection, you can lose yourself for an hour, an afternoon, or a weekend. Poems like First Snow, A Rare Gift, and Summer in Sepia serve to recapture moments in time, recalling memories long forgotten, or perhaps just suppressed by the stresses and pressure of modern life.

Review:

I'm reading more poetry this year than the last few years. I have always loved poetry and there is some great new talent out there. Jessica VanderWerff is one of those new talents. Jessica and I did go to college together and worked on the literary magazine together. This does not affect my opinions of her poetry. I read her poetry in college and loved it then, as well.

I very much enjoyed this collection of poems. Some of them I recognized from the literary magazine in college but there were many new ones. I could tell how much heart was put into these poems. Jessica clearly has a great passion for poetry. Love of her family and friends could be seen throughout this collection, too. Childhood memories played a large part in this collection of poems. It is a lovely reminder of the things we enjoyed in childhood that we so often forget. The little things are so much more important than we tend to give them credit for.

Some of my favorites in this collection are:

- Captured Moments
- The Greatest Devotion
- Tattooed Dreams
- Maestro's Circus
- A Visit to Grandma
- Dreaming of Escape
- This Shall Come to Pass

I really enjoyed this collection and am looking forward to seeing what else Jessica releases into the book world. I would recommend this collection to people who like poetry or even those who are not really into it. This is a great starter. I give this one 5 quills!!

Book Review | Grace's Poetry by Regina Bartley

 

Title: Grace's Poetry

Author: Regina Bartley

Release Date: September 17th 2015

GoodReads Blurb:

Grace's poetry is a journal filled with poems from the lead character of the upcoming novel -I am free. This is a compilation of twenty of Grace's most loved poems. These poems were written from the age of nine to the age of eighteen. It will give you a glimpse into Grace's world, and help introduce you to this loving character. 

**Please note that this is only poetry, and is written for a young adult audience.**

GoodReads Link

Review:

I saw this in a daily deal in this service called Kangaroo Reads, a great service started by the author Kristine Raymond. (Disclaimer: I am not being paid to say this, this is my honest opinion.) It's a great service if you want to give it a go. 

I believe that this book was free. I love poetry so I immediately clicked on it. I was further intrigued by the fact that this was used as an introduction to a main character in the author's upcoming novel, I Am Free (which is now available.) So I got a copy for my Kindle. 

The poems in this collection had a lot of depth and emotion. I thoroughly enjoyed them. They also gave great insight into the main character of the novel I Am Free. It is very difficult to pick favorites from this collection but I would say these are my favorites:

- Teaching Jane Eyre

- You Don’t Like My Skirt

- Aunt Darcy

- Grocery Store

- Rainbow

- I Am Free

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This was a very good collection of poetry as well as a different and interesting way to introduce a main character. I have already gotten I Am Free on my Kindle, as well and will definitely be reading it. I give this one 4 quills!!

Book Review | Deeper Water by Juliana Mae

 

Title: Deeper Water

Author: Juliana Mae

Release Date: March 1st 2016

GoodReads Blurb:

A sampling of 31 freeform poems released in honor of Poetry Month. This continuation to her first book delves deeper into the mind of Miss Unsocial Butterfly, Juliana Mae, with a common theme of heartbreak and fear of it. A full book, called In Deeper Water, will be released later this year.

GoodReads Link

Review:

A while ago, Julianna Mae reached out to me asking if I would review her first book, In the Heart of an Unsocial Butterfly. I started the book and then life got in the way and I moved a few times since then so I just recently located the book again. I plan to read it soon but when I saw this I decided to read it.

I like the cover image on the book. The cover, of course, isn't everything but I just thought that I would say that. I looked up the book on GoodReads and saw that it only had one review so I decided to read it. The review talked about the phrase "middle school diary poetry." Apparently it is used to refer to angst poetry that is often about requited love. The reviewer brought up a good point that I agree with. This poetry may be about unrequited love (and a lot of it in this sampling of poems is) but does that mean that there is no value to it? No, I don't think so. We really shouldn't be giving young girls (or boys) the impression that their thoughts are not important. And what if a poem about unrequited love is done well? It isn't as if older poets never write of unrequited love, either. I'm a poet, as well and for a long time much of what I wrote was poetry similar to this in that it was about a crush or unrequited love. I think a lot of poets go through that stage and there is nothing wrong with that. I'm almost twenty five now and am already writing about these things much less but that doesn't mean that writing those poems was not an important experience.

I really enjoyed Juliana's poetry. It is evident how much feeling she puts into it and I would read more poetry by her. Some favorites in this collection are:

- Storing Honey

- My Paper Heart - the concept may be a little cliche but I enjoyed the poem all the same.

- Archeology

- Habits

- My Puzzle Pieces - as with My Paper Heart, the idea of puzzle pieces may be a bit cliche but I still enjoyed the poem.

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I look forward to when this full collection is out and I especially look forward to seeing how Juliana's poetry evolves as she gets older. I give this one 4 quills.

Book Review ~ The Madness Vase by Andrea Gibson

 

Title: The Madness Vase

Author: Andrea Gibson

Release Date: July 1st 2011

Published By: Write Bloody Publishing

Page Amount: 120 pages, Paperback 

GoodReads Blurb:

In 2010 Andrea Gibson's poetry was read by a state representative in lieu of morning prayer at the Utah State Legislature. In THE MADNESS VASE, her second book of poems, Gibson seizes us by the collar, hauls us inside some of her darkest moments, then releases us out the other side. The pieces in this collection delve intimately into the topics of family, war, sex, class, gender, and spirituality. They are a rally cry for action and a welcome mat at the door of heart's most compassionate room. 

Review: 
I saw this collection of poetry in a BookTuber's review. I think she's now known as JournalTree on YouTube. I was intrigued so I ordered myself a copy (along with a book on writing poetry that I think I'll read in 2016.) I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. It dealt with some very important issues like LGBTQ and gender identity. Andrea Gibson faced them head on, along with things like war, sex, spirituality. She isn't afraid to face these things and write about them with honesty. Unafraid of what society may think of what she's written. 

My favorites in this collection were:
- Andrew

- I Sing the Body Electric, Especially When My Power's Out

- Marriage 

- The Jewelry Store 

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Her poetry was very abstract but also somehow concrete at the same time in her message. The imagery was terrific, as well. I enjoyed this collection of poetry and would definitely look for Andrea Gibson's other works. 4 quills.