Review: 'unlock your storybook heart' by amanda lovelace

 I adored the first two installments of amanda lovelace's you are your own fairy tale-series, break your glass slippers and shine your icy crown. So it is with a sad yet joyful heart that I began reading the series' final installment, unlock your storybook heart. Full of the same goodness as the previous installments, this poetry collection hits the spot. Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 3/15/2022
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

“life is not something that can be experienced on a deadline.”

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents unlock your storybook heart, the third & final installment in her feminist poetry series, “you are your own fairy tale.” this is a collection about being so caught up in the fable that is perfectionism that you miss out on your own life. be honest: when was the last time you stopped to take in the everyday enchantment all around you?

unlock your storybook heart combines two things I adore, fairy tales and the power of books. lovelace's poetry has always emphasized how important the stories we tell are. As a matter of fact, this idea is central to her you are your own fairy tale-series, as well as her other series like the women are some kind of magic. How you talk to yourself, tell yourself your own story, see yourself in the stories of others, it all matters in how you stand in life. If, like me, you want to be able to live the best possible story, a story that includes ups and downs but keeps looking forward, then lovelace's poetry has a lot to offer you!

In unlock your storybook heart we get a new spin on the traditional 'Beauty and the Beast' story. A young woman who misses her mother, who adores her father, who doesn't know why she should be looking for a prince. This collection is something of a conversation between lovelace and her books, which I adored. Books have so much to teach us, and sometimes they're also just happy to wait on the shelf while you're off living life. There is also a beautiful story about a girl gifted with a key, which will unlock her true love's heart. It's beautifully done! Aside from that, I would also like to live my best witchy life, in a cottage, with my true love, and a purring cat. I'm like a third of the way there, but it is the story I am telling myself for me.

lovelace's poetry remains gentle, yet empowering. She is aware of the small detail, the way a voice can shift, but also of the big picture, how you are capable of re-imagine your own life, re-imagine the stories you have been told. I also continue to adore Janaina Medeiros' art style, which complements lovelace's writing so well.  

I give this collection...

5 Universes!

amanda lovelace continues to serve up beautiful poetry, collection after collection. With some truly touching imagery and a quiet ferociousness, unlock your storybook heart was exactly what I needed.