The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One

| DONT.

three stars tell me something would you? haven't you ever wished you could dance in the ashes of everyone who ever doubted your worth & scoffed at your words? the only reason it didnt get a higher rating is because i expected more poetry like the princess saves herself in this one. i enjoyed that one a lot. but, this one had great poetry too and talked about many important issues.

I was always curious about Lovelace's poetry, but it was too expensive for me. And thank god it was because I literally could have read this standing in the bookstore. This is not poetry, at least in my eyes. I can not in good faith call this poetry, especially since I read it during my french poetry class (oops). It's just sentences that try to send a message, broken down into random verses. No poetic principles, except a LOT of repetition. And she even has a poem that begins with "I'm a poet & I do know it". Okay... The only thing I liked is the fact titles are at the bottom of the poems, and can be their continuations. Other than that... I always did and I always will consider myself a feminist, but I can not relate to these messages. And considering I hated the themes and the writing itself, I don't think I will ever read Lovelace's "poetry" again.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I gave this book a 2 star rating and I am probably in the minority with my opinion on this book. It was an okay read for me but I didn't love it. I did, however, enjoy the first book more than this one. Some of the poems within this book were great and really stood out, but for the majority it really didn't seem that refreshing or new to me. I think that many people will enjoy this book, especially if you like this style of poetry. So, definitely give it a try if you think it is something you would enjoy. Trigger warnings: abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders

“tell me something, would you? haven't you ever wished you could dance in the ashes of everyone who ever doubted your worth & scoffed at your words? (shh it's okay. i won't tell).” Women are libraries about to burst.

"bitch," he spits. "witch," he sneers. & i say, "actually, i'm both." -reclaim everything. it's really hard to review poetry because it functions so differently than an actual fiction book but I've decided to just rate this on enjoyment. and I enjoyed this a lot Amanda Lovelace continues to write poetry that is personal, and raw, and honest. But I think this collection worked so much better than the first one (Which I also loved). The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One is so cohesive and on topic. It maintains the authenticity of The Princess Saves Herself in This One while expanding it's reach and becoming more about women as a general then Lovelace's personal experiences. One thing I liked about this collection was how it told a story. Although each poem works individually, they also tell a story and I think this was so nice. The poems themselves are also just better. Lovelace has definitely honed her craft and the form and toning of this one was perfect. I also like that there were some longer, free verse poems in this. It was new since TPSHITO didn't have any so that was really nice to read. when you take it upon yourself to politicise human bodies & the right to keep breathing without paying a steep price for it; don't pretend to be shocked when we star to take politics personally - as you tell us, deal with it If you liked Lovelace's first collection, absolutely get your hands on this one. It's brilliant. I think she puts out some of my favourite modern poetry and her collections stay relevant and topical. She's able to cover so many topic in such a short time and give them all weight and depth. I also thought it was rrally cool how many homage poems there were to other books like The Hunger Games and The Handmaids Tale. As a book nerd (duh) I loved these. I also loved that she included a trigger warning page - need more of these in books! My favourite poem was witch girl gang but it's too long to type out but just know this

This is the second time I read this book and now I have a different view of it. I really like the author's writing and despite being sensitive topics you can read it very quickly, I really like the fact that the poetry was very inclusive and not only the white feminism. I have the impression that the author is a little inspired by Rupi Kaur and I really like that. The book is very good!

Anger is the universal language of womanhood, and Amanda Lovelace captures that so well in this series.

This feels like a ver angry book. And perhaps it should be, the main topic of discussion is the status of women in society. Through it’s almost 200 pages, the author screams for an uprising to change things, alter the status-quo. However I feel there’s something missing on her words for the first half of the book. It’s a shame since the last two chapters start building up something that could’ve been quite good.

Much like the Lovelace's first work, there are SOME good poems in this book, but there are many that make you question if this is serious poetry at all? Some examples: "red lipstick: battle cry. battle cry. battle cry." Actual lists (grocery, how-to). An entire page with the phrase: "you have to eat" repeated multiple times to fill the said page. Another page with just a sentence on it. A tweet from 2016 put into a "poem" style and featured in this book. Two pages where Lovelace turns the words "silence" to "violence" and "protest" into "poetry" - literally changing the words, not in a poem but just switching the letters around. Look, this book felt slightly stronger than the one before simply because Lovelace had the theme of witches and the Witch Trials that were consistent throughout the book. In the first one, the whole princess/queen thing faltered and felt choppy. I can appreciate the witch theme until we returned to this "queen" theme from the first book near the end of this one. When returning to the "queen" theme she completely contradicted the entire work by stressing that being a malevolent queen would ruin it all for women. How can you suggest such a thing when you spend the entire book suggesting women fight and kill men that harm them or plan to harm them? Also, I understand the importance of repetition to get a specific point across, but Lovelace's overuse of this really dims the impact of these repetitions. Not to mention the book took a sharp turn into politics that felt very hastily added to make a washy "nasty woman" statement that couldn't stand up. Other throwaways are the half-ass mentions of trans women that are actual one-liners hidden in poems doting on cis-women, and weird "dedications" to other (better) works like The Handmaid's Tale, Hamilton, and more. P.S. Why was this book dedicated to Katniss Everdeen? I get the girl on fire aspect, but there was one mention of her in a book dedicated to a love of magic and witchcraft. Why was the first book dedicated to Harry Potter? It would've made more sense to have this specific book dedicated to Harry Potter or Hermione Granger since the Harry Potter series is probably the most accessible work to introduce people to magic and witchcraft.

3 stars |

As expected, the second volume is just as good as the first one. I love the message, I love the empowerment, I love how much both of these books made me feel. They were absolutely incredible and I can't wait for more.

Este libro es empoderamiento femenino y feminismo, y muchos de los poemas me gustaron. Pero no acabé de conectar con él como me hubiese gustado. De todos modos, me llevo muchas citas guardadas y poemas que merecerán ser releídos muchas veces.

Omg! Amanda Lovelace does it again... can’t wait for her next book!

I live for the words of Amanda. This collection fueled my fire and I loved it. Both of her collections define me. Love you beautiful goddess!

The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One is another collection of mediocre poems without much artistry in them. However, unlike poets like Atticus, I enjoy Lovelace's topic, and despite her poem's lack of maturity, I think the volume contains a lot of empowering messages. There are worse things for teenager girls to read, and maybe they will be inspired to find better feminist poetry after reading this.

** An ARC is generously provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ** I did not like this book. It had a "all men are bad" mentality. The author also writes things like "vengeance is the new moving on" and "show them the same mercy they showed our ancestors all those years ago. (none, none, none)". I do not agree with this way of thinking. You can't fight fire with fire. I think it's hurtful to paint a picture where all men are "bad", and to make it right with women being "bad" to men.

Actually, 2.5 ⭐

Many quotes seemed nonsensical or hyperbolic to me. The author presents subjective thoughts as universal truths. I disagree with the misandry and calls for violence. While I appreciate the feminist message, the hostility undermines it. Overall this book felt more like an angry rant than quality poetry.

What. Was. This. Read. I’m not going to say much about this aside from the fact that I don’t regret reading it because it did give me a really good laugh at how ridiculous it is. My biggest laughs were caused by the following poems: “gods, i hope i terrify you.” That’s it.....that’s the poem. LMFAO. And my fave ever: “you’re just fine without him.”  - the body regenerates whenever the hell you want. LMFAO what even is that poem title????? I. Am. Crying.

Two stars A brief synopsis: A poetry books built around women’s empowerment and being a woman in modern times My review: I didn’t love it. I read to make monsters out of girls a few years ago and I was obsessed with it so I figured I would like this one as well but this one just fell a little flat for me. Don’t get me wrong, there were some really powerful poems that I liked a lot in this collection. But, as a collective I for the most part didnt enjoy it that much

I really enjoy the message behind Amanda Lovelace's poetry and I love the way she grows and changes between "The Princess Saves Herself in This One" and "The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One." I still think her style is a little "tumblr-y", the way she uses spacing across the page to emphasize a point. Otherwise very enjoyable, quick reads!

Honestly I feel quite conflicted about this poetry collection. Since I loved The Mermaid (book #3) and I adore everything that has to do with witches I expected this book to be the LOVE OF MY LIFE. Let me tell you, sadly enough it was not. The book is divided in different sections and honestly my feelings about them were quite all over the place. I loved The Burning (not kidding 5/5 stars), but The Trials and The Ashes left me feeling a bit empty. Full disclosure: I almost started feeling a little ashamed to call myself a feminist. For example, explaining misandry by blaming men for misogyny isn't going to make a change. It's still sexism, and while I get it being a commentary, it's still awful. It's like stealing a cookie but blaming your friend, because they did it first. Men felt so generalised in this book, it saddened me. People can be awful disregarding their gender, but it also works the other way around. I must say the points made about rape and sociatal standards did really speak to me, as did the more lyrical poems. A friend told me Lovelace was basically screaming the poems in this book. She finally dared to let all her thoughts out, which is a really brave thing to do. I think that's why some poems are so harsh and coarse, they came from an angry heart. Daring to publish this dark side of yours is in my opinion really, really brave to do. Another reason why the impetuosity of this book shocked me so much could be the fact I read The Mermaid first, which she (obviously) wrote after this one, after the development, after the growth. To like or not to like? I'm still deciding...

2.5 Stars Don't get me wrong, there were quite a few poems in here that i bookmarked, but overall i enjoyed he previous book more.