Amanda Lovelace

Ladybookmad

"What happens when the man of your dreams turns out to be a nightmare with sharp teeth and claws?" Winner of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Poetry, amanda lovelace presents her new illustrated duology, "things that h(a)unt." In this first installment, to make monsters out of girls, lovelace explores the memory of being in an abusive relationship. She poses the eternal question: Can you heal once you've been marked by a monster, or will the sun always sting?

To Make Monsters Out of Girls

ladybookmad

Winner of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Poetry, amanda lovelace presents her new illustrated duology, “things that h(a)unt.” In this first installment, to make monsters out of girls, lovelace explores the memory of being in an abusive relationship. She poses the eternal question: Can you heal once you’ve been marked by a monster, or will the sun always sting?

to make monsters out of girls

Valeria

Ryan 

1.5 stars

the last part of the book was more understandable than the rest of the book because i did not understand about 80% of this book. i see why me and millenial poetry does not go together well whereas in the past it did for a bit.

Amanda’s work is an automatic buy for me! I read this in one sitting, It’s AMAZING! I cried with parts that are extremely relatable to my experiences, just like Ive done with her other books as well! It helped me think about the fact that I’m not the only one that has gone thru certain situations... the words of encouragement and the resilience is captivating.. I absolutely loved the artwork! thank you for this. I look forward to your next book!

Lovelace explores the memory of being in an abusive relationship. She poses the eternal question: Can you heal once you've been marked by a monster, or will the sun always sting? -- from goodreads.com.

Lorien O'Brien

I remember reading and crying over the original poems on Wattpad, dying to know when more of Lovelace's beautiful work would be made public. Laying here with it on my chest as I type is a little surreal.

Once again Amanda Lady Bookmad has done it again with yet another raw, heartbreaking poetry collection that is so damn moving. This time it's even more personal talking about the dragon boy from *princess*, beginning by assuring us all that this is her burying him for good. And DAMN does she?!?

I adored each poem and grinned when I saw one of the old ones I had forgotten about. And as I read I felt my own scarred heart feel and heal from the dragon boy who tried to burn me, just by reading how Lovelace's heart was broken, scarred, and healed. Beautiful 5/5 just like the rest.

Abbey Shaffer

This is a very powerful collection of poems if you get them. I'll admit there were a few that I had to read multiple times even though they seemed so simple I can assure you they are not. At least twice I had to take a breath from them because some can be overpowering with memories and/or emotions.

Elizabeth Neill

chloe mcpherson

Just like the previous collections i have read by Amanda I personally don't relate to majority of the poems, but I like how they are told and ones that deal with more Love and heartbreaking and finding self love I do relate to.

Caroline Lewicki

I love reading Lovelace’s poetry in the order she wrote it because you can see so much growth happening. Her writing is beautiful and thoughtful. My best friend gifted me this book and it’s a testament to how great Amanda Lovelace is - her words are a gift worth giving.

Paula Narvaez

"If you start to keep score,
can you still call it
love?
-signs. "

These poems were so simple an yet so raw, it was beautiful and heartbreaking to read. 

Favorite poems:
-weak at the knees
-we never did inhabit the same sky
-signs
-to make up for the fact that I'm not
-monster-girl.
-I don't excuse her & you shouldn't either.
-i am still rebuilding
-father, exorcise me.
-THE BEGINNING
-CLOSED FOR REPAIRS
-THANK YOU
-GUESS I WAS GOOD ENOUGH AFTER ALL
-THE LETTER I NEVER SENT
-WHAT I HAVE LEFT FOR YOU
-TAKE IT FROM ME
-FALSE EQUIVALENCES

Анастасия Розова

Again. Fucking beautiful and raw, but not all of the poems spoke to me. Despite me ratung her books 3 stars (for some complicated reasons), Amanda, I think, became my favorite contemporary poetess.

Heather

Chelsea Breher

Another powerful piece by Amanda Lovelace. She has a way of hitting you right in the feels with all of her writing. It's raw, emotional, and inspiring.

Shannon O’Connor 

Wow. Amazed once again by Lovelace’s beautiful writing. Heartbreaking. Many of the poems deal with abuse. As someone who has lived an abusive relationship, it was very relatable and beautiful to see how she took her abuse and grew from it. Her poems after meeting her spouse are beautiful, the way he changes her writing to something positive and full of light is amazing. You can feel the love and purity of her new relationship in the way she writes about it. Absolutely loved this book.

Sarah

The concept I had in mind for this was very different from the one I read, maybe that’s why I was a little disappointed, but I expected something darker from this monster-girl. She had claws and sharp teeth, I wanted her to bite harder.
Amanda writes good modern poetry, there are a lot of good poems in this, kind of up and downs though, some poems I forgot the second I read them, some I got back to and reread a couple of times over and over again because I loved them.
However, this is the fourth book I read from her and it’s kind of getting repetitive. It’s always the same pattern and concept, I wish she did something darker and something different.

Andrada D

For about 20% percent of the book I wondered when, oh when did I fell out of love with Amanda Lovelace. I loved her first book, the princess saves herself, the second seemed to me a bit trite and this book felt in the beginning as if it was recycling some of the ideas from those books. As it was actually a prequel to them, it makes somewhat sense they resemble each other a bit. 

I liked it more in the last 80% or so, it has some strong Lovelace poems which feel new and unexpected. Overall, I am glad she decided to save it out of wattpad's dark pit of oblivion and publish it, it is as much a gift of words as her most acclaimed volume. Really looking forward to her next volume!

Jessica 

things that h(a)unt series: 
To Make Monsters Out of Girls:  ★★★★★
To Drink Coffee with a Ghost: ★★★★★

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Review also found here at Booked J. 

Amanda Lovelace does it again with her latest collection. To Make Monsters Out of Girls is her most revealing offering yet and that's saying something, given Lovelace's knack for diving straight into the more intimate parts of her thoughts. This, of course, is what makes her work so beloved in spite of her newcomer status. Amanda Lovelace continues to make a name for herself and I have a feeling she's solidified her position as one of the most well-liked poets of our time.

Armed with the same sort of raw, urgent honesty that her prior two collections showcased--Lovelace's voice has truly come into her own and once more she hits the nail on the head when it comes to the more sensitive topics of life. In To Make Monsters Out of Girls, she focuses on a dark spot in her life--during her time in the shadows, she slowly but surely finds her strength and is brought back into the life. She puts great emphasize on her past but an even greater one on her future. 

While all three of her collections focus deeply on the good and bad, there's something especially painful but striking about the honesty behind every line in To Make Monsters Out of Girls. I purchased the special edition from Target and I'm glad I did, because there was an added bonus to it. Anything extra in poetry is honestly a blessing and I so rarely use that term in a serious way.

Like I do with most poetry collections, I began reading and highlighting my favourite passages--those moments where you just connect with a simple expression and thought, hey, I'm not alone. Lovelace's voice reaches out to her readers and it's admirable because she uses her platform to empower us all. I found myself highlighting most of the collection and finally gave up because, I knew that more of the collection would be highlighted than not.

In short, this was an incredibly moving collection of prose and reminded me why I love poetry so much to begin with. I can't wait to see what Amanda Lovelace has up her sleeve for the future.

One thing's for certain: readers cannot sleep on such a talent.

To Make Monsters Out of Girls

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