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Anthology imitations of Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey

Now, I am a huge fan of Milk and Honey, but for me, no-one does the controversially honest style as well as Rupi Kaur. Recently I have read a few other anthologies recommended to me as similar in terms of style and content but none have really reached the bar set.

The Last Time I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza

I had high hopes for this book as the publishing house, Andrews McMeel, also recognised Milk and Honey and subsequently published Kaur. Unfortunately, much of the poetry in this anthology lacked the emotive language and read much like an unending whine. The only point that I actually enjoyed and connected with Lanuza was in the final two lines of 'Migratory Birds'.

"Never quite knowing,

How to be with yourself?" 

For me, this brought about a feeling of not belonging to yourself and the uncertainty of not understanding or knowing yourself. This is familiar to every person at some point in their lives.

I also wish that the anthology had ended on a slightly lighter note. It began with a shallow, fanciful first love and then slowly drooped into a depressing whine in which the speaker struggles to get over him. I would have liked perhaps a second love or a sense of contentment to be alone for now.

I wouldn't personally recommend it, but if you are tempted by this its expected publication date is the 30th January 2018.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One Amanda Lovelace

This anthology has been incredibly popular among fans of Rupi Kaur as Amanda Lovelace seems to very much share the feminist ideology of Kaur. It was even recommended by one of my favourite book bloggers, Hannah at Fables and Tea for our collaborative genre bookmark project. Alas, I also thought it was a slightly paler imitation of Milk and Honey.

It's a bit more badass and sweary that Kaur but in my opinion didn't contain half as much depth of feeling. The princess saves herself quite easily as she hadn't fallen too far from her throne in the first place.

Kudos there, as a lot of the time that is the case. Sometimes you may feel as though you've fallen a great height when in reality it was just a trip in the journey, but for a poetry anthology, I found it slightly anticlimactic.

So there you have it! If you think there is something I missed in these reviews please let me know.

You can get 'The Princess Saves Herself in This One' online here.

The Social Media Race - Crowdfire vs. Hootsuite vs. Kereru Media

Every blogger encounters social media at some point during their travels.

I also encountered Crowdfire. 

Crowdfire's claim is that it is an application capable of promoting and engaging your audience on both a blog and social media. I previously tweeted my dissatisfaction at the new layout and the fact that more and more of the Crowdfire's functions are becoming premium features.

So I wanted to pit them against some of the best social media people and other programs to see what the best use of money is! My budget is only £20 for a month as this is how much the premium Crowdfire upgrade is and I really wanted to see what you can get for that.

December 2017 is Crowdfire's turn! Other programmes that will be tested include Hootsweet. I will also be hiring a social media marketing firm, run by my close friend Cat Randle, Kereru Media. If you are interested in participating in this race, please don't hesitate to contact me and we'll just keep rolling on every month!

My expectations so far:

There will be very little in the way of original postings aside from the four posts I will compose before the race begins. Crowdfire is an app at the end of the day and my prediction is that my feed will be full of news tweets and that it will automatically share my blogs on all social media channels.

As far as growth is concerned I think the blog will grow because of this, but I'm concerned about the number of those who subscribe to the blog and to the social media channels who will actually be engaging with my content and not just scrolling past because of the lack of any sentient thought behind half the posts.

As far as how much time is going to come from me, I would say more than 1 minute (which is the daily recommendation from Crowdfire) but part of that will be my desire to connect with the people that Crowdfire sends my way and also wanting to personally over-see this race.

I believe that it will present a relatively long-term social media solution if done successfully as they charge a reduced price for a yearly plan and they will also hopefully introduce me to other creators, reviewers, authors and collaborators!

At the start of next month (01/01/2018), I will review the service, value for money and whether I would recommend Crowdfire to help run your social media channels!

Current Social Media Activity:

Twitter followers: 175

Facebook Likes: 30

Blog Subscribers: 6

Youtube Subscribers: 7

Instagram Followers: 0

Pinterest Followers: 0

Off we go Crowdfire! May the odds be ever in your favour!

Fragments of Femininity by Olivier Pont

A collection of complex yet delicately woven stories. Some intimate moments I never expected as well as some truly dark points. I connected with the characters, yet still felt they were mysterious. There are no obvious answers and only the author knows the full story of what each character was going through. There were some stories such as Elikya, Mathilde and Fleur's stories that truly celebrated femininity and those characters found freedom and passion through their womanliness. Yet there were also tales told around Chloe and Faith, where despite having traditionally unfeminine bodies, they still found a sensual side. Then there were the darker tones of women such as Sylvia whose story actually made me feel somewhat disgusted. Sylvia's actions speak strongly of self-loathing, which is an important and emotive theme but deeply unnerving. Despite this, I did love having a leading lady with curves. Alison taught us that although the past can haunt us it is also crucial that we move forward and think more of the present and future. 

The art is seductively smooth in some places and joltingly hard in others. The contrast is very expressive and I think Pont outdid himself in this regard. The balance of the characters and the way they move is very smooth and natural.

Printable Bookmark Recommendations Collaborative Project!

These free printable bookmarks were a collaborative project by your book blogging community. They're perfect little snippets for people interested in exploring new topics outside their usual bookshelves, or for more experienced readers to get more out of a genre they love. If you see a title you recognize, there's a blogger that would love to talk to you about it. If you see titles you've never heard of then there's a blogger who loves it and believes you will too! 

All credit is given to the wonderful people who worked on it:

• Literary Fiction – Bookish Betsy (Betsy)
• Classics – Love Serially (Christine)
• Poetry – Fables and Tea (Hannah)
• LGBTQIA – Magical Reader (Lori)
• Fantasy – Books and Belle (Paige) & Pebble Pen (Penny)
• Magical Realism – The Introverted Book Nerd (Danielle)
• Romance – Little thoughts from little people (Eleanor)
• Sci-fi – Pebble Pen (Penny)
• Thriller – Books and Belle (Paige)
• Historical – The Introverted Book Nerd (Danielle) & Pebble Pen (Penny)
• Horror – All the Bright Places Blog (Beth)

The Historical, Fantasy & Sci Fi bookmarks below were the ones I contributed titles too, however, I was also in charge of compiling, formatting and coordinating the other blogger's suggestions and editing them into the other bookmarks on this page. All printables can be found permanently in the tab at the top of the blog, ready to be downloaded whenever you need some quick book advice!

The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in April 2017 and of the National Book Award, Colson Whitehead's phenomenal race-centered novel has also been announced long-listed for the Booker Prize 2017.

Underground Railroad is everything. It is the secret to a new identity and life for slave girl Cora, as well as her past, present and future. Born and raised in a cotton farm in Georgia, Cora knows first hand the cruelty of the white man. As a child, abandoned by a mother that ran, she is strong and fights to stake a claim on what's hers, even if all this amounts to is a three foot strip of land between cabins, and continues to do so throughout her journey. She travels by rail, smuggled from state to state, reaching for the freedom and education she was denied.

The book is a poignant reminder that freedom isn't always what it seems and is seldom permanent, especially for a black girl. Whitehead explores the reality of people's attitudes towards slaves and even free men with darker complexions at the time. It was truly riveting and heartbreaking for the losses and injustice she suffers but the journey makes it all worth it. I loved the rare moments when Cora finds snippets of kindness and acceptance by the people who harbor her.

My second historical fiction novel of the month whose protagonist is also named Cora is just as brilliant as the first. A brilliant coincidence.

Buy The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Now on Worderly

Happy Lippy Book Club: Heathen Vol. 1 - Natasha Alterici & Rachel Deering

Publication Date: 8^th August 2017

Heathen is not only the first breath-taking leap into a Nordic fantasy world, but also a story of acceptance, courage and passion. The art is stunning and reckless. I love how free and unique both the art style and the story are. Aydis is a strong and fearless warrior, cast out of her village for kissing another girl.

Throughout her journey she seeks to not only end the suffering of a Valkyrie, who is cursed by the tyrannical God-King Odin, but also to abolish the subjugation of women like her. On her way she must fight tricksters, jump through flames, and even overcome the temptation of fickle love.

The Nordic lore and the immortal talking animals (especially her horse, Saga!) just wove another layer into the fabric of this story that I couldn’t resist.

I thoroughly enjoyed this volume and can’t wait for the next one. The ending is very much leading up to something big (though I can’t give too much away) and I would love to see where this series goes. Both Aydis and Brynhild are powerfully intense characters, whose mind-set and emotions are laid completely bare to you as the reader. You don’t read graphic novels like this. You experience them.

The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry

It's been a long time coming but here is my review of The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. I picked up this book to try something different to my usual fare but in the end I'm pleased to say that it's not that different at all. While The Essex Serpent is historical fiction, it is written in a very modern tone without much thought given to the typical drone of a history lesson. It follows the story of Cora, a magnetic, impulsive young widow finally free from her abusive husband. I loved that Cora, while attracting new friends like moths to a flame, is human enough to make mistakes and drive those people away at times too. It is very much an ebb-and-flow book that rises and recedes with the tides.

The Gothic, and in some places shocking experiences that surround the mystery of the Essex Serpent really bind together the thoughts and feelings of the characters, allowing Perry to fully explore the delirious mind of Stella and the emotions of Naomi who experiences losing a friend. It brings you closer to them and really makes them shine. All in all a phenomenal read!

After The Crash - Michel Bussi

I'm not normally known for being a thriller kind of girl but After The Crash is magnetic. The plot is wonderfully convoluted and strange. There is even a fake-your-own-death trope emerging within its pages. The story leads you one way and then another. It is completely phenomenal. The sole survivor of a devastating car crash is a baby girl, but in a time when DNA testing was both experimental and costly, officials are mystified as to which of the two families vying for the child are actually blood relatives. After an arduous investigation, nothing is concluded but she is placed with the family which the authorities think is the best environment for her, but at 18 the soul searching question of who she really is comes back with a bite. An enthralling and enigmatic tale that will leave you breathless with a conclusion that is more brilliantly thought up than any other thriller I've read.

Five Unique Poetry Anthologies

The best part of reading poetry is being able to experience something completely new and remarkable, unlike anything you've felt before, all in the space of a few stanzas. These are my top five unique poetry anthologies that twisted and pulled at my emotions in a very short space of time.

The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy is an incredibly talented writer and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009. This particular anthology is focused on the under appreciated women in literacy. The most intense storms are named after women and so are the intense and devastating poems in this anthology. They are filled with personality, imagination and the witty voice of their author. Among my favorites are Salome and Medusa.

Behind every great man there's a great woman!

Listener - Lemn Sissay 

Another really phenomenal anthology. Lemn Sissay's work is dynamic, rhythmic and made to be spoken allowed. His really flowing, fast paced poems, such as The Actor's Voice and Some Things I Like, have a really great beat and roll off the tongue. They are offset with creatively laid out poems such as Rain and even Gambian Holiday Maker, which are both succinct and formed of only a few words and letters yet have a lot to say.

Sissay brilliantly communicates thoughts and feelings in a way that not many other people can.

Six Poets Hardy to Larkin - Alan Bennett

Contains poems by Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, John Betjeman, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice and Philip Larkin.

Throughout this anthology are little snippets of information about the people behind the lyrical words. Bennett comments on the motivation behind the writing of the piece and, at one point, about Thomas Hardy's slightly worrying obsession with graves! These little snippets really made this anthology special to me and I enjoyed the poems even more with the context behind them.

Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur

I've got a complex relationship with this anthology. Kaur tackles some painful and potentially triggering experiences, especially those regarding child abuse and domestic violence. Overall I found it excruciatingly beautiful. It is topped off with her down to earth views on respect and body image.

Kaur writes with a forward thinking attitude and a simplicity that drives me wild. Other's have tried to recreate this exceptionally honest style, for example in The Princess Saves Herself In This One, but none have succeeded. One of a kind.

Il Giardino - Vita Sackville West

This anthology I am very fond of, and not just because I bought it after a tour of West's stunning walled garden at Sissinghurst Castle. There is a particular section that calls me in Winter, where she talks about being alone and the difference between abandonment and a blissful solitude. The entirety of this vivid anthology is written in floral metaphors and the imagery is so sharp and clear. By the end you feel like you've sat in a serene garden, alone with your thoughts, for an entire year. It's a breath of fresh air and great at clearing your mind of trivial everyday worries.

Milkyway Hitchhiking Vol 1 - Sirial

There is some very striking artwork in this beautiful edition by Yen Press. The colors are soft and pretty and it feels very light and watercolor, missing almost any harsh lines at all. If good art is what you're looking for, this is your book. You can see that Sirial has worked tirelessly on every single panel of this book and I love it. The stories don't really scratch the surface of what I think she's capable of but they are light, fluffy and positively feel-good. The only thing I would say is that the cat uses waaaay too many meow puns. Perfect for a little boost between deeper, darker reading material!

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood: Part 1, Vol. 1 - Horihiko Araki

Famed for its wild humor and fight frenzies, I was really looking forward to reading JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for the first time. True to it's reputation, it has a considerable amount of fight scenes, almost obscene muscles and verges on the side of very gorey. The art style is detailed and iconic, just not my cup of tea. I love JoJo as a character. I grew to love his true gentleman nature and the very easy to empathize with underdog aspect of his character, however he has very few flaws besides his near constant losses to Dio. The way the information about the Aztec mask was revealed was very clever, both in the beginning few pages and when Dio steals the mask. One thing I vehemently dislike about this manga was the animal cruelty. First with JoJo's past attitude towards his dog, throwing stones at it and mistreating it because it bit him. Then again when Dio first meets the dog and punches it in the face, throwing it forcefully backwards. Then finally when the dog has its muzzle wired shut and is thrown in a box to be set on fire. What on Earth was Araki thinking? I don't think I'll ever understand why that was necessary to the story. I can see why people love it. Everything is bold and more than a little over the top. I can't say I liked it as much as I was expecting to. I'd give volume 2 a go if I stumbled upon it, but I'm unlikely to search out the rest of this story.

Borne - Jeff Vandermeer

Borne is such an imaginative labor of love. Only Vandermeer could hope to capture the intricacies of this strange post-apocalyptic biotech-bear ruled world. Every nuance and feature of Borne's development is painstakingly explained and laid out for the reader's attention. Every shift in relationship between Rachael and Wick and Borne is felt as real as day. You as the reader, watch Rachael's transformation, which is, in a way, even more startling than Borne. You become used to watching this strange organism bend and wiggle its tentacles but the feelings and emotions in this novel will never fail to surprise you. I loved the three way war dynamic, with Rachael and Wick fighting both the Magician's influence as well as Mord and his Proxies. The incredible journey from Balcony Cliffs at the ending was fantastically done! Five stars!

The Girl with all the Gifts (Collaborative Post) - M.R. Carey

Penny : What did you think of girl with all the gifts?

Joel : I thought it was quite pretty in the way it was told. In the sense of the girl [Melanie] has such an innocent way of looking at life. Even though she's not really human, she's blissful. She learns so much but shes never really scared other than of loosing her friends (as far as I can remember).

Penny : Did you like the characters?

Joel : Justineau is an incredible mother figure but Parks tends to turn her into a bit of a sex object. She puts her life at risk rather than Melanie's and in some parts she was blinded by wanting to help Melanie out more than to survive and she'd put the group at risk for that because of her guilt over her past.

I didn't know what to think about the ending.

Penny : I thought it was a bit of a kick in the teeth for Justineau in that she now has no-one her own age to talk to and the solitude will probably really hurt her in the future but at the same time she can't end it like parks did because she now has this duty to be the template for the humanity in the Hungry children.

Joel : There were times when I really didn't like parks. I could tell he was trying to be defensive and keeping people in line to make sure they were safe but the way he did it was wrong. He was talking to civilians, not soldiers. The opinion that he's the only one that can be right caused the other characters to deviate and put themselves in danger in order to be heard. His attitude changed and his style of leading changes. He considers other peoples opinions and feelings more throughout the novel.

Caldwell was a hardhearted but hard working scientist that was looking for the cure to the pathogen.

Penny : She felt she was the hero of the story even if the people in the group detested her. As a character I thought she was the most complex and well written.

Joel : That still doesn't make the things she did good. She would hurt other people just to give her an edge to discovering the cure and treated Melanie and the other Hungry children as just another slab of meat ready to be dissected.

Penny : At the same time Caldwell played an important role in helping Melanie reach her own conclusion that the era of the humans had ended and that there would be no cure. Melanie grew Doctor Caldwell's ideas and flipped them on their head.

Joel : Overall it was well written and the character development is definitely worth talking about but the ending leaves you wanting more in that it's quite abrupt.

Penny : I agree about the character development but the abrupt ending I thought was a good shock tactic and completely unexpected! 

June Monthly Motif Challenge : Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor

How is the Cretaceous Period for a unique destination? How about eleventh-century London, World War I, and the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria? I love how wacky this book is! From mad accidents in time, to a murderous History - this is the time travel book we've all been waiting for. 

Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St Mary's, a different kind of historical research is taking place. They don't do 'time-travel' - they 'investigate major historical events in contemporary time'. Maintaining the appearance of harmless eccentrics is not always within their power - especially given their propensity for causing loud explosions when things get too quiet. Meet the disaster-magnets of St Mary's Institute of Historical Research as they ricochet around History. Their aim is to observe and document - to try and find the answers to many of History's unanswered questions...and not to die in the process. But one wrong move and History will fight back - to the death. And, as they soon discover - it's not just History they're fighting. For wherever Historians go, chaos is sure to follow in their wake ...

I really enjoyed the delightful historians at St. Mary's and their antics and how each character was so fundamentally different from another. The set up was perfect in that there was none. No foreshadowing that would give the game away. Every different event was separate and unpredictable. There were moments of great sweeping laughter and all encompassing heart break. Nothing in this beautiful book is one dimensional! 

Blue Exorcist - Kazue Katō

Another brilliant Spunky main character, but what can you expect from the son of Satan himself! I love this manga. The juxtaposition between the two brothers Rin and Yukio is perfect. Rin is very like Naruto in that he has these big emotions that blow you away right with him as a reader, as well as the similarity in their hidden deamons, though in Rin's case that secret is out of the bag pretty early on. I enjoy the art style and the way it fluctuates between very stereotypically anime (large eyes etc) and the comic cartoon expressions that sometimes grace the pages. I love the character designs, not just the way they look and what they wear but also that real special something that makes them all unique. A great shonen manga!

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

This books cover and premise both interested me. I think the subject of teen mental health and suicide should be much more widely covered. I know that I sometimes enjoy a sad story. However, this book is the biggest pile of drivel I have ever read. Now I must admit I didn't finish this train-wreck, so if there is some incredible plot-redeeming ending I didn't ever encounter then I'm sorry. The story features teenage girl Hannah sending a rather malicious recording to the 13 people she 'blames' for her suicide. People are unkind sometimes. Life isn't fair. While I can see both of those things as reasons to commit suicide, I think the recording was overdone. Geez girl just leave a note! Directing the recording at other people is just spiteful and I wasn't able to connect with her. At the end of the day, she took her own life, and though she may have been driven to do so by the actions of others, surely the point of ending it all is to end the suffering rather than to get revenge on these people with a macabre voice recording? Her sitting down to record an entire novel of recording strikes me as her wallowing in her own pain. The other segment of the novel, where Clay walks around, carrying on with life and listening to the recording, is boring. I don't think I've read anything I hate more.


A colleague of mine once said that you can't make a great movie out of a great book but you can make a great movie from a mediocre one. For the sake of humanity I hope the same is true of Netflix series.

Illuminae - Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

Five stars! Everything about this book is a breath of fresh air. The unique layout and how it connects to the story was brilliantly executed. The voice of the AI was just the right amount of human to connect with and the right amount of robot to solidify it as real. At the same time, there are moments that will rip your breath from your lungs. Artfully, Aime Kaufman and Jay Kristoff lead you to almost forget vital details that then come back and smack you backwards with them. So many damn bombshells! I cried at three separate moments during this emotional roller-coaster. The Phobos virus haunted me into sleeplessness. This is the essence of what I love about books. How they can make you feel more alive, engaged and happy yet rip you apart at the seems. A revolutionary title!

Everyone should gosh damn stinking read this book!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Magica Quartet/Hiroshi Takashige

This manga looks like everything it's not. Madoka's story starts and ends with a witch named walpurgisnacht. In exchange for a wish from the magical Kyubey, Madoka Kaname can become a magical girl and fight witches. There is a twist, or several, that render this manga one of the most heart breaking stories of friendship and loyalty I have ever read. Far from being the girly magical girl manga I was expecting, Madoka Magica is gruesome in places and emotionally a complete roller coaster. As each part of the story emerges and new discoveries are made, the plot spirals towards the ultimate battle of walpurgisnacht. One of my favorite manga! This is definitely worth a read!

The Huntress Book 1: The Sea - Sarah Driver

I wasn't so much a fan of this book. While suited for the 9+ age group, for me it read much like a watered down Northern Lights but with much more irritating language such as 'heart-glad' and 'feather-fun' that broke up any possibility of a natural flow. I enjoyed the story arc regarding the pearl and the false eye but I found this the most surprising aspect of the plot. The beast chatter, while it could have been an important and worthwhile gift, Mouse rarely uses it at all. She comes across a little self entitled and juvenile, which puts older readers off reading it. I would put the age range a little lower based on this. The relationships between characters are a little flaky and many of the supporting cast seem more like vague acquaintances than life long friends and crew. Unfortunately, not my cup of tea.