Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Similar to my previous post, Milk and Honey is a book of poetry surrounding dark subjects such as love, loss, and death.  Kaur brings us in with her basic poetry and interesting illustrations.  It, too, is separated into chapters that have a main theme attached.

Despite, being similar to the last book, it is one star lower.  Mainly because the poetry is all about the author and in the last book, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, there is some poetry about the reader, you.  I would have liked the same in this one, but in the end the book depressed me, but encouraged me to write.  If this person can write this kind of poetry and get it published, then so can I.

Also, the book seemed more like erotic literature in terms of the love and sex subjects Kaur addresses.  Yes, one or two is fine, but seven, eight, nine, ten?

3 stars.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace

The title is what caught my eye in the first place.  I was eager to read this because I thought that it was fiction poetry in the sense that it had nothing to do with the author.

But it is essentially the author.  It's her experiences, her wishes, her hopes, her loves, and more all through poetry and separated into chapters of how she's a princess and then evolves to a queen.

The book deals with some sensitive subjects, but enlightens the reader in thinking that out of everything bad, there has to be something good too, right?

Lovelace takes us on a nonfiction yet fiction journey of her own life through non-rhyming poetry.  The poetry is basic and yet powerful at the same time with it's non-grammatical structure. Similar to Milk and Honey, Lovelace gives you guidance without it being a self-help book, but a poetry book.   4 stars.

A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like by Ashley Graham

When I first heard about this book, I was very excited.  Finally a plus-size model that wrote a book!  But for some reason, I didn't account for all the model talk.

Even though the book is titled A New Model, I thought there would be less of the model and more of the Ashley.  Though Ashley does talk about her life in terms of her attraction to men, her weight, her relationship with her husband Justin, etc...she also talks a lot about modeling, which is understandable.  I mean, she is a model.  But most of her target audience isn't.  So when it came to the modeling portions of her book, I was disappointed.  I'm not going to be a model, but I just want more confidence, beauty, and power, and how to get them without being a model.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that her book tended to drift away from those three aspects and focus mostly on the model part and her experience being in the industry.  She did talk about confidence, beauty, and power here and there, but it was not the sole focus of her book, like I would have wanted.

Even so, her book is pretty entertaining when it comes to her personal life and how she got to be where she is now.  Basically any part of the book that you can relate to is good, but the rest is more of a dragging experience read.

3 stars.

The Most Beautiful Place in the World by Ann Cameron

After being abandoned by both parents, Juan ends up living with his grandmother in San Pedro, Guatemala.  While there, he feels lost and unimportant until his grandmother begins taking him to work as a shoe shiner.  But when he sees other children going to school, he gets the motivation to go too.

Although this book is for grades 3-5, it felt as if it could have been written for younger audiences.  The simple syntax made it an easy read, but still touching in accordance to what Juan endured at such an early age.

Despite being a touching book, I felt that the moral ending didn't match Juan's story.  Having been abandoned and then to have to work to earn his place seemed far off from the theme of how love can make a place beautiful.  The grandmother's devotion was not realized early on and the book rarely talked about beautiful places.  Perhaps if it was a longer story, it could have achieved this theme.