Review ARC | Beautifully Chaotic

I would like to thank the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions shared are my own personal thoughts.

I am incredibly glad that Danielle Holian reached out to me. I picked up her poetry and from the start I was gripped by the words within, I finished the whole collection in one setting and my head was bursting with words to say about this.

Description Summary | Kind of like a darker version of Milk and Honey, Holian presents a spirited character who battles the trauma of abuse and toxic relationships in order to heal and emerge a powerful, beautiful woman because of it.

Rating

Book Summary | (Skip to Review)

Holian presents an anthology of poems that revolves around taking power back whilst documenting the feminist journey of surviving abuse and toxic relationships. Divided into four chapters, the reader begins with Destruction and follows it with:

• Purpose
• Mourning
• Healing

The reader is set out to go into the bleak shades of depression and pain, and the darkness surrounds it before venturing into the light with the last chapter that details uplifting poems set to inspire others into loving oneself and deeming it worthy and strong to choose it’s own path.

Review

Review

This is art in it’s unfiltered form; something that demands to be seen and something that pushes the reader to have a reaction or feeling. And I absolutely loved it. There is a sense of empowerment that courses through the pain you see expressed in the poems, and to me that shows a side of courage and vulnerability that too often is mistaken for “weakness”. Holian did a fantastic job of doing this, and making the reader feel like looking at  a phoenix rising from the ashes. 

There were definitely some poems that held my breath and gripped my heart, I was constantly with a pen and my notebook jotting down some of my favorites. This was such a treat.

Writing

The form of writing poetry in a simplistic form such as this, is my favorite type and I believe it would resonate with so many readers from a wider pool. I like how it did not beat around the bush and just gave it straight out. It felt personal and raw, like looking into a secret.  

How the collection is split and transcended into from dark to light, as we followed the heroine in her journey of taking the power back for herself is beautiful. I loved how the chapters were labeled: starting with destruction and ending with healing. What better ending could you ask for?

Do I recommend?  Yes. Be warned some readers may find this triggering as it contains abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, alcholol abuse, depression, rape, and toxic relationships.

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