This cohesive collection of heartfelt and deeply personal poems paints a bigger story. A story of love and pain, and a story of growth and change. I strongly connected with several of the pieces, particularly Echo, Lunacy, and Avocado Heart, and the final poem - both the original and blackout versions - was a fittingly powerful way to end things. My only wish was that the blurry and pixelated covers of the digital copy I received actually portrayed the beauty of the artwork as clearly as the words within.

I was really lucky to receive this book! I have enjoyed reading this collection many times, and absolutely LOVE how both forms of the poem are featured. I have already added this to a list of poetry intended for our school library. ( )

This an interesting and curious look at what can be hidden in a poem. Herrin's collection curates 30 previously-written poems, and then blacks out large portions to see them transformed into a new interpretation of the first text. Sometimes the new poem contradicts for the first, sometimes it enhances. It's a short book, but deserves to be read more than once. ( )

this is my first encounter with black out poetry, and with Herrin, and it was interesting. Herrin clearly has talent, many of her poems sounding deep in both old and new, blacked-out versions.

I don't think the blacked out versions could stand alone, but the contrasting versions works well; the original poems setting the scene, and in counterpoint to these the blacked out versions. The literal blacking out gave the reworkings an interesting texture that supports the sparcity of remaining words.

Anyway bottom line: I enjoyed both Herrin and the black-out poetry form. ( )

My Expectations:
I didn't know what to expect. From the cover, I thought I might read some flowery poetry with dark undertones.

What I liked:
This book was a satisfying surprise. Sarah Herrin used poems from her previous self-published collection to create new blackout poems, changing them to positive poems of self-love.

I enjoyed reading the original and blackout poems side by side, showing the complete change in feeling and attitude. The new poems are condensed past the essence of the original poems, as if boiled down to their essential oils, leaving a warm, pleasant scent.

What I didn’t like:
There were a couple of poems that didn't fit with the feel of the collection in my opinion. I also thought completely blacking out the titles on a couple of the poems were lost opportunities.

Overall, I enjoyed the idea and the execution of this collection. ( )