The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace – Book Review

The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace is a different kind of poetry collection. I had seen the cover a few times on Goodreads and was excited to find my cousin had downloaded the book via our shared Kindle account.

So I picked up Lovelace's book and wow!

The Princess Saves Herself in this One is an interesting read. It took me a while to get used to the book. I don't mind free verse; many of my poems are in free verse but Lovelace usually makes a comment in a few lines and then writes the final note in an independent poetic prose conclusion.

(Like here: Image below)

The poems are both emotional and harsh as Lovelace speaks about emotional and physical abuse. Topics, that as I read, inspired me to write a poem I called "Sometimes Hope Isn't Beautiful." (Haven't decided where I'd publish this yet)

Also, all the poems in The Princess Saves Herself in this One have no titles, so I can't really say which poems I liked more than the rest. While the idea of having no titles makes it hard to recommend certain pieces, I liked how Lovelace went about that. I'm sure it was liberating not to think of titles for 80+ poems! :D

I liked the opening or rather warning about the book, that "this is not/ a fairy tale/ there is no/ princess/ there is no/ damsel/ there is no queen/ there is no/ tower/ there are no/dragons/ there is simply/ a girl/ faced with the/difficult task/of learning to/ believe in/ herself."

There is a lot of experimentation in The Princess Saves Herself in this One, with some poems being in bullet-points format, others being like a dictionary format but all in poetic free verse. There is also a kind of shape poetry or poems that are just formatted differently. (Like this one below)

The book is divided into 4 parts or stages: The Princess, The Damsel, The Queen, and You. Each of these marks a stage in Lovelace's life and what I assume is inherent, a woman's life. As you read, you will feel that the speaker is progressing and growing with each stage. 

As is the case with poetry collections and anthologies, it's near impossible to love or even like all the poems in the book. The Princess Saves Herself in this One is no exception, especially since there are A LOT of poems in there. That said, I enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.

Overall, I think Amanda Lovelace's The Princess Saves Herself in this One is an experience of itself. I'd like to read the following parts in her three-book poetry series.

Overall rating: 4 stars

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Update: The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace has made it to Nadaness In Motion's Top Books of 2019.