The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord by Emmanuella Hristova – Book Review

Book: The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord

Author: Emmanuella Hristova

No. of pages: 50

Publication date: April 2018

Synopsis:

The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder is a short collection of poems that explores a tumultuous year of love, heartbreak and unimaginable loss. It documents the birth and death of a relationship, and the death of my sister. Each poem is an emotional time-stamp that plunges the reader into the depths of my feelings as they burgeon and wane. The book reads like a diary and chronicles the boundaries of the things that we all feel: passion, heartache, and pain that gives way to hope. 

Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord is a raw and emotional poetry collection by Emmanuella Hristova.

At first I was at a loss with the arrangement and titling of the poems. But I realized that they're done in a historic kind of arrangement with some days having more than one poem written. Many pieces don't have titles just dates.

A note to remind oneself when reading poetry collections, especially those in free verse, not everyone breaks lines the same way. I disliked many of the line breaks in The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord but that could just be me and others might prefer them that way.

The poem titled "September 29th" is one of the beautiful ones I enjoyed in the first half, though I disliked the repetition of 'and' and some of the line breaks.

"Upon Success" is a short piece that every person everywhere in the world can relate to. It's short and I'll quote it; I didn't like the line-breaks here either.

"America is a weird place where/we leave the/people we love to/pursue little green pieces of/paper and ink to/fill empty slots on/our resumes."

I felt that the piece titled "October 5th" was more prose than poetry but I loved the imagery.  "October 9th" is brimming with stunning imagery, dark, and just wow!

"I hesitate when you kiss me because I/ am afraid you will taste the disaster/brewing underneath my skin. Or maybe/my kisses taste hot, like a dangerous/sun storm raging on the broiling/surface of our most familiar star."  - that's just a sample of "October 9th" which is a long and gorgeous poem.

Another important note about The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord is that there are many pieces handling sexual and physical abuse. The poems are powerful. Like these lines from "October 17th":

"Letting my lips touch yours/was a contract I signed/without reading the fine print: participant subject to hasty sexual advances/ without warning."

I couldn't get the poem "November 14th," it was odd with a dry tone and felt more like a series of commandments. "November 16th" reads like a broken down prose piece but is full of strong imagery.

Other 5-star pieces in Hristova's The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord include: "October 18th," "October 19th," "Upon Saying Thank You," "Upon Inspiration," "November 17th," "December 15th," and "Upon Celebrating International Women's Day."

"You came, conquered,/stole my heart and/left me with a Moleskin full of/pensive poems documenting unrequited love/exposed on cream, lined pages." - "Upon Inspiration"

I must admit that the second half of the book was much better than the first half. The poems were longer and deeper after the 50% mark. That said, "Upon Diluting Myself" and "Upon Being a Woman" are the most powerful pieces in the entire collection. 10 stars each of these.

"Upon Diluting Myself" is long but super powerful. It's also explicit, painful, eye-opening, and emancipating, all at the same time. Similarly, "Upon Being a Woman" is the most painful piece in The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord. It does have a lot of Spanish words, which I couldn't understand. The poem is probably the longest in the collection but speaks for a lot of women suffering from sexual abuse.

"Upon inheritance" is a sad and painful piece that nearly made me cry.

Last but certainly not least, The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord ends with "Here's to the Woman," Hristova's perfect conclusion to her emotionally raw poetry collection that I believe is dedicated to all women out there.

This collection was hard for me to judge, but my overall rating is: 4 stars.

Note: I received a free copy of The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Discord from its author Emmanuella Hristova in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Emmanuella Hristova was born in Oakland, California and grew up in the Bay Area. She is the third daughter to Bulgarian parents who immigrated to California shortly before she was born. She began drawing at the ripe age of four, and studied the fine arts for five years in high school. In 2015, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley.

She began writing poetry at age twenty-four when she was in graduate school. She earned her Master's in Education from the same alma mater in 2017. Emmanuella spent two years as an English teacher in Richmond, California. During that time, she self-published her first poetry collection: The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder. Currently, she is writing her first novel.

Connect with indie author Emmanuella Hristova via her website, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram

Cleansing the Anger - Poem by Nada Adel Sobhi

No matter how hard I try

Anger resurfaces,

Moving slowly,

Dominating my thoughts,

My dreams, my fantasies,

Putting me on edge,

Slowly gnawing at my mind,

And worse my soul.

Anger at others

I've done my part

And more

Yet it's not enough

It seems nothing

Ever really is enough

But the emotions,

Angry black and red,

Control my mind,

Burying my happiness,

Searing through me like a saw,

Weighing on me like dumbbells,

Pulling me down every time I rise.

I was kind,

But in my kindness

I must have been blind.

Or whosoever I bestowed with my care

Devoured it, wanting more.

Craved it, never satiating,

Never getting their fill.

And I gave

And I gave

And I gave

Till I was out.

Spent.

Empty.

How long till I replenish

What was taken from me?

How long till I rid myself

Of fury and disappointment?

How long?

ANSWER ME!

By: Nada Adel Sobhi

When… Thoughts/Poem by Nada Adel Sobhi

When…

When the world conspires to stop you from being happy,

When everyone seems to know everything,

When they want to show you you're ignorant,

When everyone puts you down without a remedy,

When people come and go unaware of your inner turmoil,

When they see your tears and ask if you're happy

When they see you crying but just walk out like you're nothing

When your problems are your own, but others' are yours as well,

When your ship begins to sink, and none seems to be a worthy aid,

When everyone seems content with their lives, they move on to yours,

When people feel you're happy, so they direct their energies to making you miserable

When your happiness is not enough to steer in the direction you seek,

When your happiness is seen as a selfish desire,

When you want something so bad, everyone decides it's not right for you – as if they know,

When people decide they can foresee your future, but they can't even see your present,

When… when… when…

The list is endless

When you no longer want to put up with people's shit,

When all the world can rot for all you care

When your heart turns to stone,

When your anger builds,

When you truly become selfish

What will the world and all those people do then?

(Carry on with their BS)

 Written 29 June 2016

Seasons of Time - Book Review

Seasons of Time by Miriam Khan opens with an eerie prologue of a jealous unnamed mystery woman and possible spell-casting that is the essence of the novel.

The novel is about Lara Voight, who is sent to spend the summer with her step-mother's grandmother Gracen, a rude combination of grudge and age.

As soon as Lara arrives at Gracen's mansion, she experiences burning pains and emotions as well as a fragrant familiar scent that often results in a vision of the past. Soon, she discovers that she is the "spitting image" of a Penelope Le Rose 'Pen' and comes across her diary.

Lara learns that Pen was murdered in the past. Naturally intrigued, she begins to delve deeper into the mystery and Pen's past life. As she ventures forward, the visions increase and Lara begins to discover things about herself. The visions become quite real and she can literally see through what is happening through Pen's eyes and feel her emotions.

"My hand immediately traced my mattress for Pen's Diary, a book that was my revelation, my retreat to the real me, my beginning with the people I would always cherish whether I knew them or not."

Soon, other characters are pulled into the mystery as well. We meet Sheba and her brother Will, to whom Lara is attracted. We meet Elias, one of Pen's past loves and relationships, as well as Joseph and Hector.

Lara is highly sarcastic offering constant comic relief throughout Seasons of Time, something I particularly liked. At one point while thinking how the wheelchair-bound Gracen gets around her mansion, she says "Elevator? So that's how the old ogress got up and down the stairs."

Because Pen's diary is over a hundred years old, the change in language is clear between the diary and modern-day writing. It adds a lot to Seasons of Time and I felt that Pen's writing was a little Jane Austen-like.

In one of the entries, Lara reads "I see nothing but our love bloom from note to note. The sky seems tangible my friend. The clouds sift whispers of a sonnet which I memorise long before I sleep."

One of the things I felt were rather abrupt was Lara's quick shifts in emotions, especially from Will to Elias and vice versa. Although, the reader gets the feeling that Penelope is reincarnated into Lara, still I felt that the shifts were too quick. We get Pen's love for each man but we don't get the reason behind such love.

I did however like that Seasons of Time is considerably clean young-adult, with the exceptions of a couple of burning love sensations, there isn't any 'adult content', which seems to be inserted in most novels these days.

There were times when I felt the novel resemble Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The line "You are mine, Pen," he ushered. "Nothing will keep me from you now" reminds me a lot of Healthcliff.

"Elias was the one who cast a spell on the likes of [her]. Elias was the condemnation and the blessing. A heaven embraced by the arms of a deeming hell."

Overall, I enjoyed Seasons of Time a LOT and liked how past and present mixed in this quick-paced novel, particularly the twist in the end. The first few long chapters were a bit tiresome because I don't like to stop mid-way but that was made up for towards the middle and end with shorter chapters.

Although I like the cover, I do not feel it is fitting for the novel. It's too general and does not seem to reflect Lara, Pen or even the mansion where most of the events take place.

The novel is narrated from the first person perspective of Lara with shifts to the first person of Penelope. I enjoyed the imagery the word choice used throughout the novel as both helped with the flow of the lines and the contributed to the themes and plot.

I liked how the author created important roles for secondary characters. With the exception of Will and Sheba's parents, all other characters play significant roles in the novel.

Overall rating: 4.25 stars

Check out the prologue and excerpt of the first chapter of Seasons of Time here.

Note: I received a free copy from author Miriam Khan in exchange for an honest review.

Takhayyal - #writing prompt week 5

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, Artists, Poets, Writers, Authors, Dreamers, Friends and Family; Welcome EVERYONE to Nadaness In Motion's weekly picture-prompt writing challenge Takhayyal.

Arabic for Imagine, Takhayyal is a means to get inspired and spark our writing once more.

This week I'd like to feature my best friend and mentor Stephanie Nehme. Let's keep encouraging her and her photography by WRITING!

Photo credit: Stephanie Nehme

Photo credit: Stephanie Nehme

Your post can be in English or Arabic, prose, poetry, short story, flash fiction; you name it and write it.

General guidelines:

·        No nudity, violence, and/or abuse.

·        Deadline: Late Wednesday

·        Word count: No minimum, but 300 should be enough so others can have the chance to comment on various works (not going to be too strict about this bit)

·        Leave the link to your post in comments below OR post your piece as REPLY to this post

·        Your piece MUST be inspired in some way or other by the above picture(s)

·        Multiple entries allowed

·        It is not required but it is a kind and encouraging gesture to comment on others pieces.

·        NEW: Add your Twitter handle so I can tag you in my tweets!

Takhayyal! Let's IMAGINE!

Krymzyn - Book Review

Krymzyn by BC Powell

(The Journeys of Krymzyn #1)

Publication date: 4 October 2014-11-20

Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Science Fiction

Krymzyn is a story of a boy and a girl, two worlds – literally, a love and above all balance.

The novel written by B.C. Powell begins with a third person present tense description of what appears to be an initiation of a young girl; one set to embark on a destiny never before seen in the land of Krymzyn.

The novel shifts to the perspective of Chase, a young boy of twelve, who sees the girl during a seizure, which he learns is caused by a tumour. He is told such 'visions' of places and people are nothing but 'hallucinations' because of his tumour, yet Chase cannot help but believe that place called Krymzyn is real. Once the tumour is out, he stops going there.

Years later, he gets another tumour and following another seizure and he goes back to Krymzyn. He later connects that only through his seizures – and tumours – can he go to this wondrous world and see the beautiful Sash who stole his heart.

The people of Krymzyn live their lives in and for balance. Emotions like love, jealousy and hate are alien to them and are considered extremes. When a person dies there, the land calls for another to be 'made' to restore the balance. Each person has a purpose in Krymzyn; no one is idle.

The novel contains many beautiful imagery and ideas that would do well to be present amongst us on earth – in real life. Moreover, Krymzyn is about colours; Powell uses many colours for vividness and to prepare the reader for the truth that will later be revealed to Chase.

Most of the novel is written from Chase's perspective; although it varies between past tense narration, as you would write in a diary, and present tense narration when he goes to Krymzyn to give the feeling of immediateness, the now. Chase attempts to convince his family that Krymzyn is a real place with real people; hence the tense used to describe it gives that sense to the reader.

Character development is evident many characters in the novel, but particularly in the two protagonists Chase and Sash as well as in one of Krymzyn's Disciples, Eval. For Sash, the first time she sees Chase in her vision, she is overwhelmed by all the earthly emotions she experiences. She has no names for such emotions but knows that she is the only one in Krymzyn to have them and experience them. At one point, Sash requests Chase the most difficult explanation of all: "Explain love to me again."

Chase has to explain the trickiest emotion to a girl who does not even know what smell and taste are. His answer, however, is beautiful: "It's probably the hardest emotion in my world to describe. Imagine how you felt when your purpose was revealed to you. The excitement you feel when fulfilling your purpose, when you're getting the sap. Then combine that with how you feel when you honour the Sustaining Tree, when you press your face against the trunk. How you feel when you stand on the Tall Hill and see the beauty of Krymzyn. Then add how you felt just a moment ago while watching the children. When you put all of those feelings together for one person and you can't stand to be without that person – it hurts you inside when you're apart – I guess that's how love feels."

As seen with the word 'love' (underlined and italicised), certain words do not translate in Krymzyn, like the earthly emotions as well as curse words, sarcasm and words like 'family', 'parents', and many others. It is an interesting technique that makes the reader wonder how Chase is going to explain certain things. It also shows the tremendous effort taken by the author to create such an intricate and different world.

I'm not sure if it was intended, but for me, the name 'Chase' is significant as it shows how he chases his dreams in Krymzyn, despite everyone telling him that they are mere hallucinations and figments of his imagination. He also seeks to make these dreams a reality.

Powell has created a new world that stands in strong contrast to earth. Although there is balance, there are no emotions. The people of Krymzyn are often – if not always – expressionless. Their lives are bound by duty and honour to their land. Powell is lauded for his creation, especially as the reader and Chase become dumbfounded by the many apparently impossible equations of maths and physics, which nonetheless hold and act as a strong base.

Overall, Krymzyn is a beautiful place and book. It is rich in comparisons and makes one thing. Powell is lauded for this quick-paced creation.

(Worth noting, the novel contains several sensual and adult scenes. While it may be considered Young Adult, I feel it should be read by those aged 18 or over).

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via Xpresso Book Tours

The Picture - In Memory of My Grandmother

This post was originally scheduled for Friday, 7 November, 2014, what would have been my grandmother's birthday – but due to personal reasons, I could not post on that day.

This poem is dedicated to and inspired by her, the life she lived as well as that of her sisters, some of whom have also passed away.

The Picture

An old grey and white picture

Sits silently in the entrance

Happy, youthful faces

Smiling, welcoming all who enter.

Seven sisters and one brother;

A family,

Young and vibrant once.

Time passes,

The picture stays,

Slowly fading.

One by one

They are consumed,

A face fades,

A smile is erased.

One by one

They disappear,

Snatched by Time’s

Ever-moving clock.

A family photo

Welcomes all

But brings both

Smiles and heartaches.

A greying, fading photo

With a hundred inter-connected lives,

With a thousand intricately-bound memories.

Lingering Stories

The earth is old. It knows all our stories, our laughs and worries. It has seen and felt children playing and others crying. It has laughed with them and wept with them.

Their stories will always be etched in its dirt and trees, to be carried and remembered for all eternity.

This piece is for this week's 55 Word-Challenge – Week 11. It's 51 words and I used all three pictures.
I won HONOURABLE MENTION for this challenge. Check out all the winners here.