Book Review
Title: Dear Wallflower (Poetry & Prose)
Author: Sara Secora
Genre: Poetry
Rating: *****
Review: My readers will know I am not a massive fan of poetry, but I have read and loved novels written in verse such as Vanilla by Billy Murrell, I have also read all of Sara’s previous works and thoroughly enjoyed them. In Love & Ache, really spoke to me as someone who has been and out of love at various time in my life. This section makes it clear there is good love, bad love and something in between. Not all of the poems or written sections are from a woman’s point of view, some of them seem distinctly male to me. The images are also divine and really add to messages comings across. One of my favourite poems from this section simply reads: “her paper heart bleeds ink/filling pages with love stories/that will never be hers to tell” and it resonated with me and actually made me a little emotional.
There are a few poems that really stand out for me because they are constructed in such a way they tell more than one story. In one there is a statement in typed text and then what seems to be a response to that statement in handwritten text, in another two there is a poem but part of it is in bold or capital letters, when reading aa a whole it is nice but when you read the two parts separately, they are 100x times better. These words tell the stories of love found, love lost and everything in between, the love mentions in these stories isn’t all romantic love, some is parental love, the love of friends and love of the world around us. I like how these words portray different relationship, love lost that left a person bitter or heartbroken, a love lost that is a relief or even love lost that is a new type of love in itself.
I was quite surprised by the different types of feelings that these words evoke in the reader. Some stories make you smile, whether with joy or in fond remembrance. Some make you a litter teary-eyed and others produce a longing ache in your chest, remembering something that you’d rather forget, but never want to forget. It talks about being the light for another person but also what can happen if you neglect yourself. One poem I loved talks about how we deliberately turn a blind eye to someone we know is bad for us because we don’t want to be alone. If there is only message you take away from this book, let it be these words: “There are a few things that never need explanation: the way you feel and who you love”, I believe that is something we can all take to heart and live by. I came to realise reading through some of Sara’s profound words that the message she has written might be personal, not just to her but to all of us that have ever loved anyone. One of my personal favourites is: “Cease seeking a stranger’s heart to love when your own remains neglected”, I can say I am guilty of this, trying to get someone, anyone to love me when I don’t even love myself, and then berating myself when things go wrong or fall apart thinking I wasn’t good enough. The truth is that I wasn’t because I didn’t love myself and it’s true you don’t need anyone to love if you love yourself.
Sara doesn’t just write of love and loss, she writes about bettering yourself, being better for others and most importantly, she writes about empowerment. The poem that really showed this empowerment for was: “Mountains do not bow to the wind/and I will not bend for you”. I don’t think there is anything I can say about those words because they truly speak for themselves. Sara’s words, both poetry, and prose, are powerful and reading them you feel like she knows you, understand you and so much more. Sara in these short pages writes about love, loss, mental illness, seeing yourself for who you truly are, being proud of that and ultimately loving that. In the end, I think there’s a single message you can take from this book and Sara’s words say it best: “Unapologetically be yourself, every day, in every way”.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this copy from review consideration from the author & YA Bound Book Tours.
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