Review: The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace

The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace

My Rating: 3/5 TARDISes

Series: Women Are Some Kind of Magic #2

Date Published: March 6^th, 2018

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Pages: 208 pages

Source: Netgalley

Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: 2016 Goodreads Choice Award-winning poet Amanda Lovelace returns in the witch doesn’t burn in this one — the bold second book in her “women are some kind of magic” series.

The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now—indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn’t burn in this one.

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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Unfortunately, this collection of poetry ended up really disappointing me. After the fantastic first collection, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, I felt rather let down by this one. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I didn’t think it was on par with Lovelace’s previous work. Her first collection tells a story of her life—a personal journey of discovery with messages that evoke intense and relatable emotions. Alongside these poems, there is a loose fairytale-type narrative going on at the end of each section, and they reflect every part of her journey.

That same format of the background story is true for this collection, but the poems deal with broader topics, so they don’t have that same intimate quality as her previous poetry. Lovelace deals with some incredibly tough matters here, and she does so in a very eye-opening way. However, though I of course applaud the fact that she is speaking out on these subjects, I just personally did not feel as emotionally invested in the poems, and I found them a bit repetitive at times.

One of the things that still rings true in this collection is Lovelace’s incredible talent for writing beautiful and impactful poetry. Though these particular poems did not resonate with me quite as much as her others, her words are still extremely powerful and relatable. Everything she has to say is thought-provoking and empowering, but the messages she is trying to convey come across as somewhat one-sided at times.

She has a very strong feminist voice, though I felt that she approached the topic in more of an all-or-nothing style rather than speaking in an equal and balanced way. Feminism, and any type of empowerment movement in general, should not focus on being dominant over others, but should instead focus on creating equality among all. I still do very much enjoy Lovelace’s poetry, so I definitely plan on continuing to read her work in the future.