Book Review: "The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One" by Amanda Lovelace

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Cover of "The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One" by Amanda Lovelace

*Spoiler alert!*

4/5 stars

The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One is Amanda Lovelace’s second entry in her “Women Are Some Kind of Magic” series. The princess/queen we see in the first book has turned into a witch, out for revenge and full of fire.

Because, after she saves herself, the princess has time to confront her demons head-on and that isn’t easy. Healing processes are messy, especially when you’re angry and the world has dealt you some nasty cards. The key is not to be consumed by the anger, but to sit with it and recognize its validity, and make the course corrections needed. Anger merely points out injustice—use it, but don’t make it a perpetual state you exist in. Maybe that’s just my experience. Don’t let it use you.

GIF: witch using power

“Yes/I know/All about/The/Woman/Who’s/Been/Screaming/Her whole/Life/For/The chance/To be/Heard/By someone/Take/This pen/From me/& uncage her”

The poem I quoted, “You Owe This To Yourself,” made the most impact on me. It reflects my own use of writing as a survival mechanism when my mental state was the darkest or when the gray of winter seems everlasting.

However, writing is much more than a survival mechanism for me. The very act of creation is (or can be) joyful, indicating that you are alive and that your very mind is built not only for survival, but for building new futures and creating something the world hasn’t seen before. Writing is joyful, helps keep the madness at bay, and is also a kind of defiance.

GIF: writing

I see all of this and more in Lovelace’s poetry. Volume two expands on her powerful and personal healing journey, but you may just find yourself as well somewhere in her words.

Happy reading!

--BookOwl

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