Artsy with Mya

 This was an interesting audiobook, but it ultimately was not for me. It was obvious that this was very personal to the author and his narration of the book showcases that very well.  This book does involved more adult content and language than I was expecting, but it fit with the themes that the author was talking about.  The full audiobook is only an hour long - so it is a listening that is easily accomplished.   I received this book free from NetGalley and Andrews McNeel Audio to review. Two out of five stars

When I read that this was Bella Mayo's debut poetry book, I was astonished. I could honestly believe that this was a book from an accomplished poet. The poems were heartfelt and I could feel the emotion from each of them even if I had not personally experienced the type of love that was the subject.  The titling of each piece was something that really provided a new depth to the work. Starting each title off with the word 'my' already invokes a feeling of it being very personal to the reader.  Bella Mayo does an excellent job with her words to talk about what feels like every type of love possible. Selfless love, selfish love, hurtful love, love that is better off gone and love that you miss every day. She does not shy away from the idea that love people have for each other can be amazing, it can also turn out to be hurtful and toxic to each other.  Poems like 'my secret heartbreaker', 'my master of manipulation' and 'my wildflower' are poems about l...

 True crime is a genre that has become very popular over the past few years, but it is a genre that I as a reader and reviewer can struggle with investing in and reading it. There has been a lot of discussion around the genre of true crime and the spotlight that it puts on the perpetrators/instigators versus the victims and others that were affected by the event.  There have been some interesting articles written about true crime, why people are so interested in it and why it can be really problematic. I will link some of these articles below. I don't think that all stories/books or anything else about true crime is always exploitative and problematic, but I also think that it is a case by case basis and about whether the audience can critically review and think of the genre.  https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/true-crime-ethics.html  - article about the ethics of true crime https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/podcasts/true-crime-podcasts-why-are-we-all-obsessed/412...

 Looking back on my various reviews, you can tell that I enjoy reading and listening to poetry. And this one is definitely up there. There is a good mixture of poetry and prose in this book, which surprised me because I almost forgot about the prose part of it.  One thing that I liked in the book is the artwork that denoted the different sections of the book which I can only imagine how cool they will look in the physical copy of the book. The progression and storyline of this book is excellent and the poetry and prose intertwine to tell a story. The prose can be rather jarring when moving from poem to prose, but the sentiment that it evokes helps the flow of the book.  I recommend this book absolutely.  I received this book free from NetGalley and the publishers free to review. This is my unbiased review.  Five out of five stars.   

This is a really long audiobook - and that might sound like a bad thing, but its really not. There is a lot going on in this book; a lot of people that the narrator is talking about that the listener has to keep track of. Due to that fact, if this is a topic that is a passion and interests you - I would recommend to get an actual physical copy of the book where it might be easier to keep track of everyone in the book.  As for the audio book, it runs about 10 hours long and the narrator is excellent.  This review does contain spoilers from here until the end.  The first bit of the book (while interesting) concerns the names of the women, their recruitment and training as well as what the thought process and actual process was like to get to the point of sending women to the field. At the start of the book, it quickly moves between person to person and location to location which made it a little difficult for me to keep track of everyone involved.  However, by about on...