the princess saves herself in this one

Spoiler Alert: The princess had the keys to her tower the entire time.

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A beautiful collection of poems that celebrate the power in individuality and womanhood, this book was certainly magical. Although I admit that you must be in the right mood for it, I found the poetry incredibly poignant and empowering. Consuming it all in one night, I deeply related with the broken princess protagonist. Although each poem dealt with a slightly different topic, ranging from subjects like body image issues to ideas about love and identity, the common theme of a princess trying to save herself unified the piece and brought readers along for an inspiring journey. I quite enjoyed this magical, fantastical theme as it was familiar to me. We all grew up with stories about princesses however very few of these childhood mentors ever saved themselves. While this is nowhere near a fairytale nor a children's story, and perhaps is a bit unconventional, for me it seemed to reclaim the narrative that women need to be saved. I suppose that in this space in time, we are fortunate for the fact that this is an idea being perpetually challenged. As a young woman myself I found it incredibly validating -- the story seemed to make the point that there is no woman that isn't strong. You can have trauma and experience pain but still come out the other side more powerful than you ever imagined. Sometimes your scars are what make you truly beautiful and unique. In escaping her prisoner and slaying her own dragons, the princess realizes that her identity is not dependent on another but rather is something that comes from within; As she realizes her true power she inspires readers to do the same. While I admit that it can be a bit triggering for some, dealing with difficult subjects such as eating disorders and abuse, I highly recommend it to any fans of Rupi Kaur and any readers wanting easy-to-read poetry. Simple in language and straight to the point, although perhaps critiqued by some poetry lovers as overly plain or cheesy, I quite enjoyed pouring over these pages of words come to life. I additionally enjoyed the many descriptions of love and intimacy. As the princess finally gets her happy ending, and falls into the arms of a worthy lover, I loved the many poems narrating her experiences in a healthy and supportive relationship. I found the depictions to be not only well-written, but describing everything love should be -- easy and ethereal. Overall a heartfelt and genuine piece about fighting for one's self and emboldening the definition of womanhood, I highly recommend this story to those destined to escape their own towers and slay their own dragons, because ~spoiler alert~ you were actually the princess this whole time.

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Favorite Quotes: “ah, life—the thing that happens to us while we’re off somewhere else blowing on dandelions & wishing ourselves into the pages of our favorite fairy tales.” ~~ “the only thing required to be a woman is to identify as one.- period, end of story.” ~~ “i’m pretty sure you have s t a r d u s t running through those v e i n s. - women are some kind of magic.” ~~ "love is never a weakness." ~~ “he opened me up like a book & poured the poetry back into me."