Heartbreak is never a linear thing, mostly because when your heart breaks it shatters into a million pieces that you have to piece back together painstakingly. Mending your heart is just messy, and you have to do it any way you possibly can. Honeybee is an extraordinary collection of poetry, detailing the path to closure post-breakup and how that path is never just straightforward but full of U-turns, dead ends, potholes, and burned out GPS.

Mateer writes with anguished ease about losing the person she loved most, trying to grieve the loss of her relationship quietly when her pain is too much just to keep inside.

“Semi-Factual Thoughts On Space

Did you know that when a star implodes,
for a few days, it can be brighter than an entire galaxy?
I still have light in my eyes from the way that you left me;
I still wait for my core to collapse like a black hole
and suck everything into it
when I meet someone else with your name.”

Honeybee might be poetry, but it reads like a novel. From the moment I read the first page, this book was me. I was the person leaving someone even if I didn’t want to. I was the person running away to adventure to compensate for the inability to feel anything. I was the person with my heart exposed for my new lovers to see. This collection is incredible.

“You Were Never Supposed To Be:
a lesson
a hurdle
a thing to learn from
and overcome”

Poetry is never going to impact two people the same way; logically, I know that. But this collection touched me so profoundly that I feel it crucial to make you understand that this was not merely a book of breakup poems. Mateer confronts her bisexuality here, Mateer doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of the post break up phase. She runs away to find herself and comes back still just as lost. She makes progress and then that progress is undone, and then she makes progress again.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Honeybee is for everyone. This book is for the bi girls. This book is for the girls in love with their best friends. This book is for the people who have ever felt invisible while they slowly fall apart. This book is for the people who say they want privacy but know they need a stage. Honestly, this book meant so much to me. I don’t want to say a lot about the content of this because it's something you have to experience but let it be known that this work is beautiful, gut-wrenching, and a total experience from start to finish.


Reading Honeybee took me on a journey, and I highly recommend it.

Honeybee is such a short and sweet collection of poems. I felt a mixture of happiness and sadness and nostalgia, all wrapped up into one ball of "YES!" A story of self-discovery, of facing feelings you're not supposed to feel (as the world tells us), and reacting to it.

I do wish I had gotten a print copy of the book. Reading it as an e-book took away some of the experience. The art was so pretty and whimsical, and matched the tone of the book so well.

Definitely recommended.

This book was very different from what I had expected. When I first started reading, I was scared it would simply be another poetry book with poems written to some mysterious former lover, albeit this time with an LGBTQ slant. The problem with most of those types of poetry books is that they say nothing but "woe is me" and the opining about the loss just doesn't make the reader invested in the narrative. This was different from those in that it doesn't put the ex on a pedestal. It doesn't talk about how much the author wants to be with their ex again. It isn't just a bunch of sad apology poems. Instead, it's a great look into all of the intricacies of the relationship. We see both the flaws and the merits of both people and we become invested in them. Throughout this book we see the author become stronger and ultimately learn to forgive herself. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more from the author.

Like others I've read in the reviews, I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I do. I'm not normally as into poetry, but I think I've found my favorite poet. I mean, how can you not love this writing?

"I was as close as skin to you once. Love was a museum where we took down the art that was there before us and played masterpiece with all the empty space."

"When you took the scissors I had pressed into your palms and cut our strings, I slipped out of step like a ruined marionette."

The poems tell the story of the author's deep love for a woman, her heartbreak, and her slow recovery. Sometimes she touches on other subjects, such as her bisexuality, however it was mostly overshadowed by her bitterness, guilt and resentment towards her ex-girlfriend. There would be poem after poem just about her ex-girlfriend and the losing battle with herself to stop writing poems about her and it could get overwhelming at times. Her passion - nearing obsession - isn't something I have felt for another person before. It almost felt wrong to read it, as she described how it was wrong for her to even write it.

However I really could relate to the poems about her bisexuality.

"I don't feel gay enough to talk about the struggle, but I'm not straight."

"I'm not going through a phase
using it as a stepping stone
more likely to cheat on you
just greedy
secretly actually gay
secretly actually straight
inherently also polyamorous
promiscuous because of my sexuality..."

And this I deeply, deeply appreciated because I haven't read any work by bisexual people (that I know of) about bisexualism. It seems taboo even in the lgbt community and it's really great to read someone else understand and acknowledge such a large, sometimes isolating part of my life.

Thank you Trista Mateer, Netgalley, and Central Ave Publishing for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read these one at a time and paced myself in doing so because it was very easy to want to read them all but this collection from Trista Matteer is meant to be read one at a time and in doing so I got to feel and in feeling my own memories surfaced of similar moments in my life.

Matteer does a beautiful presentation of falling in love, falling out of love, falling again and burning, how the heartache can easily wrap you in its arms and either cradle or hurt you, how it's OK to fall out of love and have no reasons why, healing or the not healing process, and how sometimes the hurt is a catalyst for other things to come either good or bad,.

Not everything in life is sunshine and roses and I love that Matteer peeled the layers of various moments in a relationship to showcase that as much as we remember the bright shiny moments of it, that's not all that stays with us and I can't wait for the published version of this to be available to purchase a copy.

This collection.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved this collection. Every poem came together to tell this story of love and love lost and how hard it is to move on from a relationship that has etched its mark on your life. As the poet explains in the introduction, this is a collection about completely letting go–and the hardships and experiences that come along with that.

Throughout the collection I found that I was able to connect with each piece–some more than others–and by the end of the book I felt like her pain and heartache was also mine. The poems were so well written and because of the blunt honesty of each piece, I feel like this collection brought a different level of emotion then I expected when going into it.

Several of the poems bring up the discussion of being apart of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as having a friend base and family that are religious and disagree with homosexuality entirely. Though this discussion didn’t take up most of the collection, these poems gave a certain depth and clarity to both the MC and her ex that I really enjoyed and made me feel like I could relate more to the struggles and emotions that the MC was feeling in each piece.

All in all, this being my first time reading Mateer’s work, I can honestly say I wasn’t disappointed and can’t wait to read more from her. I was captivated by this collection and moved with several of the pieces–which is something I strive to have done to me while reading poetry.


(Volunteered for this ARC for my Honest Review)

I was excited to read this book, I love poetry but sadly this book is on my did not finish list. It was very similar to others I have read and was not interested at all.

“I read somewhere that it’s okay to miss people
even if you don’t want them in your life anymore;
and I hope that’s true. I hope everything I feel is okay.”

This is my first collection of poetry by Trista Mateer, and it makes me want to go out and read her other collections as soon as possible. I’ve been going through a phase where I dislike poetry focused on love/heartbreak, so I went into this collection a bit apprehensive – but wow. Through her poetry, Mateer creates a captivating story that is raw and honest. I felt like I was talking to a friend, like I was experiencing the relationship, the breakup, and the aftermath with her. It was also refreshing to hear the voice and experiences of a bisexual woman, as poetry still tends to be very heteronormative. My favourite poems included: Honeybee, Google Searches on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Luna Park, What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Leaving (What I Can Tell You About Leaving), Okay, and The B Word, among others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the collection in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first time I read any of Trista's poetry, but I'm so glad I did.
Sure, her poetry is not in any format most people are accustomed to, but that's actually why I loved it.
I loved the little photos/images inside the book - simple, sweet, delicate. I felt it went with the fragile and vulnerable tone of the book.

Her poems explore her own sexuality, her experiences with loss, loss, grief, and identity. It's modern poetry that reads like words tucked away, hidden on random pages of a forgotten book in the library and I loved this about it. I loved how random, thoughtful, sentimental,and raw some of the poems were.

I'm really sad to say, but I didn't enjoy this poetry collection. It felt very repetitive, and there was something about the style of poetry that stopped me from completely connecting and understanding the emotions Mateer was trying to show she was feeling. A part of me feels I may be distancing from this style of poetry, which is a shame, but the more I write my own poetry the more disconnected I feel.

The poems I enjoyed tended to be the ones revolving around her bisexuality and the way her family, and ex girlfriend/ex boyfriends, responded to her identity. I think that's really the only thing that stopped me from giving this collection a 1 star review. I really do think it's me just not enjoying this style anymore, and I hope anyone else who reads this may get more from it than I did.

I don't often read poetry books but I really enjoyed this one.I felt the MC's hurt and struggle with being part of the LGBTQ+ community. She loved a girl but the girl she loved was bound to her faith and was instead looking for a man. The poems were not in the typical format either, some were in short paragraphs which were still enjoyable to read. I'll definitely read more from this author.

Wow! All I can really say is wow.
I read this book in an hour, literally. I’m kind of speechless so I’m just going to dive right in. Every poem fits together to make a story, it captured my heart and etched each word into it. This poetry book was filled with so much heartbreak yet at the end, the author managed to show a light at the end of the tunnel. Which I’m glad because I feel so connected with each and every poem like I was there going through it all, knowing exactly the hurt and pain, without truly knowing. If that makes any sense?
Some poems were so very simple yet heart wrenching, reeling me in like a fish on a rod. The emotion radiated onto me and I just don’t know what to say. Thank you Trista mateer for this bewildering book x

I am a poetry reader and reading Mateer for the first time. I loved this book, the poems and writing is very casual but still strong. Even the names/headings of some poems were bang on. I have many highlighted lines in this book.
I am not a native English speaker but still felt the echo of the emotions propagated through me. Would definitely read Mateer's poems again.

I liked this collection, but I definitely did not love it. And to be completely honestly, I only fault this collection because it did not satisfy my own personal taste.

First of all, I would like to say that I think Trista Mateer is a very talented poet; however, I think because majority of these poems were inspired by her bitter breakup with her ex-girlfriend, the book as a whole left me feeling like she was obsessed. Was she? Who knows. Probably not but that's how it read to me. I felt overwhelmed 15% in because it was just too much for one book.

I couldn't really appreciate the other impactful messages she was trying to convey because there was a lot written about her ex, and it felt quite repetitive most of the time. It's a shame because she briefly mentions other controversial points throughout, for example: labels. She mentions the use of the "b" word (eh em... bisexuality). I identity with the "s" word (straight, people, I'm straight), but I was really intrigued in reading a collection of poems about love and loss from a bisexual woman's standpoint. Let's be honest, there aren't too many bisexual poets that are being published these days, and I wanted to show my support. However, I thought it was a little bit of a letdown when the bitter poems about her ex overshadowed the many other messages that MANY other girls would have related to and appreciated - especially because some poems implied that religion played a role in their breakup.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the formatting of her poetry and use of punctuation. Her poems read quite nicely, and I freaking loved all of the titles she gave to every poem.

Anyways, I still think this is a powerful collection that everyone should give a read - especially those dealing with the struggles of coming out. I feel like you will either love these poems or just feel meh about them. Bottom line, love is love and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

One of my favourite poems:

"Another Obligatory Poem Comparing A Girl
To Something Consumable

She was the whiskey:
a hard hit with a slow burn
I was the chase."

Thanks a million to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC. Quotes are subject to change upon publication.

This was good. Astounding, actually. It’s so different to what is currently out there and it really makes it stand out from the crowd. The emotion that comes through in this one is thick, intense and unrelenting in all the best ways. It broke my heart and reminded me of years gone by, but in a good way. I don’t know how poems can break my heart in a good way, but these certainly did. They’re excellently written, blunt and written with purpose and masses of emotion. The intensity of the poems is fantastic, and there are several in which I’ve bookmarked to go back to later - for reasons scaling from I resonated with them to I really liked them.

I think this is an essential book of poetry to read, particularly if you’re a late teen/young adult, because it stands as a really good story of love, loss, and heartbreak. I would also say it’s good for aspiring contemporary poets who want to “keep with the times” so to speak. I think this is a great book of poetry and a really charming, sweet, saddening yet uplifting read. There is a light at the end of the tunnel even if it doesn’t feel that way, and this book shows just that in a mature, elegant way. This also goes into fantastic detail on intricate and often difficult subjects; so this certainly stands as a good reassurance that you aren’t in it alone. It deals massively with biphobia which is incredibly important in young adult poetry, so bonus points for that!

I’ve rated this three stars purely because I didn’t like/connect to all of the poems. I struggle to rate poetry books very highly because I don’t always connect with all of them - and I think that’s how it should be. It’s subjective. But that doesn’t cancel out any of my aforementioned points - this is still a fantastic book of poetry, they’re just infinitely hard to rate!

There was a lot that I loved about this book, and a lot that I didn't love. I found the story in whole to drag on quite a bit, but when I looked at it one poem at a time I enjoyed it a lot more. Some poems I completely fell in love with, and those simple illustrations really made this book something special. I think personally for me, this is the type of poetry book that I would enjoy most if I picked it up, randomly turned to a page, read the poem, and put it back down until next time. I will still be on the lookout to pick up a copy for myself, and I am excited to check out this authors other work.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The overarching story of losing love and counting down to the ex's wedding gets to be a bit much by the end, but I still loved many of the poems.

I was not a fan of these poems. The one redeeming quality I see is that they talk openly about being bisexual and the bias that both the straight and the LGBTQ community still have towards bisexual people.

I have been loving short form poetry lately and this book was such a impactful one to add to my repertoire. The poems are both full of pain and healing and I felt connected to the author while reading them. Though a quick reach this is one that I think will stick with me for a while.

Enjoyable! I wouldn't rate this a 4 but it was very close. I really fell in love with some of the writing and I look forward to more from this author.