This book intrigued me from just reading the synopsis and when I found out the book was written completely in poetic form, I knew I had to read this as soon as possible. Reminiscent of a combination of writers such as Junot Diaz in it’s honesty and writers such as Jacqueline Woodson, The Poet X is an incredible story.

This is a book that as soon as you’re in, you will not get out until the end. Explosive, real and a great reflection of the society we live in today, The Poet X shows how the world works for a teenage girl growing up now and that’s both sad, maddening and touching throughout this book, particularly the moments with her family and the impact they have on her life.

However it’s the use of different forms of poetry in how this story is told that makes this book draw you in, they reflect how Xiomara’s mind works, whether it’s racing thoughts when talking about falling in love or mellow moments contemplating how she feels writing, this books emotions are displayed in how each page is written and it strikes you throughout this book with such perfection.

A unique and brilliant read, it’s probably the best book I’ve read this year so far.

Unique, timely and important. This is a beautiful story and a quick read too. Would thoroughly recommend.

This book is beautiful, fierce, heartbreaking and joyful. Written in verse it is the coming-of-age story of Xiomara Batista, a teenage girl living in Harlem. Her parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic and have retained traditional (religious) values, which don't quite gel with those of Xio and her twin brother. This is the story of how Xio struggles to find her voice, and balance the conflict that arises from having a strict Catholic mother and being a red-blooded teenage girl in the grip of first love.

The way Xio questions her faith is very sensitively handled, and her battle against boys (and men) sexualising her developing figure will strike a chord with anyone who is or has been a teenage girl. I mean this as the highest compliment when I say The Poet X should take its place in the cannon of classic teenage girl literature. This is Forever for a new generation, and dare I say it - it may even surpass Forever.

What makes this book truly powerful and unique is that the entire story is written in verse. I’ve read books that have a heavy poetry influence (The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night springs to mind) but often those books feel excessively flowery and get boring very quickly. This kind of verse has a bite to it and never gets dull, it grabs hold of you on the first page and doesn’t let you go even after you’re finished reading.

This book spoke to me in a lot of different ways, for one thing, I have a profound love for slam poetry, if I start watching videos on YouTube it can be a few hours before I pull myself back to reality again. I also related to the religious upbringing Xiomara has and struggles with (though mine was far less extreme than hers!). If I ended up relating so strongly to Xiomara I can only imagine how others will find her.

The plot of this book is wonderful, heart-warming as well as heart-breaking, with powerful emotion at its core, perfect for this medium. I foolishly decided to finish reading this at my desk first thing in the morning and had to awkwardly sniffle and hide the fact that I was in floods of tears from my colleagues (bookworm problems).

This book is significant, it’s heavy and it’s powerful but at the same time it has a lightness to it, it’s a breath of fresh air for those caught in a reading slump (or any kind of slump if I’m honest). It is a call to follow your dreams tied up completely with the understanding that sometimes that is a tall order.
I can’t wait to see what other people think of this book. I want to read about teens falling in love with Xiomara and with poetry and getting inspired.

My rating: 5/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I love poetry and I was really taken with how this book was written. I’ve not read any of the author’s poetry but I feel I’ll have to look out for it now. This was a beautiful, compelling and honest look at issues facing many teen girls today. I am so on board for honest discussions about body image, rape culture, religion and parental abuse. Despite the hard hitting topics, the MC is endearingly vulnerable as she struggles to find her own voice. The romance is sweet. And it never feels as if the book is preaching to you. I’m very hit and miss with YA contemporary since so much is written to fill trends of the moment without any emotional honesty. Not the case here at all. A wonderful book. I read it in one sitting.

Striking coming of age story with strong, compelling characters & a vivid sense of place. Verse format is clever but accessible. Ending feels a little neat but overall it's an engaging, memorable read.

Thanks to Electric Monkey for providing a free copy of the ARC via NetGalley.

I don't read a lot of verse fiction but I found THE POET X to be a gripping read - Xiomara is a very realistic, complex heroine whose story you will be engrossed in. A Dominican-American girl who just wants to write poetry and sort her feelings for a cute boy at school, she frequently butts heads with her more traditional mother. The family drama feels real, and her relationship with her brother (who she refers to as "Twin") is sweet, and they have their great share of secrets and support for each other.

As it's written in verse, it's a quick read, but you'll want to savour the poems for a lot longer.

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.

The Poet X follows teen, Xiomara Batista, as she uses her own poetry, and enters into the world of slam poetry, in an attempt to understand her divorced feelings from her religion, her tumultuous relationship with her family, and her own identity and place in this world.

My first book written in verse has proven to me that it can compete with wordier or lengthier pieces of prose for emotional impact and how deeply it could resonate with me. I found line after line that I wanted to jot down and remember for ever, I found whole sections that felt like they were penned by my own soul, and found I read much of this through tear-filled eyes, at the raw emotion that each and every poem portrayed. I have always been certain of my love for classic poetry, but this has confirmed that my feelings for modern poetry are exactly the same.

My only source of contention was that this did not deliver any more than the synopsis told you it would. There were no narrative twists or sub-plots to interfere with the dogged progression of the story-line. This book set out and delivered exactly what it needed to, and it did so magnificently, but there was also no shock about where the protagonist would be at the ending. It did not devalue the important message or the the powerful wording used to deliver it, but I think this would have been a five-star read, for me, if a vaguer synopsis had been provided.

Powerful, emotional and dramatic story of the young (15/16 year old)) daughter of parents from the Dominican Republic. The mother is staunchly religious, highly controlling, sometimes frighteningly stifling in her beliefs and rule over her children Xiomara (the poet of the title) and Xavier (called Twin by his sister).
Written in short sections of poetic prose throughout, an interesting and apt style which only adds impact to this wonderfully well told story of teenagers, family, sexuality, gender, religion....and of course slam poetry.
Highly recommended for both young adults and also older readers - particularly those like myself who may have memories of similar relationships and issues in their youth and for whom the outcome of X's story can be emotionally cathartic.

I couldn't connect with the story and the characters no matter how much I try to. I still gave this book a chance and pave through the story until the end yet my thoughts and feelings toward it hadn't changed.

Yes, this is an uncorrected proof copy but I confused the title of the chapter with the beginning of paragraphs and senteces. And yes, this doesn't affect the story but I have to state it out that it made me even more confused than before.

Xiomara's story intrigues me tremendously, I have never yet a character like her and that's probably why I keep on reading her story. It's funny that she calls her twin, Twin. I was confused about if for awhile until she cleared it up.

Anyways, this was an interesting read with so many possibilities that could happen and left me wondering and wanting to know Xiomara as she navigates through her life.

" I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them"

This book is so beautiful that I honestly can't think of any words that will do it justice. I am simply thankful for its existence and can't wait to own a physical copy.

Xiomara is a brilliant protaganist and through her incredible, lyrical words we explore first love, religion, society and family life. Everything is dealt with so incredibly well. It's raw and real and pure.

I would have been happy if it had never ended.

I've been desperate to read this book for quite some time and I may have squealed a little when I got accepted by Netgalley to receive a copy to review.

And let me start by saying you will not be disappointed with this novel.

It's a coming of age story with a difference. Xiomara is a teenage girl who wants to do all the things that teenage girls do but her Mother just won't allow it.

Boys are out of the question, what is planned for her is religion, communion, living by God's rules. She is to be a good girl.

But good girls are allowed to have a life too, right?

What Elizabeth Acevedo has written is something quite poetic in itself and not just the poetry that comes from Xiomara but the words that are read within each chapter.

Short and sharp, to the point, it's all so meaningful and thought provoking.

Diverse.

By the end you are left with a sense of warmth, a certain knowledge about the world we live in. The meaning behind Poet-X it's ok to be different, to imitate is boring, to be unique is to live!

I've been seeing this book everywhere recently, lauded as one of the most powerful and important YA novels this year, so I was thrilled to see it available for request as an ARC on Netgalley, and even more excited when I was approved and sent a copy.

Xiomara's story really is a powerful one. Living in Harlem with her brother, Xavier - better known to her and us as "Twin" - and her parents, X is a budding poet with a major thirst for words. She writes every single day in the journal her brother once gave her, recording thoughts and poetry, but she has to keep it hidden.

X's parents are devout Christians and the book does an incredible job of portraying X's struggle with her religion, which is a major oppressive force in her life. Her mother uses religion to stifle her, and poetry is X's release. While I am not normally a fan of novels in verse, this story is so unique and it works perfectly, and the entire novel is not written this way - X's narrative is interspersed with her poetry and her thoughts as she navigates life.

I loved the representation that this novel displays: X is an almost-sixteen-year-old tall Dominican girl who has learnt to grow into her body, and she documents the struggles she faces when it comes to boys and men leering at her, as though she owes them something because of the body she inhabits. I found the story to be a powerful feminist commentary in highlighting the daily difficulties that X faces as a cluster of minorities.

Although the story is not told in a conventional manner, I could envisage every scene so clearly, and X had such a distinct voice that I really felt as though I was reading a real, personal diary. I was dragged into the story fast and hard, and devoured nearly four hundred pages in a couple of hours. It's a quick but important read, that I can't sum up concisely in a review when it's a story unlike any I've read before. 

This is one of those books that you just have to read. It's a beautiful, heartwrenching, emotional little story that will mean an awful lot to a lot of people. I may not be able to relate to X on every level, I really felt her pain and her emotions, a testament to the author's skill. This was an incredible #ownvoices novel that I'm sure I'll be rereading.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LOVED this. Fascinating and totally approachable use of poetry as a form, emotional and honest and intimate. Would recommend!

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo was one of my most anticipated reads of 2018 and I have to say I LOVED this! Xiomara is such a real and complicated main character and although I didn't have much in common with Xio I really enjoyed getting to know her. I think I can honestly say I haven't ever read a book in verse, but I have listened to a few Slam Poems, and this book makes me want to pick up a lot more. I think a book that can introduce you to an entirely new style of books and have you come out wanting more is hugely successful!
This story was powerful and entirely unique to me and because the story was written as it was it was a fast read and also seemed to really focus on those poignant, important elements that truly added to this story.
My favourite element of this was its ending (not in a bad way I promise!). I was gripped and emotional and I just broke at the end with pride and relief and joy. I will 100% be picking up for of Elizabeth Acevedo's work.

4.5/5 stars!