I had enjoyed reading Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson last month and was on the lookout for another coming-of-age prose poetry novel when I chanced upon The Poet X by Elizabeth Avecedo.

Caught between her parents: Mami’s strict Catholic rules, weekly communion class, a distant father and her need to find her voice in a world trying to silence her, Xiomara Batista or The Poet X resorts to poetry as a way to unpick the various layers of her life. Her twin brother Twin and best friend Caridad encourage her to write, cover for her when she’s with her boyfriend Aman, but she constantly finds herself enveloped in grief needing to break free because she is unable to meet Mami’s expectations of a good Catholic girl.

While this is most definitely geared towards young adults, its exploration of girlhood, self-love, sexual harassment, the tensions between tradition and modernity, the redemptive quality of family make for an excellent read, whatever your age!

Thank you Electric Monkey, Egmont Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC.

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!