Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC!

I really enjoyed reading this. It is thought provoking and has some REALLY good messages in it. I could see this being analyzed in a college creative writing and/or literature class. It has a lot of beautiful pieces that could be discussed at length.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to rate this book. It's not exactly poetry or prose...but it's not a sort of self help book idea. I know it's supposed to be a woman empowerment book. which is a good thing because in this era we do need more books like that, I just think it had a hard time making a big point. The art/images were great, but they were scattered weirdly across the pages and made it hard to follow the story line, which flopped between this person, Aphrodite, and other narrators I think? It was all very confusing and the format didn't help at all. Because of that, I don't think I can give this a rating because I'm not sure what exactly went on. It had some great quotes, and a nice concept, but the execution didn't do it for me. Since I have to give a rating, I guess I'll give it a two stars.

*ARC kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
"Aphrodite Made Me Do It" has officially entered the list of my favourite collections of poetry and prose.
The author, Trista Mateer, reflects on her past self and her struggles regarding love, relationships, inclusivity and many other important topics.
Her thoughts were intertwined with Aphrodite's throughout the entire book in a beautiful and empowering metaphor.
Love is often seen as nothing more than a weakness, something frivolous even, but it's probably the one emotion that gives us enough strength to face whatever life puts us through, wether this love is directed towards someone else or towards ourselves. In Aphrodite's words: "To sing of love is almost always to sing of war".
I loved the comparison between the greek myths and the modern life struggles. It made me appreciate a bit better the spectrum of emotions, which now looks somewhat extraordinary if even a goddess experiences it and has to face the same injustices that we do.
I could go on for HOURS talking about this book, but I don't wanna over-explain my thoughts on a collection of poetry, something that should be felt rather than read about.
I would totally recommend this book and I know for a fact that I will read again some of these poems and thoughts.

Trigger warnings:
At the beginning of the book there's a page in which are listed all the trigger warnings for this book, something that I REALLY appreciated. They were particularly necessary as sometimes it covered very complicated topics, using a sarcastic tone/speaking through society's voice and it may look like some really harmful things are being said by the author, but that's really not the case! But even then, they're still quite triggering.
I'll list here the same tw's that were contained in the book: body image, sexual assault, rape, eating disorders, queerphobia, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gore, blood, death, fire.

This poetry collection was really different from her first one, even though she talks about being bisexual here too. But she talks more about the struggle that every LGBTQ person is facing, especially in the South (Kansas). She also deals with subjects such as love, breaking up, struggles and sexual assault. The poems are easy to go through and it can be read in one sitting. I also really like the drawings of the tarots cards and collages present throughout the collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Aphrodite Made Me Do It is a beautiful, woman empowering prose poetry book with art included throughout.

This is a book of dialogue between the goddess Aphrodite and the poet discussing love and hate and I honestly do recommend giving this book a go!

They made me a Goddess of love and then vilified me to loving freely.

Poetry means different things to different people and definitely mean something deep and empowering to the writer, so "rating" poetry is always difficult for me.

I praise the author for her candor and realness, the pops of art were beautiful and interesting.
This book kind of reminded me of a phenomenon that was popular close to 15 years ago, where people could send in a post card with a secret written on it in hopes that it would be posted on a website, or published in a book.
... I felt as tho I was reading Mateer's secrets.

A beautifully written collection of poetry that made me feel as though I were speaking to Aphrodite herself.

*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars

I'm always apprehensive when it comes to poetry. It's not a genre I find myself gravitating towards, even if it centers on topics which I think I could relate to, as I usually end up glossing over the passages because I just <i>don't get it.</i> I feel like sometimes in poetry people try so hard to say so much in one little paragraph they end up not saying anything at all. (To me, anyway - that's not to disregard that it could be meaningful to someone else.)

I was glad to find that this book of poetry was easy to read, and took me slightly by surprise at how much I enjoyed it. It was a refreshing approach to poetry that intertwines greek mythology into its powerful storytelling. I'm grateful to have been given the chance to read it!

4.25 stars ⭐
"I have this dream where I don’t have to keep coming out over and over. Where people don’t think my sexuality is a phase unless I can produce a girlfriend on command. Where people stop asking me who fucks better: men or women. Like those are the only options. Like the answer wouldn’t be a gross generalization. I have this dream where people aren’t always waiting to say, “maybe you haven’t found the right guy.” Where I don’t imagine them jumping out from behind doors and bushes and shower curtains to say, “I hope you get over this in time to have children of your own.” I have this dream where all of my queer representation isn’t murdered on TV. I have this dream where my queer friends aren’t murdered on the news. I have this dream where I feel safe. In rural Kansas. At my grandparents’ house. In a gay bar. At Pride. I have this dream where I only write you love poems and none of them have to say, “I’m so glad we’re alive.”
THIS BOOK HAS TOUCHED ME IN SO MANY WAYS

This was such a beautiful collection of poetry. It touched upon sensitive topics which was hard to read about, but I managed to make it to the end. Between the lovely words and the graphics, I can’t help but give this 5 stars

There are periods in my life when all I need is for poetry books like this to exist.
It is an authentic dialogue between the poet and Goddess Aphrodite on various themes like love and hate.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC! I appreciate it dearly!

I didn’t realize this was a young adult book, but that was pretty obvious from go. Interesting blend of prose/poetry and mythology... not entirely effective, but interesting. I liked the incorporation of tarot cards.

This was interesting but not groundbreaking or as emotional as I hoped. I enjoyed the parts Aphrodite narrated. The idea of this book was more fascinating than its execution, for me. Still a nice read!

This is the story of low and high, defeat and survival -- and probably some of the best poetry I have ever read. Just like the art that is the included, the poetrical aspects are extremely beautiful written,

I found some of the phrases in these poems to really resonate with me and then I found some just didn’t. This one has representation but could also be triggering for some. I found I didn’t like the way some of is was written as if Aphrodite was talking to you. Idk why but I didn’t like that. Over all a nice collection of poems. I also liked the pictures and art in it.

TW for rape, abuse, sexual assault, death, eating disorders, gore, blood, queerphobia

I don’t know what I expected when I started this collection. I don’t even quite know how to review it.

Never has a poetry collection made me feel things so deep in my soul that it feels like I’ve dived deeper than the ocean floor. This book wrapped me in a blanket, handed me a mug of hot coco and said “You’ll be okay. And here’s why”. It was gentle but it was fierce and it was strong and it was everything I needed right now.

I can’t tell you you’ll love this collection. It feels so deeply personal that I genuinely don’t know if you will. But if you’re struggling, and everything feels hard, then preorder this one, because it’s a good one.

Honestly, my only complaint is that it is too short! Mateer easily won me over from the first page. I zoomed through the whole book in under an hour and wished I had more! Her poetry is unlike most I have read. It not only talks about topics I relate to, but she does it in a manner that tells you to embrace yourself, even if it is hard.

So many poetry collections air out their dirty laundry and leave you feeling low. Mateer did the exact opposite. Sure, there were deep topics, but she proclaimed about accepting life and moving forward.

“My pain has always deserved a voice and I will not deny it that, but I won’t devote my life to it either ... Let me fill the space with joy instead.”

On top of her powerful, inclusive writing, what I loved most was the artwork and photography that accompanied the pieces. I found myself staring at every since one and felt empowered the farther I went on. They each stand alone beautifully, but even in the varying styles and techniques used to grab your attention, they still flowed together perfectly.

Even though I read this collection digitally, I could definitely see myself also picking up a physical copy if only to see the art in person and dog ear my favorite poems.

I highly recommend checking this collection out. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of poetry (much like myself!) I think there is something in this collection for everyone.

This book is a poetry and prose collection about selfcare, retelling Aphrodite’s empowering story through the past and present. I think this is the best poetry collection I’ve ever read. It’s a beautiful story about forgiveness, dealing with past trauma, and accepting yourself just the way you are.
Reading this book felt like a conversation with Aphrodite herself, talking about her strengths and struggles and life and love. I felt such a strong connection to the story and I found a lot of myself in the pages.
I’m not usually a huge fan of poetry, but I loved the format of this book and it suited the story perfectly. It changed perspective between Aphrodite and the author, and featured a lot of illustrations and typography by the author between the poems which I think would be stunning to see in a physical copy of the book.
I don’t think I will ever recommend a book more than I recommend this one, especially if you’re in the place to read it.

I received an arc of Aphrodite Made Me Do It from Central Avenue Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

I really enjoyed this poetry collection. It highlighted important topics and social discussions which I found interesting to read about. Mythology was heavily incorporated alongside a more humane perspective. This collection featured some beautiful, hard-hitting poems which I loved. Topics were discussed in both delicate and harsher ways which I liked.

The collection really focused on empowerment and I loved the way gods and goddesses were used to illustrate and convey themes. The images and quotes in here were also stunning. Some poems fell a little flat for me but that may be just because I couldn’t fully relate to them.

I appreciate the arc and want to thank Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read this collection. I’d recommend this poetry collection to those looking for a sense of strength and how to find it.

This is the first I have seen from Trista Mateer
I received a free arc from Net Gallery in return for a honest review.

The thing I liked the most about this was the illustrations that still showed the feel of the book and really broke the poems up. I've not seen this done like this before and I really loved it.
I especially loved the tarot like images.

"I belong to no one. They never wrote that part down."

Its a story of survival, a fight through assault and abuse and coming through that learning to self love. One particular poem really stood out for me and that's the one that describes all her fears, its just so honest and open and really made me thought the writer was fearless because she was able to really own what she was afraid of.

"What brings us together will always be more powerful than what keeps us apart.”

The writing is really beautiful, Trista Mateer has a huge talent and I can't wait to see what comes next.