Afternoons of Suspended Love is a remarkable and truly original collection that turns its attention to a subject too often overlooked in poetry: love and erotic passion within the continuity of marriage.
What makes this work particularly compelling is its ability to approach long-term love without idealization or clichè. Instead, it presents marriage as a living, evolving space where passion, memory, habit, and rediscovery coexist. The poems explore intimacy not as something that fades, but as something that changes form: deepening, resisting, and renewing itself over time.
Stylistically, the collection draws on a lyrical and classical sensibility, yet remains grounded in lived experience. The language is refined without becoming distant, allowing the emotional core of the work to remain accessible and immediate. This balance gives the poems a rare clarity: they are elevated in form, yet anchored in recognizably human moments.
The metaphors are carefully shaped and purposeful, often emerging from the textures of everyday life. Rather than grand abstractions, the collection finds its strength in precise, meaningful details - gestures, shared spaces, fragments of conversation - through which love is both expressed and examined.
There is also a subtle but important reorientation of perspective. By narrating love within marriage, the collection challenges a long-standing poetic tendency to focus on beginnings, longing, or loss. Here, love is neither fleeting nor nostalgic, but sustained — an ongoing negotiation between presence and change.
Afternoons of Suspended Love is an elegant and necessary contribution to contemporary poetry. It expands the boundaries of how love can be written, offering a nuanced and deeply felt exploration of passion within enduring commitment, and it is genuinely a pleasure to read.

I have been married for a long time, so this description sounded perfect for my tastes! I devoured the poetry within. I enjoyed the author’s writing style. It felt raw and real. The authenticity is appreciated. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very rarely am I a consumer of poetry, but I made an exception here — and I'm so glad that I did. Stefania Luchetti's choice to provide her poems in both English and Italian was ingenious. As someone who loves Italian and has been learning it on/off for numerous years, these poems only reignited my love for the language (and served as proof that I remember more of the language than I thought!!).

The poems themselves are a masterclass in subtlety. To romanticise the mundane and see the beauty in the everyday is arguably an uncultivated skill in many long-term relationships, but Luchetti appears to have this skill down to a fine art.

My particular favourite poem was 'All the dirt'/'Tutta la sporcizia', which beautifully compares the gritty, tiring difficulty of an argument with a similarly gruelling task of a home repair. The use of the word 'chimera' in the first verse is particularly satisfying: "We talked all night / shouting and screaming / incoherent words of anger / like the fury of a chimera / memories, thoughts, emotions". Relational conflicts are often 'chimeras', both in the sense of something hideous and something borne from a false, disproportionate perception. Luchetti portrays this beautifully. She doesn't gloss over or sidestep difficulties, but rather, leans into them, unafraid to include them in her portrait of raw, realistic love.

I will end this review with a recital of my favourite line from the entire collection: a line from the poem 'Mi vuoi docile' / 'You want me docile', which feels like an accurate representation of the current feelings of so many women, including myself:

"Mi esprimo, narro ciò che vedo, non per compiacere, ma per dar voce alla visione che porto dentro." ("I express what I see, what I narrate, not to appease, but to give voice to the vision I carry within.")

Thank you, Stefania Luchetti, for giving voice to your beautiful visions and sharing them with the world.

I can feel myself slowly stepping into my poetry reading era, and this collection felt like a gentle place to begin. I have not read many poetry books centered on marriage, so I really appreciated how these poems explore long term love with honesty and care. The bilingual format is beautiful. I do not read Italian, but I still found it meaningful to see the poems side by side and notice how language can shape emotion in different ways.

Some poems felt very close to my own marriage. I even sent a few to my husband because they captured small, familiar moments so well. Others felt a bit too deep or abstract for me to fully connect with right now. Still, I enjoyed the experience overall and appreciated the focus on enduring love. Thank you NetGalley and the Alchemia publishing for the opportunity to read this.

Afternoons of Suspended Love was like walking down memory lane with my husband. It made me reflect on our time together, both the good and the bad. As it says, this is perfect for people who have been together for a long time but still have undying love.

I am recently married, but relate to these poems as my husband and I have been together for 10 years. I only wish I had these poems for our wedding day as I think they would make beautiful readings in both religious and non-religious ceremonies.

My favourite poem is ‘In Your Arms.’ The fourth verse, especially, moved me to tears. The whole anthology, but this poem in particular, is real, raw and relatable.

Most people can’t write poetry as beautiful as this in their first language, never mind a second! What an extraordinary collection of poems. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review.

Thank you NetGalley and Alchemia for the review copy of Stefania Lucchetti's collection "Afternoon of Suspended Love;" it is greatly appreciated.

"Afternoons of Suspended Love" is the second book by Stefania Lucchetti I have had the pleasure of reading, and just like "Coffee Stains on My Books," I was captivated. Reading Lucchetti's writing is like reading one's own diary entries: truthful, sensitive, hopeful, sad, and joyful. The title poem makes me think of a couple settled into comfortable companionship. There isn't excitement every day, but there is the warm knowledge of each other, and that is everything. In "Love Language" she says: "[...] In small things, I find your affection/ in everyday gestures, your direction. / As I sip my coffee, / I feel your presence beside me."
"Recycling" is a poem that is reflected by many couples, I think. No relationship is ever perfect; we have to keep trying so we don't waste what we have; and in "Constant Mystery," I feel Lucchetti has perfectly presented the true definition of what love is: "[...] Love requires presence, / and sometimes space, / steadfastness, listening, / and patient grace."
My favorite in this collection is "Love Me." It is a beautiful poem, saying "love me, just because": "[...] Love me for no reason, /or for every ancient rhyme, /to hear the echo of forever, /and forget the fleeting touch of time."

A huge thank you to Stefania and NetGalley for the early acess to this book.

Single, childless and not even going through that route. But some of these poems just hit home, I guess situationships and love through the years bear some similarities, which is an odd thing to say. Maybe it's all the moments of uncertainty that link both ways of life. Maybe it's me projecting some other things along the lines.

I wish I knew Italian as intimately as I know English because I think a lack of closeness in some poems that the writer must have done the best of her job while writing them in her native language.

Even though I don't know much about love besides reading about it, I understand better that ups and downs will always be present in whatever we choose and how to love.

Not only is this collection filled with beautiful poetry, but it also has incredible depth and meaning.
I enjoyed reading the ease and simplicity of this collection and how it was intertwined with such strong emotions. I liked how love was portrayed as a refuge despite anger or emotions. Also, Lucchetti does an amazing job of embedding the irritations and struggles of daily life with love and adoration. Overall, amazing collection!

Thank you to Stefania Lucchetti and NetGalley for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really appreciated how these poems explored long-term love with so much honesty and tenderness. Even though I don’t read Italian, I loved having the original poems next to the translations because it added another layer to the experience. A lot of the emotions in the collection felt surprisingly familiar to me, especially the uncertainty and longing that can exist in all kinds of relationships. The poems felt personal without trying too hard to be dramatic.

thank you netgalley for the copy