the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts by Megan Diedericks

July 13, 2026 By Leave a Comment


the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts by Megan Diedericks
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

gray, empty
but i let the words grow
and my heart, i let show
but with separation came
the anxiety, the pain, the journey
within confinement.
i wasn’t ever my own
and my many faces had me so alone,
i thought i might drown.
it started before i even knew what puberty meant:
at twelve, i wrote my first lines.
now, at twenty, i want you to read my warning signs.

Sectioned off by chapters with original photography, the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts is Megan Diedericks’ debut poetry collection which delves deep into mental health and self-reflection; encapsulating her journey with heartache, loss, grief, and self-perception. This collection begs the reader to wonder whether or not any of us will ever truly be free, and fully alive.

Healing isn’t always a straightforward process.

Mental health is one of those topics that piques my interest immediately. Not only are there many different diagnoses to choose from, but each person’s individual experiences with their own mental health can vary based on a variety of factors including age, culture, and personality. This means that a reader can pick up six books on the same disorder and potentially have a wildly different experience with each of them. Learning more about Ms. Diedericks experiences was rewarding, and I thought she did a nice job of explaining why some days can feel overwhelming when one is in the thick of things.

The repetition in this collection made it tricky for me to maintain a high interest level in it from beginning to end. Obviously, one would expect the same themes to be repeated over and over again, but the wording used in many of the poems was a little too similar for my tastes. With more development, I think this could have been a stronger body of work that dug even more deeply into all of the nuances of experiencing heartbreak.

My favorite poem, “Amusement Park,” also happened to be one of the final ones. It was the best example of the author’s creativity in my opinion, especially once the amusement park metaphor in it was explained in more detail. I enjoyed the dark sense of humor woven into it and thought this could have easily been expanded into an entire poetry collection in and of itself.

the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Peaches in the Rain by Aurelia L Imeri

June 16, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Peaches in the Rain by Aurelia L Imeri
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Poetry, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

What if the person you ruined is the only person who ever felt like home?

Dear reader, Orion did what people do when regret becomes too loud to ignore.

He went looking for the ghost he had spent a decade pretending not to love.

At Glasgow Airport, shaken by seven impossible weeks and a heart he can no longer control, Orion boards a flight back to London. Beside him sits Ava: anxious, wounded, funny, and far too perceptive for a stranger. As the plane claws through turbulence, their conversation becomes a confession.

There is L.

The woman he loved before he knew how to keep love safe. The woman he hurt. The woman whose voice still lives in the quiet rooms of his mind. The woman who may not be a fantasy after all.

Through airport fog, borrowed cars, rain-slicked A-roads and the brutal intimacy of things left unsaid, Peaches in the Rain asks whether love can return after the damage is done.

Is it delusion to still feel someone after ten years?

Or is it only delusion if they do not feel it too?

Raw, lyrical and painfully intimate, Peaches in the Rain is a novel about longing, guilt, second chances, and the dangerous hope that some love does not die.

It waits.

Regret is a heavy load to carry.

Orion and L both struggled to form and maintain emotionally healthy relationships. This isn’t something I typically find in romance novels, so I was eager to find out if one or both of them would develop the emotional and communication tools necessary to change this by either seeking professional help or finding the right workbook to help them figure out why they reacted the way that they did.

It would have been helpful to have more information about why these two characters should try to be romantically involved with each other for a second time. The stories Orion shared about the way he treated L disturbed me, and when I finished those scenes I hoped they’d both do quite a bit more healing before deciding whether to get back together. This is something I’m saying as a reader who virtually always roots for the main characters to live happily ever after, but in this particular case I didn’t have enough evidence that these two were good for each other at this precise moment in their lives.

I applaud the author for not wrapping up all of the loose ends of this romance the way such a thing would generally be written for this genre. There’s something to be said for playing around with the audience’s expectations of what should happen next and allowing the characters to develop naturally instead, even if it was in a direction that wasn’t particularly common. This was my first experience reading their work, and it has piqued my curiosity about what else they have already published or will publish in the near future.

Peaches in the Rain was a creative take on a difficult relationship.

Filed Under: Poetry, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery

September 18, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Widow Fantasies by Hollay Ghadery
Publisher: Gordon Hill Press
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Poetry
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Fantasies are places we briefly visit; we can’t live there. The stories in Widow Fantasies deftly explore the subjugation of women through the often subversive act of fantasizing. From a variety of perspectives, through a symphony of voices, Widow Fantasies immerses the reader in the domestic rural gothic, offering up unforgettable stories from the shadowed lives of girls and women.

Life is filled with shades of grey.

“Jaws” explored the warm, loving friendship between a lonely woman and her goldfish. There aren’t enough tales out there about this type of pet, so I was immediately intrigued. I enjoyed learning about how they grew so close and why the woman’s husband was jealous of that bond. This could have easily been expanded into a novella or full length novel, and yet I was still satisfied with how it was written and what the characters chose to reveal about their lives.

Some of the stories in this collection had endings that were too abrupt for my tastes, especially since I only had a few pages on average with each one. When combined with the subtle messages in some cases, it was tricky for me at times to connect with the characters and their conflicts. As much as I wanted to choose a higher rating, these issues were an obstacle in my path to do so. “Widow Fantasies,” which captured a moment on a farm that changed the lives of everyone who lived there, was one such example of this. I needed a few more pages of exposition to understand what was going on with Leyla and Georgette on that unforgettable day.

Using a kayak in a ditch after it floods with melted snow from the entire winter was never something I’ve considered doing, so I was curious to see how this game would work out for Cassie in “Ditch Run.” She planned it all out so thoroughly that I was surprised by how her ride actually unfolded for her. What an adventure! It would make an excellent addition to a scrapbook.

Widow Fantasies was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Other, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tome of Stars by Stargazer

September 1, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Tome of Stars by Stargazer
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“Tome of Stars” is a poetic odyssey chronicling a tragic romance, told through 100 interconnected sonnets. The pages explore love and loss, belief and apostasy, trauma, madness, reason, myth, and memory. While written in classic Shakespearean form, its voice and vision are contemporary. It was written with the hope that it might resonate with those who have loved and lost on a transformative scale.

Sometimes love has thorns.

I enjoyed the fact that these sonnets followed the rules of this style of poetry so closely while seeing the characters through the course of their relationship. Normally, contemporary poetry does not include so much space for character and plot development, much less strict expectations about rhythm and rhyme, so it was interesting to watch the characters learn and grow as a result of their positive and negative experiences with love in this format.

With that being said, I did struggle to make sense of what I learned about the protagonist at times. Their mood shifted so rapidly that I found myself wondering how Stargirl, their love interest, would have described the same scenes. Did she find those moments as sweet and romantic as he did, or was this a case of a possibly unreliable narrator? While I wouldn’t expect the author to spell everything out directly for their audience, I did wonder if these other interpretations of the text were something that were intended or if I was reading too much into it. Having more guidance in this area would have gone a long way to encourage me to choose a higher rating as the writing style itself was beautiful.

The inclusion of various myths were a nice addition to this collection. They gave it a timeless feeling, especially once the author went into even further detail about these metaphors and how they were related to Stargirl. While I can’t go into a lot of detail about this without sharing spoilers, do keep an eye out for those lines and sonnets as they appear. They were well done and interesting no matter which myths they were referencing.

Tome of Stars was an adventure to read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Pent Up Thoughts by James B. Agape

September 23, 2024 By Leave a Comment


Pent Up Thoughts by James B. Agape
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Inspirational, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“Pent Up Thoughts” is a remarkable collection of journaled thoughts, messages, and poems that shine a captivating light on the complex depths of mental health and self-care. This book beckons readers to take a soul-stirring voyage, delving into the complexities of anxiety, depression, self-love and acceptance, relationships, coping mechanisms, healing, and the widespread stigmas surrounding mental health. Divided into six sections, each part sheds light on an indispensable angle of the mental well-being experience, beautifully intertwined with self-care, resilience, and hope topics. This collection seeks to provide solace, inspiration, and a sense of connection to those battling mental health challenges or searching for a deeper understanding of the human experience and themselves.

Hope is essential and can be found in even the hardest circumstances.

I appreciated the time and effort the author put into describing just how exhausting and hopeless life can feel when someone is struggling with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues. Even small steps in the right direction can feel as difficult as running a marathon or climbing Mount Everest. This isn’t always something that people who have never struggled with mental illness can easily understand, so I was glad to see it spelled out so clearly. Understanding that headspace is imperative to beginning to heal as well as to figuring out how to help someone who feels trapped by their illness.

The repetition in this book made it difficult for my interest levels to remain high. Certain points were brought up in almost every chapter without clear explanations as to why the author was mentioning them again. This would have been more effective if those sentences were trimmed down or if new information was included in later references to those subjects in my opinion.

The poems were beautiful, and I appreciated their steady cadence and rhyming schemes. Mr. Agape used those rules to explore the wide variety of emotions he experienced before, during, and after his diagnosis became official. There’s beauty to be found everywhere in life, especially in the parts of it that most people would struggle with if it happened to them. He has a real flair for this form of writing and it is my hope that he will be able to publish more of it soon. If or when there’s another poetry collection from him, I’d love to read it!

I should note that I was not aware this was an inspirational title when I requested it. The religious content is an occasional part of the author’s advice and takes up about ten to fifteen percent of the entire book. Still, it was and still is an important part of his life and healing process, so it was interesting to see how his faith affected the choices he made as he struggled with the hardest portions of his mental illness.

Pent Up Thoughts was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Provide a Much-Needed Escape

September 10, 2024 By 34 Comments


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Poetry is something I use as an escape from whatever troubles I’m encountering in the real world. There are many different types of it out there, of course, but I tend to enjoy poetry about nature, whimsical interpretations of the world, or humorous topics the most.

Here are some of the many poetry collections I’ve enjoyed over the years.  I was so excited when Long and Short Reviews decided to begin accepting it for review as that was not the case when I first became one of their reviewers. (If any poets read this, please submit more of your books to us!)

Some, but not all, of these collections fit the criteria above. My preferences don’t prevent me from branching out and enjoying  other styles, too.

1. Mirage by Shutao Liao (LASR review)

2. The Assumption of Death by Anthony David Vernon (LASR Review)

3. The Cool and Warmth of Hearts by J.A. Santana (LASR Review)

4. Power by Geraldine Anello (LASR Review)

5. Collector of Things & Other Poems by Riya Aarini (LASR Review)

6. Hearts and Spears by Somto Jefferson Uwazie (LASR Review)

7. Unsaid by Asmita Rajiv (LASR Review)

8. THE COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS by Shutao Liao (LASR Review)

9. Consciousness Detoured by Miladine Etienne (LASR Review)

 

Since I am one response short of ten, I’m going to pick something from my childhood to round it out. It’s hopefully something many of you grew up with, too.

10. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Other than nursery rhymes, of course, he was my first introduction to the poetry genre so far as I can remember. I loved his playful sense of humor.

What sorts of poetry, whether modern or classic, do you like?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

If Not for the Cat – Haiku by Jack Prelutsky and paintings by Ted Rand

June 21, 2023 By Leave a Comment


If Not for the Cat – Haiku by Jack Prelutsky and paintings by Ted Rand
Publisher: Greenwillow Books/Harper Collins
Genre: Childrens (6+ yrs), Contemporary, Poetry, Animals
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Seventeen haiku composed by master poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by renowned artist Ted Rand ask you to think about seventeen favorite residents of the animal kingdom in a new way.

On these glorious and colorful pages you will meet a mouse, a skunk, a beaver, a hummingbird, ants, bald eagles, jellyfish, and many others. Who is who? The answer is right in front of you. But how can you tell? Think and wonder and look and puzzle it out!

A creature whispers:

If not for the cat,
And the scarcity of cheese,
I could be content.

Who is this creature?
What does it like to eat?
Can you solve the riddle?

How would life be if there wasn’t a cat?

This book doesn’t delve deeply on that subject, but what it does is show haiku about animals and makes the reader think. If not for the cat chasing him and the lack of cheese, the mouse would be happy. This book encourages discussion and has some beautiful paintings within.

I picked up this book thinking it might be a humorous book, but it was thought-provoking instead and I liked it. I liked how each haiku discusses the animal pictured and does it in a way that opens up discussion. What does the reader think?

The paintings are fantastic, and this book is good for younger readers or those being read to. It’s great for asking questions and wondering.

If you’re looking for something different, then this is the book for you.

Filed Under: Poetry, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson

May 18, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Genre: Contemporary, Autobiography, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Poetry
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

The actress, activist, and once infamous Playboy Playmate reclaims the narrative of her life in a memoir that defies expectation in both content and approach, blending searing prose with snippets of original poetry.

In this honest, layered and unforgettable book that alternates between storytelling and her own poetry, Pamela Anderson breaks the mold of the celebrity memoir while taking back the tale that has been crafted about her.

Her blond bombshell image was ubiquitous in the 1990s. Discovered in the stands of a football game, she was immediately rocket launched into fame, becoming Playboy’s favorite cover girl and an emblem of Hollywood glamour and sexuality. But what happens when you lose grip on your own life—and the image the notoriety machine creates for you is not who you really are?

Growing up on Vancouver Island, the daughter of young, wild, and unprepared parents, Pamela Anderson’s childhood was not easy, but it allowed her to create her own world—surrounded by nature and imaginary friends. When she overcame her deep shyness and grew into herself, she fell into a life on the cover of magazines, the beaches of Malibu, the sets of movies and talk shows, the arms of rockstars, the coveted scene at the Playboy Mansion. And as her star rose, she found herself tabloid fodder, at the height of an era when paparazzi tactics were bent on capturing a celebrity’s most intimate, and sometimes weakest moments. This is when Pamela Anderson lost control of her own narrative, hurt by the media and fearful of the public’s perception of who she was…and who she wasn’t.

Fighting back with a sense of grace, fueled by a love of art and literature, and driven by a devotion to her children and the causes she cares about most, Pamela Anderson has now gone back to the island where she grew up, after a memorable run starring as Roxie in Chicago on Broadway, reclaiming her free spirit but also standing firm as a strong, creative, confident woman.

She’s self-possessed and shy, but man, she’s a force.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to get when I picked up this book. I wasn’t expecting the poetry, which is nice, or the blatant honesty. Anderson doesn’t hold back. Not one bit. She tells it like she saw it and she’s seen a lot.

Pamela Anderson gets dismissed because of being a body or being Mrs. Tommy Lee, but there’s a lot more to her. She’s a staunch advocate for animals, she’s against animal cruelty (I will warn there is a story about kittens that will break anyone who has an affection for animals.), and she’s accomplished. She knows what she wants and she’s not afraid to get it. But she’s also fragile. She’s been through a lot. Being that ‘body’ she’s had to deal with invasiveness and people thinking she owes them. I liked her candor and ability to laugh at herself while being serious.

There aren’t many big revelations in this book, but it’s a solid memoir and worth the read.

If you’re looking for a Hollywood memoir full of heart and passion, then this might be the book for you. Check it out!

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mirage by Shutao Liao

January 25, 2023 By 1 Comment


Mirage by Shutao Liao
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Poetry
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The poet found himself retreating to his own lodge as an observer after long tedious travel, writing down everything across his mind, to reveal a splendor of romantic emotions as well as a profound sense of beauty throughout the words between the lines.

An intimate journey to the kingdom of self salvation.

Change isn’t always easy, but it’s an unavoidable part of being alive.

I enjoyed the repetition of certain themes throughout this collection. For example, the speakers spent a lot of time talking about the circle of life and death and how what might seem to be a catastrophe in one moment can be interpreted very differently if a long term view of the problem is taken instead. Natural disasters were one example of this, and they made me think of how fire can look quite destructive for a prairie or a forest in one particular year but also be critical to the survival of that ecosystem decades or centuries from now. Finding patterns like these made it difficult for me to stop reading. I kept wanting to pick out more examples of what the author was talking about and connect everything together.

There were times when I struggled to understand what the author was trying to say. Poetry can be written in ways that can lead to multiple valid interpretations of the same text, of course, but I did find myself wishing that some of these passages were a little easier to comprehend. The writing style was so detailed that it saddened me to walk away from certain stanzas without fully figuring out what they were trying to share with the audience. If not for my confusion in those moments, I would have happily gone with a higher rating.

The references to the events of 2020 were an interesting surprise. I liked the way Mr. Liao discussed how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone’s lives to this day, from the tragedy of the countless deaths from this disease to the social isolation that all of us survivors have dealt with while trying to slow the spread of the virus. The poem after this one described the author washing his dusty soul for reasons I’ll leave other readers to discover for themselves, and I thought it was a pleasant way to wrap up a reference to something that is still such a major portion of everyone’s lives.

Mirage made me yearn for spring and the beginning of the next cycle of the seasons.

Filed Under: Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

THE COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS by Shutao Liao

November 28, 2022 By Leave a Comment



THE COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS by Shutao Liao
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Poetry
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The poet found himself retreating to his own lodge as an observer after long tedious travel, writing down everything across his mind, to reveal a splendor of romantic emotions as well as a profound sense of beauty throughout the words between the lines.

An intimate journey to the kingdom of self salvation.

How does one live a good life? One answer to that question is buried in this book.

Many of these poems explored the differences between outward appearances and what is actually happening in someone’s heart and mind. For example, one poem warned readers not to be distracted by physical beauty because that is no guarantee that a person’s soul is also beautiful. I enjoyed taking note of the various approaches to this topic that were used and how each one illuminated things from another angle. This subject has been covered in poetry many times before, of course, but I thought the author did a good job of explaining why he thought it was crucial to separate what someone looks like from who they are on the inside.

My only piece of constructive criticism for these poems has to do with who the speakers were of them were supposed to be. Some poems had such similar voices that I was almost certain they were written from the perspective of the same character. On the other hand, there were other entries that were so wildly different in their tone and use of language that I couldn’t imagine they were from the same speaker. I’ve enjoyed collections that were written from many different voices as well as ones that were created to sound like the same person or small group of people were talking to the audience throughout them. If I’d known which way I should interpret this book, I would have happily gone with a higher rating.

One of the things I appreciated the most about this collection was how conversational and important it felt. Even though I’ve never met the author and was a brand new reader of his work, I still felt as though we were sitting in a quiet coffee shop somewhere talking about all sorts of meaningful topics. That is not an easy thing to accomplish by any means, but it’s something I enjoy being surprised by in this genre or any other. There is nothing like getting a friendly peek at someone else’s soul which was exactly what happened here.

THE COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS was a thought-provoking read.

Filed Under: Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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