This is a cut & paste of a review that will appear on Amazon and GoodReads.

Bleed Like Me    Azzurra Nox

Serious personal situations, not for children.

four stars

As always, do not let my star count override your judgement of content. More on the stars, counting, and my rating challenges later.

Star counts are the hardest parts of a review. Here we have 178 poems. I like quite a few of them. Are you patient enough to read through your copy and find the ones you like? If not, your star count will be lower than mine. If yes, you’ll be about even with me, of higher, on your overall star count rating.

There is sex. There is love, longing, frustration, betrayal. There are hints of drug use. The book is not pornographic but the situations can be quite adult. There are hints of suicidal tendencies.

For example, in Zura and Brian we find this: “Zura falls unto the cold desolate bed. /Brian lifts up her skirt. /Zura feels sad as he fucks her. /Brian doesn’t sense anything but lust.”

For an example of unrequited love, turn to The Letter. For an explicit poem, turn to Wet Dream.

For a fun diversion that is actually quite serious, turn to A Haiku for All the Boys I’ve Kissed. Here’s just one sample: “A cozy hotel /is where I dropped my dress, and /my best friend title.”

In a few pieces you won’t be quite sure of the genders (at least I wasn’t) and I think Nox switched viewpoints just to surprise me. This is strong and disturbing writing.

Now for my star count boilerplate. My personal guidelines, when doing an ‘official’ KBR review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent. I think four stars is right on. Your personal rating may be higher. Highly recommended.

Kindle Book Review Team member.

(Note: this reviewer received a free copy of this book for an independent review. He is not associated with the author or Amazon.)