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.

I think I’ve read about 4 poetry collections, like, ever… and they were not modern. So, yeah, I’m not the target reader here. Or one educated in the form. But, with that caveat, here we go.

If I were putting it unkindly: if a poetry collection and an inspirational Pinterest board had a baby, it would be this book. It is an unfamiliar form and I wouldn’t say I was entirely comfortable with it. That being said, there were a lot of gorgeous moments here – both in the text and in the accompanying artwork. And, I really admire the author for disregarding our preconceived notions of form. I think it is largely due to this that I'm a little at a loss to synopsize the reading experience I've had here. Which is impressive in itself, if nothing else - it is certainly good to be challenged and this is definitely not a book I'll soon forget!

The narrative (loosely speaking) is a conversation between the poet and Aphrodite, each meditating on love, on survival, on the battles we wage against ourselves and others. I was very intrigued by the concept – and admittedly, as a huge fan of mythological retellings, I’d have been happy with even more of that 'story'. But, the bulk of the text is meditations on healing after trauma, with both allegorical and concrete interludes on the subject.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc to review.

Queer, Greek and Godly.
(in a good way).

I read this entire collection sitting on the beach and watching the tide slowly come in. Trista Mateers poetry is provocative when read alone but together each of the poems connects to form one larger narrative about the female experience and healing. And when this is phrased through one of the toughest Greek Goddess's what's not to like?

With beautiful art and beautiful poetry throughout, I can't think of a single reason not to buy this book when it's released on October 1st 2019.

#AphroditeMadeMeDoIt #NetGalley

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

P.S Trigger Warnings are at the beginning of the book so its easy to skip anything that may trigger you. (Seriously what a good book!)

This short and powerful book combines free verse poetry, prose, collages, and illustrations, giving it the feel of an empowering handmade zine. I enjoyed the unique reading experience, and the compelling drive of the text.

I love the exploration of the Aphrodite character, and the feminist perspective. The chapter names such as "Aphrodite Airs Her Grievances" and "Aphrodite Speaks On Love" were great markers to the story, and I interpreted them to be a bit tongue and cheek. It was one of my favourite parts of the book. I also enjoyed the musings on the phrase "you can't love others until you love yourself," saying that it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of love. There is a lot of wisdom in this book.

Anyone who enjoys zines, feminism, an Greek Mythology should give this unique book a try.

I feel privileged I got the chance to read this incredible piece of work. Aphrodite Made Me Do is a collection of poems and prose. It deals with topics such as mental illness, trauma, LGBTQ+, forgiveness and love.

It is a story of hope, healing and surviving whatever has happened to you. It talks about self-care and being responsible for your own healing and of finding the real meaning of love.

I loved the illustrations and typography picture included in between poems. They added a lovely touch and related to what was being said.

I will be buying a copy of this book when it’s released as well as also checking out some of the author’s previous works. This book is perfect for anyone struggling with their own healing process and anyone trying to find meaning to their own life.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes ..

"I’m afraid of love. I’m afraid of other things. My soft body was a crime in my mother’s house."

"The same way
She rose from the sea, you rise like a phoenix
From the ashes of things that no longer serve you."

"People expect all stories of abuse to be loud and angry but they’re not."

"It is never too late to realize
You don’t want to be on the other
You’re walking. You can never go back but you can always chart a new course. Give yourself permission to explore every aspect of your being."

Poetry has a way of exploring truths that make them seem both obvious to the current culture and relevant to all. Trista Mateer has made a career of it. Blending art and poetry and fiction into a narrative about what society expects of women and how we are capable of so much more than those expectations.

Mateer also encourages and promotes self care and provides ways both for the readers and for the people around them.
She seemlessly blends fictional stories of Aphrodite with a modern women looking for love. She uses the background and myths of Aphrodite to showcase the ways in which we twist peoples stories to fit our narrative and how our expectations change based on the new story.

Aphrodite Made Me Do It is a powerful piece full of history, longing, encouragement, and empowerment that should be read carefully. There is discussion of rape, abuse (allusions to both physical and emotional), body issues, and heartbreak.

A modern approach to poetry incorporating greek mythology with goddess Aphrodite. I enjoyed this more than I typically do with these modern approaches.

This poetry collection was a beautifully composed back and forth between the authors voice, and Aphrodite, correcting her image in the mind of man. Regardless of what you might think, she has been portrayed wrong in history, once being called Gravedigger, Aphrodite the Unholy. For she had glorious names before they called her something sweet.

"I am older than the poets and I am
older than the pens.
I am older than the stars and the ocean
I crawled out of."

and my personal fav quote:

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

And ohh boy did this kill me. It drove daggers in my heart and fed my soul at the same time. At one point I was highlighting almost every sentence, so I just ended up bookmarking the chapter. No WORDS!
(And the Patroloclus/Achilles mention, 10/10 thx made me cry i hate u)

Unfortunately, I enjoyed the sections where the poet talked much less. It seemed to be clumped together more, repetitive sharp sentences over, and over, and over, again usually filling at least two pages. It was boring and not even worth reading to me. I just eventually skipped those parts! But- when that came to an end and it slowed down, the poet would say something profound. I couldn't help but stop and look at it for a minute and wonder, "why couldn't the entire book be like this?"

Another thing I feel it is impossible not to address is the gorgeous dividing photos between sections. The text overlaying the art, the tarot cards adding perfect meaning and creating an atmosphere of fantasy. The section titles were perfect, "APHRODITE SPEAKS ON LOVE" and "THE POET AIRS HER GRIEVANCES".
All around, I was frustrated with this, and was tempted to give it 3 stars, but because of the way I personally connected with the Aphrodite section and the fact that it is one of the better poetry pieces I have read, I will settle on 4.

So, I typically do not like to rate poetry. It feels kind of dirty to rate someone's blood sweat and tears on a scale of 1 to 5. For the sake of this site only I will great that says 4 and 1/2 Stars. A quick read, but only in time. while it may only take you an hour to read this book, it is going to stay with you. The thoughts and words and pros within These pages is so powerful. My only criticism of this are some of the images. I really enjoyed the images that looked as though they were sketched or drawn, but I didn't feel like the images that included a photo of a person were necessary and for me, they added a tackiness to this very powerful selection of poetry. overall a good read and one that I would love to have on my bookshelf.

Loved the mix between visuals and words. It was a delightful read with heavy topics about the ultimate fight of loving one's self despite everything you go through. It was also nice to see the mythology incorporated into the narrative.

I really love trista mateer. I own a few of her other books, and her instagram account is one of my favorites to follow. Her work is beautiful and heart wrenching and oh so authentic. That said, this book was not my favorite. It’s significantly different from her other books and is more disjointed. I enjoyed the sections that were from “the poet” point of view but was slightly confused by the sections from Aphrodite’s view.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Trista Mateer, but this collection has become a new favorite of mine. It’s not often I find a book of poetry that correlated with exactly what I’ve been feeling, but when I read Trista’s words, I feel as if we are twin souls. Trista explores love, trauma, self love, sexual assault, healing, homophobia, and embracing who you truly are. A must read.