I got "Aphrodite Made Me Do It" from Netgalley for free in exchange for a honest review.

It's underlining message is I think of hopeful inspiration, as well as acknowledging fears and past abuse with art. It's popular in media to imagine the artist or poet having a Muse, but with Aphrodite and Trista it's like being invited to sit in a personal conversion between intimate friends, you get to know them in ways that you might not have been aware of as they share experiences and swap stories. Trisia's Aphrodite is a goddess of war who has experienced rape and who's experiences are more modern feminist than myth.

This book is an interesting concept, lyrical in its prose with many beautiful illustrations and photographs. I don't feel that I am perhaps the intended audience - I prefer my poetry to be more traditional.

This was an absolutely beautiful poetry collection. I love the artwork and inspirational quotes. I held back tears multiple times reading this because it hit so deep for me personally. Definitely recommend and would love to get the physical copy of this masterpiece.

Aphrodite is a Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and sex. The mother of Eros and lover of Adonis, she is a character of mythology that many would say they are familiar with.

And yet, Mateer presents a different side to the goddess we think we know.

If you love the feminine power that Lovelace portrays in her own poetry collections, you will love this gorgeously written collection of poems. The poetry is split between prose from Aphordite's POV, as well as from the author, written to the goddess of love.

It speaks of love in every sense of the word - for yourself and others; living with or without; yearning for it; having it; losing it.

It is a collection that is both strong and delicate, powerful yet raw. This is absolutely a new favourite in the world of poetry for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-copy for an honest review.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: rape, abuse, sexual assault, death, eating disorders, gore, blood, queerphobia.

I wanted to read this book for a while, so I was very happy when I saw that was approved for an advance reader's e-copy, and this did not disappoint. This felt so personal, both from Aphrodite pov and the poet pov. The voices felt different, but at the same time, Aphrodite felt like an alter ego of the poet (which I loved). There was so much rawness too this, that I couldn't but to tear up at certain part. And yes, this talks about trauma and abuse, but it also speaks of healing and about knowing your worth. It also uses art in the form of mixed media which made the reading experience gratifying.

I can't wait to own this physically!

Equal parts self-help guide and collection of poems, which was confusing and a bit disappointing. The poems were raw and beautiful, but just as much, if not more, of the book was taken up with Instagram-style self-help posters. Those were cute, but I was reading on my black-and-white Kindle, and it lost quite a bit of the impact as a result. 2.5 stars for the Kindle edition, as the poems really were lovely (especially the ones about Aphrodite herself, and the one about fear); likely 3.5 or 4 stars for the physical book, had I read that instead and gotten the full effect of the artwork.

Thank you Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Aphrodite Made Me Do It is another great poetry book by Trista Mateer, full of anger and sadness, but hopeful.

I have read two other poetry collections by Trista Mateer (Small Ghost and [redacted]) before and I really liked them, so I was excited to read her new book.

And I was not disappointed! It's full of really powerful poems about assault, recovery, family, love, and hope, so much hope. It has alternating chapters between Aphrodite and the poet's story, which I think was really well done. Aphrodite talks about her own experiences with men, violence, love, war and erasure, but also tells Pandora and Medusa's stories, everything in such a powerful way.

I admit I just didn't like the mixed media portraits that appeared between poems. Some of them were powerful, but mosto f them just alienated me and took me away of the whole story of the collection.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this poetry collection. There were a few poems that I was meh about, but there are some really powerful poems and it's a good poetry book, overall.

5 Stars
Aphrodite Made Me Do it is such a beautifully done collection of prose and poetry. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved it. It was so wonderfully feminist and empowering. I couldn’t relate to some of the things Trista Mateer wrote about but I wasn’t expecting too. And even though I couldn't necessarily relate to it, it was written in a way that I was able to empathize with the experiences and feelings that were being written about. Something else I loved about this was that we got the perspective of both “The Poet” and Aphrodite. I loved both “perspectives” but I loved Aphrodite’s sections the most. I would say if you’re a fan of Rupi Kaur or Amanda Lovelace, there’s a very good chance you would also enjoy this collection.

Powerful book and really enjoy this meaningful book. At first I did not understand what was going on but love how the GODDESS aphrodite is proving a point on how people make her out to be and she had enough. She is letting us know to love ourselves and be truthful.

I received an ARC from NETGALLEY in exchange for an honest review. 
“ What do you need?
What are you looking for?
Nothing
Everything “

Author: Trista Mateer
Publisher: Central Avenue & Publisher
Publish date: 01/10/2019
Pages: 175

Though I have not read other works by Mateer, this one really blew me away. To be completely honest, the title and the cover is what made me gravitate towards this wonderfully crafted poetry collection.

The illustrations are out of this world. The way Mateer combined artwork and poetry gave me a feel of a very sophisticated mesh.

The poetry that you see on the internet (ie, tumblr!) is very similar to the way this was written, where it has a way of reaching out of its confinement's of screen and grasping the strings of your heart.

Every single part of this beautifully crafted book gave me goosebumps, but I find myself highlighting a few, and reaching for my poetry notebook. This is where I write any poetry that I read online, in books or anywhere that has touched me in some way. Words are something very dear to me.

There were wars started in my name.
Oh how lovely is that ending of the first poem of Aphrodite Airs Her Grievances. Ares really didn't stand a chance.

If you love poetry and want something that will make you fall in love with it even more; I highly recommend you pick this up! The art is definitely something you haven't seen before.

Ex astris, sara

Wow, Trista Mateer is fast becoming one of my favorite poets. Mythology seems to be big at the moment and i wasn't sure how this would read but i absolutely loved it. Honestly it was more like reading someone's inner most thoughts. I'm counting the days until it's released so i can buy my own copy. I want to pour over the words she writes forever.

Loved it! I'm not a big fan of poetry, but it is very approachable in this form. I appreciate the message and feel this is a book I will come back to.
(I would also recommend it to anyone, who is interested in Greek mythology. I enjoyed the different view and take on the myth of Aphrodite)

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Although the language was beautiful, overall this just wasn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t enjoy a lot of the visuals included. I probably should have heeded the trigger warning, but I will say that the author gave voice to feelings I’ve had about my own situation and I did appreciate that.

Synopsis:

Bestselling and award-winning author Trista Mateer takes an imaginative approach to self-care in this new poetry and prose collection, Aphrodite Made Me Do It. In this empowering retelling, she uses the mythology of the goddess to weave a common thread through the past and present.By the end of this book, Aphrodite make you believe in the possibility of your own healing.

I love this poems and the way the autor puts in words something that is so touchable, everyone can relate to this poems and its so easy to read that you can do it in one go! Was my first book of this autor and I completely feel in love with it .. highly recomend.

4.5 stars.

This was a stunning poetry collection, and it is now a new favorite collection of mine. The art throughout this was beautiful, and it really took the poetry to the next level. I felt like I was peering into someone's journal.

The poems deal with a lot of difficult subjects, but there is a list of trigger warnings in the front of the book that I really appreciated. These poems perfectly encapsulated what it feels like to be a young woman in our generation: frightened but hopeful, full of love and trying to grow from the things that have broken us.

The addition of Aphrodite as a figure narrating was really unique and effective. There were so many beautiful quotes that you just wanted to write down and post on your walls, write in your journal, tattoo across your forehead because they were just so necessary and real.

I really, really loved this.

"it was my blood that made the roses red.
My pain shaped the whole world"

I tend to find it difficult to connect to poetry collections, but this one hit differently. Her writing was raw, and evoked strong emotions from me.
Told partly from the perspective of Aphrodite, it had a magical, godly feel to it that added another layer I haven't read before.

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

Trista Mateer provides Aphrodite, and numerous other goddesses with the voices that were taken from them.

"They married me off in the stories so they could call me an adulteress, but I brought the god of war to his knees"

This collection was empowering, ethereal and exquisite.
The full colour photos and illustrations were a wonderful addition as well.
I highlighted so many poems and quotes from this, which will stick with me for a long time coming.

4.75 stars


*** I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review ***

I think this belongs to the ever-growing realm of books that (I think) are better as Tumblrs, blogs, etc. Taken on their own, I did like some of the vignettes/poems in this. But altogether it felt repetitive and I couldn’t connect in the same way that I would via a different medium. Maybe this type of book just isn’t my jam, and that’s okay!

Unfortunately, not for me. This didn't grab my attention and most of the time I felt like I was reading someone's scrapbook rather than a poetry collection.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Received an arc from NetGalley for an honest review.
Expected Release: October 1st 2019

**Trigger Warnings**
Body Image, Sexual Assault, Rape, Eating Disorders, Queer-phobia, Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Gore, Blood, Death.

I love poetry. I discovered Trista Mateer by finding out about one of her other works, The Dogs I Have Kissed. I know little to nothing about what this about about but I know it's a poetry book and the title itself makes me want to read it. Then I found this Trista Mateer book on Net Galley and was lucky enough to be given a copy of it.

This is the poetry that I feel I don't read enough of; The raw and authentic. This is the kind of poetry that opens my eyes to the perspective of other people. How they live their lives and how others treat them. How they suffer and how they survive.

Trista Mateer did a beautiful job interweaving different poetic thoughts with mythological references and metaphors. It made it somewhat mythical and just out of reach while still touching the back of my mind with the hard hitting topics that are looked over too often in society.

The write about such experiences is real and it's important to me, and I hope to others, to know the thoughts of these people. The ones discriminated by family, the ones abused by others, the ones with the internal struggles, or even all of these mixed together. I'm trying not to glorify it, but I think it's important people know the authentic stories, the plasters created by people who have no idea what it means to deal with these hard hitting subjects. I just want to thank Trista Mateer for writing this and I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to read this. It truly was a beautiful and poetic story.

I am definitely going to pick up the other things Trista Mateer has written because of this book.

This ARC was provided to me by NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. Any quotes given are from the ARC, not the published book.

I loved Aphrodite Made Me Do It. I won't spend a lot of time going over the triggers for this book, because unlike others, this one has them listed right on the first page of the book, which I think should be standard. It deals with "body image, sexual assault, rape, eating disorders, queerphobia, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gore, blood, death, fire." The way Aphrodite is written ends on a note that makes it clear that these are aspects of life, but they are not the defining characteristics of the story.

I found myself highlighting so many quotes while reading. Quotes like, “Some people try and try and just stain everything. Their fingers are purple with want.”

It's a story of myth, but it's also a story of everything. I can't really totally explain this book, because it's over 200 pages of poetry and illustrations, but it's also a contained narrative. It's spellbinding.

There's a blackout poem included in the book, using Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield," which exemplifies the often unrelenting dark nature of the story. Some books won't allow a woman such darkness without then giving her redemption, often by a man. This book does.

Another line I just want to quote because of its sheer brilliance: "Eve's pomegranate, an apple. All the details change but one: it is a woman with her hand on the door to Hell."

I have so many things highlighted but you really need to read the whole story to understand why I'm gushing about this book so much. It's fantastic.