There are not a lot of books that makes me cry (only those in where the dog dies) but this poetry collection made my cheeks wet. Highly recommend this if you want to feel the feels.

I had not realized this selection of poetry would have a religious edge to it and that is on me however I did enjoy a lot of the work.

I can imagine having a hardcopy would be beautiful to appreciate the short form poems and the artwork more.

I would recommend this book to those going through a broken heart.

Thank you for the arc.

Mmmmm this had potential to be honest. I just find some pieces here lack the tone and emotions that resonated on their own pieces.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Secrets and Gold is a collection of poems which explores mental health, faith and love.
I did enjoy this book, i felt like this book was more like random thoughts rather than poetry but i did enjoy it.
Thanks again
4/5 stars

This was exactly what I needed right now.
I adored this, so many underlined and tabbed pages throughout this and I will read these poems again.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Cherish Editions for giving me a free advanced reader copy of this poetry collection. I found myself identifying with so many of the poems in Secrets and Gold. There were themes of mental health, self love, relationships, and even social media to name a few. I felt inspired, motivated, and so much more after reading this collection.

Lovely. More like random thoughts than what I think of as poems but still a nice book to dip into when you have a few moments.

I always struggle to rate poetry that doesn't hit for me, because it's deeply personal

However, this volume was very disjointed, poetry books tend to have a theme, this one was all over the place, starting with what I thought were love poems but then either turned into or had always even friendship poems, then became poems about grief, then spirituality, the social media and how much the author hated it, mental illness, and other topics, but I stopped tracking. It just felt so disjointed it made it really hard to connect with any of it. None of them poems felt particularly deep and many didn't sit right with me (and some takes I just vehemently disagreed with)

All in all it wasn't super memorable, nothing stood out to me, save a few things that really rubbed me the wrong way. But overall, it probably won't take up much space in my mind after this

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital advance reader copy; no review was required and all thoughts are my own

A great little collection of poems. Nothing unique that I haven’t read before, but they were good reminders.

I received a free copy, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. There were quite a few that I bookmarked and plan to go back to in times where I need some encouragement.

Poetry has the power to heal, and Claire Ellis harnesses that power in Secrets and Gold. Filled with short poems about real life and the struggles therein, I felt moved and comforted by Claire Ellis’s writing. She talks about the things we all experience but maybe don’t talk about- feeling like we’re not good enough, being stuck inside your head, guilt, regrets, loneliness, and learning how to have self-compassion through it all. The drawings throughout are a beautiful and uplifting addition. I can’t express enough how much I loved this collection!

Thanks to NetGalley, Cherish Editions, and Claire Ellis for the opportunity to read and review this work.

3/5 stars

There's not really anything new in this poetry collection. It falls into the modern trend of having a 1-4 line poem that reads like a post on a trendy Instagram wellness page. The same cliches "dance like no one is watching" and "you are stardust" make their appearance - because of course they do. It feels like an attempt to get a trending caption vs an actual attempt at poetry writing. I've read those same thoughts, even the exact same lines, dozens of times now. What's new about rehashing the same poems your peers have written since 2013? What's new about changing a word or two of something you stole from a Tumblr post with a cloudy background?

The longer poems were mostly better and I wish there were more of them. They weren't spectacular, but still better. I think that's the trend here - nothing is spectacular or great. You either have something repetitive or something that's just okay. There's nothing particularly bad in this collection, there's also nothing particularly great either.

I didn't like some of the religious and vegan preachiness. The religious aspects are a completely personal thing for me so nothing against the author for that. The vegan poem felt completely out of place. I'm vegan too, so I get the message of it. but in the context of all the other poems it just doesn't work. It doesn't belong here.

"True friendship", "How to measure love" "Forgiveness" and "Onwards and upward" were my favorite poems.

I didn’t really feel connected to any of the poems — many felt like the quotes on cheesy Valentine‘s Day cards. For me, the author couldn’t convey any depth which is the opposite of what I’m looking for in a poetry collection. Some of the poems were better than others and have potential, but most of them sound like they were scribbled on a piece of paper during lunch break.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this poetry book.

I went back and forth on my opinions of this collection of poems. As much as I wanted to like them, I largely felt a lack of connection with this. Some felt very generic, like they could've been shared on social media by a middle aged colleague and set to a sunrise background (depending on the colleague, I'd probably show some love with the like button). There were also some that I felt were very well written and original. The conclusion I came to after reading this is that the author has room to grow, to develop a more unique style, and hopefully put out more work that feels a little less Hallmark greeting card and a little more raw + art.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Secrets and Gold is a collection of poems which explores mental health, faith and love. Ellis’ writing throughout this collection of poems is consistently beautiful and has, subsequently, encouraged me to read more poetry.

2.5 stars

I wish this collection of poetry resonated with me more but it was very forgettable for me.
Maybe it was the format with most poems being very small/few words but still, it was an enjoyable read.

"𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘺."

I really enjoy books of poetry and 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥 was no different. To me, these poems dealt with loss, loving yourself, and more. A few really stuck out to me - the one above and the one below.

"𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶?"

A nice collection of poem’s, although some of the poems had to many religious references for me to funny resonate with.

Thanks to netgalley for this arc, in return for my honest review!

Found this book while scrolling on NetGalley (who kindle sent me an ARC to review. (the fact that I received an arc will not change my opinion of this book.

As soon as I opened the book I saw the author's message, the importance of secrets and gold. The importance of fears, insecurities and broken parts, the importance of love, shine, smile.

This is book is full of amazing poems that are intemporal. These will always make sense to everyone in a different way, and that's what makes this special. They can be interpreted in different ways and can touch everyone in a special way.

Also this book mentions anxiety, insecurities, self-esteem, relationships (both love and friendship ones) in a beautiful yet hurtful way. Not eliminating the power and the meaning of this fragile themes.

I absolutely loved it, I didn't knew the author before this book but I definitely will read her next books.

I personally did not have any deep connection with any of the poems. I felt some of the poems were mildly basic in construction in my opinion. However, I feel like the words will really touch home for many other people. They just didn’t resonate with me. Thank you to Netgalley and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.