Thank you Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for this Advance Readers Copy ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first attempt at reading a collection of essays along with poems and it read like someone’s journal, feeling very personal which I’m assuming was the authors purpose.

As a black woman Veteran in my thirties, I honestly don’t think I’m the target audience to enjoy this book. Poetry is art and is subjective. Although I can appreciate this writing’s beauty, I personally couldn’t relate to any of it. I found myself skimming through the essays.

I’m sure the right people will enjoy this book. I give a rating of 3 stars because I love the author’s vulnerability, but I guess I wanted a little bit more strong minded, self loving woman depiction. A previous review stated this book reads like a Taylor Swift album and I find that very accurate….unfortunately I’m also not a T Swift fan.

This collection was so beautiful.
The writing was so lyrical almost like you could feel the motion and movement of the pros.
This will definitely be one I keep coming back to.

Makenzie Campbell's Self Portrait: Poems & Essays offers readers a glimpse into a young woman's life in her early twenties as she navigates her world. Everyday challenges of love, loss, and longing are shared by Campbell. Her beautiful writings reveal her soul and raw emotions. Typical of young people, she questions who she is as a young woman and what she wants to achieve as an individual. Her most intimate thoughts and feelings growing up, and how they influenced her during her youth and young adulthood, are shared. Her writing is relatable. She writes with openness and honesty, and that is what readers will relate to. As well as the good, she shares the difficult and the painful times as well. In these pages, I see a bit of my own five daughters.

This is such a raw, personal collection of poetry and essays. Makenzie Campbell is a beautiful writer and I love seeing the growth from her previous books to this one. Self Portrait has so much to say on love, girlhood, loss, longing, and growing up. I'd definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for an EARC of this book in exchange for my honest review

Self Portrait is a beautifully written books! Filled with poetry and essays it almost felt like I was reading the author’s private journal. I also loved the photos and drawings, they added a little extra to the book. Would highly recommend! I will probably be reading this book over and over again!

“i am dancing on the edge of throwing it all away”

i loved how all over the place this book was. being a collection of stories, experiences, and poems all in one gave me a new look into this authors life and truly made me want to read more of her work. i loved so many of the pieces in this book. i definitely will need to read it again to truly appreciate all of its beauty.

Self Portrait is a beautifully written books filled with poetry and essays. It felt like I was reading the author’s journal and had a sneak peak inside her life experiences.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing the opportunity to read to read ARC.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐓𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤, 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲-𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓃𝓏𝒾𝑒 𝒞𝒶𝓂𝓅𝒷𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝒞𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝒜𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓊𝑒 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Mackenzie Campbell's collection of poems and essays is a heartfelt and profound exploration of young adulthood. With grace and vulnerability, Campbell navigates themes of identity, relationships, and the complex emotions that come with growing up.

Her words resonate deeply, offering solace and understanding to anyone on this journey. The honesty in her writing makes it easy to connect with each piece, creating a sense of shared experience and comfort. The way she delves into vulnerability and the search for self-identity is both touching and enlightening, providing readers with a mirror to reflect on their own lives.

Campbell's insights into relationships are particularly poignant, capturing the delicate balance of love, loss, and the strength found in human connections. Her ability to articulate these feelings so beautifully is truly a gift.

Thank you, NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and Mackenzie Campbell, for the opportunity to read this inspiring collection.

This beautiful poetry and essay collection stores a lot of very emotionally tackling and thought provoking topics where I had to take moments to simply breathe and let it sink, let it all just sink in. The verses will make you f e e l, whether you like it or not. I have a few favourite poems stored in the pocket of my heart while reading and I definitely would recommend it for other poem lovers.

I was expecting more about this book. I rated it 3 stars because there were times where I couldn't read it. Don't get me wrong, Makenzie Campbell is such an amazing author. But this book wasn't for me.

In this poetry and essay collection, the author courageously reveals hopes, tragedies, dreams, and disappointments in a free verse format. The style is heartfelt and deeply authentic, sometimes feeling like stream of consciousness or diary entries, other times feeling like the first words after a long silence and a deep breath.

I really wanted to like this collection, and I honestly think it's good. However, the writer continually alluded to passionate feelings of love and attraction, assuming that everyone is allosexual and amatonormative. I am not. If you want me to feel something, you need to describe it, not just tell me you're feeling it. I don't hate love poems, but I hate love poems that just say "I felt in love." There's nothing for my imagination to cling to. Topics like longing, womanhood, and growing up also don't fit very well into my brain, so it was hard to connect with the lack of word pictures in these poems.
Poems are meant to evoke feelings and build connection, but I was further distracted by the fact that there aren't any capital letters. Why aren't there any capital letters? I have nothing against experimental styles, but in this case, I found it distracting instead of a way to enhance the content.

There were certainly more than a few poems that resonated with me, and I hope this book finds its way into the hands of other folks who can more easily find connection and inspiration from these writings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue publishing for this ARC. All opinions are my own.