Another wonderful anthology from the mind of James Crews!

You'll love the lineup of poems/poets featured and the essential words they bring to our shared table.

Crews has an excellent eye for poetry that nourishes mind, body, and soul.

A necessary anthology for all those who need more sources of love and joy in these tumultuous times!

This is maybe the best poetry collection I've ever read and I do think this is made better by being such a collaborative effort. Some of these lines genuinely stopped me in my tracks. What a beautiful thing it can be to exist with others, to share intertwined lives even if only fleeting. The illustrations in this are also beautiful and I really felt their punch whenever one showed up. Everything in here felt deliberate and necessary.

#LoveIsforAllofUs #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley, I received an ARC.

A book that will warm your heart.

A poetry collection that brings together many authors, both newcomers and well-known. What moved me the most were definitely the little stories contained in the book; they are accounts that speak to us about important episodes that marked their lives.

I loved the foreword, after having just watched Annie Ernaux’s interview with Louisiana Channel about the act of writing being political, I really loved to see that parallel made here. Something special she’d said during that interview I felt applies here is, “It is a moral fault not to write about something that you’ve experienced. It’s metaphysical.” This is echoed in this lovely compilation of some of the most tender poems by talented artists. Such a beautiful way to showcase the creativity & heart cultivated in this community. I also really loved the colors and pictures, truly a beautiful project here. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Please read this book! It is important.

Love Is for All of Us is a colorful, upbeat collection queer poetry, featuring themes of growth, light, and happiness from within, in relation to one’s queer joy.

The poems are ethereal, yet tangible. When I read this book, I imagine myself wrapped up in an oversized blanket, crocheted by one of our queer elders, sitting in the sun, at a community event, reading. I feel at home in this book. I feel safe within these pages.

The colorful art in the book brings an uplifting vibe to this celebration of queer stories.

I found this book is a great way to feel queer joy in these unprecedented, uncertain times.

I was given a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I’m not usually a big poetry reader, but I’ve been trying to branch out lately and have picked up a few poetry books this year. As an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, I was really excited to check this one out. I loved how each poem was tied to nature, it gave the whole collection a really grounded and beautiful vibe. I also liked how the poems flowed into each other and felt connected, like they were all part of a bigger picture. The different voices coming together to share their truths was powerful, and the overall message that love is love and nothing is stronger really hit home.

This anthology is a love letter in every sense—written by many hands, held together by hope, honesty, and the belief that love, in all its forms, deserves to be seen and celebrated.

Edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock and brought to life with illustrations by Lisa Congdon, Love Is for All of Us is luminous and deeply compassionate. The poems inside range from romantic to platonic, familial to self-loving, earthly to spiritual. Each piece feels like a hand reaching out, a moment of connection—sometimes gentle, sometimes aching, always honest.

What makes this collection sing is its diversity of voice and experience. Queer, nonbinary, transgender, and allied poets come together in this space to reflect on what it means to love and to belong Woven throughout are short essays titled “Stories of Becoming,” where LGBTQIA+ individuals share moments of identity, growth, and self-discovery. These glimpses of lived experience bring even more tenderness to the collection—they remind us that poetry is not just words, but survival, remembrance, and joy.

This is a book to gift, to return to, to keep beside your bed. It’s a celebration of queer existence, of chosen family, of soft resistance. And in a world that so often tells us to harden, it’s a welcome reminder that love—expansive, inclusive, vulnerable—is for all of us.

Love Is for All of Us • Edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Storey Publishing
Pub Date: 5-6-25

Thank you @netgalley, @storeypub, @james.crews.poet, and @theheartofafarmer for the opportunity to read this eARC.

"Let’s never forget we are here to learn from each other and our relationships, keeping an open mind and heart to the endless varieties
and countless faces of love that will speak to all of us."

A beautiful collection of poetry accompanied with equally beautiful and vibrant art by @lisacongdon. This anthology truly shows that love is love and love is universal.

ANNE KINSEY
@anne.kinsey.writes

Dearest Child

Let go and fly free—
Release to the wind
what is not truly you.
Embrace your essence
without damning inhibition.
Don’t hold back for fear
of those who despise rainbows and
stardust, and the magic
of who you have always been.
They cower at your worth.
Hold my gaze, precious one— Accept
cozy warm respite,
celebration of your presence
in our fold of sparkling possibilities, and
delight that you have arrived.

I love poetry that delves into gay love! With a stunning snap shot into the truth of love in the lgbtq it was beautiful. The art in this book is beautiful as well. I love mixing art and poetry

Wow, just wow!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

The art is absolutely beautiful too! Lisa Congdon did a fantastic job. 👏

Every word was so raw, wholesome, and emotional.
The letters especially tugged on my heart strings and brought more than one tear to my eye.

This book is full to the brim of incredible writers, some of which I've not heard of prior, but I can't wait to dive deeper into their work.
I honestly can not recommend this book enough, and I'm very excited to see everyone's reactions and reviews once It's released.

I found this very interesting because, unlike other LGBTQIA+ poetry I've read, many of the works in LOVE IS FOR ALL OF US heavily draw on nature imagery, which was cool. Personally, the style of most of the poems wasn't my favorite, but it's soooo subjective that I don't want to give a lower rating because of that. I found ON A PINK MOON by Ada Limon, DARLING by Alex Dimitrov, and ENOUGH MUSIC by Dorianne Laux particularly striking and well done.

Thank you to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A beautiful collection of poetry by queer authors from all walks of life. The great diversity of authors makes sure that there is something for every reader. I would definitely recommend this title!

** A copy of Love is for All of Us was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

Love is for All of Us is a timely and necessary anthology of poems on love, belonging, life and hope for queer people. This felt like a much-needed long hug after a stressful day. Like James Crews' previously edited anthologies, this is a welcome addition to everyone's bookshelves.

I highly recommend this collection of poems and stories to any fellow queer people struggling in our current political climate. This was a warm hug and made me feel not as alone as they are trying to make us feel.

Rated 5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC ebook.

My Sexual Orientation is Spring by Kyla Jamieson

We change time,
make the days longer.
I start to forget
the pact I made
with unhappiness,
take myself
to the ocean,
say I just need
to catch the last
few minutes
of light. This is
how spring is love,
the way it pulls us
towards pleasure.

This is just one of many poems I highlighted, re-read and re-read and adored in this collection of queer poetry. There was such a gentle and loving energy sewn in and out of each poem, despite the works being about so many different things from intimacy to loss to hope to pain. While I read the ebook - thank you NetGalley for the early ARC - the illustrations were still charming to see and I can imagine a hard copy of this book being something I'd display proudly on my coffee table, or maybe selfishly keep on my bedside table so I can revisit the poems again and again.

What a diverse celebration and affirmation to being queer, and all that comes with it. The poems and stories in this book are deeply vulnerable and touching, coming from many different voices and walks of life. I also love the formatting of the poems, simply well done. The perfect nightstand read to feel seen and heard. I'm definitely gifting this to all the queer folks in my life when this publishes.

Love is for all of us is such a wonderful collection slash anthology, I was obsessed with every installment. We needed this.

The poems in this collection will speak to many people at different stages of their journey. I found the ones of transformation were the ones I related to the most, I'm not sure what that says about me but life is an ever changing journey and we have to adapt or make the world adapt to us.

Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community can be difficult but it can also be quite wonderful. Knowing that people have put their love stories into poems and added them here along with some of their stories is an interesting read. Some will identify with others more.

Poetry is meant to speak to different people in different ways.

The epilogue stayed with me though. The final story of honour and pride and the betrayal of that faith.

I hope that you will find something that makes you feel seen.

A beautiful collection of poems with beautiful illustrations.
I don't usually read poetry but this one appealed to me with its cover and theme. I love how it feels like all the poems are stringed together by a common theme between poems next to each other: a leaf, a cup of tea, or another small thing.
It includes poems by trans authors and also poems from people who love trans people (such as parents and partners).

Thank you, NetGalley for this collection of poetry from several amazing LGBTQAI+ writers. I really loved this compilation. Each vignette told a different story, and they all tied together to address how deserving each of us is of experiencing love. This is such an important way to showcase how the queer community exists and has a powerful voice - a voice even more resounding when they are all together. I loved the epilogue by Brad Peacock, how he makes a point to address people of the LGBTQAI+ community who may consider suicide because they feel rejected by people or their government. It's such an important collection. I loved it