Two more advance reviews!

 

Two more advance reviews for  

talk to me about when we were perfect

Thanks to Sarah Linley and Tracy Fells for their kind words. It makes it all worthwhile when readers really 'get' your writing – especially when they are talented authors like these two!

Tracy's Review:

"Talk to me about when we were perfect is a collection of poetry from the multi-talented Amanda Huggins, who seems equally skilled in writing prose, poetry and non-fiction and any new work from this author is something to get excited about. 

 

I relished every single poem in this new collection, looking forward to my daily immersion into Huggins memories and flashbacks to youth. At times these perfect snapshots felt like personal Polaroids, capturing specific moods and moments of adolescence from the author’s life, but also reflect how we all feel when searching to recapture the ache and ecstasy of what it really felt to be young. Her prose is sharp and bittersweet, vivid and visual, often capturing images with a breathless beauty that instantly transports to you a specific place and time that chimes with an experience you share. That’s why her poems are so accessible, they recreate emotions we’ve all known, the good the bad and the shameful. What it feels like to ‘have a crush’ on the older lads hanging round the fairground or outside the chippie. Foolish flirting and falling for the flash talk of strangers. Each is unique, charting the travels of the human heart from first crush to undying devotion and ultimately the pain of separation and ending. Just like the meandering complexity of memories they skip between childhood and becoming an adult, balancing the highs and lows, the joy and pain, of growing up and what it means to leave parts of us behind. I particularly love how Huggins weaves nature into these poems, reminding us that we share this beautiful world with so much more than each other.

 

It’s a rare talent that can create lines such as: “The morning is still holding its breath when I step out across the hotel lawn, and a breakfast party of startled crows complain, all tut and flap and mutter.” ('the man in room seven'), giving us poems that instantly paint a scene and can easily be enjoyed by everyone, and are truly delicious to read aloud.

 

I’ve read a number of collections recently which start with promise but soon feel repetitive and stuck in their themes, but each poem in ‘Talk to me about when we were perfect’ was distinct and memorable, I couldn’t wait to read another, then another. And I can’t wait to read it again. For me this is a collection to keep and cherish.

 

If you enjoy these poems then I highly recommend you check out Huggins’ novellas and story collections too. Her ability to capture mood, setting and emotion shines throughout everything she writes. "

 

Tracy Fells, author of Hairy on the Inside