Bluebell Review Chamber [CLOSED]

જ Blooming Heart જ ☾ Carmi ☽

Book Title: Blooming Heart
Author: bookedbycafferine
Reviewer: Read-aholic2006
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(This review is solely based on the first 27 available poems)
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Cover: 5/5

I really like this cover. The gentle colour scheme is rather interesting—the pinkish beige background excellently complements the blots of milky brown and cream. The intricate design in the middle of the cover is beautiful and suits the title. And somehow—I don't know how—the cursive font of the title screams poetry. And readers can easily see author's name.

Title: 5/5

The floral title is simple but it has a mesmerizing ring to it. I interpret it as being a reference to the poet's unfurling emotions, the petals of her heart unclasping like a blossoming flower as she pours her heart onto a page.

Blurb: 5/5

Even the blurb is poetic. It's very well-written and detailed. I spotted one instance of not capitalizing the first word of a new sentence, but that's a very trivial error.

Creativity/originality: 10/10

The poems are crafted from the author's real-life experiences and emotions, so they're authentic and raw. And her poems are like short expressive narratives.

External Structure (Formatting/Rhyme/Rhythm): 9/10

The rhyme is mostly consistent across all her poems, following the rhyme scheme AABB, which isn't very easy to maintain. But the poet pulled it off quite well. However, some of the lines ended off rather weakly or sounded only slightly puerile due to the strict adherence to a fixed rhyme scheme:

But the boy next to her was loud and chatty,
And her concentration was slipping, it was getting quite batty.

In the above lines, the word "batty" is making me wince and shrink back in my chair for some reason. It sounds...awkward? I know the poet chose this word for the sake of the rhyme, but that's the issue, I suppose. But I don't expect her to change any of the lines, though. I just felt as though I needed to voice my opinion.

Olive's poems mostly comprise these long lines that flow into each other quite naturally, gradually delving deeper into the "plot".

Internal Structure (Imagery/Language/Diction): 20/20

The poet makes excellent use of her poetic devices—metaphors, similes, personification, anaphora and enjambment.

The seasons—summer, spring, winter and autumn—are personified so well in her poem "The Seasons in Love".

I love the fact that the poem "Head vs. Heart" was a conversation or rather a peaceful debate between the head and the heart. It was both amusing and captivating to read the conflicting arguments between intellect and emotion.

Her diction is very moving and some stanzas managed to whip me off my feet (that's how good they were). I had already fallen in love with the first two lines from "Scars":

How many scars have I justified
For love that I held deep inside?

And then from "The Love Triangle—Girl's Perspective":

Then she appeared, a serpent in disguise
With her alluring charm and captivating eyes
You were blinded, and fell under her spell
Leaving me behind, with a heart-wrenching farewell

Lastly, "The Weather Inside Me" is not only a powerful and dramatic poem with beautiful imagery, but it's also very relatable:

And just like the weather, it's
ever-changing,
With each passing moment, rearranging.
For the weather inside me is a curious thing,
A tempestuous storm or a calm, gentle spring.

Writing style/Grammar 9/10

There weren't that many grammatical errors. Only certain words were incorrectly capitalized, some commas were in the wrong places and there was a concord error here and there.

Although the poet has her own writing style, a few of her poems reminded me a lot of my own, for example her poems "To My 10-Year-Old Self", "If I couldn't Love You Back", "If I were a Book" and "Misunderstood".

Her poems are easily characterized by their storytelling aspect. For example, the poet had written three poems about the same love triangle—as if it were a sequel—but each one was from a different perspective. So the speaker in the first poem was the boy, then the girl in the second poem and finally the "other" girl in the third poem. And this third poem actually made me sympathize with the "other" girl, because her emotions were painfully raw. The poet did a great job with undressing her as the villain and painting her in a softer light.

"Why a Hero Shouldn't Fall for a Villain" gave me Romeo and Juliet vibes due to the forbidden love aspect and it also featured the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope.

And then some of her poems gave me Olivia Rodrigo vibes. Olivia's songs often revolve around the unrequited love trope and express feelings of bitterness, heartbreak and resignation. And all those emotions, along with a hint of sarcasm, were reflected in her poem "Your Love that was Due".

Reading enjoyment: 7/10

Some poems weren't as striking as others, but then there were those that just made my jaw drop in awe. One of my favourite poems from this ongoing collection was "Roses and Lilies". The poet uses great imagery and has a cool writing style.

Overall: 70/75

I would describe Olive's poetry as bittersweet and touching. She uses an unwavering rhyme scheme and utilizes her figures of speech very well. I hardly have any suggestions for the author expect that she fix those small grammatical errors. Beautiful work.