A Strangely Wrapped Gift

Not only is Emily Byrnes one of the most talented and gorgeous modern day poets, she is also one of the kindest souls I've ever had the pleasure of coming across. You can find her warmth and honesty in every page of A Strangely Wrapped Gift. I will forever be grateful that she lets the reader into the most intimate parts of her thoughts through her poetry, even the parts she struggled with. I can personally relate to her words, there's something very healing about reading them. (not to mention the graphics are the cutest!) I'm basically in love with this book. 10/10

A humanely resonating book, linked to very current social aspects within our generation. Emily has a Significant way of wording what some of us think. Can not recommend highly enough, a few of my friends are now also following on Instagram and purchasing this book due to reading it over my shoulder.Thanks Emily!

Lovely poems about love, life and some issues people can relate to. Look forward to hearing next book. I recommend greatly

When getting my item it is damaged all on the front.

*I received a free ARC of this novel, with thanks to the author, Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*Emily Juniper’s writing is poetry for the social media setting, and this collection showcases this format, providing a free-flow of short poems, snippets and one-liners that are perfect for pairing with a beautiful backdrop and sharing with your friends.There is a running theme of mental health, specifically in relation to OCD and depression, but the subject matter ranges widely across love, loss, politics, the world around us and the worlds within us.Whilst the style and language are quite simple and straightforward, the poet doesn’t shy away from complex and emotional topics and presents her thoughts in a format that is direct, honest and intimate. The reader feels that they have been invited to witness the inner workings of the author’s busy mind; that the purpose of the writing is connection, rather than self-conscious cleverness.This collection really resonated with me. The thoughts and feelings felt familiar, and the overall message of hope, strength and optimism left me feeling understood and uplifted. Responses to poetry tend to be deeply personal, but if you are interested in any of the themes explored here and enjoy short, inspirational (quotable) poetry then you are likely to find poems here that resonate with you.Sometimes gifts look questionable until unwrapped. Sometimes bad things happen and good things spring from them. Sometimes gifts are as strange as they are beautiful.– Emily Juniper, from the author’s foreword in A Strangely-Wrapped GiftReview by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

I can’t get enough of this authors work, the emotions her work stirs and how aptly she writes about the trials and tribulations of mental health are inspiring. So much so, I’ve decided to buy this book for my sister, in the hopes it will be a balm to soothe her when she’s at her lowest - just as it did for me.

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for gifting me an eARC for an honest review!<em> I hope my daughters are born with the strength I have worked for. </em>I'm new to Emily's writing but was hooked straight away after reading the author's message at the beginning of the book. Her pursuit to raise awareness through her writing of OCD and other mental health illnesses really interested me as I have an invested interest in OCD. Wanting to further understand it was important to me. I felt so many things while reading this collection of poetry. I was inspired and heart broken throughout but could feel the strength from the author coming through in her writing.<em> Unconditional love is not romantic; it's dangerous. Love should always have conditions. </em>I love reading poetry that really gets me thinking and this whole collection was like that for me. It made me question things that I hadn't really thought about before and I saw things in people close to me that written down like this really hit home. I want to thank Emily for laying all her emotions in a book like this because they do help others and they have an impact.<em> I knew that soon everyone would be asleep, and I would have nobody to distract me from you. </em>This is a very strong collection of poetry and prose and really recommend this book. P.S. If you do not understand something then educate yourself. People shouldn't have to do that for you, they are suffering enough.

This is a stunning poetry collection by Emily Juniper. Her poems are face paced, quickly moving from metaphor to hard truths to challenging stigmas about mental health. For me, the fast paced style really added to the poetry. It made reading it more of an experience, as personally, it represented the fast paced thoughts that comes from having mental health. Going from thinking of absolutely nothing, to recalling multiple things from childhood all at once.'you're so unorganised, they said, you can't have OCD'Throughout the collection, Juniper challenges stigmas around OCD. For example, having to be really organised or very clean. Which is not always the case. OCD comes in various forms and affects people in all different ways. I really enjoyed this aspect of the collection as it was a refreshing read. I have read collections about mental health issues such as PTSD, anxiety and depression, but not one which the main focus is on OCD and I think Juniper did this well.I give this collection 4/5 stars.