Please Don't Go Before I Get Better

If you know me and my book collection at all, you know that Eighteen Years is one of my all time favorite books. I reread it every couple of months and continue to fall in love with it every time. So, when Madisen Kuhn announced her new book of poems I practically died of excitement. I pre-ordered the book and fell in love within the first few pages.

Please Don't Go Before I Get Better had some pretty enormous shoes to fill, in my mind. The first few poems had me in tears to the point where I needed to set the book down and take a step back. I read about thirty to forty pages a night because my heart couldn't take what M.K. was dishing out.

However, about half way through the book of poems I lost a bit of interest. I felt as though the poems skipped a huge part of Madisen's life, as though she opted to jump from broken girl straight to fixed girl in love. This was a disappointment to me because I was really hoping to read about the period of recovery that M.K. had gone through. I was hoping there would be poems upon poems that made me feel less alone...

That simply was not the case. Though the poems were amazing, they were not the poems I had been waiting for. Usually, M.K. pours her heart and soul out onto her pages, and I feel as though that was not what she did this time around.

HOWEVER. This is not to say that the book was "bad" or not worth reading. Because it was so worth the reading and the tears and the nights spent soaking in what Madisen had to say. Her poems titled Magnet and Landmarks stole my heart and filled me with the a feeling that I was not alone. However, I had hoped that the entire book was going to do the same.

I cannot tell if I was let down by these poems or not. The writing was exquisite and the illustrations were perfect... But it just wasn't the content I thought it was going to be.

Actually, I will tell you right now that I was not let down  by this book. Though not all of the poems were what I had expected, the book was filled with words that helped me to heal my soul. And, maybe I am missing the whole point of how M.K. went through her recovery period. We are all different in how we heal... I had just been selfishly hoping she might have healed the way I am trying to.

Either way, this book is solid gold. M.K. has a way with words that captivates me with each and every line. Even though some of her poems go over my head, the book as a whole is definitely worth the read. I am just bitter (is that the right word? I can't tell) because I cannot 100% relate to everything in this book the way I could to her last book. I do not think I was the target audience, and that is  okay!


Overall, I would give this book a 9/10!

Make sure to pick up a copy at your local bookstore.

Xo,
Allie