Book Review: Born to Love, Cursed to Feel by Samantha King (Poetry)

Title: Born to Love, Cursed to Feel
Author: Samantha King
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: 27 September 2016
Pages: 160
Format: eBook - PDF
Genre: Poetry
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
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For fans of r.h. Sin comes a new voice, Samantha King’s raw, relatable poetry both celebrates love and mourns the human “curse to feel.” Her verse transports readers to the most private reaches of love and longing.Born to Love, Cursed to Feel is about love—the good, the bad, and the confusing. It touches on morals and how when emotions are involved it’s not as black and white. The poetry is frequently written in a narrative manner that evocatively pulls you in and makes you feel. This book is about falling in love, bad decisions, and ultimately growth. The essence of it all is to show that no matter how far one falls all the mistakes don’t have to be what defines them. (Goodreads Synopsis)


Born to Love, Cursed to Feel is an interesting collection of poems. Very modern in style, some struck me as poignant and apt, making me consider things in my own life experiences; however, a few, to my mind, seemed rather self-indulgent. Some of my favourites were 'Perfect', 'Haunted', 'Canvas', and 'The Shoe Don't Fit'. Punctuation in these poems is minimal, and that didn't worry me, but when punctuation did occur it was sometimes grammatically incorrect, and that niggled at me. I see this collection appealing to fans of modern verse who like a faint touch of melodrama here and there.