The Poet X follows our main character, Xiomara, a teen who has recently found a new love of poetry, which she puts all her frustration and passion into pages. Growing up in a super religious household, she starts to question her faith and as she's invited to join a poetry group, she realizes it's during the same time as her confirmation classes. Hoping her mom doesn't find out, Xiomara would rather not stay silent than face a world that doesn't want to hear her.

I actually don't think this review will be as long as my usual reviews because there isn't much to say. But because I really did love this novel, I really wanted to write a review because I know there are a handful of people who read my reviews and pick the book up after, almost like you guys actually trust my recommendations.

I honestly read this because my good friend on bookstagram, Johely is obsessed with this novel. And I'm sure if you follow her as well, you'd know the extent of obsessed I mean when I say Johely is obsessed with this novel.

Whenever I bring up needing a recommendations, Johely always replies with The Poet X and I now understand why.

The Poet X isn't actually written like a "normal" book in which it has long paragraphs and what not. This book is written in mostly poems. This is something completely new to me because I haven't really read much poetry other than Poe and Shakespeare.. besides the modern poetry that I'm not a huge fan of.

But unlike the modern poetry books that go around, this book follows a plot line that continues throughout the whole book. That means, although there are multiple poems in this novel, they all connect to each other to create one whole story. Through this element, we learn about different aspects of Xiomara's life including her relationship with her parents, her views on religion, how she feels about herself, etc.

This book is so raw and honestly speaks about certain topics without romanticizing it (which is also so freaking hard to find.)

The poems are flow so well with the whole book itself and it made me feel ways that I never thought I would've when reading a book in this style. There would be moments when I'd read certain poems and tear up or get emotional because they are so genuine and real and very nicely displayed. Not necessarily just relatable, but you can genuinely feel the emotions.

The thing I noticed the most about modern poetry opposed to this novel is that modern poetry is basically relatable quotes. I hate to say it, but I'm being honest. This is completely different. It's raw and genuine. (And the only reason why I'm not comparing it to "authentic" poetry is because although it's vastly different, it's also not that far from it either.) I've read parts of The Poet X in which I loved the quotes, but I've also read parts that actually made me feel and I think and wonder. And I loved that.

Even though it's written in poems, you get so attached to these characters anyways. The poems and emails, all the dialogue really shows you the personalities of each of the characters in The Poet X, especially Xiomara and I loved that. It expands so much detail that you ever thought could be portrayed in a book like this, during an era like this, much more than you could ever imagine.

When I saw how each page was written, I didn't think about how much this book would portray things that certain novels still can't portray very well.

I also absolutely loved the diversity included in this novel. I haven't read very many Dominican-based novels just yet but I'm really happy I've read this. This representation is so important and I'm so happy about that.

I know some people aren't really huge poetry fans or they don't really understand the concept of poetry per se, but it's not just how this book is written that will affect the reader. Honestly, if you aren't a huge fan of poetry, I highly recommend at least listening to the audiobook. The content is so important and I think everyone should definitely, at least, give it a shot.

With that being said, there isn't much else I could say about The Poet X. It's absolutely amazing and I think it needs to be heard more than it is. There isn't enough people talking about it and I think there definitely should be.

What's a book you love that you wish more people read? Let me know in the comments section below or on my Instagram!