Everblossom by Larissa Hinton

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Publication Date: 8/12/2011
Publisher: Larissa Hinton

An anthology that will quench your thirst for more than the ordinary. 
Everblossom is a journey through poems and short stories that may seem ordinary on the surface but dig a little deeper and the world not only shifts. It changes. 
From the author who brought you Iwishacana/Acanawishi, she now brings you a dash of everything from dark fantasy to the paranormal to even romance. So prepare yourself to delve into the three stages of the flower from bud to blossom then back to seed, you'll go through them all with a whole new perspective on what it all truly means.

I've never been a huge fan of poetry, with most of my knowledge about it coming from reading Shel Silverstein poems over and over when I was a kid. When the author requested that I read and review her anthology of poems and short stories though, I was on board. For one, I thought that the mixture of the two would make for interesting reading and break up the monotony. The second reason I was excited about reading it was because it dealt with a bit of the paranormal, which I happen to love.

First, let's examine the positives. I was right in my original assumption. The mixture of poems and short stories kept it from becoming monotonous and one note, so it made it a bit easier to keep reading. I thought the poems were the highlight of the book. The thing I like about poems is they are whatever the author/poet wants them to be. There really isn't a wrong way to write a poem and it's a great way to express feelings and emotions. The book was separated into three different sections: Seed, Bud, and Blossom; the poems I liked the best were the ones immediately following the beginning of the sections. I think my favorite was "Seed to Seed to Seed"; it was just really well written and pleasing to read. I also enjoyed the WSV (Words Speak Volumes) poems. It was a bit of word association and I found them interesting; it was sort of fun guessing what the subject matter of the poem was, since they didn't have definitive titles. The short story I liked was called "Changes". The reason I liked it is because it involved two people who were very different, yet they were both harboring secrets that made them more alike than they realized. 

Now let's talk about the things I didn't particularly care for. Apart from the one I mentioned above, I wasn't excited about the rest of the short stories. Usually short stories at least have a bit of finality to them so they stand alone; these all felt like we were only given a chunk of a larger story. They were extremely hard to follow and figure out was going on, even after reading them several times. Honestly, they just left me feeling unfulfilled. Some of the writing seemed awkward which made finishing the book a little difficult, even though it was very short. 

All in all I was underwhelmed by Everblossom. There were a few poems/short stories I enjoyed, but for the most part I was left disappointed. 

If you would like to know more about the author, Larissa Hinton, visit her webpage.