Awaken LOVE

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By KC Cronin

Some books try to define love like it’s something you can pin down. Awaken LOVE moves in the opposite direction. It lets love stay loose, a bit messy, sometimes unclear, and that’s exactly why it works. It’s not trying to guide you step by step. It just opens a space and lets you sit there, which ended up feeling more honest than anything overly structured.

Reading it feels quiet at first, almost like nothing big is happening. Then a line sticks longer than expected, or an image lingers in a way that’s hard to explain. It sneaks up on you. I found myself going back to certain pages without really knowing why, which doesn’t happen often. It doesn’t push emotion on you, but it definitely pulls something out if you let it.

The book leans into love, but not in a neat or predictable way. It touches on connection, identity, healing, and even discomfort. There’s this underlying idea that love is not always soft or easy, that sometimes it asks more from you than you’re ready to give. That part made it feel more real than most things labeled as “love poetry.” It stretches beyond relationships and into how you exist with yourself and others.

The way Leseliey Rose and Stephanie Holloway work together is what gives it its shape. The poems feel simple on the surface, but they leave room to breathe, and the artwork doesn’t explain them, it shifts how you see them. Sometimes the pairing feels almost accidental, sometimes very intentional, and that unpredictability adds to the experience.

By the end, it doesn’t feel complete, and I mean that in a good way. It feels open, like something you return to when you’re in a different headspace. It’s worth reading if you want something that doesn’t try too hard but still manages to stay with you.

About the Authors

Leseliey Rose and Stephanie Holloway

Leseliey Rose is a poet, social entrepreneur, and professional dreamer whose work centers love as a force for healing, connection, and justice. Her poetry explores the intersections of identity, belonging, and the radical act of choosing love in a world rife with division. Awaken LOVE is her debut poetry chapbook. 

Stephanie Holloway is a visual artist whose abstract work explores color, emotion, and the ineffable qualities of human connection. Stephanie's collaboration with Leseliey on Awaken LOVE represents a deepening of their creative partnership as life partners and co-creators.