Book Review: Fueling the Appetite: Poetically Speaking
Fueling the Appetite: Poetically Speaking by Lisa M. Andrade
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Winter seems to have just started, and yet it is already February and it won’t be long before cupids of Valentine’s Day come knocking on the door. Traditionally, Valentine’s Day brings with it flowers and chocolate, but this Valentine’s Day we suggest something slightly different – chocolate and poetry. Poetry carries connotations of romance and seduction, and what can be more romantic than indulging a chocoholic with poetry about chocolate… while enjoying chocolate?
Lisa M. Andrade’s debut book, Fueling the Appetite: Poetically Speaking, is more than just a collection of poems. It is an intimate insight into the author’s life and personality. “It has poems about love, lust, anger, many things. I write about things that I have a passion for, and chocolate is definitely one of them,” she said. The book is organized in a cute and stylish way, with a table of contents presented like a nutritional chart and a “menu synopsis” that briefly and flirtatiously describes the various chapters, including appetizers (poems designed to make you crave more), dessert (poems about chocolate and sweets) and a la carte items (miscellaneous poems.) At a first glance, one could almost confuse the collection with a cook book, but a closer look reveals the fun within.
Personal photographs that are sprinkled throughout the book like candied confetti help the reader better relate to the author and the poems, and the fun style in which the poems are written draw them in. “I like updated modern poetry, something that really gets through to the reader. That’s what it’s all about, being myself and being fun,” said Lisa. It’s true – one of the best assets of Lisa’s poetry is her honesty, and the way in which her charismatic personality shines through in her words. Cute titles like “A Boulevard of Sweet Treats” and “Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Chocoholic” hide words that sweeten and seduce (after all, chocolate is an aphrodisiac!) And her poem “Chocolate Therapy for Two” certainly provides interesting tidbits of ideas for a very romantic and sexy Valentine’s Day celebration “enriched with lust and 100% satisfaction guaranteed.”
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
