Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love by Regina Louise

 

5 STARS!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love is a lyrical and unflinching exploration of identity, survival, and self-return. Blending memoir, poetry, and myth, Regina Louise invites listeners into an intimate landscape where the personal becomes archetypal and the body holds memory, truth, and transformation.

Through a series of evocative and emotionally precise pieces, the collection traces the subtle and overt ways women are conditioned to abandon themselves in pursuit of love, belonging, and safety. What emerges is not only a reckoning with that inheritance, but a courageous reimagining of what it means to come home to oneself.

Rooted in lived experience yet expansive in its reach, Unladylike moves between tenderness and ferocity, grief and reclamation. Louise writes from the thresholds—where silence breaks, where longing reveals its cost, and where a new language of self-worth begins to take form. Her voice is both deeply personal and universally resonant, offering listeners a mirror for their own unspoken truths.

This collection is not only a body of work—it is a map, a praxis. A cartography of becoming that honors the complexity of healing while refusing the narratives that diminish it. With clarity, compassion, and power, Unladylike asks what it means to choose oneself fully, and what becomes possible when we do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Regina Louise is a sought-after speaker, teacher, coach, and author. Recently she was the recipient of the prestigious Christopher Award, given to producers for stories that “affirm the human spirit.” In 2019 she received the Jordan Award for service in transforming foster care through advocacy and the arts; the Community Service Award for Children and Families from the Seneca Foundation; and the NAIMC Vision Award for original programming that “reflects the lives, spirit, and contributions of people of color and represents the ethnic and cultural diversity of the viewing audience.” She is the author of the bestselling memoirs Somebody’s Someone and Someone Has Led This Child to Believe. A Lifetime movie, I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story, is based on her life and was nominated for a 2020 NAACP Award for Best Director.

MY THOUGHTS:

Uncensored, unabashed, unafraid, unapologetic, raw, not only from the heart but also from the gut.

These poems are so full of emotion. I love that Regina spoke from her heart. It was like she was speaking from her heart to my heart. These poems were for me.

What I love about poems is that the poet could write them with a certain meaning behind them. But the person reading them could experience them in a totally different way depending on the life they have lived. And another person could take them to mean something entirely different. Poetry is kind of, in the eyes of the beholder.

These poems brought out a lot of emotion in me. I was in an abusive relationship a long time ago (which I got out of). It’s almost as if these poems were speaking right to me and taking from my heart exactly what I was feeling.

These are little clips from different poems that spoke to me -

“Today, my heart is my own.

My voice is no longer any man’s hostage.

My story is not a bargaining chip.“

“Common sense told me

get out.

right there.

but I didn’t.“

“I am grateful

to the pain

that led me

to myself again.“

And I think these, both pieces from the same poem called - I Stayed, hit home for me the most -

“I stayed

because his teeth

weren’t sharp enough -

not yet.

because the threat was loud.

but the hope

still whispered.

I stayed

because terror was reliable.

because silence

was easier

than saying I was afraid.

This is exactly how I felt and why I stayed. There was always hope still whispering in the background. He always promised that he wouldn’t do it again, that he would be better. And I was ashamed and embarrassed to tell anybody, so it was easier to just stay silent and endure it for years. It wasn’t until I had my baby girl. She was the reason I left, for her!

But all of that made me a stronger person. It built me into the woman that I am today. Exactly like these poems say.

Thank you so much to the poet/author. Sometimes feeling emotion and feeling the pain all over again isn’t a bad thing… It’s a reminder of where you’ve come from, how you fought, and what you are today because of it.

I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this book from "Poetic Book Tours" and the author -  Thank You!