This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
I have always been a poet, with my first poem published in 1st grade. When I walk in nature, I see poetry, when I hear people's hearts I feel poetry. This book is comprised of poems I have written over 20 + years, I had to compile them. Just like I have to write poetry, it's like breathing.
Reviewed by Erin Nicole Cochran for Readers' Favorite
Mari Selby's collection, Lightning Strikes Twice, shouts from its pages in a clear and strong voice. The black ink speaks of her trials, that could easily be looked upon by the mind's eye instead as blood red font. Her cancer scarred and lightning struck body are ever-present and allow us a window into a world that most never see or feel first hand with their own body. As readers, we read and experience moments, but it is important to realize that those moments for us were years for the author. The collection is broken up into chapters, titled by the elements: water, fire, air, and earth. Each section brings in another layer of the author’s own sphere. Also, not to be left out, are the illustrations by artist Jennet Inglis that are placed within each chapter starting page, adding an extra depth.
There is a specific line that gives me an added heartbeat, “I check my lists of bruises.” Personally, I wouldn’t be able to see how anyone reading that could not get an empathetic chill or two traveling up their spine. One poem I cherished most was entrusted with the title of the book itself, “Lightning Strikes Twice.” The poem compares cancer and being hit by lightning to one another; the onslaught and devastation both have over one’s body and soul, and yet the creation that it also brings forth. Mari Selby's Lightning Strikes Twice is an intimate, spiritual, and scarred journey of words that you will want to have sitting on your shelf.
