I received this book from Abrams&Chronicle in exchange for an honest review.

The young Edgar Allan Poe is struggling to finish his poetry, and is dealing with a tumultuous home life when his muse, Lenore, comes to life and starts dogging his steps - intent on inspiring him. Edgar must accept his dark nature and his darker writing if he wants to keep Lenore alive.

This is a beautifully told story about a struggling artist and I think the teenage Poe in this book will appeal to anyone who was once a little bit of an emo child growing up. He's moody and angsty, and over the top with emotion when he wants to be. There's a lot of ups and downs with Poe in this book and I feel for him as he struggled to accept the truth of his art and who he had to leave behind to do so.

The most I knew of Edgar Allan Poe before this book to be honest was the Gilmore Girls episode with Poe Convention, so I was ignorant of his poetry beforehand but I still appreciated this story-telling and the way cat Winters was able to bring Poe to life. I definitely now have the desire to read Poe's poetry and fictional work as i found the bits in this book really beautiful.

I loved the idea of muses in this book and how they can appear physically alive. It's also great that other people can see them and recognise them as muses, and this is (mostly) an accepted thing. Lenore was an interesting character to picture as she was both beautiful and grotesque at the same time - I also loved that Winters gave Lenore an attraction towards women, and that he relationship with Poe wasn't a romantic one, as she was born from him and was part of him in that way.

I did find that there was nothing in this book that necessarily gripped me and really wanted me to keep on going until I had no more pages left to read. Once i put the book down, I remind myself to pick it back up again and continue which is a shame as I did find the story and language rather beautiful. I do think this is a story that a lot of people will love and appreciate.