The Poet X now holds the title of my favourite Elizabeth Acevedo book.

Elizabeth Acevedo knows how to write a novel in verse. She plays with syntax and metre. The chapters are short and punchy. Each chapter is like its own little poem. Each word carefully chosen and accurately portraying how Xiomara feels.

Xiomara, our main character, is tall and curvy. She's feisty and often lets her fists do the talking. She also has a whole world in her head, that spills and fills her journal.

I'd read a few reviews that talked about the plot following Xiomara as she attends confirmation classes while desperately wanting to attend the slam poetry class that's held at the same time. Which is true, but there was so much more to it.

Xiomara is in high school, at that age where strange men view her and treat her like an adult, while her parents treat her like a child. She has her first real relationship with a guy in her biology class but has to hide it from her deeply religious parents. She's at the age where she's forming her own opinions and beliefs. She's realising that she doesn't have to be who her parents expect to be.

All of this, she explores through poetry. She discovers the power in taking her written words, adding movement, tone and nuance, and speaking her poems aloud.

I adored The Poet X. It's been a long time since I was 15 but there was so much to Xiomara and her experiences that I could relate to.

It's a super quick read. I read it in a night, and was a little bit sad that it was over so soon. It gets a well deserved 5 star rating from me.