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Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming
"These days,
I am less heart,
more break...
but soon
I'll be more bloom
than wounds."
From poet Stefanie Briar, bestselling author of "Burn" and "Surrender", comes her highly anticipated 6th book, "Iron & Velvet".
"Iron & Velvet" is a powerful poetic journey through heartbreak and eventual healing (breaking and blooming).
The words inside will break your heart and then kiss the wounds closed.
Anyone who has ever loved and lost (and made it to the other side) will find themselves between every line.
This is the perfect book for lovers of modern poetry and fans of Whitney Hanson, Beau Taplin, Isabella Dorta, FS Yousaf, Shelby Leigh, Michaela Angemeer, Zara Bas, and Amanda Lovelace,
Read it and let yourself feel.
I am less heart,
more break...
but soon
I'll be more bloom
than wounds."
From poet Stefanie Briar, bestselling author of "Burn" and "Surrender", comes her highly anticipated 6th book, "Iron & Velvet".
"Iron & Velvet" is a powerful poetic journey through heartbreak and eventual healing (breaking and blooming).
The words inside will break your heart and then kiss the wounds closed.
Anyone who has ever loved and lost (and made it to the other side) will find themselves between every line.
This is the perfect book for lovers of modern poetry and fans of Whitney Hanson, Beau Taplin, Isabella Dorta, FS Yousaf, Shelby Leigh, Michaela Angemeer, Zara Bas, and Amanda Lovelace,
Read it and let yourself feel.
- GenresPoetryNonfictionLove
176 pages, Paperback
Published March 29, 2023
98 people are currently reading
1100 people want to read
About the author
Stefanie Briar
16 books50 followersStefanie Briar is a queer 37-year-old poet and editor from New Jersey. She is known for creating powerful, relatable, accessible poetry and prose that stands out from the crowd. Her goals are to make her readers feel seen/understood and to prove that poetry is not a dead language. Aside from her own author career, she uses her university degrees and 14 years of experience teaching English to work as a freelance editor. Poets who are publishing books of their own hire her to edit and proofread their manuscripts.
Her latest release, "Iron & Velvet" (2023) quickly joined the ranks of "Surrender" (2022), "Shades of Ruin" (2022), and "Burn" (2021) as #1 bestsellers on Amazon. She also wrote "Cosmosis" and "Homecoming" back in 2020.
Authored Works:
Her debut book, "Cosmosis", a poetic journey through love/heartbreak, was released on 4/26/20. This book is a missions project where royalties are donated to anti-racism causes and organizations, such as Black Girls Code, The Loveland Foundation, and the NAACP.
Briar released her second book, "Homecoming", on 1/1/21. This book of poetry and prose chronicles healing, strength, wisdom, and finding your way back home to yourself.
"Burn", her third book, was released on 4/18/21, and became a #1 New Release. "Burn" is bold, fiery, passionate, and powerful in its poetic journey through the multitudes of life, self, and love. Most of the book's poetry uses fire metaphors, imagery, and/or allusions. Stef cites "Burn" as the book that "put her on the map" as a modern poet.
"Shades of Ruin" was released on 1/11/22, debuting as a #1 New Release in numerous categories and quickly becoming a #1 bestseller. This short collection of poems is an emotional powerhouse, more of a continuously-moving story arc than an anthology, and reads like a poetic novella. It follows a love story from the initial collision all the way up through the letting go. The writing is raw, brutal, honest, passionate, and magnificently crafted.
"Surrender" (Stefanie's personal favorite of her published works) was released on 8/12/22, her 37th birthday. It began its life as #1 New Release in 6 Amazon categories and went on to hit #1 bestseller rankings numerous times, It has surpassed "Burn" as her #1 selling book. Surrender is a celebration of healing, change, acceptance, and love. It poetically chronicles what it is to live, feel, love, grow, let go, and find peace within yourself. No topics are off limits, and this is her most diverse body of work to date. Among the subjects are:
-healing
-overcoming past trauma
-mending the heart
-putting past relationships into perspective
-self love
- personal growth
-claiming your power
-coming out as queer
-sapphic love
-letting love back in again
"Iron & Velvet" released on April 1, 2023 as an instant #1 bestseller. This book is a poetic journey through a heart breaking and then blooming. The first chapter "The Iron" chronicles heartbreak, breaking up, loss, grief, pain, and dark night of the soul. These poems are raw and will grip the soul. "The Velvet" chapter 2, details the journey back to one's center, where healing takes place. It is full of heartfelt truths, bits of wisdom, gentle reminders, sound advice, and extremely relatable poems about coming back home to yourself after your heart has been broken.
Stefanie has a growing readership of over 350,000 across her 2 platforms. She is humbled and grateful to be able to share her love of words with the world.
Her latest release, "Iron & Velvet" (2023) quickly joined the ranks of "Surrender" (2022), "Shades of Ruin" (2022), and "Burn" (2021) as #1 bestsellers on Amazon. She also wrote "Cosmosis" and "Homecoming" back in 2020.
Authored Works:
Her debut book, "Cosmosis", a poetic journey through love/heartbreak, was released on 4/26/20. This book is a missions project where royalties are donated to anti-racism causes and organizations, such as Black Girls Code, The Loveland Foundation, and the NAACP.
Briar released her second book, "Homecoming", on 1/1/21. This book of poetry and prose chronicles healing, strength, wisdom, and finding your way back home to yourself.
"Burn", her third book, was released on 4/18/21, and became a #1 New Release. "Burn" is bold, fiery, passionate, and powerful in its poetic journey through the multitudes of life, self, and love. Most of the book's poetry uses fire metaphors, imagery, and/or allusions. Stef cites "Burn" as the book that "put her on the map" as a modern poet.
"Shades of Ruin" was released on 1/11/22, debuting as a #1 New Release in numerous categories and quickly becoming a #1 bestseller. This short collection of poems is an emotional powerhouse, more of a continuously-moving story arc than an anthology, and reads like a poetic novella. It follows a love story from the initial collision all the way up through the letting go. The writing is raw, brutal, honest, passionate, and magnificently crafted.
"Surrender" (Stefanie's personal favorite of her published works) was released on 8/12/22, her 37th birthday. It began its life as #1 New Release in 6 Amazon categories and went on to hit #1 bestseller rankings numerous times, It has surpassed "Burn" as her #1 selling book. Surrender is a celebration of healing, change, acceptance, and love. It poetically chronicles what it is to live, feel, love, grow, let go, and find peace within yourself. No topics are off limits, and this is her most diverse body of work to date. Among the subjects are:
-healing
-overcoming past trauma
-mending the heart
-putting past relationships into perspective
-self love
- personal growth
-claiming your power
-coming out as queer
-sapphic love
-letting love back in again
"Iron & Velvet" released on April 1, 2023 as an instant #1 bestseller. This book is a poetic journey through a heart breaking and then blooming. The first chapter "The Iron" chronicles heartbreak, breaking up, loss, grief, pain, and dark night of the soul. These poems are raw and will grip the soul. "The Velvet" chapter 2, details the journey back to one's center, where healing takes place. It is full of heartfelt truths, bits of wisdom, gentle reminders, sound advice, and extremely relatable poems about coming back home to yourself after your heart has been broken.
Stefanie has a growing readership of over 350,000 across her 2 platforms. She is humbled and grateful to be able to share her love of words with the world.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 17, 2024
Picked this up from a cute community lending library, read it over a weekend in Ohio. A rather repetitive style/frame but one that walks very vulnerably through Briar’s attempts at grasping her experience outgrowing and being outgrown—and the pain of such. Briar does a lot of pieces on memory (“I hope time will be kind to my memory” aka the memory of me or “I hope you remember me as someone who…”) :,)
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January 25, 2024Heart Break and Restoration
Iron and Velvet by Stefanie Briar, is a poetry book about heartbreak and recovery. The beginning of the book talks about the heartbreak and how she wants back what she can't have, the second part of the book talks about recovery and explains that she's happy she is out of the relationship she was in. Iron and Velvet had a very big impact on me and is overall such an amazing book to read.
Iron and Velvet is probably more targeted towards females because it is a female talking about her breakup. Males could definitely read this book and be inspired by it, but females might gain more from the read. Teens and up should be reading this book because it is a more mature book. There are swear words and talk of other things that children should not be reading about unless they are more mature. Iron and Velvet is similar to the books Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur so if you have read those books and liked those books then I'm sure you will also enjoy Iron and Velvet. Stefanie has also written other poetry books so if you like this book then you may enjoy others by Stefanie. This book is just amazing overall because ofcourse shes not the only one who has been through breakups and the book really helps learn how she coped with hers and maybe could tell how to cope with your own. Iron and Velvet really shows that we are all human and have our emotions that we shouldn't have to hide. It shows how everyone goes through things and it helps to understand other people's ways of going through those things. One of the many poems I have enjoyed from this book is: “I am plagued by the thought that it never had to be like this/If only you had loved me more/If only I had loved you less” (Briar 19). This poem from the book I think a lot of people can relate to and understand. The poems in this book are all that beautiful and heartbreaking. A few of them were very emotional and there were some tears that were shed. If poetry is your thing, and you went through a hard breakup or are going through a hard breakup, then I strongly suggest this book. Not only just to feel connected to the author, Also to learn ways you may need to try to cope. Again this book is just so beautifully written and an amazing read.
This book is one of the many poetry books out there and is one of the best ones about heartbreak. If you or anyone you might know is going through something along the lines of heartbreak, I strongly recommend this book. Not only for the sad parts, but also for the happy parts in a breakup. Have you ever been through heartbreak?
Iron and Velvet by Stefanie Briar, is a poetry book about heartbreak and recovery. The beginning of the book talks about the heartbreak and how she wants back what she can't have, the second part of the book talks about recovery and explains that she's happy she is out of the relationship she was in. Iron and Velvet had a very big impact on me and is overall such an amazing book to read.
Iron and Velvet is probably more targeted towards females because it is a female talking about her breakup. Males could definitely read this book and be inspired by it, but females might gain more from the read. Teens and up should be reading this book because it is a more mature book. There are swear words and talk of other things that children should not be reading about unless they are more mature. Iron and Velvet is similar to the books Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur so if you have read those books and liked those books then I'm sure you will also enjoy Iron and Velvet. Stefanie has also written other poetry books so if you like this book then you may enjoy others by Stefanie. This book is just amazing overall because ofcourse shes not the only one who has been through breakups and the book really helps learn how she coped with hers and maybe could tell how to cope with your own. Iron and Velvet really shows that we are all human and have our emotions that we shouldn't have to hide. It shows how everyone goes through things and it helps to understand other people's ways of going through those things. One of the many poems I have enjoyed from this book is: “I am plagued by the thought that it never had to be like this/If only you had loved me more/If only I had loved you less” (Briar 19). This poem from the book I think a lot of people can relate to and understand. The poems in this book are all that beautiful and heartbreaking. A few of them were very emotional and there were some tears that were shed. If poetry is your thing, and you went through a hard breakup or are going through a hard breakup, then I strongly suggest this book. Not only just to feel connected to the author, Also to learn ways you may need to try to cope. Again this book is just so beautifully written and an amazing read.
This book is one of the many poetry books out there and is one of the best ones about heartbreak. If you or anyone you might know is going through something along the lines of heartbreak, I strongly recommend this book. Not only for the sad parts, but also for the happy parts in a breakup. Have you ever been through heartbreak?
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December 19, 2023Some quotes like “These days, I am less heart, more break.” and the usage of the italics and dashes felt very…… I don’t want to be rude because I don’t know how romantic heartbreak feels and I applaud the author for publishing a vulnerable piece of work.
Some quotes I did really like are:
“I try to safely keep the best of us with me, but our story feels so heavy in my shaking hands.”
“It is tunneling into the marrow of us, and declaring the loss of you a home for a universe.”
“Silence is where love goes to die, and I have been starved by it enough times to know.”
“our wounds are all part of a larger collective” (love this one)
This poem:
All this dead air, all this laced silence, all these unsaid words sitting between us. Conversation used to flow like midnight wine, and we used to fall so easily into the vacuum of time that there was nothing that existed outside of us. The earth was just a floating rock, and time was just a useless construct, and nothing, nothing was real but love, but this, but us.
April 26, 2023
The first section of her book is dedicated to a lover who left. In ways it was very familiar to me. It reminded me of a lover a lifetime ago. It reminded me of poems I wrote then, but also reminded me of other poets I’ve recently read. I had trouble getting past spelling errors and missing words… it felt that this was hastily put together and distributed.
The second section had a section on healing that I felt was brilliant and beautiful. It resonated deeply with me about a loss I’ve navigated. Very different scenario, but loss is loss and healing is healing. It fully redeemed the poet, in my eyes.
In my opinion, the ending poems brought the book down. She was healing and it was beautiful and then she seemed to go back to this place where the ex was the problem. She ends the poems forgiving this lover and I wish the poems had ended with her thoughts on healing. The healing section, to me, was her strongest work.
The second section had a section on healing that I felt was brilliant and beautiful. It resonated deeply with me about a loss I’ve navigated. Very different scenario, but loss is loss and healing is healing. It fully redeemed the poet, in my eyes.
In my opinion, the ending poems brought the book down. She was healing and it was beautiful and then she seemed to go back to this place where the ex was the problem. She ends the poems forgiving this lover and I wish the poems had ended with her thoughts on healing. The healing section, to me, was her strongest work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2024
If you want my heart to open
after being closed off,
show me that I am safe.
Make me comfortable
even at my most vulnerable.
Learn my love language
even if you have to speak it with an accent.
Meet me where I am-
in the depths of my emotions,
downing on dry land,
backed into a corner of my own creation.
Just be with me.
Breathe with me.
Remind me that I am not alone.
(I will do the same for you).
“We can still be friends.”
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who can’t keep their promises?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who swore to protect my heart
(and then didn’t)?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who was once my lover
but has now become unrecognizable?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone I can no longer trust?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who threw away my love?
“We can still be friends”.
This I do know: I deserve better.
Those made my heart smile 💔🩹
after being closed off,
show me that I am safe.
Make me comfortable
even at my most vulnerable.
Learn my love language
even if you have to speak it with an accent.
Meet me where I am-
in the depths of my emotions,
downing on dry land,
backed into a corner of my own creation.
Just be with me.
Breathe with me.
Remind me that I am not alone.
(I will do the same for you).
“We can still be friends.”
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who can’t keep their promises?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who swore to protect my heart
(and then didn’t)?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who was once my lover
but has now become unrecognizable?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone I can no longer trust?
Why would I want to be friends
with someone who threw away my love?
“We can still be friends”.
This I do know: I deserve better.
Those made my heart smile 💔🩹
October 31, 2024
Iron and Velvet. Perfect combination. Perfect Poems. 💜
Favorite poem ---IRON---
There is a hidden part of me
which I keep deeply buried
that cries for you in the night,
that rewinds the clock while
tightly clutching your hand,
pulling you back through time
all the way to my side.
Stay there with me…please.
Just stay there and love me.
Favorite poem --- VELVET---
You deserve a lasting love,
an any time of day or night love,
a take you as you are love,
a flowers just because love,
an I’m thinking of you love,
a you are beautiful inside and out love,
a goodnight and good morning text love,
a take care of you when you’re sick love,
a remind you of your worth love,
a hug you from behind love,
a words of affirmation love,
a love that always reminds you
that you are enough.
So in love with this book. 💜
Favorite poem ---IRON---
There is a hidden part of me
which I keep deeply buried
that cries for you in the night,
that rewinds the clock while
tightly clutching your hand,
pulling you back through time
all the way to my side.
Stay there with me…please.
Just stay there and love me.
Favorite poem --- VELVET---
You deserve a lasting love,
an any time of day or night love,
a take you as you are love,
a flowers just because love,
an I’m thinking of you love,
a you are beautiful inside and out love,
a goodnight and good morning text love,
a take care of you when you’re sick love,
a remind you of your worth love,
a hug you from behind love,
a words of affirmation love,
a love that always reminds you
that you are enough.
So in love with this book. 💜
November 24, 2024
Iron and Velvet by Stefanie Briar, is a poetry book about heartbreak and recovery. The beginning of the book talks about the heartbreak and how she wants back what she can't have.The repetitive style/frame that walks very vulnerably through author attempts at grasping her experience adulting and the pain of such.
The second part of the book talks redemption about recovery and explains that she's happy she is out of the relationship she was in. This book is easy to connect with reader's and they can connect as everyone has been through breakups one of the other way at sometime of there life and the book helps learn how she coped with hers and maybe through her experience one can tell how to cope with your own. The modern term of love and romance and cuss is not what called verse poetry but rant poetry an aggressive writing in flow is not poetry but words.
The second part of the book talks redemption about recovery and explains that she's happy she is out of the relationship she was in. This book is easy to connect with reader's and they can connect as everyone has been through breakups one of the other way at sometime of there life and the book helps learn how she coped with hers and maybe through her experience one can tell how to cope with your own. The modern term of love and romance and cuss is not what called verse poetry but rant poetry an aggressive writing in flow is not poetry but words.
December 23, 2023
- If you remember nothing else about me, let it be that I was brave in the face of love. That I let it have its way with me and still couldn’t get enough. That I crawled back to it, wounded, skinned knees, bleeding. That I still believed it was the only hill worth dying on.
- I always end up growing root systems down into the people I love, which freezes me into place. And when you are a stayer, you so often end up left.
- None of this was my idea, you know. You chose this. You let me go. So why can’t you let me go? If you wanted to hold on to me, all you had to do was hold on to me… (it was really that easy).
- I do not love halfway, and my love is not for the weak. It hangs on long after it probably should, and does not know how to die.
- I always end up growing root systems down into the people I love, which freezes me into place. And when you are a stayer, you so often end up left.
- None of this was my idea, you know. You chose this. You let me go. So why can’t you let me go? If you wanted to hold on to me, all you had to do was hold on to me… (it was really that easy).
- I do not love halfway, and my love is not for the weak. It hangs on long after it probably should, and does not know how to die.
August 20, 2024
Iron & Velvet: poetry for hearts breaking and blooming by Stefanie Briar delivers on its promise to explore heart both breaking and blooming. I'm rarely seduced by an interesting cover, but the cover of Iron & Velvet really spoke to me. Briar's poetry explores heartache and loss as well as the journey to mending hearts and growing from the experience. Several of the poems in Iron & Velvet reminded me of heartbreaks as well as moments of healing I've experienced. Briar's style is accessible, relatable, and encompassing. Iron & Velvet holds within it compassion, strength, and vulnerability in poems that delight the senses and at times almost feel like a comforting hug.
May 28, 2024
"Love never hurt you; love does not know how to hurt or wound. Love is made of pure light that only knows how to multiply. It was never love's fault that a wounded human caused you harm."
So many profound thoughts in this book. So many poems that I took pictures of and had to stop to reflect on afterwards! As a Swiftie, I thought this book reminded me of Midnights and TTPD a lot; some similar themes of heartbreak, outgrowing someone, and growth that comes after heartbreak.
Beautifully written.
So many profound thoughts in this book. So many poems that I took pictures of and had to stop to reflect on afterwards! As a Swiftie, I thought this book reminded me of Midnights and TTPD a lot; some similar themes of heartbreak, outgrowing someone, and growth that comes after heartbreak.
Beautifully written.
August 21, 2023
I read this in probably the worst time of my life, I'm currently going through a breakup and it's been rough but here I am. This book spoke to me like no other, every line, hit after hit, every poem where the words I wanted to say to keep fighting for a love that was over way long ago to stay. A combination of emotions dread, and frustration, acceptance, hope and moments to catch your breath and breath.
April 13, 2024
Had I read this when I was going through my breakup then I would have been impacted more by the words. And even though I’m not going through a breakup, a lot of this helped me realize that I deserve to be happy and that it was okay to feel the way that I was feeling during that time. I did enjoy this and it was a great break from reading romance and fantasy.
August 30, 2024
I love the idea behind the iron and velvet separation. Heart break and healing. This book had great potential with that design. Poems are vulnerable works of art and so powerful for the individuals who write them and I cannot diminish that weight. However, the poems didn’t have a powerful pull on me and did not emotionally draw me in.
August 22, 2023
Wow!
I loved this book. In less than a dozen pages, it hit hard. It put into words the feelings I couldn’t express. A very emotional for me read, that I found through a post on Instagram, that I will forever be grateful for.
I loved this book. In less than a dozen pages, it hit hard. It put into words the feelings I couldn’t express. A very emotional for me read, that I found through a post on Instagram, that I will forever be grateful for.
February 17, 2025
Recommended Reading
As someone who has dealt with a lot of heartache, I really connected with many of the poems. Stefanie has written honestly and hopeful. This is her first book I’ve read. I was drawn to the heart on the cover.
As someone who has dealt with a lot of heartache, I really connected with many of the poems. Stefanie has written honestly and hopeful. This is her first book I’ve read. I was drawn to the heart on the cover.
May 30, 2023
Beautiful work of prose that is both heart-wrenching and hopeful. Really good description of what heartbreak and grief is like and how to overcome the loss of one's home (an ex).
June 23, 2023
Loved everything about this book. I smiled, I yelled, and I even wanted to throw my dam kindle at the wall for how relatable this reading was. 5 stars no doubt!
August 4, 2023
This book is beautifully written. It was a nice break from what I usually read.
September 6, 2023
This is a two part book. The heartbreaking and the healing. I definitely gravitated towards the healing portion of the book more than the heartbreak. Overall a decent read if you’re into poetry.
September 16, 2023
A perfect path out of 💔
December 11, 2023
Wonderful thoughts on heartbreak and healing. It was very relatable.
December 23, 2023
solid arc and timeline
Throughly enjoyed this poetry book. The arc from start to finish flowed so well and you could feel the pain and joy as the author experienced it.
Throughly enjoyed this poetry book. The arc from start to finish flowed so well and you could feel the pain and joy as the author experienced it.
December 29, 2023
8,5/10 E
January 21, 2024
Really enjoyed. Love these poetry books.
April 20, 2024
A journey from pain to peace, with some beautiful gems shared throughout. 🖤
July 24, 2024
For someone new to reading poetry, this didn't do it. But I'm willing to try again with other collections.
December 17, 2024
4.75❤️🩹
April 3, 2025
"I am little more than a silent scream sewn into skin. Mouth skyward, I howl like my love depends on it, and it comes out tasting like your name ricocheting off the moon."
June 2, 2025
All throughout the book I was thinking to myself that the author must be a swiftie. This was confirmed on the last page. ;)
January 31, 2024
Between the lines. Emotions that feel fuzzy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews