ThistleHeart Home

by R.C. Lloyd

ThistleHeart Home is an atmospheric poetry collection that takes your hand and tugs you on a journey through the woods. Come encounter fears and lies, but know you'll be armed with love and light to beat back the darkness.

Genres: Poetry

ebook

Published November 25, 2025

Reviews

[Kayla Chittum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thistleheart Home is a beautiful and heartfelt collection, filled with emotion and imagery that captures a quiet tenderness. R.C. Loyd clearly pours genuine feelings into the poetry, and there are many moments that resonate deeply. However, the lack of a table of contents and poem titles made it difficult to navigate or revisit specific favorites. Some of the pieces also began to feel repetitive in tone and theme, which took away from the overall impact. Still, the writing itself carries a soft, lyrical beauty that makes the collection worth reading for those who appreciate heartfelt, reflective verse.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Effie Stock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautifully Atmospheric poetry collections I've ever read. Not only does it tell a story full of whimsy and magic, but it also contains deep themes of humanity, and searching for a place to call home

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ ARC review ✨

For when you are in your body
Your mind cannot catch you
And what cannot catch you
Cannot devour you
– R.C. Lloyd, ThistleHeart Home

What a lovely poetry collection! A complete journey from start to end, following a forest theme all throughout, this book dives into mental health, faith, love, loss, friendship, community/connection, hope and despair. It's a touching and well-written collection I enjoyed a lot.

The illustrations are also pretty and underline the poetry beautifully.

At times, the collection did drag on a little bit and felt repetitive to me, probably because of the recurring elements that cement the theme (forest, wolves, eagles, etc.), but it did not hinder my enjoyment of the book too much. I feel this one is better suited to coming back to every now and then when you're feeling the vibe vs. reading it in one go (although it is short enough to read within a tame timeframe if that's what you prefer).

Overall, I'm glad I got to read this! Thank you to the author/publisher for sending me an e-ARC. This review is my honest opinion.

[Stasia Roze · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I did enjoy Lloyd's poetry. The eldritch forest theme is something I absolutely adore. The poetry flows well and creates vivid imagery, providing the reader with an enthralling experience.

However, I did struggle with the formatting. I'll try and explain it concisely but bear with me!

Sometimes, there was 1 blank page between each poem. Sometimes, there wasn't. This, in addition to no poem titles, made it quite hard to know when a new poem started. I assumed it was a new poem where there was a fancy letter (my brains gone completely blank, and I can't remember what this is called).

This did work for me for a while, but then poems that were a page apart or had the fancy letter continued on with the same subject matter. I'm just not sure if it's individual poems about the same thing or if they are all connected. Unfortunately, this did take me out of the head space that whimsical poetry is supposed to create.

I am hyper aware that this very well could be a personal thing, and other readers will see this review and think, "What are they on?" So I've tried to still rate it well as the poetry is good!

[Aimen Lark · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly moving collection of poetry

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me be the first to say that this book holds my heart. I have been a fan of all of Lloyd's poetry, but this collection is extra special. It goes above and beyond the definitions of poetry, weaving in a story of hope, courage, and the dark woods. I am so excited for people to read it.