The Sweetest Kind of Poison

by Katie Wismer

The stories never tell you what to do when the knight who rescues you turns out to be more dangerous than the dragon he saved you from.

The Sweetest Kind of Poison is a collection of poetry about toxic relationships and letting go of what no longer serves you. It takes you through the fall, the collapse, the withdrawal, the recovery, and the now, chronicling a journey of abuse, heartache, confidence, self-love, letting go, and growing up.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Romance, Adult, Ebooks, Contemporary

152 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2018

About the author

Katie Wismer writes books with a little blood and a little spice (sometimes contemporary, sometimes romantasy.)

Be the first to know about upcoming projects, exclusive content, and more by signing up for her newsletter at katiewismer.com. Signed books are also available on her website, and she posts monthly bonus content on her Patreon (including a Patreon-exclusive book!)

When she's not reading, writing, or wrangling her two perfect cats, you can find her on her YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.

Reviews

[Katie]

Update 8/2019: Hi! I recently posted a video on my youtube channel all about this book and the publication process, so I figured I'd link it here in case you're interested! :) https://youtu.be/VAYN0t0OAUc

I'm so excited for you guys to read this *screams*

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5

I really loved this poetry collection! It was just such a realistic portrayal of someone falling in love, falling out of love and all of the mess in between. I liked that it wasn’t trying too hard and that it was down to earth, I love how easy it was for me to relate, and I adore how it ended. I’m really pleased with the ratio of story telling and snippets of advice. And I love love love that it’s all just one big story to tell but in poetry form. I feel that every time I’ve read modern poetry I’ve felt that the overall story is a little hard for me to read and I tend to think it’s just a random mishmash of poems, but in this one I really felt the flow of it all.

GREAT JOB to Katie for an amazing Debut!!

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. As someone who has experience with an abusive relationship I really related to a lot of the poems on a deep level. I think anyone who has been or is in an abusive relationship would benefit from reading this

[clara irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this for an honest review and while I was SO excited to read it, I did not expect to connect with it as much as I did.
As someone who was in a long term emotionally abusive relationship, so many of the poems resonated with me on such a deep level. There were a few pages that I even just stopped and stared at for an extended amount of time. Rereading over and over because they hit me so hard and someone finally put words to how I felt back then.
Katie has such a beautiful way with words and I truly hope this amazing book finds a home with a lot of people so that her moving and relatable words can spill into their lives as well.
I, for one, will certainly be recommending it to anyone who asks for poetry recs from now on.
I’ll be filming a video review of this for my channel very soonly!

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

The second half kind of dwindled off for me in terms of connecting to the words, but still highly recommend it for the first half.

[Emmy]

I can't wait to read this. I am going to make all 3 of my friends get this and support Katie xD

[SARAH · Rating 3 out of 5]

edit: given that katie has now released three poetry books i think it would be really cool to make it into one book. idk. i just thought of that now and it seems like a good idea.

it's hard to rate a poetry collection that is very obviously about someone's life. this poetry collection follows katie's experience through a toxic relationship. it is separated into four categories, the fall, the collapse, the withdrawal, the recovery.

.・゜゜・ʙʀᴇᴀᴋᴅᴏᴡɴ・゜゜・．

→ cohesion: 7/10

→ impact: 6/10

→ writing: 7/10

.・゜゜・ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇs ・゜゜・．

so go ahead
have your vengeance
i'd rather have my peace

i'll be honest. i don't like poetry. especially modern poetry because i hate how sugar coated most of the poems are. in fact, every single poetry collection i've ever tried to read was a dnf until this book. i've watched katie's youtube channel for a while now and figured i'd put my feud with poetry aside and give her poetry a chance.

i don't regret it.

this book, more than anything, chronicles katie's pain. i had to pause this book every once in a while because it was overwhelmingly painful. like sad painful. i felt her relationship through the poetry so much so it felt like i was the one in the relationship.

here's what no one tells you
about hitting rock bottom
it's silence
it's sitting in the dark
alone
the hum of the fan
beating on the inside of your skull

.・゜゜・ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪsʟɪᴋᴇs ・゜゜・

some of the poems in this collection were as i mentioned previously, very sugar coated. and some were kind of just didn't make sense. for example:

it's not even his failure
you were just two planets
who tried to make it work
but your orbits will always be
just out of sync

i get that this is supposed to be poetic, but if anything it frustrates me. i'm glad katie's process of forgiveness is included in this collection. i just hate that instead of forcing her toxic ex to own up to his actions she writes that their planets were out of sync as if it was fate that made him toxic and abusive. as if it wasn't his fault. and i'll be honest i hate that so much. phew.

ok there's not much else i dislike. overall a solid first poetry collections, i'll definitely consider reading more of katie's poems.

if you'd like, you can check out more book reviews on my blog.

→ 3.5 stars

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written! It was a quick read, and I was able to finish it in one sitting. The poems were very relatable.

[Mieke · Rating 5 out of 5]

”he was the sweetest kind of poison
but poison nonetheless”

I’ve been following Katie’s YouTube channel for about a year now and I totally fell in love with her art and personality. She’s a lovely charismatic woman with a story to tell. When she first talked about her book, I got intrigued and even more so when I found it was poetry.

The structure of the collection is really nice and the poems fit together incredibly well. It tells a story without implementing all of the visuals for you. There is still room for your own creativity and story relatability to go in. The writing style fits Katie so well and I can see that it’s her writing on the page by just following her for some time now. I love the story that was portrayed and have highlighted many, many poems in here that resonated with me.

I sincerely hope Katie comes out with another collection of poems since she is great at it and I loved the experience of reading this.

[☽ Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so beyond proud of Katie for writing this book. So many of the poems resonated deep within me, and I cried many times while reading it. It truly made me feel like I wasn’t so alone and understood. I still can’t actually process I know such an insightful and talented human; Katie writes in such an honest way, you can’t help but feel like you’ve thought these things yourself but have never managed to put those thoughts together in such a delicate, coherent way. It honestly blew me away. The ending left me feeling like I wanted MORE, especially those happy poems she struggles with but will surely be worth the wait.

Also, page 89. What an effing masterpiece.

[Kaylani Gallardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry collection was so powerful! You can tell how much Katie really opened herself up and poured herself into these pages. There was so much emotion in these words and it makes me respect Katie even more as a person and an author. Too put that much of yourself out there for people to read is extremely brave and I know that this poetry collection is going to help so many women that have gone through and survived an abusive relationship. This is a very hard subject matter to talk about and it was handled with such grace and beauty. I love how many types of poems were used in this collection and each one had their own grace to them! I read this in one sitting and felt the emotions the entire time! This is my first poetry collection that I have read in a quite a long time. It will be hard for any others to measure up! This collection made my cry and allowed me to see myself in these pages. It was incredible and 100% recommend this for anyone that wants to pick up an amazing poetry collection.

I doubt that you will read this Katie but if you do! Thank you! I have not gone through this exact situation but this book still made me feel seen and I felt all of the emotion pouring out of these words. Thank you for being so vulnerable and being open enough to share your struggles with us! I will 100% be reading this again and again over the course of my life. You are 2 for 2 and I cannot wait to read whatever else you put out next!

[t o m (T.J. Reads the Stars) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! This was a really wonderful collection. Katie’s honesty, wisdom and powerful phrasing really shine through in every poem. Would highly recommend to anyone who has been through any kind of toxic romantic relationship.

“he was the sweetest kind of poison
but poison nonetheless”
- the withdrawal

[Ian (The Indomitable Reader)]

I'M SO HAPPY FOR KATIE!!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a full video review of The Sweetest Kind of Poison on my Youtube channel - you can watch it here!

I was really looking forward to reading this book, and I bought it literally minutes after it came out - and I'm so glad I did, because I really enjoyed this collection.

Katie's writing is bold, simple, and compulsively readable. Reading this book was almost like speaking with a friend - and her poem is written in lower-case letters and mostly unpunctuated, which makes it feel like you're reading a series of texts. This idea is particularly driven home by the micropoems scattered throughout the book.

I'm not a huge fan of really short poems; I feel that a lot of micropoetry strikes me as kind of unnecessary, and unless you have one really solid line then I tend to be of the opinion that the book would be stronger without it. However, although not all of the micropoems really spoke to me personally, I did feel that they added to the cohesion of the collection and continued the impression that I was reading texts from a friend.

I've read a lot of poetry books like this, but at the same time, none of them were quite like this. I found myself highlighting quotes every other page, and saying "damn," as I turned over to the next one. Katie has some strong words and hard-earned lessons to share in this book, and she does it so well. I think this collection compares favourably to the work of poets like Gretchen Gomez (author of 'Love, and You') and Anne Chivon (author of 'Cottontail Games') - but it definitely has its own spark which makes it stand out from both of them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I look forward to reading more of Katie's work in the future!

[Rissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sweetest kind of poison ⭐️

The statement ‘the stories never tell you what to do when the knight who rescues you turns out to be more dangerous than the dragon he saved you from’ is not something original but that being said it’s one of my favorite things. He was a good man but he turned out rotten. I have stories like that myself that I’ve been working on not out of experience but because it’s so easy to draw a good character and decide to make him brittle and broken himself so much so that he hurts everyone else around him or maybe he’s just a straight up jerk.
Throughout We read about the kind man that changed or maybe the monster was there all along. We also see the strong woman underneath the pain and it was elegantly written.
Anyways, I really enjoyed this book I really like the way the poetry flowed and the way there was a theme. It made me want to feel the way she felt when she was broken.

[Katie (Melting Pages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm almost at a loss for words. I loved and connected with every single poem, not just from being in unhealthy relationships, but also from dealing with anxiety and trying to figure out how to love myself. I found myself just sitting there letting some of the poems really sink in, and I felt exactly the same way.

This is my first poetry book that I've owned, and I will now recommend this to everyone, whether they read poetry or not! It was very readable and just so real and raw. I feel like Katie and I connected through her poetry and felt like it was a conversation with a friend.

This is something that I think would benefit anyone who has been in an abusive or unhealthy relationship, currently or in the past. It may be that one thing that helps you get over that person.

[katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful but i don’t connect to it as much as poems for the end of the world

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how it was told as a story. I loveeee that type of poetry collection because it feels whole. Also love that it has a happy ending(or more uplifting one) :)

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ RTC

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really powerful message about the process of getting over a toxic relationship. I don't usually read poetry for fun, but I enjoyed this and it really spoke to me.

[Alison Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to read a ton of poetry, years and years ago, but fell out of the habit. For some reason, today I just...needed it. I don't know why. I got this sudden urge for poetry, and having been a viewer of Katie's Booktube channel for a long time, I figured, why not support a creator I like alongside this random craving?

This is a very moving collection, especially if you were ever a young woman in a relationship with a terrible man. Which.......hi. Yes. I recognized my 18-20 year old self in a lot of her words and feelings, particularly about allowing yourself to base your worth on the opinions of some shitty dude who has somehow convinced you (largely through emotional abuse) that his opinions are not just the only ones that matter, but that they're basically fact.

NOPE. And it's been a long time since I finally got that guy out of my life, but even still....fuck you, David.

I wish my younger self had realized she was gay and ace before she met him. But like Katie, at least I can say I learned a lot about my own value and strength from surviving that relationship. Not from him, he didn't teach me shit. I taught myself.

I like how honest she is about what it's like to be trapped by an emotional abuser, and that it doesn't mean you're stupid or pathetic or anything. It means nothing bad about the victim, only the abuser. I hope some younger folks read this collection and can use it as armor against anyone like that who may drift into their lives.

Also now I wanna read a lot more poetry, thank you Katie.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fourth read: 7th September 2020 - 5 stars

Third read: 30th December 2019 - 5 stars

Second read: 23rd July 2019 - 5 stars
This poetry collection is truly magnificent. I really don't have the words to eloquently describe how much I love it, but just know that I'll be rereading this for many years to come. I already want to reread it and I literally just finished it. It's gorgeous and heartbreaking, but also uplifting and it's everything you could ever want in a poetry collection.

First read: 16th August 2018 - 5 stars
This book was so beautiful. I had never read a poetry book before this, but now I might need to check some more out! It was so raw and real and personal. I couldn't relate to the specific subject matter, but I could still relate to so many of the passages.
B E A U T I F U L.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited for Katie when she announced that she had a book coming out. I love her channel and wanted to support her.
I'll be honest though, I went in a little warily, not knowing what to expect.
This hit home for me, and I think I highlighted half the book. As someone who was made to feel less than for years, so many of these pages hit me deep down in the feels. My eyes filled with tears multiple times as Katie's words reminded me that I am enough, I deserved more, he will not define me... and yes, it does get better.
I hope to see more from Katie; I'll be sure to devour whatever it may be immediately.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good poetry that made me stop and think for some but nothing too special for me, personally. I think some people would connect with this poetry collection a lot more than I did. Either way, still a solid read.

[Meg Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and emotional read!!

I enjoyed the first half of the book a bit more than the second half as I didn’t connect to the poems as much in the second half. I also felt some of the poems could have been fleshed out a bit more.

However, I know this was Katie’s debut. She did an incredible job and I love her writing style! My favorite section of poems from this book was: “The Fall”—Katie really captured the turmoil of emotions in this section. I was in an emotionally abusive relationship in high school and her poetry in this section made me remember some of those hard times and spoke to me on a deep level.

Overall, I would recommend this poetry collection! I definitely want to try out Katie’s other poetry collections in the future!

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book because I wanted to support Katie. I follow her on youtube and decided that it would be nice to support her work.

I had never read a book of modern poetry before this. I loved it. I could relate so much to many of the experiences and emotions expressed in the poems. I kept bookmarking them on the kindle version (I bought both).

The poems are not written with traditional rhyme or meter. Some are only a few words. Some are much longer. I don't mind this in poetry.

I'm glad that I read this book and that Katie shared it with the world :)

[Chelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

This poetry collection hit the mark in a lot of ways and a good chunk of it I related too. I have been in an abusive relationship and have had some toxic friendships and most of the poems resonated with me. My experiences differed, so some of the poems didn't quite fit for me but that didn't really take anything away for me. Overall this is a solid read.

[lena☀️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection was a warm hug. It doesn't try to do anything crazy, is just there for you and for the author. It is a validation of feelings, a reminder to love yourself more than you love anyone else, and a good friend. My kind of poetry, would recommend!

[Minni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Selina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard rating something so personal.
I've never been in a toxic relationship and this book reminded me to always remember my worth, although there were some weaker poems in it.