If Hearts Had Training Wheels: A Poetry Collection

by Ellen Everett

From the poet and author of I Saw You As A Flower, comes another soul-stirring collection of poetry and prose, If Hearts Had Training Wheels. This collection of poetry offers a poignant perspective on regaining balance and finding oneself after abuse, heartache, love, and loss. It also explores the internal conflicts, doubts, and fears that come with transitioning into adulthood—the hardships that ultimately lead to strength, growth, and an unshakable appreciation for life. With original journal entries, hand-crafted illustrations, and snippets from the author’s life, Ellen Everett delivers a stunningly authentic and intimate experience for the reader.

In this collection, the author relates maneuvering through life’s obstacles to learning how to ride a bike. Ellen Everett places readers on the seat of a bicycle and guides them through a five-part journey, beginning in The Gravel Driveway and ending with The Downhill Coast. Through falls, unexpected turns, and uphill climbs, the reader embarks on this journey of self-discovery with the author, resulting in a powerful transformation of the mind and heart.

Genres: Poetry

333 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 6, 2022

Reviews

[Patrick Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book hit me with all the feels. First off, Ellen Everett’s writing has improved tremendously since her first book I Saw You As A Flower. I could tell Ellen put in her heart and soul into this beautifully crafted book, sprinkled with breathtaking art from the author herself. I could connect to the author’s roller coaster wave of emotions after loving, being loved, and also losing love and building yourself back up. This author needs to continue writing books exactly like this and better! She’s going to keep doing amazing things in the future. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

[Erik Schipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is attached to a special memory for me.

Poems are on point

[Anwesh Ganguli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for modern-day Poetry lovers. It talks about heartbreak, growth, love found, love lost, and self-care and self-love. A must-read and must-have-in-your-collection kind of book.

[Wouter K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was originally planning to read a poem a day. I devoured this book full of wonderful poetry in less than a week. It is truly beautifully written and structured, a real page turner. And I want to thank Everett for being so open and sharing these beautiful experiences. Even though I had some small gripe with a few poems in the last part, I recommend this to anyone.

Like announced in the preface, the poems and fragments are structured around parts of a bicycle ride and the learning proces, which leads to a great thematic clustering of poems. What I love is that, also as announced, these poems are raw, relatable, personal and very much grounded in being and growing as a human being.

I did not particularly like the last part...or I did...let me explain. In the end of the book comes 'the downhill coast' (no spoilers, it's literally in the Contents at the start of the book). It is about when it becomes liberating and easy, no obstacles, beautiful sights etcetera. And it has some beautiful poems that I tabbed and will reread and share with people. However part of Everett's peace and liberation is also a connection to God.

Now, to each their own, and if Everett feels that connection as intense as described it should definitely be here. But it really broke my continuous enjoyment of everything that was written in this book. Especially because all other parts were so human, learning and reflective, the way that faith or God is depicted in these poems triggers something in me. I can completely relate to the spiritual experience of life and can imagine very well that any religious person would connect that feeling to a God. Personally I feel beautiful and wonderful aspects of the world deserve better than to be attributed away to some designer. Similarly, it sometimes felt cheap in a few poems how faith was actually used as an excuse to stop trying to understand the world or to not deal with existential dread. Reflecting on what I'm saying here, I am wondering whether the training wheels are really gone now, or that faith in these instances is just another case of training wheels.

Anyway, enough of that rant, but it is always hard to explain such things with the right tone and nuance. Definitely recommend! go enjoy it!

[MacKenzie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Ellen’s writing after I heard her read “a letter to a lover” on TikTok. I felt a deep resonance with her writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt that the progression that she wrote in was something I could greatly relate to, even though the circumstances weren’t the same. I adored the way she used nature to describe many of her poems. It brought me joy and peace. I was also appreciative that she wrote poems mentioning God. I don’t always find authors that will do this, unless they are a strict Christian writer.

One of my favorite poems in the book was “recipe for living”. A little spoiler to what the poem is:

Recipe for Living

Main Ingredient: Today

1. Sift it of all its hatred
2. Knead out any bitterness
3. Glaze it with love
4. Garnish it with intentionality
5. Sprinkle it with sweetness and benevolence
6. Rise with each day and preserve it carefully
7. Share with everyone!

Use this recipe every day for not just a fulfilling day, but a fulfilling like! And always remember, today is meant for us to partake in. :)

[Tiffany Call · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to rate a poetry book, because inevitably I will resonate with some poems more than others. I will say that I admire Ellen’s courage to publish such raw accounts of her feelings and experiences. I also loved her illustrations and thought that they were not only beautiful but really added to the artistic, human, delightful, and sometimes messy endeavor of the human experience she portrayed with her words. At her request, I granted an exception to my “Never dog-ear pages” rule and dog-eared the poems I enjoyed the most. It was exhilarating in that “I’m doing something taboo” way. There were large chunks of this book that felt uncomfortable and awkward for me to read and some poems were extremely dull, but overall, it was a good way to rekindle my own love affair with writing poetry and that was an unexpected gift Ellen gave me.

[Kade Gulluscio · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Hearts Had Training Wheels is a modern collection of poetry by Ellen Everett.
There's a variety of topics ranging from love, heartbreak, personal growth & empowerment.

As with any poetry collection, there were some mediocre poems & some heart-touching ones as well.
I found more poems that touched my heart than I thought I would, so for that alone, I'd definitely recommend this book to others.

[Ilhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now i am not a very romantic type of person, especially when it's a poem, but Ellen Everett used the correct words that makes most of her poems very emotional. I would only recommend this book to people that is emotionally attached by romance.

[Paul Casaudoumecq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also Brilliant.

[The Bookbutterfly's Quotage · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Addison Wand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all the poetry in here. Lots of it hit home and I bookmarked so many pages.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

"vincent please don't gogh" is a war crime against the English language.

[Rajshree Pardeshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

FUCKING LOVED THIS ONE !! One of the most beautiful poetry books I've ever read !! ❤️❤️🫀

[Julia Warde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very heartfelt and smooth