In this little book of poems, Luce D’Amore attempts to express the power and the force of Love, and how it dragged her away from destructive patterns and problematic behavior, and took her home to peace and comfort. The poems in LOVE CAME SOFTLY are all free verse, but nonetheless carefully constructed, with their shape and patterns contributing to the tone and the emotional energy of the poems. They are illustrated, here and there, with brilliantly-colored, lively artwork with an abstract Impressionist feel to it, adding to and accenting the themes of the poems. These range in tone from cries of despair and frustration broken through by Love, to thankfulness for the peace and healing found in Love, to poems intended to instruct others in how to find Love.

The first two categories are far more effective than the last, because they are more personal, more emotionally intense, and more powerfully written, with more imaginative expression and less cliché. The author has a gift for vivid, sensual imagery that brings deep meaning and emotional force into simple images like dripping water, or the small cozy cottage with a garden that seems to be her perception of Paradise, or at least Love’s haven. D’Amore uses powerful visuals and metaphors which make the poems’ emotions practically tangible, illustrating defensiveness and anger as a self-built fortress meant for protection but transformed into a trap, the dark chill of depression like the darkness and snow of winter, the feelings of invisibility that come with a childhood of being disregarded and undervalued, and finally the sometimes gentle, sometimes shocking force of Love which can tenderly draw us or forcibly drag us out to more hopeful, growth-enhancing perspectives, in powerful and moving ways. The poems repeat and reinforce each other’s themes, making this a book perhaps better dipped into here and there when inspiration is needed, rather than read all the way through all at once. LOVE CAME SOFTLY will be most useful, perhaps, for readers struggling with the same emotions that she struggles with in some of the poems – depression, anxiety, stress, negativity, and frustration – who require a dose of hope, compassion, and encouragement.

LOVE CAME SOFTLY, a small volume of poetry by Luce D’Amore, may have a profound effect on the reader looking for comfort, hope, and the possibility of a brighter, love-infused future.

~Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader