My 5-Star review in entirety published at Amazon for author/poet Cindy J. Smith’s heart-wrenching collection of poems and short stories:

The title of Cindy J. Smith’s poetry collection, in conjunction with the somber tones of the cover, convey the heart and soul of its contents—a seamless blend of bittersweet short stories and poems.

Centrally pivoting from poems alluding to her daughter’s untimely passing, the satellite rhymes also capture the bittersweet realities of life. Painful truths shrouded in beautiful imagery relate a gamut of emotions the reader can relate to from a personal perspective and on the world-stage level: sorrow, lament, dismay, regret, fear, anxiety, and disillusion.

In “World Without,” Ms. Smith loads the lines with bitterness, prefaced with:

How nice it would be
If the world was without
Hatred, violence
Ignorance and doubt…

In “Thoughts,” the lines are filled with sweetness, concluding with:

In the end goodness and truth
Will have the final say

I highly recommend this bittersweet concoction of poetry. Reading each story and poem feels like you’re conversing with a friend who understands your realities of life.