To be honest, this was kind of a difficult book to read because of the subject matter as well as the overall flow of the book. The main components of the book are an autobiography, poetry, and photography.

While Finn is very open in the autobiography portion, the language is very simple and did not really interest me. It just felt like reading one horrible event after another. While I am glad she had a happy ending, the writing was not well-rounded and just read as a compilation of abuses and complaints. It is clear that Finn had a very hard life with multiple struggles and I am glad that she has overcome so much, but the overall message felt lackluster and was not written in a very inspiring way.

Also, Finn’s main character is a princess, but the metaphor just ends there. She doesn’t shape the story to fit into that framework. Instead she just refers to herself as a princess and her parents as royals. Writing in such a way didn’t seem to bring anything to the book and felt a little awkward to me.

I did like the poetry section, especially the nature poems. While the poetry is pretty simple, Finn has very good descriptions regarding the natural world. I especially liked the newer poems as they felt more mature and reflective in comparison to those she wrote earlier in life.

The photography was nice, but all of the pictures were in black-and-white, which many times I think took away from the overall beauty of the subject. Some still looked good in black-and-white, but others, such as the flowers and sunset/sunrise pictures, felt like they were missing their most important qualities.

Overall, an good read. Simple and easy to get through, but not very well-rounded. The poetry was my favorite part, but by the end Finn seemed to push her opinions a little too hard such as messages of anti-materialism and living to the fullest, which may be good advice, but just felt a little too forceful to me.

Strong nature poetry though and some nice photography.