Reviewed by Robin Goodfellow for Readers' Favorite

Heart of the White Dove: Journeys to the Light by Pam Sears is a poetry collection about finding yourself throughout life’s turbulent trials, no matter how difficult. The book is separated into seven parts. My Story is about learning from past mistakes and going with the ever-changing flow of life, despite everything that comes your way. Muddy Footprints is about moving forward, even if the path isn’t clear to you. Maiden and the Knight paints the picture of a fairy tale romance, though with an odd twist to it. Travels of Otter Woman shows that we are all connected through nature and, as such, should treat it with respect. Family is about overcoming your difficulties through persevering, and Legs of Steel emulates similar values. However, the final part, Listening to the Inner Voice, delves into what it truly means to be human, that there’s something inside us, even though other people may say otherwise. Sears is a poet who has taken to falling in love with every aspect of life, not just humanity or the earth, but spirituality and emotions as well, and shows the reader her passions through this beautiful collection.

While the poems in the collection were good, what really got me were the stories. My father works as a radiation therapist and would take me to his hospital to see what he did on his job. He worked with cancer patients, but when I saw someone suffering from breast cancer, a cancer that had managed to metastasize to her brain, I couldn’t help but think for a moment. It made the poet’s fight with breast cancer that much more impactful, because while my father’s patient died, the poet is still living. Yet another piece that I couldn’t help but be touched by was in the last part, when she was working with an Alzheimer’s patient. Despite everything that’s happened, there’s still some part of the patient left, and while others may see an inconvenience, the poet noticed that there were still remnants of a soul left. It showed the struggles that humanity faced, and that we’re still stronger than we think we are. The works in this collection ranged from inspiring, to humorous, to sometimes even sorrowful. Even so, it is a beautiful collection that touched me, not only because I understood these experiences, but also because of the lessons within them, lessons I hadn’t experienced yet. Because of this, I would recommend it to those who love poetry in general.