Sophie A. Little’s The Essence of a Crimson Heart: Expressing the Depth of Love, Nourishing the Soul and Ignite the Heart is an anthology of forty poetic offerings that, in total, live up beautifully to the title’s promise. Sophie expresses what are clearly well- thought-out feelings and personal advice from a powerful and moving personal journey, a journey we all, to one extent or another, have taken or are taking, or will surely take. The poems are mostly short, one (Set the Example) a mere two lines, and two of thirty- nine, the others somewhere in between. The form is free verse, most divided into stanzas, only occasional almost-accidental rhyme, and the meter is more conversational than measured out. What is most engaging is the personal messaging, as if one regular person is speaking to another about universal realities that affect us all, written almost in the form of carefully worded phone texts. Having lived through most, if not all, the emotional and philosophical themes the poet presents in this volume (hopefully not her last), I was immediately engaged. The simplicity of the language makes the pieces seem homey and ordinary, not like a high-minded literary author. Sophie directly addresses the reader with the pronoun 'you', and sometimes uses that pronoun to address her relationship partner as if we are eavesdropping on a deeply personal and very human love and life relationship. But her major battle seems to be with herself, challenged by questions of overcoming the personal complexities of love and living. Her language is literal, seldom metaphorical, except for my favorite of the poems titled Lighthouse in which her life has become a storm at sea and her lover a ray of hope guiding her ashore. Sophie A. Little’s The Essence of a Crimson Heart expresses perfectly what we all must face and must reconcile with in our cherished journey through this challenging thing we call life.