In Matchbox Girl, Rachel Sandene invites readers to relive their first love as she heals from her own. Unflinchingly honest and rich in both heartbreak and magic, the poems in this collection span a relationship and its aftermath, emphasizing the transitional-how "is" becomes "was," how "almost" becomes "never." Nevertheless, Matchbox Girl is not about a boy. Instead, it is an account of the author's struggle to move past heartbreak into recovery and a testament to the extraordinary resilience and self-awareness that allows her to rise up again like a phoenix from her ashes.