The sections further explore the themes of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity, accompanied by simple line art illustrations.

[3] The book's simplistic style and themes have drawn forth some negative criticism and alleged rumours about Kaur herself.

[7] After arriving in Canada, at the age of 5, Kaur began reading, drawing, writing poetry, and painting because she could not speak English and struggled to make friends.

[8] Kaur eventually learned English by the fourth grade and credited her love for spoken word poetry to community open microphone nights.

Kaur jumps between first and second-person pronouns, and breaks the conventional rules of traditional poetry to honor Punjabi, the language of her birthplace.

[15][16] Kaur was not able to find a publisher, so, having learned how to design and edit in college, she decided to self-publish Milk and Honey.

For every positive review of Kaur's work, there is at least one scathing critique, ranging from actual engagement with her writing to cheap shots claiming she had 'commodified [sic] her South Asian heritage'".

[19] Chiara Giovanni critiqued Kaur's ability to be a representative for female empowerment, stating, "'there is something deeply uncomfortable about the self-appointed spokesperson of South Asian womanhood being a privileged young woman from the West'".

Critics cited similarities between the two poets' writing style of short poems with jagged punctuation and line breaks, and for the same imagery.