I had similar feelings about Pillow Thoughts as the poet’s other collection, The Road Between.
The poems are not bad, for the most they are just – nothing I haven’t read thousands of times before in other collections. The poet knows how to create poetry, use imagery and has a way with words. However, there was nothing to make any poems stand out.
The themes are universal such as love, loss and heartache so it’s easy to relate to the material. However, the problem with using such well used themes is how hard it is to say something different or new. None of the poems stood out in this respect.
Pillow Thoughts also has a lot of poems that are one or two sentences on a page that come across as some kind of self-help proclamation. These are also in The Road Between. These did nothing for me.

Absolutely stunning. Would make a great gift for anyone who loves poetry!

The poems in this book were hit and miss for me. Some were really great and others didn’t for me. Poetry is such a subjective thing that I feel that’s how much it goes with most poetry collections. Divided into several sections, there’s a little something for every mood (If You’re Lonely, If You’re In Love, etc.). The writing is simple, not flowery or full of overdone metaphor, and that works in it’s favor.

I'm not going to beat around the bushes with this review. It's hard because I really don't enjoy writing negative reviews or saying something against a poetry collection that obviously means so much to the author, but I hated this book! It was so difficult to read through and I felt no emotional connection to it whatsoever. I should have just put it down. I shouldn't have read all the way through it. I should have known something was up when I struggled to get it to download on my iPad. Maybe the fates were trying to intervene? *shakes head* I just don't know. 

The book was chalk full of poems that were choppy, poorly edited and extremely repetitive. Now, I'm not an expert on poetry, but usually it has some kind of flow or rhythm. These poems didn't have either. Also, I often stopped and checked back to earlier pages. Everything sounded the same. I kept on wondering to myself: didn't I read this before? The wording was also painfully obvious or straight forward. It completely lacked figurative language and metaphors, two things that I believe make poetry magical and mysterious. 

I completely reg my discussion to request this book on NetGalley. I've never been so disappointed by a poetry collection in my entire life. There are so many wonderful collections out there to read and love. Go pick up those and avoid this one at all costs! Ugh!

I loved that this book is divided into sections with different themes. There's a section for if you're lonely. Another for if you need a reason to stay. One for if you're sad. While not all of the sections resonated with me, reading this book did, overall, feel like sipping a mug of hot tea. It was warm and encouraging and comforting. It was like flannel sheets and an afternoon snuggle on a rainy grey day. Read it if you feel alone, feel sad or are in need of comforting. Choose the section of the book that you feel applies best and settle in. This book won't make the bad things disappear, but it may just give you hope for the future.

This was an unimpressive collection of poetry. There are a few lines, here and there, that I enjoyed, but as a whole this felt like the work of an unpolished writer first exploring poetry. The themes didn't vary much, and most of the poems felt very samey.

I read this title after having read The Road Between by the same author. I felt that many of the pieces between the two books were very similar in many ways. The books tended to explore the same themes, experimented with form, rhyme, and rhythm, and fluctuated between longer and shorter pieces to create balance. As with the first title, I didn't enjoy the shorter pieces as much as the longer pieces, as most of the time they felt underwhelming for me and left me with little to chew on after the fact. Overall, though, I enjoyed this title slightly more than The Road Between, and while I don't know that this author's poetry is for me, I would be interested to check out some of her fiction.

(from my Goodreads review)

Pillow Talk is a poetry book for young lovers. Its a collections of poems of young girls laughing and drunk in the intoxication of initial new love while on a sunny beach with an endless summer ahead of them. It is of all young girls laying in bed and dwelling over a smartphone; obsessing with old photos and text of lost or betrayed lovers. It is of young souls missing the love in their lives and isolated while surrounded by people everywhere. It is a maelstrom of every shade of passion and positivity that a young woman is confident of and preaches for all to hear. And it is her confused and doubt when that confidence is lost. All these poems seem written on worn notebooks of doodled page tears and colour.. and transferred into a published collection for others to encounter and witness.

And the best part is that it is all written and expressed very well. It’s nicely satisfying to see this much depth from a writer so young and not ancient with age (full of old love, pain, experience and goodbyes). Kudos for Courtney Peppernell for conveying such depth of feeling of lesbian love, loss and support. Proving to the world that we all feel the same way about the affairs of the heart, no matter your age or orientation. The artwork is cute too!

Was not able to read as it was not compatible with my Kindle Fire.

"I have been a little off balance since the day I met you. This is because I had never known what it is to be perfectly aligned."

The poems are divided into sections on what you needed to hear. I loved the self-help part but I can also relate to the relationship based poems especially the one for the broken hearted.

"in the end
we
as in you and me
were never
meant to be"


I'm still lost right now and this book made my soul weep for hours and left me with a lot of questions to myself. Enriching and simply beautiful.

"I hate to spoil the ending
but You is fine
You is still here
You is going to make it"

*I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

"You are a battlefield. Never will there be a greater war than the one you hold with yourself"

Rating this was hard. I'd like too give this two different ratings, where some of the poems get 2/5 stars but some are strong 4/5 stars. Let me explain.

I almost DNFed this after 20 or so pages, because the beginning just didn't interest me at all. The metaphors felt poorly executed and the poems had the feel of inspirational quotes you find online. I also had difficulties understanding the structure and to find a story within the poems. They kind of felt like randomly put together diary entries. BUT THEN, the last part! Maybe it had to do with the themes, that they resonated more with me, but they were actually really beautiful. The last part saved this collection for me.

I'd recommend it if you're in love, or heartbroken, or just a little lost.

3/5 stars.

I discovered this book by chance and now I want to read every book that Courtney has ever published.

You could taste the overflowing emotions, the pain, the happiness, the longing and love. I really did enjoy reading it, and getting to know the person that wrote those poems, exposing herself out for everyone to judge and see. The fact that the author shared so intimate thoughts about people she was in love with and the pain she has gone through and the happiness that little things in life could give you is really admirable and I could relate to that.

The book is divided into sections, a touch I found to be lovely. 

Here are some of the poems that stuck me the most:





"I hate to spoil the ending
but You is fine
You is still here
You is going to make it"


"I have been a little off balance since the day I met you. This is because I had never known what it was like to be perfectly aligned."


''Here are some nice things: warm nights after the rain, old books, new books, tea in the afternoon, snow angels, palm trees, smiling, laughing, hugs that make you feel like you are combusting, we-nose kisses from your dog, waterfalls, sunsets, a clear night sky, the hopes and dreams of you and me. A kitten curled in you lap, fresh laundry, favorite songs, the morning birds in perfect harmony. Nice simple things to remind you to stay.''

"I have been a little off balance since the day I met you. This is because I had never known what it was like to be perfectly aligned."

These poems made my heart sing, my soul weep, and my love for poetry grow. The raw emotion was palpable as I read through each section. The one section that really hit home for me was, "If you need a reason to stay." As someone that has depression and anxiety, these poems described what's going on in my head in ways that I've never been able to articulate. I would recommend this book to every girl or boy that's ever been in love, has ever been heartbroken, loves poetry, or just needs something to read. These poems will stay with you long after you finish the book.

"I never expected you to get under my skin, but now your name runs through my veins and I can't help but let every part of you in."

Spellbinding, enriching, magnificent, and lovely. I felt myself engaging with her word and every emotion.

I love the cover. It's simplistic but very striking. I liked that you could dip in and out whenever the mood took you, and the way the poems were arranged made it easy to select specific ones.
I enjoyed the second half of poems more than the first, but in all honest I really liked most of them. I haven't read many modern poems, but this has definitely ignited a new interest.

A beautiful collection, and one that I could envisage picking up and dipping into at a variety of moments, this little gem of a book speaks to anyone who has loved, lost or longed for someone. In a mix of poetry and prose Courtney Peppernell bares her soul in a way that is immediately recognisable to the reader, and I defy anyone not to be moved by her beautiful words.

Peppernell's poetry dwells on many emotions like love, heartbreak, longing and loneliness. I quite enjoyed it as a reader of contemporary poetry. The book is inspirational and touching.

You remind me of home,
of all the simple things in life,
of light and love and the reasons I am not alone.
You remind me of hope,
of the sea and the sky,
every hug and every kiss from your lips to thighs.
I have flown around the world and met no one like you
because you are all the things that I keep coming back to.

Beautifully written with some stunning imagery. I absolutely adored this poetry collection.

"I hate to spoil the ending
but You is fine
You is still here
You is going to make it"


I like how each section is labeled on what you are feeling right now and what mood you are in when you read it. I have always wished there were poems books that were like this because it would be so helpful. . . and now I found one.

Some of the poems were too straight forward for my taste and I was not a fan of all of them. This was actually my only main problem the whole time I was reading it. But there were ones that really touched me (lliterally one tear drop down my eye type) and I liked how the poems are not just thrown together and there is actually some find of flow to it in each section if you pay attention to it enough. A lot are pretty much related in a way. If ever the reader gets to reading everything.

"Be you, when its hard."

The bluntness of this is not all bad because it actually tells the readers straight up what the author thinks and feels. It does not sugarcoat anything, especially the topics here that really matters (loneliness, heartbreak). This is what I interpreted from it though. And that last poem. . . pure. Just, pure love.

Poems are always your own interpretation of what you are reading. . . practically all books are.

And can I just say. . . the jellyfishes. are so cute. they stole me and sold me into reading this and finishing it. And that metaphor? The jellyfish tends to hurt everyone, but inside, they are soft creatures.

As the book said, you just have to have people with the same heart as you.

This is definitely a book I would go back to again and again.


"But all I was trying to do,
was show you that even a monster can be loved"


//
the review for this book is scheduled to be on my blog by July 25, 2017

Sorry, requested but didn't realise this wasn't available in kindle format. Therefore i am unable to read and review it.