This is the first book of poetry that I’ve read by Alicia Cook, and it certainly won’t be the last. The poetry in this book, beginning with the first poem upon which the title is based, really resonated with me. The words she writes are powerful and emotionally driven and she addresses the impact of mental health on every aspect of life. I loved the set up of the book designed to mimic a cassette tape with side A and B. While the poems in side A were emotionally raw and descriptive, those in side B were done in a blackout style that highlighted a single message. This poetry collection is beautiful. I would highly recommend this for anyone who may be struggling and wants to feel that they are not alone.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know where to begin with this review. This is the first time I have heard of or read anything by Alicia Cook and I really loved some of her work.

I love the concept of the tape style, with side A and side B, and the currently listening to.

I think it was very good that a trigger warning is shown at the beginning of the book. I think this is something that all authors should do.

My only downside is that I found side A too long, and often quite dull - most of the poems were very repetitive and I was considering DNF’ing this book around 25% of the way in.

I am SO glad I didn’t as side B was incredible. I really LOVED the style and layout of side B. The remixes were much shorter than that on side A and I much prefer a shorter, to the point, poem.

I think side B really saved this book - it is a unique twist on some very deep poetry putting a more lighthearted spin on it.

A wonderful collection of poetry!

Emotions, love, anxiety, and more are featured. A great addition to any poetry collection, Alicia Cook is superb at making emotions into words!

The cover is adorable and makes you interested right away about what's inside. So glad Net Galley offers this for a free read for members.

Alicia Cook is first and foremost a beautiful writer; she is able to convey feelings and thoughts I’ve had myself in a way that makes them seem less ugly than they do in my mind. She continues to stand up and speak out for those that struggle with stigmatized illnesses without romanticizing their symptoms or consequences like many writers tend to. She’s real and raw and it’s emotional to read. Mental health and addiction are only seeing increases in today’s current climate making this book’s release perfect timing. I honestly think this is a book that anyone could pick up and find a piece of themselves pressed within its pages.

This is a really good poetry collection that hit really hard with themes of depression, anxiety, and grief. The ones around depression and how it makes it hard to complete tasks but also not wanting to admit thats why things aren’t getting done especially really got to me and resonated.

I didn’t end up able to read Side B Remixes because it was really difficult to follow some of the blackout orders and with others it was hard to tell what was being left visible. I believe it would be easier to read those poems in a physical copy, but with my egalley I found it too much work.

I overall really enjoyed the poems and definitely will keep an eye out for more from Alicia Cook.

Kudos to the editor because I LOVE THE COVER and the play between SIDE A and SIDE B. Also, good for the trigger warnings, always necessary.

Now, the format got me expecting the “SIDE B” BECAUSE OMG HOW BORING THE SIDE A IS. The good thing about this book is the SIDE B, I really enjoy blackout poetry, but the SIDE A was way too long.

Every poetry book now talks about anxiety and depression and about the one that should've have stay and didn’t, and yeah we all cry at night and we are all exhausted and sad, that’s why we read poetry these days.

WHAT MAKES THIS POERTY BOOK DIFFERENT?! Nothing tells me in the first 150 pages why I should read THIS ONE and no other of the twenty poetry books on the 'new arrivals' shelf.

What makes this poet's voice different? I can't find it. It’s not deep, it’s not breathtaking, the writing is quite simple and straight-forward and lacks of any particularity. The poems are not even personal. It’s all general, feelings and situations we all can relate to, but it’s not enough for me, not when there are so many voices to pick from. Not only it feels impersonal, some of the poems feels like fanfictions for the song featured.

I feel like it would’ve worked better if it were shorter, of if the sides A and B were side by side, just so it can get you hooked from the start.

We may sleep together,
but my dreams are my own.

That's always been my problem. I shut people out.
I only let them see me from certain angles, in certain lighting, at certain moments.
My mother says it's because I am independent.
My therapist says it's my defense mechanism.
My ex says it's why we broke up.
My friends say they love me anyway.

I say it's because I feel safest in half measures.

I'll love you but not completely
I'll hold your hand but won't interlace our fingers.
I'll take pictures but wont tag you.
I'll miss you but never enough to question leaving.

I'm always slightly confused on how to read poetry collections. In one sitting? A poem a day? I feel like there is an etiquette I'm just not aware of.

However, in the case of this collection, I really did find myself scrolling through them all. There is zero pretentiousness, just some really touching and beautiful writing. I love the format of tracks and the accompanying song to the poems (there must be a downloadable playlist out there, right?)

The division of Side A and Side B is smart and my knowledge of blackout-style poetry is pretty limited, so I enjoyed it just as much.

If you've ever considered wanting to try the world of poetry but unsure on where to start, this is your beginning.

First time reading Alicia Cook's poetry and was really amazed how it really makes sense to me and how I feel.

Really love the way it's set out as a A & B side of a cassette tape.

Will definitely be looking out for more by this lady

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

So good! Relatable. Loved the theme. Its poetry meets music. The lyrical style is catchy, the content will stay with you long after you read it. Makes you feel seen and understood

A pretty decent collection of poetry, written from the point of view of a "broken human", someone forcing themselves to accept love and rally from it (and, eventually, from the end of it) and demanding of themselves they side with tomorrow's potential against all that's wrong with themselves in their mind today. A lot of the time, being no longer one of those "broken humans", I could hear these pieces being voiced in creative therapy sessions, and for other mental health reasons, and I think that's the problem with quite a lot of it. For I think I have to accept this is a poetry for a different medium than existed when I was nebbut a lad – it's got the smack of being done to share on social media, and as a result in a book instead it really can seem heavy with the platitudes. Now that's not to say I wouldn't share some of it, willingly, if I were in such a mood and actually on social media, for some of the pieces really are strong, and it's not to say it's trite, but people seeking a canonical poetry will, I think, find some of this a little naively styled – neither classical verse nor spoken word, but some easy-reading middle ground.

The second half of the book is what seems to be called "blackout poetry", where one selects a bare minimum of words from a piece to create a further emphasis, different meaning, or completely new take on things; we get the entire first half used this way. This was more miss than hit for me, but again it's someone doing something strongly, therapeutically, and with it making for great empathy. I was right when I say this is a social media-styled (or at least influenced) book – the title, it turns out, was a hit post on instagram. But I'm also right in saying that while I would normally find books with such a high potential of becoming me-me-me whinge-fests of no artistic purpose, this was oh so different from that.

Wasn’t into it. Overall I like the general message that the book presents however the prose was very much unreadable.

I had never read a poetry book by Alicia Cook before, and now I wonder why.
I absolutely love the concept of this book, and love the execution of it.
The poems are all very wonderful, I bookmarked so much of them. I think my favorite part of the book was side B of the 'tapes', but I actually just loved the whole book.
I'm also a big fan of the 'Currently listening to ....' notes on the end of each page, I made a playlist with these songs which I listened to while reading the book.
Last but not least, I think it's very good that a trigger warning is shown at the beginning of the book. I think every author should do this.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.