"We are all recovering from something, this is for all of us" that first line got me hooked! So true!

"You were weak, and you gave up
You were weak and took the coward's way out
You were weak, and you left without a word"

That really gets to me! So many of us suffer, so many are left behind, so many don't understand!

"Tell me I will get over it
Tell me I will laugh about it when I'm older
Tell me I deserve better
Tell me I will smile again"

I wish I could smile again!
I have never really read poetry before, I have written some though. Those words moved me so much! So deep! You just keep on reading!!!

So deep , so touching, so much emotions!

Thank you for allowing me to read this for an honest review! Also shared on Twitter Goodreads...
Read this book, you won't be disappointed!!!

I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip is my first exposure to Alicia Cook, and it was a good one! Her skill describing emotions and relationships is so finely tuned that I felt drawn in to many of her poems, highlighting several passages for the future.

Poetry is an odd beast, it has many different forms, and whether you enjoy it depends so much on whom you're reading. That being said, I am glad I didn't miss this book! Alicia Cook is someone that I'd like to hear more from. I plan to read her prior works.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Andrew McNeel Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Alicia Cook's talent really shines through in her second book of poetry. She not only lets the reader into her mind, but truly shows who she is as a person: her thoughts, feelings, struggles, pain, triumphs, and all.

As I often find with poetry collections, some of these poems spoke deeply to me, and others I couldn't connect with all. I could still see how they could be relate-able to others. I found the writing style to be easy to read, and easy to get lost in. I read it cover to cover, and hardly noticed the time passing. All in all, i feel like it would make a wonderful book for any poetry fans, or anyone interested in getting more familiar with poetry, but want something light.

I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In this season of life, where I am DEEP in bitterness, anger, sadness, and general misery and struggling to get out of it, this book was a shining beacon of light. It put words in my mouth, and while this might have just been a case of right book, right time for me, I feel like I'll always recognize the strength of this collection of poetry.

(All said, I did personally find the songs a weaker part of the collection overall, but that's not the way music is meant to be consumed necessarily, so I will be going to listen to all of the songs. The couple I did were awesome, and it adds something to the collection as a whole, honestly. Maybe more a 4.5 star rating but I'm rounding up.)

Less alone, more understood.
Thank you, Alicia Cook.

Thank you Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC

This collection breaks down in two parts: EP, the poems and LP, the prose and songs. EP is full of memories, happy and uplifting, beautiful. LP is too much heartbreak and made me feel sad. Fair enough, we are indeed all recovering from something.

There's a beauty in these poems, for sure, but there's also a very definite bite. It delicately expresses emotions and feelings of vulnerability, but also does not hesitate to provide the darkness of those moments. I also picked up on a very definite rhythm that would make the poetry interesting when read aloud.

It's pretty bold and readable. I appreciate that in the poetry I read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this wonderful poetry collection!

"We are all recovering from something. This is for all of us."

After reading "Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately" By Alicia Cook, which instantly turned into my favourite poetry collection, I obviously couldn't wait to read this!

Before I get started I just want to say I am so glad for the trigger warnings in the beginning and also on each of the poems. I think all books should have them and I appreciate when they do.

Favourite poems: "I Am Marked." "Absent" "I Am Sorry For Your Loss" "Hard Of Hearing" "Dear God" "Aunt Em" and "This Isn't About The Number Six" (I don't think I have ever cried so much over a poem the way I did with this one).

While I did miss the song accompaniments from the first poetry collection, I still loved the new direction of this one.

Amazing author, a collection I would 100% recommend and I can't wait to read more!

The content of some of the poems made this a challenge to get through for me, about halfway through this got to a point where I could not finish the book. I found what I did manage to read very moving and poignant: the very first poem of the collection, Lampyride & Our Bioluminescence, is incredible and caught my attention immediately. I also loved Basilicata and the sense of yearning combined with the fear of loss ahead almost feeling like loss in the present.

Even though my own personal issues left me unable to finish, I would absolutely recommend this book and others by the author to others as something worth giving a try.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with the ARC of I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip in exchange for an honest review!

Someone please just give Alicia Cook all the awards. I read her mixtape, Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately last year and absolutely fell in love with Cook's poetry. When I saw this on Netgalley, of course I had to request it. The mixtape was incredible, but this was something else entirely. Poetry rarely moves me enough to make me cry, but I was sobbing throughout this. Having lost a family member recently, reading through the pain of loss was hard-hitting. Alicia Cook has done an exceptional job of fitting those emotions into a selection of words.

Rupi Kaur, you'd better watch out.

As a new poet to me, I really enjoyed this collection of work. I knew basics around the themes including mental health, death, beauty, acceptance, love and more.



The layout, part as poetry, black and white then switching to vinyl format of a tracklist followed by more emotional song lyrics.



For me, these subjects are relatable and drew me more into the power of Alicia's poetry. They start off as basic observations that become a mostly saddening reality which bred these beautiful, moving poems.



Each situation was imaginable and immersed me into a world through the art of Alicia's words, truly moving, captivating and inspiring.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I  received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

The moment this book hits the shelves, I am buying it. Good lord! The emotion and depth in some of these is incredible. "This isn't about the number six" had me bawling my eyes out cause I've been there. This book definitely gives all of the feels!


"Some days really are
good enough to taste"

A solid collection of poetry. I keep finding myself drawn to "Instagram poets," which to me sounds like it'd be a derisive term, but in most cases (this included) I've been really impressed. Cook is a confident poet addressing some hard-hitting topics. My only real critique is that I'd like to see her develop her use of artistic language in her future poetry.

I picked up this book based on the cool concept where Alicia Cook works with different musicians to turn some of her poems into songs, which readers can hear by going to her website. Some of them were not my taste, but some were great, and all of the musicians sounded amazing. As for the poems, I like what Alicia Cook is going for here, and her sincerity and emotion comes through in her writing. I do wish, though, that she were a little more creative, original, risk-taking in her use of language - many, though not all, of these poems were pretty straightforward, and I think they could've had more impact by "showing" instead of "telling."

I’ve been waiting for a year to read more from Alicia and I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED! There was one slight thing that I wasn’t to crazy about, and that was some of the songs/poems that she co-wrote with other people. Some of them just read weird or I just didn’t care for the songs. I would have preferred a single artist because I think that would have made it easier to listen and follow along with, as you could get used to voice and get into it more. But that didn’t even take away from my overall enjoyment of this! I still loved just about everything else about this book. I loved how it touched on grief and relationships. It flowed SO WELL. I think she has such a cohesive writing style that it didn’t seem jarring at times, it just felt like it all belonged in this book together. I can’t wait to reread these books and to read more from Alicia in the future!

I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip by Alicia Cook is the Poets second complete collection of poetry. Cook earned her Bachelor's Degree in English Literature in 2008 and her MBA in 2012. She is employed as the Associate Director of Communications at Saint Peter's University. Cook is a freelance writer for multiple publications and a content writer for The Asbury Insider. She is also an activist fighting the heroin epidemic.

This is the second collection of Alicia Cook's poems I have read. The first being Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately. Like that book, I found the first section much better than the first. The first section of this book consists of poems that are longer and better written than the current tended of "internet sensation poets" but have the same message that may seem a bit trite to mature readers and readers of poetry. To keep with the poet's musical theme most of the first section, EP, is bubblegum pop music. That is not to say that they are all trite. "Sunday Morning Cartoons" and "I Am Sorry for Your Loss" carry a strong message but seem more like musings than poetry. "The ’90s Seem So Long Ago" is the hit in this first section. Although I am not nostalgic for the '90s I feel the same about the '70s.

The second section titled LP is the album rock of the collection and varies between rock and arena rock. What initially impressed me in this collection were the links to the poet reading of her poems. This is especially helpful in learning how the poet reads her poems, rhythm, speed, infections. However, the links that are active, before the release, are by cafe/folk style musicians singing the poem, or is it now a song? It's a nice touch but not a poetry reading; it does, however, keep with the musical theme of Cook's collections. The two poems that stood out were "Ten Little Girls", which is the rewording of "Ten Little Indians", and "Transitions". "Transitions" stands alone as being a well written traditional poem in this collection.

Again, Cook provides hit and miss writing for me. Where she writes poetry she writes well. Most of the collection seems to follow along the lines of the current trend of young "poets" that write feelings without form. I understand the popularity of this writing with the younger generation's preference for brevity in communications and society's sound bite attention span. Cook can write poetry when she wants to. I just wish she would concentrate more on writing poetry.

Available June 5, 2018

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC!

This is my second book by this author, and once again I was very moved by her words.

Amazing. Totally recommend it!

After having really enjoyed Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately, I was really interested in Alicia Cook’s new collection of poetry.

Unfortunately, though, I was not blown away by it.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, it was just...okay.

I can tell that her voice is musical, unique and delicate.
She does not simply write poems, she writes pieces of art. Enjoyed the general positive and empowering messages. Also appreciated the importance that was given to family and friendship.

As I hinted, though, even if I really liked some poems, the great majority of the works collected in this collection did not rattle my dead and cold heart - hence my average rating.

Favourite Poem:
Check & Mate

I see you seeing me.
Not sure why you continue to stare.
I haven’s glanced in your general direction
in quite some time.

You keep competing, but
that doesn’t mean you are winning.

You see,
I stopped playing the game
once I realized I was being played, and
that sure as hell doesn’t feel like losing.

I think, overall, this collection just wasn't for me. Although I liked and was able to relate to some poems, only a few of them really stood out to me. Still, it's a quick, enjoyable read and I'm sure many will like this.

Not quite my type of poetry. I'm sure there is an audience out there for it though.