This is such a beautiful poetry book!

It was written like a mixtape with 92 poems (or what the author calls them, “tracks”) on Side A and a remix of the same 92 poems on Side B. And boy I tell you that Side B was full of surprises!

Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back is a poetry collection that focuses on the topic surrounding mental health expressing the ups and downs of her life - love, grief and hope.

I personally found that in this poetry book, the author not only expresses how she felt but also gave a voice to those struggling with the same feelings. They not only helped me grieve with my struggles but also changed how I perceive my situation with hope.

I truly enjoyed all the prose and poems. They were all so beautifully written and were easy to understand. It’s always a wonder how such short phrases hold so much meaning and depth and power.

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me a copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

Poetry is always a bit subjective. This means that it is hard to leave a review on.
That being said, the poems in this book by Alicia Cook touched me in ways I didn’t realize I needed.

This was a unique collection, I really loved parts of it, and some other parts weren't that great to me. I loved the messages, and how realistic and raw they were. The poems are about depression and obsession and neglect and fear and losing people either to death or they just left and dealing with your inner demons and finding acceptance from the world and yourself. All of which were great and felt so real to me. Also, it's got this unique experience where each poem (or track) ends with a songs suggestion, and you could make a playlist out of it.

What I didn't like very much were the repetitiveness of some expressions and metaphors and the second half of the book "the remix part" with the black-out poetry was sometimes a bit confusing and I couldn't figure out in which direction or order I am supposed to read the new poem. Also the second half of the book is the same poems with black-out poetry on top of them, not new poems.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent reading it.

I thank Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I did not enjoy this book, but I seem to be in the minority. I thought the writing was bland. I did not like the black out poetry, but it was the better section of the two types. I like writing on the topics covered, and I appreciate the willingness to be vulnerable and raw about it all. However I thought the execution was lacking and ultimately I wouldn’t recommend. Yet!! It seems that many do enjoy it, so that works out well!

There is much to draw readers to Alicia Cook's latest offering of her poetry. It is dark, painful, piercing, searching and REAL. This woman definitely knows how to do real, and to express herself in ways that make me wonder how she knows me so well when we've never met.

I love the power she finds in herself, the blaring self acceptance when just two pages earlier she may have wondered why she wasn't enough. I see someone struggling to understand life with all its messiness, to grow stronger for the battles that are always near, to find joy where she can. An acknowlegement of the pain and yet an appreciation of being alive, though scarred.

Wonderful!! Loved the format of the mix tapes as well.

My thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McNeel Publishing for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are indeed my own.

Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back is a nice poetry collection by Alicia Cook, and I loved the creativity of how the poems were portrayed in the book.

Side A is a collection of 92 poems, that are deeply emotional and tackle the difficulties of someone dealing with depression and anxiety, as well as how it relates to their own self worth and how they handle relationships with other people. Each poem is accompanied by a song track that reflects the meaning of the poem, with artists ranging from Selena Gomez to Eminem to Coldplay.

Side B contains the same poems, but is a "remix" where each poem has writing on it, with certain words circled or crossed out, that either changes the original meaning of the poem or emphasizes the meaning.

I really appreciated the creativity of this book. Many of the poems touched my heart as someone who struggles with mental illness. However, i feel like some of the poems didn't exactly land and hit their mark like others did. It's definitely a good read for fans of poetry.

Another collection of completely relatable poems from Alicia Cook. I especially found the remixes very creative.

Something that I really loved about Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back is the way the poems were titled as tracks, and each track came with a “currently listening to” — I hope there’ll be an attached playlist upon publication, since I had to make my own as I went along. I really appreciated the content warnings in the beginning of the book, and from the songs I do know from the “currently listening to” section, I could see how each poem was influenced by it. A lot of the poems were incredibly relatable, and I felt like Cook was able to voice so many thoughts and feelings that I’ve struggled to express myself. I felt like Side A was a little long, but I loved Side B — The Remixes. I thought it was just so clever to create and reconstruct new poems out of the ones that were already written; like another point of view.

Overall, I think this was a really good collection of poetry. The words and the emotions they evoked all spoke to me and I was left deeply touched or just as intensely moved by the feelings that made me go through and realize. I think this may even have turned out to be my favorite read, I thought as I slowly crept towards the end of Side A. I thought this was a 5 star read for sure.
But then Sida B turned out to be a disappointment. The words ranged from mediocre to simply everyday phrases and the blackout poetry style did not help one bit. What I mean to say is that the blackout poetry did not help even one bit because it was all just so haphazard and an utter strain on the eyes. I did not enjoy it at all, and that is why ultimately my final rating has come down to this - 4star.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Today I want to talk about a book that from the first poem made me feel so many things while I was reading that I started to making notes to talk to you about it. Author – Alicia Cook is talking here about mental health, romance, depression, and struggling with real life. It was a fantastic journey and I’ll be coming back to read this again and again.

Book full of poems ‘Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back’ by Alicia Cook is an amazing reading experience. The book is made as a cassette. Even the cover is a cassette.

There is Side A with 92 poems and Side B with a mixtape of them.

Every poem has a song that the author was “currently listening to” that makes these poems even more special.

The poems are mostly sad but at the same time bring joy because you know you’re not alone with similar feelings.

Side A is full of poems and I definitely didn’t expect Side B would look like this, but I loved it so much! Alicia was really creative with the way she made Side B. It’s something unique and new after we read all 92 poems from Side A.

I didn’t like all of them but I think it’s because of the life situations everyone is in. It’s different and everyone who will read this will find something for themselves. This is the beauty of poems.

My favourite part of this book was its format: the poems are divided between Side A ("regular" poems) and Side B (blackout poetry versions of said poems). Every poem is also accompanied by a song which the author was listening to as she wrote.

In regards to the content itself, I enjoyed it but didn't find it outstanding in comparison to a lot of other "modern" poetry I've read. The writing style seemed to fluctuate a lot between pieces and I found myself losing interest several times along the way. It wasn't bad, but it didn't mesmerize me either.

I don’t think I have properly read a poetry book since high school (quite some time ago), but geez I’m glad I read this!
These poems are just so beautiful - some I swear were written directly for me. Alicia has an incredible way with words. I was worried they would be morose and depressing, but whilst there are elements of that, a lot were hopeful and uplifting!
Side A was wonderful, and then Side B surprised me again with the cleverness and creativity!
I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves words.

The first thing that drew my attention to this book was the title of this book. The fact that the book is divided into tape records reminded me of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I really liked the introduction of this book, especially the message, it was so damn relatable. The chat message in the beginning reminded me of the fact that there are so many words left unsaid. The poems are simple, yet so relatable, it feels like reading a diary. I really liked that the poet has recommended songs in the ending of poems. It gives us a glimpse of poet's mind while reading the poem.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the DRC!

I love Alicia Cook's books!
Her words always touch my heart.

If you have depression or anxiety, these poems will probably make more sense to you. You'll feel less alone. There's more people out there feeling the same way.

But even if you don't, I'm sure you can understand the feeling. And maybe that will help you deal with your loved ones too, who might be going through tough times (especially in 2020, right?).

And also, anyone who has ever fallen in love will find a page about them in this book.
I also like the fact that she always mentions a song at the end of each poem. Great musical taste!

Very good! I recommend!

Alicia Cook is a beautiful and raw writer. She has a way of saying exactly what I’ve been feeling, like she can look into my mind and soul. She portrays anxiety, depression, grief, breakups, and other struggles in such a way that allows her readers to relate universally.

I found reading the B Side remixes a bit challenging to follow which words she was circling, which made it difficult to follow the ebb and flow of the poetry, but I appreciate how she shows the evolution that a poem can have, and how she also pulls positive lines out of previously more dark poems. I do wish they were side by side for a comparison read, as that diminished the overall reading experience for me.

The light from the darkness theme is prevalent throughout the book of poems and in the end that is what I always take away from Cooks writing. She puts mental health, addiction, and relationship issues in a light that doesn’t trivialize or romanticize them, but that shows them in a real relatable way. She writes what she knows, but also makes it accessible, especially for people who might have never struggled with these things. Overall, I really enjoyed this book of poetry and i think it would resonate with anyone who had experienced these things or wished to understand the issues she addresses better.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back by Alicia Cook.

First off, loved the format. Short poems each followed by a song. I will most likely be going back and writing all of these songs down and then I'll have a delightfully angsty listen.

But I don't want to snark about this book, nor it's content. I think it's really easy to write off teen depression as just moodiness, or drama. Each of these poems shine a harsh, yet beautifully worded light on how it feels to experience depression and anxiety, and I felt a lot of them in my very gut. I think my teen self would have felt them even harder since there was a lot of romantic heartache as well.

This was a quick, but refreshingly unique take on a tough topic, but I think it could be useful to so many who struggle with this tough ailment.

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

"We are in repair, never beyond repair,
We are healing, never healed."

This was beautiful.... The author's accounts of anxiety, hurt and life were heartbreaking, and so relatable and sad and frustrating and necessary, it was beautiful, and it was everything.

Really an artpiece on feelings was born from Alicia Cook and I'm very glad I read this. This made me feel understood as a person as only (great) poetry can achieve. For each poem there's a song related to it at the end, and that makes it so much more personal (specially since I knew most of them :). Lastly, the author makes "remixes of the poems, doing something so, so visual and different, it reminded me a little of Leminski's work. I didn't know if I cried or if I called my best friend to say hey - this is f*ing everything! I need you to read this because we both need this!

Many thanks for letting me read this.
I was better because of it.
I hope others will love it too.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I found the content a little lacklustre and struggled to keep going. There is definite merit in her work, it sadly just didn't gel with me.

'Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back' by Alicia Cook is a powerful poetry collection, in which Cook continues to bring a uniqueness to modern poetry with the structure and format of her collection. As a fan of her previous collection, 'Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately', I knew that this poetry collection would be incredibly moving and raw.

'Sorry I haven't Texted You Back' explores themes of anxiety, depression, love, heartbreak and family, just to name a few. Alicia Cook writes so powefully concerning mental illness. The poems discussing anxiety and depression shattered my heart because my experience felt seen - even the title of this poetry collection is a statement I relate to. Cook's ability to put feelings, to write how crippling anxiety and depression can be, is absolutely masterful. Cook's poetry has so many layers and I enjoyed peeling back the meaning of each verse; there was such a beauty in her poetry that still reached down within the crevices of the human experience, to showcase the gritty and oftentimes, ugly, aspects of real life.

Side B, the 'remixes', so to speal, utilises the format of 'black out poetry' to create almost new poems out of the poetry read in Side A of the collection. I have to admit, Side B was my favourite only because it was an incredible experience to read the original poem and then read the black out version which makes you feel so differently, with a different theme being explored. It was marvellous.

Though not one of my personal favourite poetry collection, as there were a few poems that didn't connect to me personally, I found it powerful and beautiful with one of the best explorations of anxiety and depression I have read.

4.5*

This is an incredible, emotional book of poetry from an extremely skilled writer. Alicia Cook expresses pain, grief, love and mental illness in a way that pierces right to the heart - my personal favourite was Track Seventy-Three on Side A which was like receiving a sucker punch straight to the heart. This is the most impressed I have been with a writer all year and I'm excited to see what Cook does next.

I did have to knock half a star because I thought the sheer amount of poems (over 100) in the book was a bit overwhelming. When most every piece is so deeply emotional it's easy to become fatigued, and because of that the reading experience suffered somewhat. Still, this is a truly great book.