i enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i would. and i felt seen in a way i rarely find in poetry. the mixed style between verse and stream of consciousness was very interesting and it made it a lot more accesible. it felt like i was reading someone's diary and got to really connect to what the author was saying.

This is a deep dive into the aftermath of a bad relationship. Know that going in. It's not a bad thing, but there aren't a lot of levels here if you're looking for diversity in a poetry collection. There are some gems here, some really insightful moments put together beautifully, but it's definitely a collection about loss and pain and grief and hurt.

‘Sometimes I fall asleep…’ is an extremely personal collection of poetry based on heartbreak and devastation that comes after a painful relationship.
There are beautifully phrased moments that I feel everyone can relate to like “i used to believe we were soulmates, but i don’t think our souls would even recognize each other anymore.” For anyone who has ever been in love this collection relays those questions of who you were and are now after someone has entered your life. At the same time Hancock’s story is very deep and personal and felt almost uncomfortable at times like reading her diary.
Personally I like a collection of poetry that moves towards a place of reconciliation or hope but life isn’t always like that and sometimes that place of suffering is hard to escape from. This collection is raw, unapologetically honest and brutal; just as relationships can be.

I generally like this type of overly dramatic poetry a la tyler knott gregson, however this book sort of got on my nerves after a while. Every single poem in every single book she's written has been about the same guy? Honey, it's time to stop writing and get some therapy.

Thank you so much to the publishers for providing me with an eArc of this collection in exchange for my honest review.

This poetry collection was just so beautiful. I honestly cannot express how heartbreaking it was to read this while also having that same feeling of understanding and relating to many of the poems inside.

I can't even pick a favourite because there were so many that mesmerised me and just hit me so hard. This is the second collection I read from this poem and I would 100% buy and read more of her work. It's so beautiful and painful at the same time.

‘Sometimes I Fall Asleep Thinking About You’ -Catarine Hancock
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⚠️ Emotional and physical abuse, violence, blood, death and firearm misuse⚠️

“I never felt more lost than when I made a home out of you.”

Breakups. We’ve all had them. When you love so deeply and passionately that amidst an in-amicable breakup, you convince yourself that the damage inflicted upon your heart is indefinitely irreparable. (It never is, but no one could convince you to the contrary at that particular moment in time.)

In this series of poems, the author unleashes her resentment and fury for dedicating her time to someone who inevitably, wasn’t worth it. Humans, the world over, can relate to this content and although at times it is repetitive and indulgent, it conveys an authentic stream of consciousness relating to heartbreak and disappointment in the wake of parting ways with someone you once loved.

The intense emotional turmoil described is visceral, the anguish bleeds through the pages from the first to last. It is consistently vulnerable and raw. The handwritten prose added added a aesthetically stunning personal touch.

Coming Soon!
Publication Day: April 6th 2021

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for this eARC.

3.75 Stars rounded up

This felt more like I was reading someone's journal - with some poems reading more like letters.. The author' conveyed her heartbreak, her anger, her rage, and her fears - and the inquisitive side of me wanted all the back details... but have been there and know how raw and emotional a breakup can be and definitely feel this throughout this read - event when the said break up is 5 years ago... She truly put into words all the emotions she was feeling - and some of it was captured so beautifully, some tragic, some angsty.. I only wished there was a point when reading when that she stopped blaming herself so much and forgave herself - rather the forgiving him. Maybe in the next collection?!

Hancock does is again with her achingly beautiful poetry. Writing once again about loss, heartbreak, and healing, Hancock’s teenage angst is felt in every word. As a thirty-something in a healthy relationship, I was propelled backward to the diary entries and the what-ifs of those first real heartbreaks. Hancock expresses her pain beautifully and is very self-aware of the obsessive nature over that pain and how it has come to mold her work.

This is the first time I have read of any of Catarina Hancock poetry. At the beginning of the book Catarina let’s you know that she talks about hard subjects through her poetry. There is a wide range of her poems and most of them are short but there is a few long poems as well. Catarina writing is really easy to read and good descriptions.
I read the poetry in a day and it’s really sad what she went through with ex boyfriend .
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

I got this eBook via NetGalley for an honest review.

Honestly. I got about halfway through and I realised that all of the poems are kind of the same and they lost their meaning.

I get the authors feeling and the despair of realising you where more in love than the other person, and that shes struggling to come to terms with the end of the relationship and her loss of privacy when her ex follows her on insta. But honestly. It was repetitive.

Some poems where better than others but all in all it wasnt great.

i was very excited to start reading this collection and while i feel bad for saying this, due to the personal nature of the poetry, it fell quite flat for me.

there were some good poems in there but most of it felt like repeating the same thing over and over again, without anything new to it. if it wasn't so repetitive and there had been something else in between, i may have enjoyed them more but now the reading experience felt kind of like reading the same poem over and over again.

i was still going to give this two or three stars but after seeing this i won't be doing that, after all: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3147673160

This was a decent poetry collection. You can definitely feel the pain and anguish of the poet, and some of the metaphors and description were very powerful. However, I did find many poems to be repetitive, and didn't bring anything new to the themes , and the collection became very stagnant. It's so hard to critique poetry because of how personal it is, and there are even a few poems where the poet acknowledges that she is writing about the same thing, the same person, over and over and over again. This is a part of her healing and acknowledgement of her pain and her trauma, which I greatly respect. However, about halfway through the collection I felt like I was waiting for some progression, something new, and I never got it.

My favourite poems in the collection:
- flatline
- breaking down
- when did we really start to fall apart?
- when they say you've grown
- who am i kidding?
- cold
- bloodlust
- that works too
- after you wished me a happy birthday on facebook
- burn
- small-mouthed love
- threadbare

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first few poems in this were good, simplistic but good. After that, this book just dragged out the same few poems in different ways.

I think I really struggle with the fact that the author makes reference a few times to the fact that she knows her ex will read these poems. If you know that the subject of your poetry is going to read the work, maybe a conversation between you both is going to be a better way to get closure than to write pseudo angry poetry aimed at him?

I also find it sort of weird that she's still writing about the break up five years later. It doesn't feel like she's over it at all, and at points I was honestly convinced that she is still in love with him.

I went into this knowing the poems were about looking for closure. I thought, given the blurb, that the author was going to be able to say 'I have finally let you go', by the end of it, but it doesn't read that way at all. I actually find it a little disturbing.

*2,5 stars

The publisher kindly provided me with an arc through netgalley.

While I think it's beautiful the author was able to express their thoughts and feelings through these poems, I personally didn't feel connected to them. That's mostly the reason that I rate this lower, because I did see that the writing was nice and it felt very honest.

Wow! This was a devastatingly painful and beautiful collection of poems. I thought this captured the loss and healing that comes with any loss of a relationship. There was a great mix of lengths, and the poems captured the aching of loss so well.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oof. This book was already going to get an unpleasant review from me all by itself, but imagine my surprise when I find these reviews (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3147673160?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1">Shealea's review</a> & <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3896592472?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1">Trishla's review</a>) mentioning another book by this author where she uses slurs, calls Trans people "in-betweens", islamophobia, compares her struggles as a heterosexual person to the people in the LGBTQ+ community.

After reading that I'm just done. The poems in this book aren't amazing. Some were okay. Most were just plain boring to read and long winded. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

This was a bit difficult to review because it is poetry. I personally couldn’t relate to the author’s poems, but I did try to imagine how I would feel if I were in her shoes. Most of the poems were heartbreaking and sad. They were all about a guy who she loved that broke her heart. This was a quick read, but I took my time reading the poems. I wish that she wrote a few other poems that was not necessarily centered on the man who broke her heart. Overall, it was a read.

5 stars.

"when they leave you, do not forget that you are still here. even if part of you went with them, you are still here."

There's something about poetry from the heart that just brings out a visceral reaction in me. I find it to be so beautiful, so moving and this book was no exception. I think we can all relate to the feeling of wanting closure so badly but knowing that we'll likely never get it. Or, worse, never get any satisfying version of it. There are just human shaped demons out there that will hurt you and walk away without one concern. and years later when you're lying in bed thinking about it, they'll be sleeping soundly.

Doesn't seem fair right? yeah I thought so too. I had my own version of this longing, and the only healing (as the author and I agree on) is slowly allowing yourself to move on, and come to peace with yourself and the fact that you may never get it. The author does a great job at showing and FEELING all the emotions and translating them beautifully to paper.

this book is raw and cuts right through the heart. This bundle really got me back into poetry,
I fell in love with it right at the beginning where it is described how to be a poet;
"1. rub salt in your wounds,
2. Watch them bleed.
3. Call it art".
wow;
I also loved "I would've bloomed regardless" so beautiful. and "when they say you've grown". Incredible. These are just a few I loved because it is all so meaningful. I'm happily married but still felt all the heartbreak that was in this book.
Thank you Catarine for sharing your emotions in this book and being so open,

Really beautiful poetry. Love how she does her poetry. Really lovely work done about trying to be your own person after a bad love.