I Hope You Stay

by Courtney Peppernell

In the spirit of her bestselling series, Pillow Thoughts, Courtney Peppernell returns with a new, empowering collection of poetry and prose. From heartbreak to dreaming of and finding a new love to healing the heart to ultimately finding peace, the themes in this book are universal but also uniquely individual to readers.

Just as moving and endearing as Peppernell's previous books, I Hope You Stay is a reminder of the resilience and hope needed after heartache and pain. The book is divided into five sections, with poems ranging from free verse to short form. These words are a light in the deepest hours of the night: Hold on. The sun is coming.  

Genres: Poetry, LGBT, Nonfiction, Romance, Mental Health, Adult, Self Help

214 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

Courtney Peppernell is a best-selling LGBTQ author from Sydney, Australia. Courtney has been writing her whole life and focuses on Young Adult novels and Poetry Collections.

Reviews

[lu ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I didn't enjoy this at all. This style of modern poetry has never really been my thing, even though I get the appeal, but this collection in particular felt plainly dull and unsubstantial. It has a hopeful message, focusing on the process of healing after going through a break up, but it sort of felt like reading random inspirational quotes on pinterest (and not very good ones, at that).

If there's something I love about poetry, is how it lets you experiment with words, get as creative as you want. But the author didn't really do any of that here. The wording was basic, nothing was uniquely phrased, or had any rhythm to it, and it was just... boring. It didn't evoke any emotion. I usually highlight some stuff even in poetry collections I don't enjoy very much, but that wasn't even the case here.

And, after a while, it just became repetitive, saying the exact same things with slightly different words. If you enjoy modern poetry, and mostly if you're going through a break-up right now, I'd say this could maybe work for you, but it wasn't my cup of tea at all.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't know how much I needed to read this.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

One day, you will find a home, and it won't be a place,
it will be a person. And you will be loved in spite of
all the baggage and boxes you bring with you.

This poetry collection can be described as having a very hopeful message. The author guides us through the path that people have to go through after a painful break up. In the moments when everything seems lost, we must not forget that there's always room for healing and for the possibility of a new life and also new love, the kind of love that is accepting and deep and everything we deserve.
If these are themes that interest you, then you should definitely check this collection out.

[Sara Dahaabović · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello my new favorite read! What a great read to start 2020 with, I simply LOVE LOVE LOVE this!

If I can describe this group of poems in one word it would be a "Friend", those poems were so kind, empowering and above all they were genuine and honest, after all Courtney started the poems with "You Will Ache".

And for all Netgalley users, this is available for download at the moment :)



I really liked how the poems were sectioned:
You will ache
You will dream
You will love
You will heal
You will rise

You will ache

"Somewhere in between the tears and the constant waiting, she forgot her worth. She forgot what it means to be the sun, the stars, and the sea. She forgot what it means to love and to live and to be happy."

You will dream

"That's when I realized the ache will always resurface. Whether it's in the supermarket over a girl you kissed who didn't kiss you back, or a boy who told his friends about you but not his parents, or the job you missed out on, or the sad movie you watched alone on Friday night. The ache comes back around, always in the moments your heart has room; but maybe the ache has always wanted to be loved too."

"You are home, and home can be many things. Right now, home is where I look, to cast away all the doubts I ever had."

"What I have come to know more than anything is that my soul grows and changes. There are moments it feels full, and others empty, but it continues forward, moving with every step I take in this life."

"It hurts to feel as though no one understands your secrets. As though you are the keeper of all these thoughts and nobody else could ever feel them too. But sometimes, on a rainy afternoon, you pick up a book and read it with some wine, and for the first time, someone understands. That even if the sun is shining, you don't feel the glow. But it's okay, because someone else in the world knows."

"Are you really thinking about them, or just the idea of having someone?"

You will love

"How would I live this life without you? The way you make coffee on Saturdays, in the mug you bought, simply because it reminded you of me."

"One day, you will find a home, and it won't be a place, it will be a person. And you will be loved in spite of all the baggage and boxes you bring with you."

"Write in journals the things you are grateful for, make time for an old friend, walk in the mornings as the sun is rising, spend less time focusing on your faults, spend even less time reading rants on social media, plant flowers, check the mailbox, cook a new recipe, dance in your living room. Be in love with living."

You will heal

"I hope you find time for yourself, in between the motions of the week and all the things that keep you up at night. In between it all, I hope you find a moment to breathe."

"She was shedding skin, out in the light of the moon. She knows when things don't feel quite right, she knows when it's time to focus back on the things that make her feel alive."

"It's how you see yourself and the expectations you set. When you expect too much from yourself, you begin to doubt the things you can do. When you base your idea of perfection around ideas that aren't achievable, you begin to believe you are not worthy. But if you stop expecting so much of yourself and set small, achievable goals, you begin to find courage, even on the darkest days."

"She has told you before how hurt she has been. How she has felt fragile and vulnerable with no one to pick up the pieces. She has told you that she cannot survive in between being loved or not loved enough. She has told you that she is all or nothing. So, if you respect her, you will not use her heart."

"There will come a day when they will no longer be your first thought in the morning or keep you up at night. But while they are, you mustn't be so hard on yourself or rush to heal the wounds. Our hearts live on with scars that run deep. Scars are never neat, but you don't have to force them to close if you are not ready."

You will rise

"I no longer want to be someone who tiptoes around people as though eggshells surround them. I want to overcome all the doubt and be the kind of person I would have looked up to when I was younger. "

"Things happen because of your involvement and your drive to make it happen. Things happen because you put your heart and soul into achieving all your goals. Rising from ashes is so much sweeter when you know you've worked for clear skies."

"To the person I was never meant to be with thank you for showing me what I didn't need. Thank you for making me realize I didn't have to settle, that I could be with someone who wanted the same things I did. I know that I am worthy of love and kindness and someone who loves me equally. Thank you for showing me that. "

"You don't need to feel guilty for feeling so much. For wanting to be more than a flame—a firestorm. You are the center of the house, the glue that holds it all together, the light that keeps it warm."

[Darlene I read WAY to many books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really gotta stop reading poetry books in the target section 🤣🤣🤣

One good poem = me buying this book lol

Yeah this was meh it had maybe one or 3 I enjoyed.

[Beatrice Masaluñga · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply repetitive. It explores of love, breakups, yearning and healing. While I enjoy those topics, the poems in this book lacked the emotion.

[Sarah Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I Hope You Stay by Courtney Peppernell

1 star

Poetry is not often something I completely loathe, but this collection was one of the worst forms of “poetry” I have read. I am saddened to say that. I don’t like giving out 1-star ratings and I usually do anything I can do abstain from doing so, but the only thought going through my head while reading each and every page of I Hope You Stay was how much I hated the poems. The poems are short and consist of random thoughts or what I like to call inspirational quotes. Just because you can put it on a refrigerator and it’s two lines does not make it a poem. If you write it like it’s a poem, it does not make a poem. Poetry needs to have structure while also recognizing the constraints of structure and breaking them. Peppernell does not do that. In fact, many of her poems feel like diary or journal entries. It made me want to stop reading poetry which says a lot because I recently discovered my most beloved poetry collected (Tomorrow’s Woman-which everyone seems to hate). I am a black sheep poet critic. I like what everyone hates and love what everyone wants to tear apart. Oh well, I won’t be picking up Pillow Thoughts any time soon.

Whimsical Writing Scale: 1

Plotastic Scale: 1

Cover Thoughts: I adore this cover. It is beautiful and absolutely breathtaking.

Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Lia Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

es lindo, sigo sin ser una genio de la poesía pero se me hizo lindo

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book ♡ I do feel bad not feeling the 5 star vibes, but truly these books are losing a bit with the rate they are being pushed out. I used to love how I could really feel the words, each page begged to be read slowly, savored. These newer ones I enjoy, I get great pleasure and do plan to read again, but I do not feel as if the impact is as strong.

My absolute least favorite thought in this book has been

"You need to be lost, to be on uneven ground. So, you learn, and you grow. When you struggle, you understand what being grateful really means"

First I felt the formating there was tragic, but second, the idea that you needed the pain, the torment, the lies, the desire to end it all (topics covered in these healing books) to be humbled... nahh, you didn't deserve any of that. You didn't need that to teach you what being grateful really means. The idea that you need to struggle is absurd, it's an unfortunate burden many of us carry, these struggles, but we should never glorify them.

[Chesca (thecrownedpages) · Rating 1 out of 5]

An ARC was provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

DNF @ 40%

I Hope You Stay is generously vulnerable and empathetic through its poems, but its bland writing failed to project well the beauty it could've been.

I got a review copy of this book because of the adorable cover and its title that gleamed with ache and longing. These two things made me wonder how they related to each other and the book's content.

The writing was straight forward but very shabby, as if they were random thoughts scribbled on the edges of notebook pages. There was no apparent creative structure to the poems and the way they were arranged. It was difficult to keep my interest on anything I've read in this book. I don't even remember any of what I've read. Sadly, this book didn't make me want to stay.

[h · Rating 5 out of 5]

highlighted basically every page

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

☼ 117/ 108

I read this last year and I dog-eared so many quotes that I resonated with at the time. This collection makes me realize how much I've grown and changed since my first read. I enjoyed reading through all of my dog-eared pages and even dog-eared pages that I resonated with now. My original rating for this poetry collection was three stars, but it's definitely my favorite poetry book I've ever read, and would like to read more from the author!

I want to get into more poetry, but it'll definitely be a slower process and mainly consist of "Internet Poetry" since that's easier for me to read and comprehend.

[Crystal Starr Light · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

I wish I enjoyed this more than I did; this was a strange collection of “poems” (are these even considered poetry?), part sappy love poems, part “you go girl!”, part “just hand on there!” Kitty posters. This isn’t to say I found nothing of merit - I did find some poems (again, these seem like fancy prose but what do I know), that I wanted to note. But there’s also a LOT of repetition amongst this collection as well.

If you enjoy this, great. I partially blame myself as I should have done more research before buying this.

[pəˈteɪtəʊ · Rating 3 out of 5]

She felt alone, inside her mind, as though she was no longer at home.

[Sara Jovanovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping that this collection will be better than it actually was, but in the end, I'm slightly dissapointed. I've enjoyed Courtney's Pillow Thoughts series, so I really wanted to like this too, and yet I didn't. Even though I liked the overall message about hope and healing, none of the writing pieces resonated with me and I'm entirely indifferent about everything I've read. I think I will still be checking out Courtney's new releases, but ultimately this was a waste of time.

Thanks to the Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Elvina Zafril · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Hope You Stay by Courtney Peppernell is a modern poetry about heartbreak and healing. Maybe this book might've helped me 3 years ago. 😅 But reading it now also made me feel something. At least some of the poems did. I appreciated the message in this poetry collection but it can be repetitive. However, I also know some of you might need this. Overall, it was good but not as a good as Pillow Thoughts. It's different in themes but I loved it more. ❤️

[Shea ☾⚂ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Hope You Stay is a new collection of poetry by one of my favorite authors, Courtney Peppernell. So when I saw it available on Netgalley I jumped at the chance to read it. I may have also squealed a little.
This new collection is centered around breaking up with someone and the long path to healing and moving on. The majority of poems were very beautiful but there were also quite a few mediocre ones,unfortunately. I loved her previous series, Pillow Thoughts, way better, but that could be due to the difference in themes.
You achieve all your dreams by facing your fears. By experiencing the doubt and the disbelief and choosing to carry on anyway.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[seher ❥]

i’m still not rating poetry books, they feel too personal for me to criticize or judge them.
however, this is a poetry collection i actually really enjoyed after a long time of semi good and mainstream poetry.

sometimes it was just good, not wow and beautiful, but still a solid read i would recommend. i also annotated some parts - some poems were *chefs kiss*.

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

*1.5 stars*
Unfortunately, I didn't love this. I was expecting more of a traditional poetry style, and this did not meet those expectations. It didn't even really seem to fit the trend of more modern poetry. Instead, it was more random and hopeful paragraphs, some rhyming, some just simple. In short, it didn't feel like poetry at all, and the words weren't particularly inspiring to me. I don't doubt that they would be incredibly important to some people, but they just missed the mark. It felt more like a calendar, where you would get an inspirational quote each day? Like don't get me wrong, some of them were nice, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting/looking for.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s strange to read a book and realize that it might’ve helped me 5 years ago, but reading it today felt like reading a collection of generic inspirational quotes. I’m not really great at judging poetry/prose, the only thing I take into account is whether they make me feel something. a few of these pages did, and the rest didn’t really get through to me. I appreciated the hopeful message and I know that there are people who need to hear these words - maybe I just outgrew them already.

[Valisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5; a lot of these poems lack depth and felt like they were trying to hold deeper meanings than what was written. The “good” poems were mainly towards the end and dare I say not worth the wait 😬. But I think if someone is new to poetry and want something quick to help introduce them to poetry I can see this book aiding in that endeavor.

[anakdenesor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believed the words that speak from the heart will touch many hearts. I found it in this book. However, I felt a bit devastated after reading this poem. For me, it's more like a collection of quotes rather than a poem. But I do love the cover of this book tho.

[Nusfaq Mahmood · Rating 3 out of 5]

'twas a good read.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a beautiful book of poems that were relateable and felt like they were being spoken to me in confidance and receiving advice from a dear friend.
This is a lovely book that touches your heart. Thank you for such a beautiful book of poems!

[Neen Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection. I love the way the poems are broken into sections. I felt strong pulls to several of the poems which is always nice.

I got overwhelmed by the formatting. I fell into the mindset of novel reading several times with the larger blocks of text and then suddenly there is rhyming and it pulled me out of the message of the poem.

I enjoyed the change from first person to third person, even a few poems written in second person. It was a nice way to break up the book while giving it a gentle flowing feeling.

Perfect timing for me to read some more poetry, to help reset emotions and remind me to breathe.

[Bex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Otter illustrations: 5 stars.
Poems: 2 stars.

I've read quite a few of Courtney Peppernell's collections of modern poetry now and I either love them or they completely miss the mark for me. I definitely think that the collections are designed to be read at the right time. which potentially is part of the problem for me, because this book is entirely about healing after break-ups and finding some encouragement following that. If I needed that, I think I'd probably be really happy I'd read this collection. As it stands, it felt a bit flat for me.

I like to read poetry, regardless of what's going on in my life, to find some meaning in it. There certainly are poems within this collection which had interesting ideas - most of which are incredibly relatable actually - but none of them stirred anything in me regardless. I think that they're too plain, almost simple really, to have much of an impact on me. It really feels less like poetry and more like a casual scroll on Instagram for some inspirational posts to favourite.

I loved the illustrations; otters are a massive winner. But the poetry really wasn't for me - I do really think they would be what the right reader at the right time would hugely appreciate though.

ARC provided free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I Hope You Stay is an enjoyable poetry collection that takes us through the pain of heartbreak to the joy of new love. With it's message of hope, I think this collection would be an enjoyment for anyone, no matter what phase of the love cycle they're currently in.

The style is modern poetry and the layout is beautiful. It is divided into 5 sections, each a phase of love and heartbreak. Each section also has an illustration in the beginning that suits the theme well.

While I didn't find myself becoming lost in the poetry, I did enjoy a lot of it. It took me a few days to read which is a bit longer than a normal for me. Overall, it's not bad and is definitely worth reading.

[Beatriz (theportuguesebookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

"I Hope You Stay" is a poetry book written by Courtney Peppernell. I've had my eye on her for a long time and this was a great opportunity to try one of her books. This poetry collection is mostly about healing, growth and self-love. It shows us that it's okay to step away from people in order to heal and become aware that you are enough and that you matter. I totally recommend this book to everyone - from people who have been through break ups and might need some help to everyone else who is simply interested. Rating: 4/5 stars

[Erin Rogoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I normally read poetry when I'm feeling sad. That time is now, so another stunning book by Courtney Peppernell goes to the top of my to-read list. I wasn't disappointed; this book was exactly what I was looking for, and I read it in one sitting. It's beautiful, vivid, sad, and uplifting. Thank you, Courtney Peppernell, for lifting my spirits when I'm sad!