A good book, featuring discussions around what it is to be single and date in your 30s, and how friendships and relationships change.

As one of the many women who's mildly obsessed with Dolly Alderton, I knew I'd enjoy Ghosts but I had no idea how much. I wrongly expected something more chick-litty but was so mistaken. If it had been the light hearted jaunt I'd expected I think I'd still have enjoyed it but loved it all the more for it's depth and its richness. It was one of those rare books that managed to exactly explain how I've felt at times in my life and I love that it challenged the trope that as women we're mad and usually to blame for the way we're treated. I also loved that the author explores tricky relationships with parents and how the illness or death of a mother or father can impact a family. It was incredibly moving in places. I've not stopped talking about it and can absolutely see myself reading it again.

I wasn’t sure about this when I started; it seemed that was going to be very basic chick lit about a thirty-something single woman on a dating app. But it was much more than that and I became engrossed and moved by the story as it unfolded.

Nina is a very (and I hate this word when it’s used to justify something, but it works here) authentic character with all the fears and doubts and joys and achievements I can identify with as a female human. I raced through the second half of the story and was really impressed with the lucid prose and likeable characters.

Very enjoyable read about how we all have to follow our own path in life and a great story of love and friendships in your 30's.

Ghost was such an unexpected love for me and I’m so glad I decided to pick it up. I was expecting an easy summer-esque read but this book was so much more than that. It was grief, it was friendship, it was love, it was loss, it was adulthood.

There were elements of grief throughout the book both with her slowly losing her father and immediately losing Max. I thought this was a really great comparison running in parallel and it was so interesting to see how Nina coped with them both in different ways despite neither of the situations being the typical examples of grief we might see. It was also interesting to me to see how immediately my perceptions of Max changed, matching Nina’s and how much I didn’t want her to go back to him when he did eventually return. I really empathised with Nina a lot and I think her character was so well written.

I loved the author’s descriptions of adulthood and how none of us are coping all that well by falling back on nostalgia. There were so many examples of this and I loved every one, especially as Nina progressed through her 30s and even then was learning more and more about herself.

I really didn’t enjoy Nina’s relationship with her mother and how Nina just seemed to be brushed off every time she tried to help or mention how something was unusual. Especially with Nancy’s treatment of Bill and not trying to adapt to him being ill. Understandably it must have been very hard on her having grown old with him and starting to see him deteriorate, but still it seemed that she didn’t even want to try and change anything when Nina suggested it, until this was explained when the two were at the hospital. I don’t necessarily think this was a flaw of the book as there are obviously characters like that in our real lives but it was a point I had to mention. Nancy was such a real character and as hard as it was to read about, it was very easy to see why she did what she did after it was explored further and she finally opened up.

I loved both the scene where Nina finally said everything she wanted to to Katherine and the scene where Nina confronted Angelo. It was perfect after such a build up of tension in both relationships throughout the book and it felt like it absolutely needed to be said, especially given what follows with Angelo. I really ended up loving their friendship following this huge understanding and found it very endearing.

Overall, I think this was a book about distractions. Finding them and using them to forget about our real problems, making them feel like our real problems even if we don’t realise it. Nina says this herself and it made me realise it so much after this and I totally agree. Such a great book and I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for very kindly sending me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. A year in the life of Nina George Dean, a food writer living in London who is just starting to date again, a few years after her last serious relationship ended. When she meets Max, it feels like everything is changing for the better. This is their story.

This is such a brilliant book, so funny and moving and sharply observed. I highlighted so many sections because they were just too stunningly true and they spoke to me so clearly. This book is filled with the impotent grief of watching a loved one descend into dementia, the giddy highs of new love and the tricky terrain of negotiating friendships when one half of the pair has married and had children. It's also filled with a quiet determined feminist fury, underlying all interactions and discussions. I loved it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading about the characters, their family/friendship setups and dating journeys in this book. I also felt Nina’s dads dementia was well written however for me the book didn’t flow particularly well and I felt it stopped and started and plodded along in places. It took me a week to read which is slow for me as I wasn’t excited to pick it up.

This story follows Nina a 30 something year old woman and the realistic look on the online dating world as well as discussing some deeper topics as her father is currently suffering with dementia.

There was parts of this book I did like because I believe it did give a very real look at what dating is actually like online however at times some of the character chooses bothered me. I felt deeply for Nina and what she was dealing with and the emotional struggle that came with dealing with her fathers dementia. I would read more by this author in the future as I did enjoy her writing enough to want me to seek out more of her work.

I loved this book and sped through it. Funny, moving and very readable, it's one of my favorurite easy reads of the year.

Ghosts is funny and very relatable. At thirty two years, food writer and author Nina Dean, wonders how many languages she could’ve mastered in the time she spent removing her upper lip hair if she lived to be eighty five years old. She is single; she is looking for inspiration at work. Her mother Nancy is rebranding herself as Mandy and she cannot understand why. Her father has dementia. Her ex-boyfriend is getting married, her friends are marrying, getting babies and flirting with men they meet on online dating platforms.

It is refreshing when our digital addictions find their way to the page. Here Whatsapp conversations (and stalking), kitsch vintage slogan gifts (because of 'her prolonged state of singledom') and socializing at ex’s wedding parties turn hilarious. This is really a book for the millennials. Who would understand why Nina falls head over heels for Max who declares he’s going to marry her on their first date through a dating app? Don’t we know how difficult it is to create alibis—like Nina’s best friend Lola does—by posting Instagram pictures when faking a cold? Why is a date online on Whatsapp all the time?—the women gossip. Nina goes through heartbreaks, ghosting, unexpected sex, dating algorithms (“The most ticked people were offered up as bait for the new user’s month, then they leave you with the rest of the riff-raff…It works because you wade through the bottom dwellers indefinitely, always holding out hope that you’d find the chest of buried treasure again”) and incompatible neighbours. There are so many funny moments and sarcasm scattered in this book and they are all relatable, contemporary worries.

I laughed so much, but then I wondered if I am laughing at myself and other fellow millennials. If you are looking for something that’ll keep you entertained after a busy work day, Ghosts is the one. It is millennial crisis at its best.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dolly Alderton & Fig Tree for my arc of Ghosts in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Nina Dean is celebrating her 32nd birthday, she's a successful food writer, finally has her own flat, loving friends and family. She's got it together. So it seems like the perfect time to get back on the dating game. On her first date she meets Max, tall, handsome and beguiling he seems like the perfect match. But life in your early 30s isn't easy. Nina has to battle changing friends and family members set on their own course that may be in front of behind where she is, some friends are getting married, others having children, even worse some are moving to the suburbs. Her dad is suffering with dementia and her mum is having a mid life crisis.

Oh Em Gee this was amazing. Honestly the first book to make me truly feel seen in so long. I don't even know if I can do it justice in this review. I'm 30 and albeit I'm married rather than single but I could relate to SO MUCH in this book even just from my mid twenties dating. Those guys that do the whole 'I love you' thing and then scarper the next day and imply YOU'RE the crazy one when you're confused and hurt. The troublesome neighbours, the friends all at different stages of their lives and not quite fitting together anymore. But most of all the raw, open look at life and the way we start to see it at this age. The way there's so much pressure to not fall behind, to settle down and have children, to buy a house and the worry about ageing parents or grandparents. This story is passionate, beautiful and honest and I just love it. I've just finished it and immediately preordered the hardback as I think it will be a book I'll constantly revisit time after time.

If you followed Dolly’s columns in The Sunday Times, or have read her book Everything I know about love, this story will seem familiar to you, but in a good way. The story has the same timely relevance to young women looking at romantic relationships, family, friendships and navigating the transition into your thirties as Nina’s story unfolds. It’s laser-sharp, wise, thoughtful and an all-round uplifting read. Also, it’s a pleasure to find someone who feels the same way as I do about netball…

I loved this book.It captures all the highs and lows of life for Nina, a single woman in her 30s. It doesn’t shy away from the problems presented by aging parents,relationships with friends and lovers, and difficult neighbours.I found some of it very moving, particularly the parts dealing with Nina’s father’s dementia and the effect it has on Nina and her mother. I felt satisfied with the ending and look forward to Dolly Alderton’s next book.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

Anyone who knows me well knows how much of a Dolly Alderton fangirl I am. Have I read all of her Sunday Times dating columns? Have I listened to most of the podcasts she's ever been interviewed on? When I was a bookseller, did I recommend Everything I Know About Love to every unsuspecting millennial woman? Do I frequently refer to her as 'Dolly', as if I actually know her? Yes to all of the above.
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All that and you might be surprised to learn that I didn't actually love her new novel, Ghosts. But although I love Dolly Alderton's observations, her wit, her wryness, her humour, her romanticism and nostalgia, her takes on life (particularly life for millennial women), I do sometimes find her writing a bit too cheesy and overblown and I thought that Ghosts suffered from that a bit.

Ghosts is about Nina Dean, a food writer in her early 30s looking for love and navigating friendships and family issues. I loved her interactions with her school best friend Katherine, I loved the discussion of dating apps, I thought the created world felt very real and absorbing and easy to spend time in. I laughed out loud several times, which I rarely do with books. But did I love Ghosts as a whole? No. It's entertaining and I enjoyed it but, personally, I prefer Dolly Alderton's columns and non-fiction, her writing works better for me in those formats. My only proper complaint (and this might sound a bit mad) was that I felt like the whole 'men are trash' thing was a bit too far - I know many millennial women in happy relationships with men and they're not all wildly insecure or childish or averse to commitment or unaware of the world around them?? I guess it just didn't feel realistic. Anyway. I am SO SO happy I got to read and review this early = this bookstagrammer's life was made. Thanks @penguinukbooks!

When I first started reading this book I was uncertain that it was for me . That said I quickly became engrossed in its story.
It tells the story of a thirty something female and the challenges of modern life. It touches on relationships , ageing ,mortality and the true meaning of contentment . It is both funny and serious in equal measure, whilst challenging your thoughts on what is really important in life.
This is a really good book and congratulations to the author in capturing the highs and lows of life in such an easy to read way.

Magnificent. This is what I can say about this novel: it is absolutely magnificent.

I of course enjoyed the way in which Alderton writes, pulling the reader into the story and making them part of Nina’s life. I found myself laughing with Nina and her best friend at some point and really mad at our protagonist on another occasion. I walked the streets of London with her and understood what she was going through.

The chapters went quickly and I found myself looking forward to reading in bed at the end of my day, just to I could see what would happen to Nina and Max. As I mentioned before, I felt close to Nina and I had a hard time when she realised that her dad is slowly leaving her side due to dementia. It was sad, raw and completely real.

The novel explores love relationships, family, memory and the importance of friendship. It was incredibly funny and tender and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I highly recommend this book, honestly. It is like life itself and I liked that it left me with a very rewarding feeling afterwards.

I love Dolly Alderton and Everything I Know About Love is one of my favourite books, so I really wanted to love this. Honestly, I'm not sure where all the rave reviews have come from. I found the main character so unlikeable and whiny, she expected her friends to revolve their lives around her and to drop everything on her whims. I did enjoy the strand of poignancy related to her family and her father's dwindling mental status, it felt real and I was really drawn into her struggle. Other than that, the relationship at the end came out of nowhere, and I felt like half the book was preamble, leading up to a very specific point, to which it only arrived at the very end. I didn't feel satisfied at the end, I found it self-indulgent and at several points I wondered if it is truly fictional. As an avid listener to the High Low, I have heard several of these individuals as anecdotes already.

I received a copy of this book to review From Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book is a well written and interesting story of Nina and her navigation through modern life. The writing is sharp and very witty. I enjoyed the quips on modern life and found myself nodding in agreement at points with the sheer relatableness of it all. It raised questions on modern life that leave the reader thinking about this book long after they finish it.
The prologue was very fast paced and I found myself flicking back repeatedly to try and remember who certain characters were. I also felt that Nina was at times harsh and rude about her family and friends which made her not very likable at times.
On the whole, a great book.

Dolly Alderton's writing is addictive, compelling and insightful, and she really stands apart from the host of millennial authors writing these sorts of stories.

As in her first book, a work of non-fiction, Alderton has the ability to shrewdly observe her generation and its preoccupations. "Ghosting" is one of them! But it's not just the frustrating (and incredibly rude) process of someone you've been dating disappearing on you, it's the other ghosts of life that she considers as well - parents growing older (in our heroine Nina's case, her brilliant father descending into Alzheimer's); friendships changing, altering or ending as paths diverge; even your past self/ves, who you thought you would be and how you thought your life would be compared to how it has actually turned out.

While it's hard-hitting and poignant in many ways, it's also very witty. Some of my favourite lines:

"I have yet to encounter a more widely acceptable exercise of extreme narcissism than that of being the protagonist of a hen do."

"The contents of supermarket baskets are surely evidence that none of us are coping with adulthood well."

"Fizz. That word is only ever used in a room of women who all secretly hate each other."

"It had been impossible to miss the press-release photo and statement Lucy had issued of the pair of them, like it was news from Clarence House."

"I could never get on board with this sort of girl-gang feminism, the groups of female friends who called themselves things like 'the coven' on social media and exhibited moral superiority from simply having a weekly brunch with each other."

It was a compulsive read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I took off one star only because Nina, our heroine, is meant to be a food blogger turned cookbook writer, and the book is sadly lacking in the kind of sumptuous foodie details I would expect with a character like that . For a food writer, she barely talks about it! I was expecting mouthwatering descriptions along the lines of Stella Newman :)

Nevertheless, it's a very readable and highly relatable novel. If you've enjoyed Emma Gannon's Olive this is of the same calibre.

With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

I did enjoy Ghosts. I appreciated the very relatable main character, she is the same age as me, and I completely recognised the trials and tribulations of dating in your 30s. I think a lot of readers will sympathise and recognise themselves!
The portrayal of her dad was very well done- it was very poignant but also realistic - this was probably my favourite part of the story.
My only criticism would be that, as someone who has chosen to be sober, I found the constant drinking/ drinking to excess/ and much of the storyline taking place because she was drunk, a little tedious. This is a personal gripe though, so I'm sure most readers won't care!